Nassau - Safety, and Beaches vs Resorts

We'll be visiting Nassau this summer aboard MSC Seaside with our two children and my parents (who may opt to stay on the ship in Nassau).

There are fresh travel advisories for the Bahamas, and Nassau in particular, from both the Canadian and US governments. Has anyone visited Nassau recently who would care to comment on the safety in port? The Canadian warning, in particular, seems to suggest crime targeted towards tourists in the cruise terminal areas.

I've been scouring these forums looking for things to do in Nassau. The last time we visited in 2016 we explored Atlantis (just wandered around for free) and then went to Cabbage Beach. If we opt to do a beach day again, we wouldn't return to Cabbage.

We are torn between one of the better free beaches (Saunders, for instance, gets mentioned a lot as a nice beach), or possibly looking at a resort for the day. Melia is one that we're seriously considering, but we are trying to figure out if the experience is worth the $140 for our family of four, versus just enjoying a nice, free public beach.

We are also considering a walking tour of downtown, possibly including the pirate museum for our kids.

All of these options require walking or some form of transportation in Nassau, which goes back to the safety question. Is it overblown, or are there real concerns in Nassau these days?

Thanks for any comments.

Melia is really nice, worth the money. We took a cab, but there have been no reports here of any issues using the jitney. We were is Nassau in May with our kids, never felt unsafe.

Thank you for the comments! We'll continue to look into Melia. Did you pre-purchase or just walk up and buy the passes the same day?

Have you considered an excursion like Blue Lagoon? Won't have to worry about safety and it's an excellent beach day. I think I'd personally prefer the Melia as I like the larger resort feel and amenities but both are great options.

Have you considered an excursion like Blue Lagoon? Won't have to worry about safety and it's an excellent beach day. I think I'd personally prefer the Melia as I like the larger resort feel and amenities but both are great options.

We were looking into the islands a bit. The three that seem to pop up are Blue Lagoon, Balmoral and Pearl islands. We may return to that idea as we sort through our options.

Thanks for your comment!

Walked up down and all around downtown Nassau last month. Never felt unsafe. Pirate museum is just a few blocks from the ship and in a very open place.

We were there last spring and walked to Fort Charlotte and felt safe. In Fall of 2016 we took the bus to Melia. It was very windy so we stayed by the pool most of the day. Drinks were very expensive.

We were there twice last month AFTER the travel advisory came out and chose to walk everywhere. We went to the Pirate Republic Brewery, John Watling Distillery, Pirate Museum, Graycliff Chocolate Factory, Senor Frogs, and Crab and Tings on Junkanoo Beach. Everything is within 15 minutes walking from the port.

We never felt unsafe as there were hundreds of tourists everywhere along these areas. There were also many uniformed police on the sidewalks monitoring during the daytime.

However I would not do any jet ski rentals as this has been a particular source of the recent safety concerns.

Also if your ship is in port overnight I would not go into town after dark as most of the businesses are closed and there are very few tourists out at that time.

We will be back to Nassau again in September and plan to walk into town again.

If you decide to walk, i recommend that you print a paper map of downtown Nassau and mark the areas that you want to see as you may or may not have cellular data service on the island.