Mountainbreeze's B2B Destiny review - long w/ pics

[mountainbreeze]

GRAND TURK CONTINUED:

 

We hung out and enjoyed the water and the beach at Jack's Shack, and when we got hungry, we went up to the deck, found a table and ordered some food.

The view from my chair as I ate lunch. What a lov-e-ly little place! You can see our blue beach chairs and umbrella on the beach on the other side of the volleyball net.

 

 

 

 

It was yummy, and the first time I have ever had REAL jerk chicken! I loved it, and Tim especially loved the spicy dipping sauce that came with it.

Jack's Shack Jerk Chicken - with NO silverware! We just dug in!!

 

 

 

 

As we were finishing our lunch, another couple walked past our table and I overheard them talking about finding shade. The place was getting crowded and most of the tables were full by then, so we offered the couple our table, and told them we were just leaving. They were a very nice couple, and although I don't remember their names, I do remember they were from Oklahoma. We chatted with them for a few minutes, and I gave them a coupon for a free shot of rum at the bar. I had printed two before we left for the cruise. After we said goodbye, Tim and I went into the gift shop.

I found a magnet that said Grand Turk, and a Keychain that says TC (for Turks & Caicos Islands) and Tim paid for them for me.

Here is our magnet:

 

 

 

 

One thing about souvineers, I AM THE SOUVINEER QUEEN!!! I love to buy all the crap that I find in the gift shops, and when I get home, I always have a whole lot of useless stuff that was so cute in the gift shops. Several years ago, I decided that the ONLY souvineers I will ever buy again will be things I can actually use when I get home. Shirts, keychains......those are fine. No more giant pencils, bumper stickers, fans, or stuffed animals for me!!!

 

While we were in the gift shop, Norma and Brian came in, and we all looked around for a few minutes.

 

Back out in the sunshine, Norma and I pulled out our coupons we had brought for our free shot of rum at the bar. We handed them to "Jack" the very nice bartender. I talked to him for a minute, and I told him I recognized him from his Jacks Shack facebook page. I had recently friended his page, and he had replied with a nice message.

 

I handed him my free rum coupon, and he gave me TWO shots of rum. TWO!! Now, I don't drink much at all (maybe twice a year) but I was in the caribbean, and I was in a great mood. I grabbed both shots and began to walk back to our beach chairs.

 

Its hard to walk on sand anyway, so can you picture me staggering back through the sand trying to get to our beachchairs with a shot of rum in each hand??!! And it wasn't even 1:00 yet! I made it to the chairs, and tried to sip on one of the shots. WOW! It was very strong! My goodness! I could feel it making me warm with just a sip! I tried to hand off the other shot to someone else, there was NO WAY I was going to drink them both. Nobody would take one! Tim doesn't drink, Brian had beer, Norma refused, and I was still holding 2 shots of rum, trying to sip on one of them. I did manage to drink one of the shots. Then I staggered back up the beach, and found the Oklahoma couple still sitting at our lunch table. I handed Mr. Oklahoma the shot, and bid him good luck!

 

The 4 of us stayed at the beach for awhile longer. I couldn't believe how clear and blue the water was, and I couldn't believe how nice the day was. I was absolutely in heaven in Grand Turk. It was a beautiful little island. The atmosphere was GREAT! The music coming from Jack's Shack was reggae, and beachy music. I was loving life that day!

 

[mountainbreeze]

GRAND TURK CONTINUED:

 

Norma and I in the water:

 

 

 

And Tim and I:

 

 

 

Around 2:00 the 4 of us started our walk down the beach toward the pier. We all had to be back on the ship by 2:30, and we wanted to stop at Margaritaville first. Obviously we were not boarding that ship until the last possible minute!

We walked a short way down the beach, and walked into the Margaritaville area. They had a very nice swimming pool, swim-up bar, bar and resturant. This seemed to be a very nice place, and it was much more crowded and loud than Jacks Shack. There were a lot of people, and a lot going on in Margaritaville! We rinsed the sand off our feet in the little showers near the pool, and jumped in the pool. It felt just as good as the ocean!

We only stayed at Margaritaville for about 15-20 minutes before we had to head back to to the ship. The lines to get back on the ship weren't too long, and Tim and I headed back to our room as soon as we boarded.

Walking back down the long pier to the ship. Our ship, the DESTINY, is the one on the right:

 

 

 

 

I was soaking wet from the pool, so I went out on the balcony in our room to watch our sailaway from Grand Turk. We took a few pictures of our beloved Jacks Shack, we loved it there and we were so sad to go.........

Looking at Jacks Shack from our balcony on the ship:

 

 

 

 

I tried to wait for the ship to pull out of the port before I got into the shower, but it was taking too long and I was anxious to get out of my wet clothes. I thought I could shower quickly before we left the port, so I grabbed my carnival bathrobe and headed for the shower.

The water was cold again!!! Oh no!! I was really looking forward to a HOT shower, and not a repeat of the cold one I had that morning.

I yelled in to Tim that I only had COLD water AGAIN.

He yelled back that I should turn the knob the other way.

What other way?? I yelled back

Then I turned the knob THE OTHER WAY and there was instant HOT water!!!

Oh! That other way!!! Nice to know that!! Thanks Tim!!

I took such a long shower, the ship pulled away from Grand Turk while I was in there. I was a little sad we had to leave this beautiful little island.

After my nice, HOT, long shower, Tim had a shower and we decided we were hungry.

We went up to the Lido deck in search of food. I ended up eating at the grill, where I got a hotdog, french fries, and some chicken nuggets. I hate to say it, but I wasn't impressed with my meal. The fries were pretty good, but the nuggets were hard, and they didn't even taste good when I dipped them in the ranch dressing. The hotdog wasn't beef, and the bun was hard. Call me a food snob, I can take it..........

Tim got pizza, and he thought it was OK. Not good and not bad.

OK, so we were still a little hungry. We went back up to our room and looked at the room service menu.

We ordered sandwiches: I had a BLT and Tim got a Reubin. The food came within 15 minutes, and Tim tipped the person that brought it a few dollars (we always tipped for room service on the ship, although the food itself was free). We loved the sandwiches! Both were very good, and we were full.

At some point that afternoon, we heard an anouncement over the loud speaker. "Operation Bright Star" was called 3 times, but neither Tim or I had any idea what that meant. I asked a crew member later, and he told me "it was just a drill". Tim and I didn't believe him, but when we got home and I looked "operation brightstar" up, I see that it was either a medical emergency, or a drill. So the crew member may have been telling the truth after all.

It was almost 5:00PM and we knew we would not be hungry enough to go to dinner in the dining room at 6:00. We decided we would hang out in the room for the night, although we did look through our FUN TIMES for a show we might want to see. We didn't see anything really interesting, so we were happy to lay around and relax. After all, we were going to Half Moon Cay in the morning!!!

We did leave the room a few times that night. We went to the picture gallery and looked for our formal night pictures from the night before. We found our pictures, but we didn't buy them. We didn't LOVE them and we knew we had another formal night coming up to try again for good pictures.

I went to the gift shop and bought a few things: candy, sinus meds for Tim, and a cute "Carnival" t-shirt I just had to have!

At some point that evening I did 2 loads of laundry in the laundry room. I did a load of whites and a load of darks. It was $3.00 to wash and $3.00 to dry each load. YIKES, that was a little expensive. At least we had all clean clothes though.

Around 10:PM we were hungry again. We walked up to the lido deck and ran into Cassandra and her mom, Mary up on the deck. We talked for a few minutes and then Tim and I were back to our search for food. We found the dinner buffet was still open so we loaded trays with food, and carried the trays back to our room. We stopped at the drink station on the way to fill up our cups for the night.

When we got back to the room, there was a note from Norma and Brian. They would meet us on the Island tomorrow, and we didn't need to wait for them before we left the ship.

About Half Moon Cay (our next port stop in the morning), it's a very small island in the bahamas owned by Holland America and Carnival. There are only about 50 people who live on Half Moon Cay, and they are caretakers. There is a small portion of the island that is used by the cruise lines, and the rest is wildlife.

We had heard that Half Moon Cay was supposed to be BEAUTIFUL (and it was!), and Tim and I had rented a cabana for the day so we could hang out all day on the beach and still be out of the sun if we wanted. After all of the cabanas were spoken for, Tim and I decided we would offer to share ours with our new friends if they wanted to join us for the day. We all agreed, and so we had plans to meet at the cabana the next morning.

Tim and I still needed to repack our beachbag for the next day, and I downloaded all of our pictures from our fun day in Grand Turk.

Y brought us fresh beach towels for the next day, and since we never left the room for very long that evening, he didn't turn down our bed or leave a towel animal that night. He did leave us our FUN TIMES for the next day.

Before I went to sleep that night, I went down to the internet cafe to use the computer again to message Christina. The internet was painfully slow, but I was back in the cabin and comfortably in bed within 30 minutes.

We decided not to fill out a room service card for breakfast, and we were both asleep by 11:00. It had been a very good and very long day!

[mountainbreeze]

Congratulations...love your story!!! I also have a similar story...my DH and I first met in college, were briefly engaged but then broke up and each ended up marrying other people. Some 20 years later, we found one another again, and have been married for 2 years! Our 3/27/11 Glory cruise was to celebrate our 2nd anniversary!! It definitely seems to be a growing trend that people are finding their first love was their true love!!

 

I am loving your review!! Best wishes to you and your new husband for a life time of happiness!!!

 

Pcrum, Thanks! Yes, I do think it is becoming a trend, I suppose since we have the internet, people are quite easy to find. Tim and I feel a bond, and we are very comfortable with each other, probably because we knew each other as kids.....it's nice! :) Congratulations on your 2 years of marriage!

[mountainbreeze]

Patiently (not!) waiting for the next installment. I'm really enjoying your review. Congrats on your marriage. Great photos too.

 

 

Thanks Oncruisecontrol! I'm glad you are enjoying it! More on the way :)

[mountainbreeze]

Great story, great pics. Thanks for sharing it.

 

 

Thank you Hannibal54! :)

[mountainbreeze]

I know how tough it is when real life hits you like a ton of bricks after a cruise--just want to say again how much I have enjoyed your review and can't wait to read the rest! Congrats again!!:):)

 

Alreadypacked, OhMyGosh!!! I was so spoiled for 2 weeks, I didn't have to do dishes, clean, drive, work....it was WONDERFUL!!! Coming home was very nice, but yes, I am struggling to keep up with daily life :(

 

I think Tim and I both have cruise depression......I told him I heard there is only one cure........BOOK ANOTHER CRUISE!!! He looked at me like I was nuts, but later he read me an ad for a cruise he had seen online. I think he misses the ship too!! This could work out well for me!!

[mountainbreeze]

Still waiting... :rolleyes:

 

 

Sorry for the long delays, ManyMore. I hate that too!

 

My excuse is that real life is keeping me way too busy, and also there have been a few times when I wanted to post, but photobucket won't cooperate. I'll keep trying, and eventually I'll get it all posted! :)

[mountainbreeze]

Congrats your your wedding and looking forward to reading more of your review!!!!

 

Thank You Crusinskier! :)

[mountainbreeze]

MAY 5 - HALF MOON CAY

 

Tim and I had set our alarm for 7 Am. We were not due to be at Half Moon Cay until 9:AM. We went out on the balcony, wanting to see land for the first time since we left Miami a day and a half ago. We saw nothing but water. No land.

 

We left our room and walked towards the front of the ship. We knew there was a doorway to go out on the front decks, and we found it! We went out on the front deck, and we saw nothing. No land.

 

Back to our room, we ordered coffee from room service for Tim, and we showered and got dressed for our beach day. Swimsuits and shorts.

Tim's coffee came in 10 minutes, and he had time to enjoy it before it was time to goto HALF MOON CAY (pronounced "key"). We kept going out on the balcony to check for land, and eventually we saw it.

 

We pulled close to the island and the ship dropped the anchors. Smaller boats, called tenders, came and pulled up to the side of our ship and began to load things we would need on the island. The ship offloads everything we will need for the day along with some crew members.

 

 

We could see we were bringing beer, a pirate and a camera display...

 

 

 

 

As I said before, I love pirates! I was excited to get a picture with him when we got to the island (I was sure he was dressed up for photo ops)

 

 

Tim and I watched the crew laod the boats for about 30 minutes, and around 9:20, we walked down to deck one and waited in a loooong line for a tender to take us to the island.

 

The line moved quick once it actually started moving. We got on the tender and were ferried to the island pretty quickly. Tim and I talked to a couple from Florida while we were on the tender. (We loved striking up conversations in the elevators, hallways, etc....we asked everyone where they were from, and if they were having a good time. We thought it was fun to talk to everyone).

We got to the island, and I saw the pirate guy taking photos! I walked over to him, and he looked really um....cheezy. He had a line of people wanting pictures with him, so I decided to forget about the pirate picture.

 

We found the place to meet the shuttle bus/truck thing to take us to our cabana. The island was beautiful, and Tim and I were thrilled that we would be spending the day there! We were beginning to understand what this whole caribbean island thing was all about! And we were liking this!

 

 

We boarded the shuttle bus and got off behind cabana # 10, our home for the day. It was wonderful! There was a mini-fridge, food, a cooler with cold drinks, floating mats, snorkle gear, an outdoor shower, air-conditioner, a misting fan........it was PERFECT!!

 

This place was absolutely SWEET!!!

 

Tim and I looked around the cabana and took pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mountainbreeze]

HALF MOON CAY CONTINUED:

 

I took a floatie mat into the water and spent some time thinking of how happy I was.

 

 

 

 

Wanted Tim to come in the water with me so I went back up the beach to get him. I found him here:

 

 

 

 

I believe Tim is relaxed!!

 

 

At 12:00, Tim and I went in search of food. Carnival was going to provide us with lunch, but we weren't sure where to go. We wandered around a little bit and came upon a huge open air area where we could see people forming lines. This must be the food!

 

We waited in line for 5 minutes or so, and then got our lunch. Tim and I filled our plates with Jerk chicken, rice, and fruit and headed back to the cabana with our trays. We didn't want to sit at a picnic table when we had a wonderful cabana to enjoy!

 

It was a short walk back to the cabana, and we sat at the table and enjoyed THE BEST jerk chicken we would have on the whole vacation! It was SO GOOD!

As we were eating, Norma and Brian and Sandra and Hameed made their way to the cabana. After Tim and I raved about the food, the 4 of them went off to get food too!

 

After everyone ate, Sandra, Norma and I went out in the water to snorkle. I have never snorkled before, and I loved it! Thanks Norma, for teaching me how to snorkle! Its my new favorite thing to do.

See me snorkling??!!!

 

 

 

 

We all 6 spent more time in the cabana and in the water, but soon I was growing impatient to find another geocache.

 

Tim and I had told our new friends all about geocaching, and we knew there was a cache hidden at the far end of the beach. I was anxious to get down there to look for it, and all that morning I kept looking down toward the far end of the island. I'm not sure what time we left, maybe 1 or 1:30, Tim and I, Brian and Hameed set out to walk down the beach to look for the geocache. Norma and Sandra stayed behind in the cabana.

 

It was about a mile walk to the far end of the beach. We all walked along the edge of the water, and it was nice to dip in when we got hot.

 

We followed our clues, and Brian was actually the one to find the cache! He did a great job considering he had never geocached before! We were walking along the beach, looking for a pathway that led up a slight hill, and we were looking for 2 white rocks. Brian spotted the pathway and the 2 rocks, and we all combed the area. Brian moved a few rocks, and there it was! A small box hidden in the rocks with a logbook and several little trade items. There were a lot of coins from different places, and we looked at all of them.

 

Here are Brian, Hameed and I looking for the cache:

 

 

We took an item from the cache, and left several new items. I collect McToys from happy meals just to have the toys to trade. Tim and I brought 4 (small) McToys and we although we only took one thing, we left all 4. We signed the log and put everything back how we found it.

　

There was one more cache to look for at that end of the island, and we looked for it, but sadly we didn't find that one.

Here I am looking behind this tree for the 2nd cache:

 

 

 

We didn't spend too much time looking for it, we were happy with the one we had found, and we began to walk back toward the cabana.

 

Lucky for me, I brought my snorkle mask and breathing tube thing with me, so I snorkled along the shore almost the whole way back. I loved every minute of it! I had to swim fast to keep up with the guys walking along the shore, but I still managed to find quite a few seashells and small pieces of coral as I swam/snorkled along in knee deep water. Every so often, I would run up on shore and hand Tim my handfulls of shells and coral pieces to put in his pockets.

 

I also found a conch shell! Yes, I brought it home! By the way, thats one of the huge gallon sized baggies it's laying on, this conch shell is huge! and heavy!

 

[mountainbreeze]

HALF MOON CAY CONTINUED:

 

We made it back to the cabana and still had some time to hang out before we had to go catch the tender back to the ship. The 6 of us posed for a picture:

 

 

 

From left to right: Sandra, Tim, Norma, Hameed, Me, Brian

Norma, Brian and I walked toward the pier end of the beach to see if we could find Cassandra and her mom, Mary. No luck, they must have already gone back to the ship.

It was finally time to pack up our things. Tim and I collected our baggie full of sand from the beautiful Half Moon Cay beach and said I goodbye to our wonderful cabana. We s-l-o-w-l-y walked back towards the port, hoping there would be a gift shop to get a magnet.

 

The walkway back to the port area. This was a narrow road that runs behind the cabanas. The crew and caretakers used this road to get supplies and people back and forth:

 

 

 

 

 

This is the back of the new Pirate bar:

 

 

 

 

This is the inside of the pirate bar. It's empty becasue the ship's crew runs the bar, and they had already closed down and had gone back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got to the area with the shops, the gift shop was already closed for the day, but there were a few ladies selling small items that were still there. I looked at everything and I couldnt find a magnet, but I improvised and bought a keychain that I could make into a magnet.

Here is our Half Moon Cay keychain that is now a magnet:

 

[mountainbreeze]

HALF MOON CAY CONTINUED:

 

We left the shop area and slowly made our way towards the tender. We were in no hurry to leave this wonderful place.

The sand was like powder, the water was crystal clear and SO BLUE!, and the whole beach and island (the parts we saw) were pristine and perfect. It was truely like a paradise island.

We reluctantly boarded the tender to go back to the ship. What a GREAT day we just had! What a beautiful place!

 

Norma, Brian and Tim on the tender:

 

 

 

 

 

And TIm and I:

We aren't quite as sunburnt as we look in this picture! The color is off in the photo

 

 

 

 

Back onboard the ship: Ahhhh.....it was starting to feel like home to get back to our room each day. We were very comfortable in our room. We are homebodies anyway, so we became shipbodies very easily. (cabinbodies?)

 

Tim and I took showers and got dressed. We were starving! We were too exausted to deal with dinner in the main dining room. We had told Achmed that he might not see us for a few days. We had anticipated that we wouldn't make our 6:00 dinnertime on port days, and we didn't want him to feel bad when we didn't show up for dinner. We went up to the lido deck and went through the buffet line.

 

 

We took our trays to the back of the adults only- serenity deck where there were tables under a huge window looking out the back of the ship. What a beautiful view to see while eating dinner! we could see the bahamas islands all around us as we headed towards the island of Nassau.

 

Dinner: It was OK. Tim and I never really loved the lunch and dinner buffet. We could get a much tastier meal in the MDR (dinner), or from room service, or from the deli. I will add here that there was ALWAYS food, and there was always something we liked. Some meals were better than others, but we never went hungry the whole 10 days we were on the ship.

 

That night, our view was much better than our meal. My baked potato was not cooked all the way, and I couldn't get my fork into it when I stabbed it. I ate the rolls and butter, and my salad. I also ate ice cream. I ate ice cream every day. Some days Tim and I would go up to the lido deck, for the sole purpose of getting my ice cream cone. I just loved the 24 hour ice cream cones!

 

side note: we loved the breakfast buffet!

 

After we we finished eating, we walked to the internet cafe so I could message Christina again. It was so nice to be able to be in contact with her almost every night.

 

We were back in our room by 8:30, and again we were exausted from a long day. Y had turned down our bed while we were gone, and left our FUN TIMES for tomorrow, our chocolates, and an adorable elephant towel animal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim watched TV (Bin Ladin news) while I downloaded our pictures from the day.

 

We were asleep that night by 10:30, we were sooooo tired from so many non-stop days in a row, and being in the sun, but we were also anticipating a fun day in Nassau tomorrow. We also knew that after Nassau, we would have 2 downtime days in a row!!

[mountainbreeze]

CORRECTION: I wrote that on May 5 (HMC day) we hadn't seen land since we left Miami. This was incorrect because we had been in Grand Turk the day before HMC. Sorry, I confused my days! :o

[spideyfam]

One of the best reviews I have read here. Can not wait until the next chapter.

 

And you still have another sailing to review!!!

 

 

Thank you for posting.

[kcagg16]

Loving reading your review and the pictures. I need to book a cruise soon.

[berwyn]

Did you need to bring your life jackets to the muster drill? I thought I read that it was no longer necessary.

[mountainbreeze]

One of the best reviews I have read here. Can not wait until the next chapter.

 

And you still have another sailing to review!!!

 

 

Thank you for posting.

 

 

Spideyfam, Thank You! :) The next chapter is on it's way. I won't promise but I HOPE to get Nassau posted tonight. I'm writing it now and sorting through pictures.

 

And yes, I still have another sailing to write! JAMAICA, MON!!! :) I can't wait to relive it while I write!

[mountainbreeze]

Loving reading your review and the pictures. I need to book a cruise soon.

 

 

kcagg16, Thanks for your kind words!:)

and I agree with you, it's time to book another cruise!!

[mountainbreeze]

Did you need to bring your life jackets to the muster drill? I thought I read that it was no longer necessary.

 

Berwyn, Nope, we didn't have to bring the lifejackets to the muster drill. They had one there, and a crewmember put it on himself and showed us how to wear it properly.

[TrqoisWtrs]

And here is some of the seaglass I found:

 

Don't you just love the seaglass? Last year we spent a week on a small Fiji island and I collected a lot of pieces. They are now sitting in a clear glass bowl on my coffee table and they catch the sun just right. :) A beautiful (and free :D) souvenir.

[kittymommax4]

I'm really enjoying your review & pictures! Great job so far! I've been to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay & Nassau on the Carnival Miracle, and have similar pics of the beach/cabana at HMC. I'm strongly considering a mother/daughter cruise on the Destiny to Ocho Rios & Grand Cayman in Oct for my DD's 25th birthday, so I'm very much looking forward to your notes/pics of those ports!

[alreadypacked]

Alreadypacked, OhMyGosh!!! I was so spoiled for 2 weeks, I didn't have to do dishes, clean, drive, work....it was WONDERFUL!!! Coming home was very nice, but yes, I am struggling to keep up with daily life :(

 

I think Tim and I both have cruise depression......I told him I heard there is only one cure........BOOK ANOTHER CRUISE!!! He looked at me like I was nuts, but later he read me an ad for a cruise he had seen online. I think he misses the ship too!! This could work out well for me!!

 

FYI Mountainbreeze--My DH was never into cruising as much as I am. We took our first cruise together in 2002. He has 4 cruises to my 16, but guess what? Now he looks for cruise deals as much as I. Our last cruise in Feb was a surprise birthday cruise for me! Your DH may have just been bitten by the cruise bug too!:D Happy cruising!

[mama_2_boys]

Congratulations on your wedding! You two look like a sweet and fun couple. I'm loving reading your review. I can feel your happiness. Congrats again and I can't wait for the rest!

[mountainbreeze]

MAY 6 - NASSAU, BAHAMAS

 

Tim and I were up at 6:30. We grabbed the camera and took pictures just as we were pulling into the port of Nassau.

 

 

 

We both showered and dressed by 7:30, and room service had already brought Tim's coffee.

 

We noticed the Carnival Fantasy pulling into port next to us. I took this pic from my bed.

 

 

We took the elevator down to the lobby on deck 3 and found the kiosk where we could check our sail-n-sign account. We had spent less than $100.00 so far, we're doin good!!!

 

We went up to deck 9- the Lido deck and stood in the short line for the breakfast buffet. Yes, the bacon police guy was there, but he would gladly give us as much bacon an/or ham as we wanted. He also made us fresh omelettes!

 

 

Back to our room around 9:30 to grab our totebag, and we noticed the Disney Dream was pulling into port beside us. I love everything Disney, and we stood on our balcony and checked out their awesome ship.

They had a much cooler waterslide on their ship than we did, it was a tube thing and they used rafts on their waterslide.

 

 

 

 

They also had a swimming pool on one of the upper decks, on the side, and it had a glass wall. We could see them swimming through the glass wall. WOW! I wondered what else they had on their ship that I couldn't see. It was a very cool looking ship! Oh, do I love Disney!

 

 

Around 9:45 Tim and I were able to go down to deck 0 and get off the ship. We walked down the long pier, and into Nassau.

It was a busy, bustling town. Lots of cars, stores, people..........it was definitely a change from the last 2 islands we had visited.

 

We saw the Harley Davidson store right away, and we headed for it. It was a nice store, although much smaller than the HD stores in the US.

 

 

 

We came out of the store with 3 t-shirts and a magnet. One shirt for Tim, one for me, and one for my best friend Christina.

 

Here is our magnet.

 

 

 

The next stop was the straw market. We asked someone for directions, and walked the short distance taking in the sights of Nassau as we walked.

 

The straw market was interesting. It was an open air building with tons of stuff packed inside. I spied a Coach purse right away that I just loved. The woman was asking $75.00 for it, and I tried to talk her down in price. I wanted to pay $30.00 for it, and she wouldn't go that low. We kept walking.

 

 

[mountainbreeze]

MAY 6 - NASSAU, BAHAMAS CONTINUED:

 

We saw the same purse a few booths down, and this lady was asking $60.00 for this one. We stopped to haggle with her, and we ended up buying the purse and 4 t-shirts for $50.00. Tim paid with cash.

 

 

When we walked out of the straw market with a handcarved ashtray ($4.00), and a small handmade purse for my best friend ($8.00) ,We really weren't sure if we had gotten a good deal on our stuff we bought, but we sure had fun! I love my new purse, and yes, its fake. ( I knew that before we bought it)

 

 

 

Back out in the sunny streets of Nassau, we walked around for a while.

We stopped in this little coffee shop so Tim could have a cup of coffee. We chatted with the waitress while we sat at the counter, and she told us a little about Nassau. We asked her where she goes on her vacations, and she said she goes to New York to shop.

 

 

 

 

When we left the coffee shop, we headed toward the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. Great atmosphere, great food! Tim ate shrimp and pasta, which he just LOVED. I ate a chicken club sandwich, and it was VERY good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our liesurely lunch, Tim and I went back to the ship (which was only a few short blocks away) to drop off our stuff we had bought.

 

We noticed the Carnival Sensation was in port now too.

 

 

So now what? Do we hang out on the ship for the afternoon? Thats OK for a sea day, but we thought we should make the most of our time in Nassau.

 

Tim and I decided to grab a taxi and go see Paradise Island. We walked back off the ship, and back down the long dock, and into the port area. Immediately, I saw a man with a sign that said "water taxi $3.00".

We asked if his water taxi was going to Paradise Island, and indeed it was! Tim paid the $6.00 for our ride.

 

The man asked us to stay where we were, while he looked for a few other people to ride the water taxi.Tim and I chatted with some other people who were waiting with us, and we watched the man hustle to get more riders. Soon, the man came back to us, and asked us to follow him to the taxi. He held a map high above his head, and he walked FAST out of the port area, and down to a small dock with some water-taxi's.

 

We ran/walked to keep up with him. Soon we found out this man's name was Wade, and he was our guide for the water-taxi (boat) ride to Paradise Island. He was very funny, and he told us all about Nassau on the way over to the Island. He pointed out Nicolas Cage's home, a house where a James Bond movie was filmed, and the hospital where Anna Nicole's daughter was born. He really had a great personality, and he entertained us all during the ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we pulled into Paradise Island, he passed his hat around and we all tipped him a dollar or two. There were about 50 people on the water taxi, and Wade had a hatfull of money by the time we docked.

 

 

The whole water taxi process took about 30 minutes, and Wade sure earned good tip money during that time. He deserved it! He was a funny and very informative guide.

 

 

We were dropped off on Paradise Island, and we expected to see beaches (we wanted to get our baggie full of sand), but instead we saw buildings, streets, and shops. This place was HUGE!! We weren't sure where to go, so we started walking towards the main hotel, Atlantis. It was quite a little walk, but we got to the hotel in about 10 minutes.

 

Look who we found at the front entrance of the hotel!!

 

 

 

 

We all chatted for a minute or two, and then Tim and I went off to find sand. We didn't have a lot of time before we had to get back on the ship.