Day 120: Nassau, Bahamas

Despite the rough seas last night, we slept pretty well. Our scheduled arrival in Nassau, Bahamas was not until noon today, so there was no reason to rush this morning, but we were up fairly early anyway, and actually made it to breakfast in the Coral Dining Room. Progress!  The morning was cold, cloudy and windy, which did not bode well for our day in Nassau, at least not for water activities in Nassau.

Still, cold is relative. As chilly as it was, Nassau was supposed to reach 67F, which I imagine sounds pretty good to many of you. 

When we read in the Princess Patter that the dining room would be open for lunch today between 11:30am and 1pm, G suggested we eat there before getting off the ship. After all, he explained, he hadn't eaten much for breakfast. No, just eggs florentine and fruit and bacon...it's understandable that he'd be hungry again three hours later. ;-)

We stepped off the ship into the wind tunnel created by the Caribbean Princess and the Carnival Liberty on the other side of the pier. Brrrrrrrrr; it was so cold that it was almost enough to make us change our minds about leaving the ship. The poor Philippino security staff was visibly suffering, with hands in pockets and hoods pulled up over their uniform hats. They welcomed us to Alaska as we stepped onto the pier. 

It wasn't quite so bad when we walked beyond the two ships, though it was cute to see the local kids wearing winter parkas and pom-pommed ski caps to stay warm. The adult locals had wrapped blankets around their jackets to add some more insulation. We made our way through the crowded and crazy cruise ship terminal (there were also two NCL ships at the second pier) and picked up a walking tour map at the information center. We had learned from the Nassau Port Guide distributed to us in today's Princess Patter that there was a fort (G was immediately interested) reachable by a 65-step staircase carved by slaves into a limestone wall. A fort AND a climb; this was right up G's alley. We set out to find it. 

We had been in Nassau on a Sunday last year, and had spent most of our time there at Atlantis, but even when we returned to the Emerald Princess, there was almost no traffic in town. Not so today, where narrow sidewalks with large holes had G yelling back at me "Tourist trap!!" to alert me to yet another opportunity for disaster. How we managed to cross streets with left-sided drivers and constant horn blowing and even a prison bus racing through town accompanied by leading and following police cars with sirens blaring, all of them taking corners on two wheels is beyond me. Captain Pomata had made an unusual announcement last night during dinner alerting us to a US Department of State warning about high levels of criminal activity in Nassau. Honestly, I was more concerned about getting taken out by a car. 

We did finally find the Queens Staircase, at the end of a limestone canyon lined with tropical foliage right in the middle of town. On the top of that limestone cliff, called Bennet Hill, was Fort Fincastle, dating back to the 18th century. Fincastle's unique appearance is a bit like a ship's bow, and the fort served as a lookout against possible attacks as well as a signal station and lighthouse.  Even in my slightly infirmed condition, I had no trouble climbing the steps, and G provided me the motivation to do it safely by calling cadence as we made our way up:  "Lift your feet and hold them high (lift my feet and hold them high), so that you won't fall and die (so that I won't fall and...WHAT?)". What a support he is! ;-)

We swung through the souvenir booths and straw market on our way back to the ship, but were satisfied buying only a postcard. Once back on board, we warmed up with coffee and hot chocolate from the IC, which looked to be a popular thing to do.  After a quick clean up (we certainly didn't get sweaty today), we were at dinner with Marian and Slava at 5:30am. We have been seated at a table for two that was added as an afterthought to the Coral Dining Room. It's actually a table for two relocated from the Horizon Court Buffet, and is so narrow that Marian and Slava have to keep removing every single thing when we're done with it (i.e. butter dish and bread bowl). Its size is compounded by the fact that there is not a sliver of light above the table. We read our menus by iPhone light, but it's actually hard to see what we're eating. After two cruises of tolerating that, we've asked to be moved to the table for two next to ours that is larger AND has light. Fingers crossed...

Following dinner, we raced up to Skywalkers to watch first the Carnival Liberty, then the Caribbean Princess sail away. That might have been something enjoyed from an open deck if it wasn't dark and cold and windy. Instead Skywalkers provided a better observational venue. It was funny; docked just the width of the pier apart, the Carnival Liberty backed up and spun one direction, but the Caribbean Princess spun the opposite. Sailaway with the lights of Paradise Island and Atlantis was beautiful...but even Skywalkers felt chilly. It felt like a night that should be spent in front of a fireplace. 

With no fireplace in sight, we grabbed hot tea from the Horizon Court Buffet and returned to our cabin, where we turned the thermostat up to BAKE. Entertainment tonight is magician Alex Ramon; who was fantastic; but tonight he can't compete with a book (me) or a Comcast TV2Go show on his iPhone (G), finally toasty and warm under a fluffy duvet.  

Fort Lauderdale is supposed to be 75 tomorrow. Fingers crossed on that, too. 

Day 81: Nassau, Bahamas

THIS was another best day of the winter. Allow me a moment, please, to celebrate...

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!!!!!!!  The Broncos are going to the Super Bowl!!!!  (I'm just a smidge ecstatic about that). 

But, even before the AFC Championship game kickoff, this had been an incredible day. So, as much as I just want to sit back and relish the Broncos AFC Championship title and watch the NFC Championship game, I really need to think back to 12 long hours ago when the alarm first went off and we hit the snooze button at least twice. 

Our arrival in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, was at 7am, just as it had been on our visit here on the Maasdam in 2010 and on the Allure last November. And, just as on those two ships, sailaway was at 1pm in order to get to St. Thomas on Tuesday morning. This meant we had to be back on the ship at 12:30pm. However, this time I wasn't recovering from pneumonia (Maasdam), nor was it raining (Allure) and we were determined to visit the world famous Atlantis resort on Paradise Island. Apparently, though, we weren't determined enough to get up when the alarm first went off at 6am. It was closer to 7:15am when we left our cabin, walking out onto the Terrace Deck en route to the Horizon Court Buffet just as the sun rose.

We had a quick breakfast in the Cafe Caribe, gathered up the few things we needed for the day, and, for the first time in my life, walked off the ship and onto New Providence Island in the Bahamas. A $4pp, 10 minute taxi ride took us over the bridge to Paradise Island, where the Atlantis resort is located. Of course, it looked familiar to me right from the start: after all, Oprah, quite taken with the place, decided to do a week's worth of shows from there several years ago. When Oprah likes something...

After asking around (all the employees there were extremely friendly and helpful), we were directed to an Adventures desk, where we purchased two day passes for a resort tour and entrance to all the aquariums. ($45pp, but you know G. Somehow we got them for $20pp).  We waited just a few minutes to join a tour and spent an hour in absolute awe at the sea life we were seeing, not to mention the gorgeous resort and grounds. 

I have lots of photos to share, but I'm going to force myself to limit them to just a few. Internet on the ship has been abysmal...the 1400 Platinum and Elite passengers on this cruise, all with Internet benefits, might have something to do with that. 

The suite in the arch of the Royal Towers is called the Bridge Suite, and comes with its own personal chef and butler. It costs $25,000 per night with a four night minimum to stay there.  Like Oprah did. ;-) The other rooms in the Royal Towers cost between $600 and $1400 per night to stay in. There are other towers at Atlantis that cost less, but they're all at least $300 per night or so. Atlantis is not cheap. 

But guests get free access to the aquariums we paid to see, and Aquaventure water park.

Atlantis is also not small.  We walked non-stop for over three hours, finally ending up at Marina Village, which features a series of quaint but upscale shops in that Key West style we like so much. 

The only thing unimpressive about Atlantis was the beach; the water there is quite rough. 

All in all, I wish we'd had more time, but I'm really happy we did go there. We took a taxi back to the ship, standing in quite a long line to reboard. That always happens when we have an early sailing time on a beautiful day. And the day was beautiful...but chilly. I don't think it got above the low 70s today. 

On the way back to the ship, I started stressing about our ability to get two chairs by the Calypso (MUTS) pool to watch the AFC Championship game.  After all, the game started at 3pm and I knew people had been camping out there all day. G took it on as a personal mission to get us two chairs...and when he does that, there is no stopping him. Once on the ship, the elevator lobby was packed, as we were all getting on at the same time. G ran up TEN flights of stairs only to find no available loungers...but space for some. He found two loungers from another area and dragged them over, giving us a prime viewing location up on Deck 16. As long as it didn't rain (and it didn't), we were good to go, and by the time I arrived he was sitting there looking quite proud of himself. 

We left, one at a time, to return to the cabin, charge our phones after all our picture taking, and get pizza and beer. And there we stayed, hot in the sun despite the cool breeze once the Emerald Princess sailed. And stayed. And stayed. Competition for seats was fierce, and we didn't dare leave. Finally, 3pm arrived, and the game was a hopeful blur. We did battle with the sun the rest of the afternoon. We would think that, in another few minutes, it would be behind the screen, but the ship would change course, and we had it shining in our eyes from the other side. No worries though...we had a gorgeous sunset as a reward, just as the Broncos sealed the deal and stopped my heart from racing and my stomach from hurting. 

G decided to go to the Michelangelo Dining Room for a quick Dinner with Darko. I'm staying here for the NFC Championship game. It's just too darn pretty out here to leave, despite that it's so chilly that I'm wearing my fleece pullover and the wool headband that I tucked in my suitcase the day we left. I KNEW that headband would come in handy during a football game!  I have no dog in this fight, but certain Seahawks fans sitting nearby are so loud that I might be secretly rooting for the 49ers.

Life tonight is as good as it gets. 

Day 14: Nassau, Bahamas

I had an entire blog post written, then added photos and saved it to be published later, and now can't open it. This is the second time that's happened already this winter, and it's quite discouraging to have spent an hour for nothing. For that reason, this post will be about half the length of the original as I try to recall what we did yesterday.

Two overriding points to make:

1.) the Nieuw Amsterdam was the food cruise
2.) the Allure OTS is the booze cruise

We feel like we are having to forage a bit for food. There are plenty of "quick" options...sandwiches of every type, wraps, rolls and paninis. But lines are long and food quality is okay with a few standouts. We are living on the unlimited free drinks we get every evening and the hor doerves that are served there. And the specialty coffees available 24/7 in the Diamond Club, the continental breakfasts served there each morning and the cookies and fruit available there the rest of the day. No, we won't starve, but one way we stay healthy while cruising is to eat good, nutritious meals and no snacks, and we seem to be doing the exact opposite on the Allure. Something tells me that the per person food budget of the Allure, excepting the many "extra cost" restaurants, is pretty damn low.

We were in Nassau yesterday, and had a shortened day there due to the Allure's propulsion systems issue (more on that in my original post, but I'll boil it down to the fact that the ship is having to cruise more slowly and our times in ports are being cut). When the weather yesterday morning was windy and rainy, we opted to stay on the ship. We'll be in Nassau again in January.

We toured the Central Park neighborhood (love it...it's an entire park on Deck 8 with three landscapers and labelled plants and several restaurants) and other areas of the ship we'd not yet seen. But when people returned from the island just as the bad weather intensified, this ship suddenly felt very congested. With the pool and sports decks and Boardwalk and Central Park unusable, everyone migrated to the Royal Promenade. Yikes!

For fun, I participated in a party line dance class offered in the Royal Promenade. Not so fun? Waiting in line at the guest relations desk to exchange a $100 bill for smaller bills for tips in the Diamond Lounge.

It was formal night, and dressed semi-formally, we went to Blaze for the Diamond Lounge at 5pm. We've met several people there and enjoy getting together for unlimited (!) free (!) drinks every night. We didn't have any entertainment scheduled for last night, but attended the captain's Welcome Aboard party in the Royal Promenade at 7:30pm, and then went to dinner afterwards, in the Adagio Dining Room (we had made a reservation in September, and it was as easy as possible and we were seated immediately at a table for two). We were a bit trepidatious about what to expect, but our wait service by waiter Althea from Jamaica and assistant waiter Molson from Columbia and headwaiter Mishim from Turkey was wonderful, and our meal (we both chose the standard beef offering just to check out the quality) was amazingly good.

We had no entertainment reserved last night; if it had been nicer out we might have considered going to OceanAria again, but it might have been cancelled due to the rain. Instead, we walked the length of the Royal Promenade and then Central Park checking out the many, many live music offerings.

Even on the world's largest cruise ship, we know what we like!

Photos 1-3: off all the amazing features the Allure offer, I think this is the most amazingest: the first levitating bar at sea. That's right...the bar Rising Tide floats between Deck 5 (the Royal Promenade) and Deck 8 (Central Park). We have to do this while we're on the ship!!

Photo 1: on Deck 5, the area under arising Tide is a fountain when the bar is floating above

Photo 2: looking up at the bottom of the bar from Deck 5

Photo 3: the bar almost down to Deck 5

Wild stuff!!