Ahoy! Since many of our vacations are not exactly RELAXING (we tend to do a lot of exploring, early mornings, etc., on our trips), Kevin and I decided to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. We didn’t plan any official excursions or anything because that really drives up the price – the plan was not to have a plan. For us, that’s a big deal. We got a great rate out of Ft. Lauderdale on Princess Cruises for a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas. When I say good rate, I mean a little under $1000 total for our cruise. This price did NOT include airfare. Our ship was the Emerald Princess. We have cruised Carnival Imagination before and wanted to see the difference between cruise lines. Carnival definitely had a bigger “party” vibe and attracted more families, but Princess was a little bit of an older crowd, which was just fine for us! It was quieter that way. Because the rate was so affordable, we booked a balcony room which was absolutely worth the extra money. We enjoyed many hours reading and relaxing out there!
Our first day was at sea, so we spent some time drinking fruity drinks while laying out at the pool. The first stop was Nassau. We were not huge fans of this city. Perhaps some of the resorts are nice, but to us it smelled like garbage and food and drinks are VERY pricey. The area near the cruise port had a lot of souvenir shops and bars. Before decided on a cruise we toyed around the idea of staying at a hotel in Nassau, and we are VERY glad that we didn’t. We even went back to the ship early to lay out at the pool!
We really enjoyed Princess Cay, Princess Cruise’s private island. We spent our entire day at the beach soaking up the sun! Since it was Princess’ island, they even had lunch available included in the cost of our trip. Drinks and beach furniture were available plus there was some live Bahamian music! A lot of people rented tubes and floats and things for the water, but Kev and I were content just to lay on the beach.
Arriving at Princess Cay!
Cruising is such an easy way to travel. You know exactly what you are going to be paying beforehand and the staff is always very energetic and helpful. There will always be food you’ll like (even if it’s 3000 calories), drinks are yummy, and there is a lot of free, fun entertainment on board! It was nice that we weren’t very interested in the ports because it put less pressure on our days, but it was also a bummer finally getting off the ship to ports that were kind of disappointing. It’s a double-edged sword. We probably won’t cruise again for a while – not to the Caribbean at least. We did achieve our goal of relaxing but as always, we wish we had one more day.
All Our Bags Are Packed 