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Mailbag Monday: October 24, 2011 Edition

Written by T.I. Cruiser on October 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment

In today’s Mailbag Monday I answer a couple of questions from cruisers concerning port schedules. One question has to deal with arrival and departure times as it relates to booking independent excursions. The next question is in reference to an overnight stay in Nassau.

How accurate are cruise schedules?

I will be going on a cruise next year for Spring Break with some of my friends. We are all college students and will be graduating next May, so yeah, we are all broke. I read that you can save a ton of money booking your own excursions instead of going through the cruiseship. But what I want to know is, are the port arrival times pretty accurate? I would hate to book and pay for an excursion that we can’t make because the ship is late.

In my experiences unless there is some sort of unforeseen circumstance such as a freak storm, medical emergency or mechanical failure the arrival times are spot on. What you have to remember is even though a ship may leave St. Thomas at 6 pm and isn’t scheduled to arrive at Tortola until 8 am it doesn’t 14 hours to make the trip.

In many ports it is against the law for the cruise ship to open its shops and casinos if the cruise ship remains within a certain distance. The problem is those are huge moneymakers for the cruise line. So, to be in compliance with those laws, cruise ships will sail a certain distance and either anchor off shore or do slow circles around the island. If you are ever on the Lido deck in the middle of the night it isn’t unusual to see the lights of your next port just off in the distance. So even though the time between leaving and arriving at a port may be twelve hours there is a good chance the actual travel time was only a small portion of that time. As a result of this practice cruise ships usually don’t have any problems meeting their docking schedule since for most of the night they are figuratively speaking just down the street.

That isn’t to say that things never happen to throw a monkey-wrench into the works. It really is a fact of life that sometimes “stuff happens” that can’t be planned for in advance. This is why many excursion providers do have policies that will refund your money if the ship arrives too late to do the excursion or skips the port. You will want to check to see if your provider has such a policy before putting any sort of deposit down. Seeing as you have nearly half a year until Spring Break you should be able to find something suitable.

Can Passengers Enjoy the Nassau Nightlife?

I will be going on a cruise to the Bahamas that stays in Nassau over-night. More specifically we arrive 10 am on one day and leave at 7:30 am the next day. Will we be allowed to go to some of the local clubs at night or do we have to be back on the ship during the overnight hours?

I’m going to assume from the information you provided that you are on one of the 3 or 4 day party cruises departing from South Florida. These short cruises are a lot of fun and are known to be huge parties. A major contributing factor to these being known as party cruises is the ability to enjoy the Nassau Nightlife. It’s not often that cruise passengers get to take advantage of the nightlife at a port of call; luckily this is one of those cases.

If your ship is scheduled to be in port overnight in Nassau or any other port, passengers are free to explore that port during those hours. Just make sure you arrive back onboard the ship, about an hour before the cruise ship is set to depart. That being said behaving safely while in port is the sole responsibility of the passenger. The Bahamas has a pretty high crime rate, with the island of New Providence (where Nassau is located) being particularly bad. The most common crimes committed against tourists are pickpocketing and theft but violent crimes against tourists are on the rise. That being said you will want to be cautious when hitting up the Nassau nightlife.

Use common sense to stay out of potentially dangerous situations
Always be aware of your surroundings
Don’t over-indulge in substances that can impair your judgment
Always travel in a group

Basically these are the same rules that should apply any time you go out for a night on the town. You will just want to be extra careful since you will be in an unfamiliar setting. If you would like more information about crime or safety concerns in Nassau you should probably invest a bit of time visiting the Embassy of The Bahamas website at http://nassau.usembassy.gov/.

If you would like to send in a question to be answered in an upcoming Mailbag Monday feel free to send me your questions.

My Freedom Cruise – Nassau part 2

Written by T.I. Cruiser on September 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

After our tour of the grounds we decided to head straight to the beach to get a good spot. Apparently everyone else had the same idea because by the time we got over to the beach there was a herd of cruisers moving towards the folding chairs. Luckily, I’m fairly nimble in the sand which allowed me to get a choice spot. Unlike most places in the Caribbean you have to drag your own chairs over. They are fairly heavy so if you are older you may need help (I brought two over for an older couple), they are the kind with a built in canopy which can be folded back.

: The Beach at the Atlantis

: Parasailing at the Atlantis

This was a really relaxing beach, not as picture perfect as those of the southern Caribbean but a beautiful beach nonetheless. Once we got settled into our spots it was time to get into the water. We swam around and played for a while but didn’t attempt to do any snorkeling so I can’t really comment on whether or not its a good spot. However, I will say be careful of jellyfish. After about 30 minutes of swimming I started to feel some tingly in my right side. Then slowly as if controlled by one of those dimmer light switches the pain intensified until the whole right side of my body was throbbing, from my rib cage up to my neck. Yep, I had been stung by a jellyfish (multiple times). I guess that was mother nature’s way of telling me to get out of the water.

We laid out on the chairs for a while, waiting for the sting to subside. After about 30 minutes I was no longer in pain (just a mild discomfort), so we went to use our food vouchers. In total there were three stands that we could , but we were only able to find two of them. We decided to eat at the stand closest to the beach. The food was nothing special but it was good enough, I had the fish and chips, they had the conch fritters and hot dog. The conch fritters were decent but the hot dog was not very good. The portions were large, so this meal was sufficient enough to carry us until we were to return to the ship.

After lunch none of us really wanted to get back into the ocean so instead we decided to check out a little lagoon they had on the grounds. When we walked over, there were dozens of people in the water having a great time, surely we would be safe from jellyfish here. With new found confidence we enter the water. Immediately, I hear a scream. It was Catie, she seems to be limping out of the water and crying. By the time I walk over to her, she is holding her leg crying. There was already a welt developing around her upper thigh, as if someone had wrapped a piece of fishing line around her leg and pulled it tight. I guess the safe little lagoon wasn’t as safe as we had thought, she too was stung by a jellyfish. Her’s was no big deal because a nearby lifeguard had jellyfish ointment available which took the sting away. I went back into the water for a while once we headed back to the beach, but would end her day of fun in the water.

We decided to head back to the ship a little early (about 3:30). So, we gathered up our things and made our way back to the parking lot to catch the shuttle.

My Freedom Cruise – Nassau Part 1

Written by T.I. Cruiser on September 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment

After a great nights sleep, we awoke Sunday morning in the port of Nassau, Bahamas. Since it had been a while since I had been to the Bahamas we were extremely anxious to get off the cruise ship but first things first. When I was young I always heard “breakfast is the foundation for a great day”, so being the momma’s boy that I am we headed up to the Lido deck for breakfast. The only problem is I am extremely picky when it comes to what I put in my mouth. Normally I enjoy the omelets served at the Lido but the line was very long and we wanted to get off the ship so I skipped the eggs. Instead I had a bacon, two bagels and then topped off my tank with fruit. The Buddha belly was appeased and it was time to depart the ship.

We chose to do something a bit out of the ordinary in Nassau and opted for a ship excursion. Today we would be visiting the mega- resort, Atlantis. Although I had seen Atlantis from afar and also on television, I had never been to there so this was pretty exciting for me. As for the girls as long as there is a beach where they are going, all is well. The excursion was about ninety dollars per person. For this price we got transportation to and from the resort, admission and use of the resorts facilities and beaches as well as a lunch voucher usable at a select group of food stands. In my honest opinion it wasn’t a very good deal and if given the option I probably would not do this again. However, this was a last minute decision so there was no opportunity to find a cheaper alternative.

Upon exiting the ship we grouped up with the rest of the passengers heading the resort, afterwards we boarded vans which shuttled us to the Paradise Island (where the resort is located). It was a short ride (maybe 10 minutes) along the way our driver told us a bit about the island and kept us laughing all the way. One of the things I love best about the islands is the friendliness of the drivers. They all do a great job making you feel like welcome guests in their homes. When we finally arrived at the Atlantis we were assigned a guide who walked us around the grounds telling us about the resort. Places of interest were the casino, pools, aquarium and of course the beach (our excursion did not include the waterpark).

: The Atlantis Resort

: A Lagoon at the Atlantis

: Casino Anemone Sculpture

: Aquarium Shark

The resort is positively massive, in fact we didn’t even see the grounds in their entirety. But, what we did see is enough that I have promised myself a return to the resort for an extended stay (at some point).

I’m running a bit short on time since I have to work on a project for work but I’ll post more about Nassau later.