Ok, so imagine your are riding down the road and you hear on the radio that they are holding a Cruise to Paradise contest. You think to yourself, man...I love to cruise so I'll enter. Thats what I did. I entered online just once, forgot about it and went on with my life and about 3 weeks later I get a call at work from the radio DJ telling me...NO...trying to convince me I'd won the Cruise to Paradise! It took the poor man 15 precious minutes of his life to get me to believe him! When he asked what radio station brought you this prize I uttered..."I don't remember, I'm too excited!" He laughed and assured me that that comment would be edited and reminded me who called! GEEZE woman I thought!
Anyway, it turned out to be on a Sovereign of the Seas to the Bahamas. Now...you will read where a lot of people will go on and on about what a pain this was and how difficult it was to do that and so on but remember you were fortunate enough just to do this so don't spoil everything by being a bratt about it. I will only tell the truth about something like a lack of beach chairs on Coco Cay as a heads up but not as a complaint, you just have to move on and do something else or find something else. So as long as I haven't lost a leg to the incompetance of a cruise liner or cruise staff then hey take it as what its intent is and that is to fill you in on what we experienced.
The ship may not be like our Princess liner but man was it fun! The onboard games, shows etc...are GREAT and it doesn't matter how old you are even though I must say it appeared to be a younger crowd. Mostly in their 20's. Troy and I, God bless us, are pushing 40 but hey...thats young too! If you want a short 5 day cruise and to have the optimum fun thats a good ship to go on. The staff tries VERY hard to please but do not expect the kind of luxury from larger vessels.
We stopped at Coco Cay and Nassau and had a couple of days at sea. Coco Cay is owned by Carnival Cruise lines and the snorkling was great. YOU MUST TRY A COCO LOCO! What a cold refreshing treat. Of course it has alcohol in it but it is very tasty and ice cold!
We grabbed our snorkle gear right away and went after a while found ourselves floating in a virtual sea of angel fish. They got so close that they touched our face masks. If we extended our hands they would gently glid off but come right back once we put them behind us. We also dove on an old plane, cannon and pretty reef. It was a good day and its doing things like this that make you wish you could win the lottery!
The buffet was good too. What is a cruise without the buffet right? Watch your plate though,once you put it down, because the seagulls will land and make off with whatever you aren't necessarily holding down or eating yourself. They get very close to you and poop a lot on the tables so make sure you have lots of napkins. Oh well what can ya do, it wasn't going to spoil our good time, I just fought back when I turned to grab a chair and a little rat with wings tried to rob me of my bbq ribs! Also there WILL BE OTHER SHIPS so when they say private island, they just mean it's private to that particular cruise line. Beach lounge chairs will not be plentyful so don't get in a huff, just look for an open spot and grab it while you can. Do not take anything you can't leave on a chair with peace of mind. We had a towel taken, no biggie except the cruise ship will charge you for lost towels. We got fortunate they must not have noticed because we didn't get charged, I'm sure in the crowd someone next to us thought it belonged to them.
In Nassau we spent the day at a Resort because to be honest Nassau didn't really offer us any attractions we cared to see. The Straw Market...wow, go at your own risk. If you have patience for the locals grabbing you and wanting the hard sell then go for it. We spent a VERY brief amount of time there but I did get a neat hand carved dolphin cheap. Of course there is Atlantis but they DO NOT like cruise ship goers coming over. If you schedule an excursion there from your ship expect it to be limited. They will not cater to you unless you are a guest of Atlantis itself. Really, who can blame them, their guests are their number one priority. If I were staying there I'd feel the same way. It is lovely and we could see it from our ship but didn't venture over. Nassau is pretty, during the day the bright colored buildings are so cool looking and at night with Atlantis all lit up it is equally as cool. I will say the taxi ride was interesting...very fast...a little scary too but if you can relax you'll realize the driver isn't really going to kill you at a high rate of speed or really over take the tiny car in front of you. Look at it like a ride at Disney or just close your eyes...your choice.
At any rate we had a great time so enjoy the photos!
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