The first day on our cruise was Nassau, Bahamas. I had been before but it’s been over 10 years so I was very excited to venture around. We searched through the excursion book and decided that we wanted to hang out at Atlantis for the day.
There were tons of different excursions there such as swim with dolphins, hang out at the beach, play at their water park, or venture around the hotel. We bought the Beach Day excursion which included a bus ride to Atlantis, passes to their beach, lunch and access to their two aquariums.
Even though we only had from 8:30am-2pm at Nassau, there was plenty of time to do everything that we wanted. We started off with a bus ride to Atlantis where we listened to our bus driver give us lots of fun facts about the beautiful island.
Fun Facts about Nassau
– Did you know the Nassau has a population of 400,000 people but has 2 million cars? Since tourism is their largest industry many of the big tourism have many cars for their businesses. Some of the tourism companies have over 40 vehicles per each company, which adds up fast!
– Another fun fact that we learned is that Nassau is only 7 miles by 21 miles big. It’s a very small island and Atlantis occupies 75% of the land.
Upon arriving to Atlantis, we had a tour director give us a quick tour of Atlantis to show us different areas that we had access to which included caves, pools, a manmade beach, water activities, many restaurants, the beach and more! We decided that we wanted to check out the aquariums before we headed down to the beach.It was absolutely amazing. Their aquariums are underground which allow you to see the fish in their natural habitats. We saw everything from grouper to hammer head sharks. After you finish looking at the aquarium, you take a few steps to exit the area and you are now in front above the aquarium that you were just looking into. At this spot, you are able to look down into the aquarium and see the fish at a completely different angle. It’s definitely a must see!
I highly suggest taking a walk around, the view was gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to spend the day basking in the sun. We stuck our toes in the water and it was COLD. It took a few minutes to get in completely because of the temperature. Once we were in, the water felt perfect. Unfortunately, we forgot our snorkel at home and to buy a snorkel from Atlantis, it cost $48 which was a bit pricey. After getting back on the ship, we found out that Carnival has snorkels for only $5 at the excursion desk. If you don’t have one, buy one there!
After frolicking in the water like young children, we enjoyed lying out and getting a good dose of Vitamin D. While laying out, many men and women walked by offering their services. Many ladies were selling necklaces and hair braiding services, men offered to help with umbrellas and sold delicious coconut drinks. There wasn’t one person around us who didn’t order the pina coladas that were being served in real coconuts. Not only were they made as stiff as you’d like it, they cost $10 and included a free refill.
To say we were hungry would be an understatement. We worked up quite an appetite walking around Nassau. (Okay, we got lost but it was a good way to see everything they hotel had to offer.) Our excursion included lunch at one of six different restaurants at Atlantis. We grabbed a burger and chicken sandwich at the Cave Grill and headed back to catch our bus to the cruise ship.
It was a surprise when we got back to the cruise area and had an extra 30 minutes to kill so we headed to the famous Bahamas straw market and walked around downtown. Even though we had to be back at the ship early, we had a full day of sightseeing!
Having to be back at the ship early, meant that we got more time on the cruise ship which is always a plus! If you’re heading to the Bahamas via a Carnival Cruise, I would highly suggest heading to Atlantis for the time that you’re there. I really liked that we had someone to help us to travel back and forth to Atlantis, a tour guide gave us instructions when we got there and I felt completely safe during the whole process!
Have you been to Atlantis before? Was it via a cruise ship or did you stay at the hotel?
More posts about cruising Carnival:
- The Ultimate List of Onboard Activities on the Vista
- The Complete Guide to Cruising with a One Year Old
- Cruising the Caribbean with Carnival
- Why You Should Take a Carnival Cruise
Originally published on LipGlossandHighHeels.com
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