Beach Getaway With Open Bar in Freeport

[tizbo1423]

Hi all, quick question about this excursion offered through Carnival. Has anyone does the Beach Getaway with Open Bar in Freeport? It's getting great reviews... on Carnival, so I thought I'd ask here. Does anyone know what beach they ship us off to?

 

Thanks!

[Tutontow]

I don't remember what beach it was but the 30 minute ride to and from is not very scenic, mostly industrial. The bus driver made every effort to make the ride entertaining and BTW he had a great singing voice and entertained us with many songs to and from the beach.

 

Having said all of that make sure they have a drink you and your group like to drink. We are beer drinkers and did not care for the beer at all. I can only handle so many fruity drinks and my wife finally settled on White Russians, after two White Russians they ran out of cream.

 

I am from Florida and I know beaches, this is a nice beach. For us we had a much better time at Half Moon Cay, even though I had to pay for drinks, the beach, service and drinks were light years ahead of my day in Freeport. Quite frankly on my next cruise to Freeport I most likely will stay on the ship.

 

I guess what I am trying to say in my long winded way is I would rather pay as I go and get a drink I really like. I have tried the all you can drink beaches twice and both times it didn't work for us. Many people on the bus ride back were feeling no pain and whooping and hollering so it must have worked for them.

[rmandmm]

I did this minus the drinks package last year. The beach and facilities were pretty great. The drive was ok, pretty normal for Freeport.

 

I actually wish I had done the drinks package because the drinks were so expensive on their own and the price differential between the packages (at that time anyway) was not that much. What I mean is, I probably ended up spending as much as I would have with the all inclusive package and I only had a couple drinks.

 

Just my opinion. I think the beach break was a great choice--hope you enjoy whatever decision you make! :)

[riofriotex]

I did this excursion minus the drinks just last week. After reading reviews, we chose to pay as we go because my husband drinks wine (not included in the drink package) and I also wanted a little more choice on what I did drink. We were happy with our decision. The bus ride to the site was comfortable, but our driver (from a different company than the one operating the site) was silent and we learned nothing about Freeport. The site itself (operated by Bahama Adventures) was fine. It is Taino Beach, but from a map of Grand Bahama Island, you can see there are two beaches with that name, and this one is NOT the one with Tony Macaroni's and the Smith Point Fish Fry. However, we had some conch fritters and fresh conch salad and they were good!

 

My husband wanted to be near the bar and in the shade so he sat in the covered area. Not the most comfortable place as there are just picnic tables there and you are also too close to the loudspeakers for the music. I spent much of my time in the water. Swimming was good and I also tried out a paddleboard. There were a lot of people there and it was a little busier than we like our beaches to be. However, we had plans for non-beach activities in our other two ports (Key West and Nassau) and I must have at least one beach day on a cruise!

[BigB0882]

Thanks for the replies. I plan on going on the Dream in April and it goes to Key West, Free Port and Nassau. One thing I want to do is find a beautiful beach to go to. It doesn't have to be an excursion, if it is close enough and easy enough to get to on our own. This gives me a start. Anyone have any beach recommendations at any of those ports?

[Ashel91362]

Let me know your opinions on the excursion and if you decide to go with the beach getaway. We are trying to plan an excursion with a large group. Does anyone know if you can buy the all inclusive at the beach? We have some people with us who might not want to get the drinking package at all or only have a couple. Please let me know what would be the best option?

[BooBooMonkey]

Look up Paradise Cove aka deadmans reef. We've been there twice and would go back. You book directly with them and can choose lunch included or not. Drinks are pay as you go. Not nearly as steep as on the ship. I think you can choose to add snorkel equipment or not too.

[Ashel91362]

Our group of 15 or so is looking into doing this excursion as well when we leave on monday. How was the equipment for children? The pictures look great with the huge water trampoline and even simple things like the playground area. Any thoughts on these?

[manmachine]

Look up Paradise Cove aka deadmans reef. We've been there twice and would go back. You book directly with them and can choose lunch included or not. Drinks are pay as you go. Not nearly as steep as on the ship. I think you can choose to add snorkel equipment or not too.

 

Incredible place. Swim out snorkeling, flat out beautiful.

I have been to Freeport dozens of times... Grand Bahama is 100 miles long, and I always get a kick out of people saying they hate it. If they only knew... Gold Rock Beach... Billy Joe's... Taino Beach... Tony Macaroni... The Tongue of the Ocean...

[winddawn]

I don't remember what beach it was but the 30 minute ride to and from is not very scenic, mostly industrial. The bus driver made every effort to make the ride entertaining and BTW he had a great singing voice and entertained us with many songs to and from the beach.

 

Having said all of that make sure they have a drink you and your group like to drink. We are beer drinkers and did not care for the beer at all. I can only handle so many fruity drinks and my wife finally settled on White Russians, after two White Russians they ran out of cream.

 

I am from Florida and I know beaches, this is a nice beach. For us we had a much better time at Half Moon Cay, even though I had to pay for drinks, the beach, service and drinks were light years ahead of my day in Freeport. Quite frankly on my next cruise to Freeport I most likely will stay on the ship.

 

I guess what I am trying to say in my long winded way is I would rather pay as I go and get a drink I really like. I have tried the all you can drink beaches twice and both times it didn't work for us. Many people on the bus ride back were feeling no pain and whooping and hollering so it must have worked for them.

I agree with Tutontow. Beer drinkers especially might not enjoy that fact that most of the all-you-can-drink excursions around the Bahamas and Caribbean only serve their local beer brand. If you don't like rum punch or local beers, these all you can drink excursions might not be your best bet.

[Beachiekeen]

We did this in March. The open bar was not worth it. The free drinks were terrible. The beach was ok but was very crowded even with just two ships in port. I have pics in my review in my sig. Get in line early so you can get there before all the chairs are taken.

 

There was no sign saying what beach it was--I looked. The water trampoline was very popular. There was also beach volleyball. I don't remember a playground but maybe I just didn't see it.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Beachiekeen

[VASOXFANN]

We did this last fall and enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again this year. The beach was beautiful, with water so clear we could see the fish swimming by. The drinks were good, strong, and plentiful. It was a great excursion!