Since we just got back from a Royal Caribbean Christmas cruise and this post from several years ago is all I could find, I thought I'd post here to give an update.
We found the Melia day pass through bookatourcaribbean.com. We upgraded to the inclusive lunch, paid a deposit of $27.59 and balanced owed onsite of $110.38 for 2 adults, 1 child. I read several reviews afterwards that said NOT to include the lunch because you could get a lunch onsite for less than the upgraded price from the basic day pass. I do not recall there being an option for a buffet, but since this is not my family's preferred lunch style, I would not have chosen it.
We arrived in Nassau early Dec 26th and after breakfast, wandered into Nassau to find the #10 bus. Directions were perfect. Bus driver was friendly - you pay the $1.25 per person when exiting, not entering. We waited about 10 minutes on the bus because it was still a little early so he wanted a few more passengers for the ride. It was an easy (maybe 10-15 minutes?) ride that dropped us off right in front of the Melia.
We checked in at the front desk and were provided armbands and a room key for towels. Walked out to the towel hut, but they were out of towels - said they would have more in about an hour. We decided to try the beach first and found nice chaise loungers not far from the water. Wandered back up a while later and we were able to collect our towels with the key cards. The water itself was nice, but it was an extremely windy day (in fact our whole cruise experienced a lot of wind - so much that it canceled all parasailing excursions in Coco Cay the day before). Because of this, it made the water a little rougher.
We laid on the beach until a little after noon with no complaints at all. However, lunch proved a little different matter. Went to check in at O'Grill and the hostess told us it was buffet-only. She then told us we could wait until 12:30 and enjoy the larger buffet in the Marketplace restaurant onsite. Again, we're not buffet fans, so we went to double-check at the front desk. We were told we could only eat at O'Grill with our purchased pass (that's what I thought) and the front desk called down to re-iterate this to the hostess.
We were seated at O'Grill and were told it was buffet-only/ no menu available. I would not have paid the upgrade if this was stated clearly. I went back to the website just now and noticed that it offers 2 options - buffet or "lunch" (this second option costing more). They must have changed it since we purchased a few months ago.
We had the buffet, and it was okay. Probably not worth the amount that we paid to upgrade for our appetites though. So this part was a bit disappointing.
We decided to hang out by the pool after lunch - they have 3 pools around the resort. The central pool with pool bar was PACKED so we opted for the zero entry pool - looked to have sort of a lazy river around it with waterfall. Pretty setting & we found chairs easily under palms for a little more shade. However, because of the strong winds (not Melia's fault), we left around 3pm.
Pick up the #10 bus back to Nassau on the street directly in front of the hotel - easy. Do make sure you have exact change though for the driver. We had $4 and I asked for my change. Sneaky driver gave me a Bahamian quarter back! ;)
Overall, we enjoyed our day at Melia. In fact, we've been to Nassau so many times that we all agreed this was our favorite day in Nassau - away from the crowds & market. However, I was disappointed with the lunch. I felt that we could have split a sandwich from the Starbucks or other small convenience markets and been okay rather than paying the upgrade to end up eating from a small buffet. We also were not able to take advantage of the kayaks & SUP because of the wind, although that was certainly not the fault of the Melia.
Melia Nassau Day Pass?
in Bahamas
Posted
Since we just got back from a Royal Caribbean Christmas cruise and this post from several years ago is all I could find, I thought I'd post here to give an update.
We found the Melia day pass through bookatourcaribbean.com. We upgraded to the inclusive lunch, paid a deposit of $27.59 and balanced owed onsite of $110.38 for 2 adults, 1 child. I read several reviews afterwards that said NOT to include the lunch because you could get a lunch onsite for less than the upgraded price from the basic day pass. I do not recall there being an option for a buffet, but since this is not my family's preferred lunch style, I would not have chosen it.
We arrived in Nassau early Dec 26th and after breakfast, wandered into Nassau to find the #10 bus. Directions were perfect. Bus driver was friendly - you pay the $1.25 per person when exiting, not entering. We waited about 10 minutes on the bus because it was still a little early so he wanted a few more passengers for the ride. It was an easy (maybe 10-15 minutes?) ride that dropped us off right in front of the Melia.
We checked in at the front desk and were provided armbands and a room key for towels. Walked out to the towel hut, but they were out of towels - said they would have more in about an hour. We decided to try the beach first and found nice chaise loungers not far from the water. Wandered back up a while later and we were able to collect our towels with the key cards. The water itself was nice, but it was an extremely windy day (in fact our whole cruise experienced a lot of wind - so much that it canceled all parasailing excursions in Coco Cay the day before). Because of this, it made the water a little rougher.
We laid on the beach until a little after noon with no complaints at all. However, lunch proved a little different matter. Went to check in at O'Grill and the hostess told us it was buffet-only. She then told us we could wait until 12:30 and enjoy the larger buffet in the Marketplace restaurant onsite. Again, we're not buffet fans, so we went to double-check at the front desk. We were told we could only eat at O'Grill with our purchased pass (that's what I thought) and the front desk called down to re-iterate this to the hostess.
We were seated at O'Grill and were told it was buffet-only/ no menu available. I would not have paid the upgrade if this was stated clearly. I went back to the website just now and noticed that it offers 2 options - buffet or "lunch" (this second option costing more). They must have changed it since we purchased a few months ago.
We had the buffet, and it was okay. Probably not worth the amount that we paid to upgrade for our appetites though. So this part was a bit disappointing.
We decided to hang out by the pool after lunch - they have 3 pools around the resort. The central pool with pool bar was PACKED so we opted for the zero entry pool - looked to have sort of a lazy river around it with waterfall. Pretty setting & we found chairs easily under palms for a little more shade. However, because of the strong winds (not Melia's fault), we left around 3pm.
Pick up the #10 bus back to Nassau on the street directly in front of the hotel - easy. Do make sure you have exact change though for the driver. We had $4 and I asked for my change. Sneaky driver gave me a Bahamian quarter back! ;)
Overall, we enjoyed our day at Melia. In fact, we've been to Nassau so many times that we all agreed this was our favorite day in Nassau - away from the crowds & market. However, I was disappointed with the lunch. I felt that we could have split a sandwich from the Starbucks or other small convenience markets and been okay rather than paying the upgrade to end up eating from a small buffet. We also were not able to take advantage of the kayaks & SUP because of the wind, although that was certainly not the fault of the Melia.