Cruising the Bahamas: Part Two

Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday morning, we woke up and were already anchored in the Bahamas at the RC's private island, CocoCay. We snagged breakfast, prepped for a day at the beach, and headed down to Deck 2 to load onto the ferry boat. CocoCay is a very small island and doesn't have accomodations for the boat to dock directly on the shore, so we had to take ferry boats from the ship to the island. It was probably a 5-10 minute ride and each boat held 200 passengers. We had to swipe our "SeaPass cards" while exiting and entering the boat so they could keep a correct count of everyone.

We got to the island mid-morning and I was surprised at how neat it was. There were huts and shops, an area with hammocks under palm trees, and of course beach chairs everywhere. There were several outdoor bars, as well. There were a handful of beach activities you could do at cost, but I really just wanted to bum out in the sun. We found the rest of Andy's family and I got cozy in my beach chair. I'm definitely a beach girl. I could spend a week alone on the beach reading and sleeping and be thrilled. I was a little disappointed because I think we chose to sit at the noisiest spot on the island - right next to the band. I guess there were 3000 guests staying on the boat, so we probably wouldn't find silence anywhere we'd go. I still was able to read almost all of my book and got plenty of sun. They had a huge buffet area with several stations for lunch, so we ate right on the beach. It was a really pretty setting. We packed up and made our way to the ferry around 2:30. We had a quick swim in the Solarium before the ship left port again at 4:30. We showered and headed to the dining room again at 6pm.

All ten of us ate together this night. Apparently we never got the memo that you had to wear Red Carpet attire. Literally everyone was in evening gowns and suits - like way nicer clothes than 85% of the guests wore to our wedding. The fanciest thing I brought was my $12 old navy cotton tank dress, and the only shoes I had were old navy flip flops. Thankfully I didn't care. We were totally getting judging eyes from everyone, and actually got turned away from the dining room because the women didn't have heels on (we snuck in when no one was looking). So that happened. Finally we ate and I had some sort of salad (it had artichokes and lots of beans I remember), Corvina fish, and cheesecake. All of the food was excellent. This was probably my favorite food of the whole trip.

It was this night that we saw the magician. What a cheeseball. His wife was his assistant and they live on the ship most months out the year. You could tell he says the exact same things at each show, it was so rehearsed. I mean, the magic and illusions were pretty sweet, but I couldn't get over the cheesiness.  We headed to our rooms to prep for our next day in Nassau, and were going through all of our options for activities.

The next morning, we got breakfast and met everyone near the Guest Services place to decide our plan of action for the day. We had ported in Nassau, Bahamas before we even woke up, but we had no idea what we would be doing that day. We knew we didn't want to stay on the ship, but all of the possible activities were outrageously priced, and none of them seemed worth it to me. I remember repeating "I just want to go to the beach" about a million times. According to guest services, it was a half an hour walk to a public beach. I was the only one who seemed to care to spend the whole day there, so we ended up deciding to go tour the Atlantis hotel with Andy's parents and brother's family, but the tour wouldn't leave until 1pm.

Three of the four boats that were docked at the Bahamas. Ours is in the middle.

We decided to spend the morning at the beach, even if it meant a walk. We had to swipe our SeaPass cards leaving the boat, and pretty much walked right onto the island. I remember never showing my Passport and thinking how weird that was. There were a total of 4 cruise ships docked, so the place was pretty crowded with tourists (lots of locals yelling and haggling for you to use their services). The walk to the beach was maybe 20 minutes, so not that bad. And the beach was wonderful. It was quiet (Hallelujah!), the sand was white and soft, and the water was a clear blue. We found Andy's two brothers and SIL and enjoyed the sun. I could've stayed there all day, but it ended up being maybe an hour before we had to leave again. We made the walk back, got through the laidback "customs" place, and were back on the boat for lunch. We quickly changed clothes and exited the boat again to head to Antlantis' island. It was a short 5-10 minute bus ride across the island.

As you can see it was vey windy.

The tour began at the shops in Atlantis, we went through the Casino, and started touring the aquarium and "The Dig." Apparently the Dig was constructed to mimic the real Atlantis community. There were fifteen chambers with various items, but all had glass to view the fish. I think they said Atlantis has the biggest ocean exhibit for marine life in the world other than the ocean itself. It was a pretty lengthy tour since it was so big, I was kind of over it by the end, but I'm not really up on my marine life. Once we exited the Dig we walked through the pool areas to another part of the ocean exhibit. I will say, Atlantis' pool area is pretty darn sweet. There were about a million different sections, and it was gigantic. They had their own huge manmade lagoon beach with a large blowup obstacle course in the water, several different pools, of course the popular slides, and kids water play area. Andy and I decided to walk around the grounds after the tour ended to see the sites.

Although everything was so cool, it was also very crowded and loud. I would never stay there unless it was during slow season. Plus, the resort allows docked cruise ship guests to use its pool services for a (large) fee, so there were even more people around. But I won't say that I didn't regret not getting the Aquapass and spending the day at their pools rather than doing the tour..

We met back up with the family in the hotel lobby, and had a drink while visiting. Andy and I decided to make the 4pm bus to the ship, so we said goodbye and got right on the shuttle. This driver was very informative. I think he took a longer route through town, but he showed us a lot of the local sites. He talked about different trees and plants, how to cook various native fruits, history of the town's churches and hospitals - it was actually really interesting. We really should've tipped him!

We got through the port business and were back on the boat. We changed into our suits and headed for the Solarium for some quiet relaxing after the busy day. I remember the pool felt really wonderful after sweating all day, and I finished my book on the comfy lounge chairs. Andy's brother and SIL met up with us and we exchanged stories about our day. I ate dinner in the Solarium at the Park Cafe (it was so much more peaceful than the Windjammer buffet area). We showered and spent some time in our room before heading to the Love and Marriage Gameshow.

I had been looking forward to this ever since we got on the boat. The whole family had been trying to convince my in-laws to sign up for the show because we were there for their anniversary. They weren't really into the idea (I can't blame them), so much so that my MIL left the room during auditions. Each couple had to audition in front of the audience by singing or saying a set of lines determined by the cruise director, Mark. Awkward. But the show was absolutely hilarious. It featured three couples, one married 0-5 years, one 5-25 years, and one 26+ years.

The youngest couple was on their honeymoon. They were college students from Ole Miss and since I'm in the judging mood I'll add that they had only been dating since the previous fall. Andy and I could've beaten the pants off of them.. The other couple had been married 17 years I think and their daughter was in the audience, so that would've been uncomfortable. The last couple was from New Jersey. The husband basically forced the wife to do the show and was a riot. The wife was so uncomfortable that it was funny - they ended up being the winners. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

The boat was set to take off from the Bahamas at 11:30pm that night, and there was a big party on the pool deck. Andy and I checked it out and sat in some lounge chairs on the upper deck to see the view as we left the island. After that, it was time for bedtime. The next day we were set to sail all day at sea.