Wonder 11/23-11/27 First time cruisers just back.

[wildabouttheworld]

Travelers: DW,DH, DD (age 10) Per Disney at check in the boat was not full to capacity. There were several empty rooms around us.

Stayed in room 5512 - forward,starboard - great location. same floor as Oceaneers Club and movie theater. We were on the central floor so we walked to just about everything. Room was very nice. Port hole was great. Never used room service. Our room was always clean.

Had 8:30 seating for dinner. Our servers were Gorgy and Jose. They were awesome. Our rotation was TAPT. Food was excellent in every dining room. I couldnt eat the first night because of motion sickness so I am glad I could go to Tritons on the last night.

Saw the 6:30 show every evening. They were all great to the last detail. Just as I would expect from Disney. We arrived 15 minutes early each night and had front row seats for all the shows.

The weather was picture perfect all four days. It was about 82 degrees each day.

Nassau - took a taxi to Cable Beach - Crystal Palace Resort. $5 per per person. Used resort pool, hot tub, beach. No charge. The resort was very nice. The pool for some reason was soooo cold we could not swim in it. I did not ask about it but it felt as though they just filled it up with cold water the night before. The air temperature was about 80 degrees but the pool was so cold it was unbearable. Otherwise, it was nice. Had a waterfall slide and volley ball. There was a very large hot tub. Almost the size of a baby pool. The beach was nice. We had lunch at a deli inside the resort that sold Pizza Hut pizza. We headed back to the ship around 3:00. Taxi was waiting outside to take us back at $5 per person. Overall the day was good. I did not book an excursion because I thought they were a bit pricey. We spent less than $50 for the whole day. I heard about Cable Beach through another site and decided to try it. I would do it again. The resort welcomes cruisers because they assume you will spend money in their casino.

Castaway Cay - AWESOME. We disembarked early and got a front row seat at the beginning of the family beach. We rented snorkel equipment and floats. DD did a few of the Oceaneer Club events. Snorkeling was great. The water temperature at Castaway Cay the day we were there was 74 degrees. We stayed till they practically kicked us off at 4:00. Lunch was good. Music was good. We did a bananna boat ride. $14 per person for about 20 minutes, It was a blast.

Day at Sea - smooth sailing all the way back. We sat back and listened to the band at the pool almost all day.

Great tips from the tip board that I really appreciated:

Get to Castaway Cay early. - We were on the beach by 9:00 and within minutes most of the chairs were gone. Get your snorkel equipment early, the line gets long. Take sunscreen, the sun is really intense there.

Take clothes pins to keep curtins shut. - They dont really close all the way and the sun in the morning would have woken us all up early.

Take an air freshener for the bathroom - I read this tip but forgot one and wished I would have done it. The bathrooms dont stink but they do have a strange odor in them and an air freshener would have been nice.

Dont over pack - We were in swimsuits almost all day then dinner clothes at night. You really dont need that many outfits. Dress shirt and pants were fine for DH at Tritons and all other dinning rooms.

Any questions??????

 

[OHJulie]

Thanks for the trip report. Your tips are especially helpful!

Glad you had a good time!

 

[BethC1952]

Great report! I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise. You're right, it's very easy to get used to cruising. We'll be on our third DCL cruise on 12/7, and I can't wait!

Beth

 

[mm126]

Can you tell me where you read about Cable Beach? How was the beach? Was the water rough? We will be travelling with a 5/6 year old. Thinking about doing Blue Lagoon but would consider something like this for less than 1/2 the price!

 

[wildabouttheworld]

I think I read about it on cruisecritic.com. There is a place where you can search for "Bahamas" and get info on things to do in Nassau. There were also some earlier posts about it on this site a few weeks ago. My DD (age 10) and DH swam on Cable beach and the water was not rough at all. I dont know if that changes with the weather or season. The water was clear and was roped off for the swimming area. The sand was clean and nice for building and playing. There are nice chairs on the beach for lounging. You can also rent jet ski's there. It was a very relaxing day for us. If you can pack some food and drinks from the ship and take it with you that would help defray some of your costs. The food at the resort was expensive. We purchased a pizza and drinks from "Phils Deli" from inside the resort. I think it was $25.

 

[alexandrew]

I really enjoyed your trip report.....I always wonder how some of these lengthy trip reports that chronicle every moment of the cruise are accomplished-do these people literally keep a journal?

 

[Jestocost]

My family was on the same cruise and had a blast too. I'll try to get my own report posted soon!

 

[blueswoman]

Thanks for the great report, WATW! Your report was perfect for my short attention span

The tips are so helpful--especially the air freshner, clothespin, and clothing information. I am definitely an overpacker, so finding out that you were mainly in swimsuits all day helped. But what did you do about lunches? (Did you just throw on casual clothes/shorts over your suits!)

Now I'm wondering how many bathign suits to pack!

Tara

 

[wildabouttheworld]

I would pack 2 suits. We sometimes changed for lunch and we went back to the pool and it was nice to have a dry suit. On the Castaway Cay day we were in suits from sun up until dinner. Try not to overpack, you can wear the same shoes each night with a different outfit. Shoes take up so much room in the suitcase. Also, pack a suit for the kids for the first day. So many parents didnt and wished they had. We were the first ones in the pool. Have fun!

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Hi, wildabouttheworld

Thanks for your trip report. Before reading your report, I have almost given up getting off the Ship at Nassau as joining the excursions is really too costly for us. But how you spent the day at the Cable Beach seems to be very attractive to me. However I do have a few questions:

1. Is the Crystal Palace Resort the same place as the Wyndham Nassau Resort?

2. I am surprised that the pool is open to everybody. Do we have to show any ID in order to use the pool? What about the bathroom facilities? Will towels be provided?

3. How long did it take you to walk to the Cable Beach from where the taxi dropped you off?

4. Was it a water taxi or just a regular taxi that you took to get to the beach?

We will be going in March. Thanks in advance.

 

[wildabouttheworld]

The Crystal Palace is a Wyndham hotel. It was previously owned by Marriott. The Taxi (car) will pick you up at the port. There will be dozens of them waiting to pick you up when you disembark. Just tell them you want to go to Crystal Palace at cable beach. our fair was $5.00 per person each way. It is about a 10 minute ride. They will drop you at the entrance to the hotel. You will walk through a large casino lobby. Go through it all the way to the back and the pool is just outside. It is directly on the beach. There are other hotels along that strip of beach. We walked it just to check it out. The Crystal Palace has the best pool. There is a big rock waterfall slide. The bathrooms are located inside of the rock. They are clean. We brought towels from the ship. If you want to rent towels at the pool you can. That is located right next to the bathrooms. There is a swim up pool bar. There is a large hot tub on the other side of the rock. It is really nice and about as large as a kiddie pool. Inside the casino lobby there is Phils Deli. The sandwiches are overpriced. We got a large cheese pizza hut pizza for $13. The drinks were $2.50 a can so if you can bring some from the ship that would save money. When you are ready to leave go back through the lobby and there will be a taxi waiting to take you back to port. Our taxi driver both ways was nice and informative. They both gave us a little history about the Bahamas and all our sites on the way to cable beach. All in all it was a pleasant experience. Very relaxing. Hope it is the same for you.

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Thanks wildabouttheworld so much for your detailed explanation.

Last question: do they really let everyone use the pool without even asking?

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Thanks for the report- and the tips! I'm an overpacker too. I wasn't always this way- but since I've had kids I'm like packing for every type of weather, extra clothes "just in case", etc. etc. LOL I will try to keep it to a minimum though- thanks for the tip!

 

[wildabouttheworld]

We used the pool without asking anyone. I did it based on posts I read. I would never have done anything dishonest. The fact is that they know and encourage people from the ships to come to the hotel in hopes that they may be gambling. We even confirmed it with the taxi driver. When people get off the ship and want to visit Cable Beach, they take them directly to the Crystal Palace. If you feel uncomfortable give them a call to confirm. Have fun.