March Break - Bahamas

Our first port of call, on the second day of our cruise, was Nassau, Bahamas. Of the three ports we visited--the other two being St. Thomas and St. Maarten--this was my least favorite for two reasons. The first was that it was a pain in the ass to get to the public beach. We had to hunt down a water taxi, ride that for 15 minutes, and then when it dropped us off, we still had to walk a good half hour before we found the beach. And I stress "found" since it's not clearly marked so we had to wander through the Atlantis resort before finally stumbling upon it. I suppose it doesn't sound like that huge a problem, but it gets exponentially annoying when you have a small kid with you.

My second qualm with Nassau was the quality of its beach. Don't get me wrong, the beach itself was nice enough, if extremely crowded. Unfortunately, the surf was crazy. So crazy that for the majority of the time, Chris (one of the other dads) and I had our back to the surf and were playing a "game" of making sure our kids didn't get swept away. Not only was the surf crashing right at the shoreline, but when it receded, it pulled hard. Hell, I was nervous about going out much past my waistline. I don't think Chris's wife Nicole realized what we were dealing with since she came over to check out the water and got completely knocked over by the first wave that hit her. No injuries other than a lost hairband, fortunately.

All that said, from what I saw of Atlantis, it looked pretty impressive. It would be worth coming back to the Bahamas if we were going to do the resort thing, but as a cruise stop? Probably not. So enough about the overview of the day, onward to the pictures!

Here's a shot of our cruise ship, the Carnival Dream, taken from the water taxi. I should point out that we did see normal taxis on our walk back from the public beach so if there is a next time, that might be the better choice, time wise.

This is the best shot I could get of Atlantis. The place is massive, and it reminded me a lot of a Las Vegas hotel.

Rough waters or not, I have to admit the water was quite spectacular looking.

Just one of the many times I probably saved Lucas's life from oncoming waves. This was a small one compared to some of the others.

Lucas takes a break. The picture Marilu took of the two of us from behind that I posted while on the cruise was taken shortly before this one as you can see I am still sitting in the background. It turned out that wasn't the smartest decision as I got sand in just about every spot on my body sand can get into. Let's just say Lucas and I were still finding sand days later.

Marilu and Nicole relax on the beach. Judging by Nicole's wet hair, this was taken after the wave had its way with her.

Lucas, Brandon, and Jayden play in the sand. Apparently, covering a wet towel completely in sand is what's fun for 4-6 year olds these days.

Back on the cruise ship, Lucas relaxes on his bed. Of the three cruises I've been on so far, this was by far the best stateroom I've been in. We didn't have a balcony, but we had plenty of room for both a large bed (queen size, I believe) and a fold out couch for Lucas. In addition, we had two bathrooms: one with a shower, toilet, and sink, and the other with a sink and a bath. It was a far cry from our last room where Marilu had to open the bathroom door just to shave her legs. I know Carnival isn't considered 5 star when it comes to cruise lines, but I was more than satisfied with this aspect of their service.

That night was the first of two "elegant" dinners, where everyone in the main dining rooms dressed up. Here's a photo of Marilu with her brother Jonathan.

Lucas and I took a serious picture for the camera...

...before devolving into our true nature.

Unfortunately, our new camera was giving us a hard time getting a picture of Lucas and his cousin Colby. They are all blurry to some extent, but this is the best of them.

This was taken a little later, after we'd somehow fixed the blurring issue. Sadly, it's not the most photogenic shot. "Wow, look at that food."

As for this video that was taken in our room before dinner, I have no idea.



That's it for the Bahamas! Next up, St. Thomas!