Saturday, March 16, 2024
Nassau, Bahamas—the last day of the cruise. We woke up a little earlier so we could get out to the pier by 8:30 to go to our excursion: Atlantis water park. All of us ate breakfast at the Windjammer café. Erik had to go to guest services to get a new sea pass card since Ian could not find his. It took the ship a little longer to dock, and they even called a Man Overboard code, which they quickly canceled. We took a bus to the Atlantis hotel. After signing a digital waiver, they gave us wristbands and let us go into the waterpark. The kids took off in multiple directions, so Erik and I spent some time walking around the park together. We rode one of the slides, the lazy river rapids, and went to the beach. After we found the kids, we went on a few more slides.
There were other ships docked at Nassau: another Royal, a Disney, and a Carnival.
Congregating around the Leap of Faith water slide (the white one that when straight down). Everyone rode it but me and Gabe. I said I would go on it if Gabe did, but he was too chicken. It was fun watching the people go down as they screamed--even the men screamed like little girls.
There were so many pools to swim in! Ian and I swam in this one--it was chilly water!
We found some empty chairs, claimed them, and then smothered the kids in sunscreen. They all ran off as soon as we were done and had the time of their lives going down waterslides.
There was a beach that Erik and I visited for a bit. We got part way in the water. The kids didn't go to the beach though. They were too busy going down the slides.
The waterslides were structures that were made to look like ancient ruins.
These were the racing slides that timed how long it took to get to the pool at the bottom.
Erik took these videos of Gabe going down the Shark Tank waterslide. The main feature of this slide were the sharks swimming around outside of it. The slide actually does go underwater.
A family picture on our way out with the iconic pink Atlantis hotel in the background.
On our way out, I spied this glass sculpture. I just checked and I was correct in my guess that it was a Dale Chihuly--it's worth at least 1 million dollars. The entire building that houses this sculpture (and several others) is a 1,200-room, $650 million hotel and casino. You'd think they would take care to fix any leaks in the ceiling--I didn't take a picture, but there was a crack in the ceiling and water was dripping on me while we were walking in the lobby.
Leaving the water park
Finally, it was time to go back to the ship. We looked around a few shops at the port before getting back on board. While we were away, another cruise ship arrived for a grand total of five ships.
Checking out the expensive shops. They have changed quite a bit since we last came. Erik bought a magnet. I would have liked to try their jerk sauces but I didn't think they were worth the price.
The kids and a few of the ships behind them.
I enjoyed "spying" on the other ships with the binoculars.
Everyone was hungry when we got back on board, so Erik, Ian, and I had some pizza. Later, I had to stop Ian from eating more pizza, and I sat down with Elisa at the café. I paid the kids to rub my feet, and we got ready for our dinner at Hooked. It took a few minutes for a waiter to serve us, but he told us we could all have two appetizers. I had the baked oysters and calamari, the captain's platter with grilled salmon, grilled shrimp and lobster (forgot to take a picture), and cherry pie for dessert. All of us were overly stuffed after the meal. Erik tried Harry Potter trivia but missed too many questions. We went back to our rooms to pack our suitcases and go to bed.
I ordered the baked oysters and calamari for appetizers. The calamari was good, and the oysters were okay.
Erik ordered the raw oysters. I liked these better than mine.
I was surprised that Elisa not only ordered but ate her clam chowder. She didn't finish it, but the portions were ridiculously huge for being an appetizer.
Cherry pie. It wasn't that amazing. At least, I was too full to enjoy it.
Erik showed the kids this overhang with a glass floor that looks straight down into the ocean.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
We woke up early again to eat breakfast at the Windjammer. We left our luggage in our rooms since we were told that we didn't have to leave our rooms until 8am. After breakfast, we found that our stateroom attendant had made our beds and started throwing away some of the stuff we left out: trash, papers, and Elisa's medicine. Oops. He was nice enough to look through the garbage and dig it out for us.
Being silly in the elevator
Gabe at Breakfast.
Getting off the ship was pretty quick. There was a long line around the elevators going through the dining room, but some of the crew members basically invited us to cut in the middle of the line. Luckily, there were several check out stations set up, so we walked through quickly. We were able to skip baggage claim since we already had our luggage with us. Customs was also quick because they had facial recognition cameras; we didn't have to show our passports to anyone. We actually sat outside for a little while waiting for our shuttle since debarkation was so fast. We all were decked out in green except Erik, and we got a lot of stares in the airport. I guess St. Patrick's Day isn't much of a thing outside of the Chicago area. An uneventful flight to Charlotte and then Phoenix and we were home!
Waiting for our shuttle
In the airport waiting for our luggage. Nice face, Gabe!
Atlantis had a very nice water park. Just as I checked out the lazy river and decided it wasn't too rapid, it was time to go. I really should have tried it earlier. That would have been a surprise going back to the room and seeing some of your things gone and thrown away. Those stateroom attendants are a bit too much anyway cleaning twice a day.
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