Day 7 - Nassau, Bahamas
Friday, October 7, 2005
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I didn’t sleep much last night. It was storming most of the night, so the ship was rolling more than normal. It’s actually not too bad falling asleep, but if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night (which I always do to go to the bathroom) then it’s harder to fall asleep. I swear, even though I know it can’t physically happen, when you feel yourself rolling and you can see how far the ship is actually moving from side to side/up and down, you do have a fleeting moment when you think the ship is just going to continue to roll completely over! Also, for whatever reason, my back really started hurting (Tom has been complaining about the hard bed all week, but it hasn’t bothered me until now.)
Tom got up early and went to the gym, then went to his “alpha capsule” massage—basically an enclosed chamber (you lay in it and stick your head out) that vibrates and emits aromatherapy scents. (It was something we got to test out for a few moments on our initial tour of the spa the first day and Tom really enjoyed it, so that was his treat.)
While we were getting ready for breakfast, the weather cleared up and we had high hopes of having a gorgeous day in Nassau. During breakfast, we looked out over the expanse of ocean and it was sunny blue skies as far as the eye could see. However, since returning from breakfast, the weather has varied from overcast with the occasional sprinkle (as felt from my seat on our balcony) to now partially clearing (but still mostly cloudy) skies with mostly calm waters.
We got off the ship and walked into town. It was all the same shops we’d just seen and visited in St. Thomas (which I liked better). Tom bought some cheap T-shirts (basically for running, except he can say he got them in Nassau) and then we decided we might as well try to get to a beach. Of course, it was a $10 taxi ride there and we didn’t even get dropped at the beach which TICKED. ME. OFF. I specifically asked the guy if he went to the beach and said we wanted to go directly to the beach, but he dropped us off at Atlantis (the upscale resort of the area). So, we thought he would know the best and that we would have easy access to the beach so we started wandering around and around and walked through the casino (everything from penny slots to $25 slots!) and guess what? No beach. As we knew from port briefings, we would not be allowed to use the beaches at Atlantis but there was supposedly a beach a few minutes’ walk away. We asked someone and they gave us directions…but we obviously missed a turn or something, so we’re walking and walking and walking and it’s hot and humid and I’m tired and we’re walking and walking and we finally see a beach access sign so follow that and keep walking and walking and walking and I am getting REALLY cranky and, frankly, bitchy because I had wanted to be dropped off at the beach initially to avoid this very thing! So, we FINALLY get to the beach (after climbing up a huge sand dune) and we can see the clouds rolling in (we were not surprised). So we look around for some sort of changing room and…oh, yes, you can change in the restroom at Atlantis down the beach. YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING. ME. We were just there (practically). So now we have to trudge probably 50 yards down the beach to change into our suits. And you can just imagine how thrilled I was, as tired and cranky as I was, to now have to walk through the sand… So we got changed, took a dip in the ocean, took a few pictures, watched the clouds rolling closer, swam around a bit…and about 10 seconds after we decided to go lay on the beach, it started raining. So we quickly dried off, grabbed our stuff, and headed to the waiting taxis. A nice sunny day at the beach (hell, a sunny vacation!) was just NOT in our cards. So once we made it through inspection to get back to the ship, it started POURING. We were also wet from swimming, so we just got wetter. At this point, all we could do is laugh—so much for a typical sunny Caribbean vacation (most of our pictures have a dreary overcast look to them and/or you can see the clouds rolling in).
Once we got back on the ship, we decided to hit the pool since we were already wet! So, for the first time this week, we sat in the hot tub and I took a dip in the pool. It was also so warm and humid that I didn’t even want to sit on the balcony! We checked out our formal pictures we had taken last night and didn’t like any of them (crap!) but that saved us at least $20!
Our last dinner was actually sad…we really hated to say goodbye to the people (workers) we had come to know over the past week! Tom and I were actually a bit teary-eyed as we shook their hands and said our farewells (we’re such saps!). I had forgotten my camera (again), so I wanted a menu to take with me, so we asked Rudi (one of the main dining room manager-type stewards) for one. He said no problem and disappeared for a good two or three minutes. When he came back, he had the menus from all seven days! THAT is a perfect example of the type of service we’ve had all week…and why we’ve decided we really want to take another cruise on this ship!! (If we had planned it correctly, we could have stayed on the ship and continued on to the Western Caribbean—the ship leaves Fort Lauderdale tomorrow!)
So, for the last dinner review… Tom and I actually chose the same appetizer tonight—Thai Crispy Spring Roll (this was actually the first night where neither of us wanted any of the other appetizers—we’ve been tasting each other’s meals all week!). I actually wanted to try all three of the soups tonight, but gave up on the Chilled Avocado and Smoked Salmon in favor of the Bahamian Conch Chowder while Tom had Famous Italian Wedding Soup. (I know I could have asked for a second bowl, but honestly…we’re getting tired of eating!!) We both had the Greek Salad and then I had the Sesame Crusted Tuna Steak (with “crackling broccoli tempura and hot spicy wasabi mashed potatoes”) and Tom had the Caribbean Island Pot Roast (topped with “frizzled onions” and “pineapple-mashed yams”). For dessert, I had Strawberry Shortcake and Tom had Chocolate Truffle (crap, I forget what it was—we didn’t get dessert menus!) with a side scoop of Butter Pecan ice cream.
Then it was back to the room where we happened to start watching a movie on TV (Spanglish—it was very cute) and now here I am writing the final bit of the journal and using up the last of our internet minutes. Tom is upstairs packing—our bags have to be outside our room by 1am.
We are really going to miss this ship and everyone we’ve come into contact with, but it has been a great experience…and a great honeymoon!
DISEMBARKATION: Saturday, October 8, 2005 - We got up fairly early and finished our packing and went to our last breakfast. We waited in our room until they called our tag number (blue 2) around 9am. We were off the ship and through immigration by 9:15 and then walked straight into hell, LOL. It is NOT fair to finish a very relaxing 7-day cruise by being hoarded into a warehouse to find your luggage, and then deal with 2000 people trying to find their own luggage and exit at the same time. What made it worse yet was the porters who kept pushing their way through the line, telling us to move to let them through--I'm just not sure where they expected us to move since we were all packed in like sardines. (It was definitely not as well-run as the embarkation was, and was a disappointing end to an otherwise nice experience.) Kathryn picked us up with no problems and soon we were back at the house and getting hugs from the girls!