Jenny and I spent most of this week on a cruise to the Bahamas. We had a great time as always. Cruising is awesome. Here is a link to some of our best pictures:
Bahamas Cruise 2011 Photo Album
This cruise, although its itinerary was very similar to the cruise we took last October, was different in two respects:
- We sailed on Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) for the first time. Our previous cruises together involved Carnival (twice) and Royal Caribbean. It was time to try something new.
- Some of our good friends went with us.
Pre-Cruise
To ensure we reached the port in time, we flew out on Southwest the day before. Unfortunately, the flights were so full that we got stuck in Houston for about six hours on Sunday afternoon. (flying for free is a great perk of being an airline employee, but it’s not nearly as easy as it might sound) So we grabbed some seats to relax and read. Finally, we reached Fort Lauderdale after 11:00pm, rented a car, and drove to our hotel, the Newport Beachside Resort on A1A in Miami. Although we didn’t get to spend much time there, it was a very nice hotel right on the beach at a reasonable price.
Day 1 – Departure
I woke up early Monday morning and ran on the beach, a rare treat for this north Texas boy. After a quick breakfast on the balcony, watching the waves roll in and the guests walk the beach, we drove to Miami International to turn in our rental car and take National’s shuttle to the Port of Miami.
For the first time on a cruise, we arrived around lunchtime and got an extra free meal onboard. Checkin at the port was fast and easy. NCL added a simple health questionnaire (do you currently have a cold or GI illness?). They also had hand sanitizer stations posted around the ship to reduce the spread of germs. Nothing can ruin a cruise like a disease outbreak, so I was a fan. We met our friends James, Alexis, and Donny in the main dining room for lunch. After 2:15pm, we could check out our cabin. This time we sprung for the balcony, and I’m glad we did. It’s so nice to be able to step outside and watch the action or read from the privacy of your own balcony. Careful, though – it’s easy to get spoiled. At 5:00pm we sailed with our traditional sail-away pina colada, just after watching our ship from last fall (RC’s Majesty of the Seas) sail away on her own four-night Bahamas itinerary. After a tasty dinner in the main dining room with our crew, we grabbed at table at Longboard’s sport bar to watch Game 5 of the World Series. This was the final game that the Rangers won. I don’t normally watch sports in bars, so it was cool to try it here for such an important game.
Day 2 – Freeport
Our first Bahamian port was Freeport, population 60,000, on Grand Bahama Island. Our friends are divers, so they booked a dive that day. Jenny and I booked a bike tour of the area that was just as fun as we expected. I got a cruisers with squishy 3-inch tires, a squishy seat pad, and a weird upright stance that felt much different from my hybrid bike at home. But this wasn’t like riding at home, trying to go as fast as possible to keep my heart rate up. We rode single file at a leisurely pace and explored various points of interest – a dolphin sanctuary, a beach with a beach club, a beautiful nature preserve. Our fantastic guide, Mario, kept us from getting run over by the 7 cars that we saw through the whole day and stopped us periodically to tell us about the area’s history, politico-economic system, culture, and vegetation. The nature preserve was my favorite stop, similar to last year’s Ardastra Gardens in Nassau only without the animals. I wish we could have spent more time there to study its gorgeous plants, flowers, waterfalls, and meditation garden. Back on the ship, we took a nap that afternoon before meeting the crew for dinner and then seeing a very funny comedy-magic show. Then it was back to Longboard’s, our new favorite hangout spot, for some Apples to Apples.
Day 3 – At Sea
Day 3 was scheduled as a stop at NCL’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay. Our plan was to sleep in, take a yoga class on the beach, and then lie on the beach and read all afternoon. The island is small, so cruisers must take small ferries called tenders between the cruise ship and the island. Around 8:45am, the Captain announced that the ocean swell was too high for the tenders to operate safely, so we would spend the day at sea instead. In a classy move, he made a point to say this was his decision alone and that we shouldn’t get mad at the people at the front desk. Sometimes at work, I must make unpleasant calls like that myself, so I felt for the guy and appreciated how he handled it. That decision probably cost his employer a significant amount of money and some goodwill among the passengers, but he chose safety over revenue. Good call.
It was no big deal for us. We got breakfast and worked out instead. James and I ran on the ship’s full-length jogging track. Jenny hit the elliptical in the gym. We probably napped again that afternoon, a helpful trick we learned from the Beyers. That night we’d hoped to watch Game 6, but when it got rained out, we caught the Broadway show instead. It was pretty good, but I only knew a couple of the songs (Go Abba!), and the overall quality paled in comparison to last year’s performers on Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas. Afterward we parked by the buffet and played Phase 10 for a while. Alexis charmed one of the waiters into retrieving some secret cookies from the bakery even though they weren’t available at the buffet.
By Day 3, I had finally broken myself of the habit of reaching for my iPhone anytime I had nothing better to do. I was amazed at how addicted I’d become to that thing.
Day 4 – Nassau
Nassau was the only port that was actually a repeat from last year. Our friends were going diving again. This time we decided to tour Atlantis, the high-end megaresort that’s the first thing you see as you sail toward the island. It’s so high-end and large that they sell various levels of passes to non-guests that provide various levels of access to the grounds. We bought passes that let us tour the aquariums and relax on the beach.
The resort overwhelmed us with its size, beauty, attractions, and architecture. See the pictures in my photo album to get some idea of how amazing this place really is. It reminded Jenny of a high-end Disney resort due to the attention to detail and outstanding integration of the Atlantis theme throughout. One of my favorite parts was the two aquariums and marine life pools, which included manta rays, sawfish, lionfish, great hammerhead sharks, Caribbean reef sharks, huge grouper, moray eels, lobster, jellyfish, and many more. The numerous beaches were beautiful and immaculate. We couldn’t access the water park, but it looked amazing with a Mayan temple-themed slide and a roaring rapids-type ride. After spending an hour or two just wandering around and taking pictures, we grabbed lunch (surprisingly only $16 for cheeseburgers, fries, and drinks for the two of us) and lay by the beach to read for a while.
That night, we had dinner with the crew and then grabbed a table in Longboard’s to watch the heartbreaking Game 6 of the World Series. I knew we had to get up early the next day to disembark, but I couldn’t leave before the game ended. By the end, the bar was full of baseball fans, about evenly split between the two teams.
Day 5 – Back Home
We carried our bags off early (control freak!) to make sure they got to the NCL shuttle to Fort Lauderdale. Disembarkation was even easier than embarkation, largely because we beat the crowds by handling our own bags. After an uneventful trip to the airport, we checked in. The flights looked really full, but we managed to get on. Jenny took the next-to-last seat, and I rode in the galleys with the flight attendants on the FLL-HOU leg. Then I had to move up to the cockpit with another jumpseater to stay on the HOU-DAL leg, but we finally made it back to Dallas with our bags. Then it was off to pick up the boys, whom we were definitely missing by that point. Thanks again to our parents for watching them for us so we can get a break!
I’ll share some thoughts on our Norwegian experience soon in a separate post.