RCCL Blue Lagoon Island Beach Break w. Lunch

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I don't think anyone said criminals.  

No need to be defensive, I never mentioned you or your comments,  I am well aware of some people's fears.

 

Our first trip was in 2009

Edited June 29, 2023 by BecciBoo

[Cruise a holic]

20 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Looking at other people's experiences, it's like we visited different places.  I strongly suspect a big part of it is the time of year in which one visits.  Personally, we are fall cruisers -- off season.  It'd be interesting to hear WHEN the people who experienced crowds were traveling.  

Our experience: 

- The ferry to the island is, as another poster commented, long and boring.  That's not the worst thing, but it does cut into your limited shore time; assume that between your trip out /your trip back, you'll spend an hour on that ferry. 

- We were on the first trip over, so it was fairly crowded -- most people want to get up and out early for excursions.  

- Before we exited, the ferry staff told us they would return to the island twice /gave us the times /told us we could choose our return trip.  Perhaps they only run twice in off season?  

- Plenty of people were on the beaches, but I wouldn't say they were crowded.  

- The middle of the island has trails and shade, but who goes to this island and doesn't want to stay on the beach? 

- If you're particularly prone to burning, perhaps you should wear a long-sleeved rash guard or purchase a pop-up sun shade.  

- I know we had lunch included in the price, but I can't remember any details -- not positive, not negative.  If we had encountered long lines, I think I'd remember.  

- We enjoyed Blue Lagoon and would return -- but we would not pay much to do so.  Having the "empty ship" to ourselves is a fairly close experience.  

Having said that: 

- Nassau is not a pleasant place (for the sake of new cruisers:  Nassau is the city where you'll dock -- Blue Lagoon is a small island some 30 minutes away -- you could potentially visit one or both).  On our last-December cruise my husband and I went into Nassau, and we agreed:  Never Again. Never.  We are not fearful people or difficult to make happy people, but this place is just awful.  

- Why did we react so strongly?  We genuinely felt unsafe as we were herded through a small bottleneck to exit the docks and enter the city -- if anything bad had happened, people would've been thrown to the ground and trampled.  I think seven ships were in port that day, so a multitude of cruisers were passing through that bottleneck.  We left the ship mid-morning, so we weren't in the first-wave crowd.  

- Yes, they are in the middle of construction in Nassau, but it doesn't look like it'll be any better once it's finished.  Again, we will never, never, never go into Nassau again (and we're not the only cruisers who feel that way).  

- We returned to the ship and went up to Windjammer for a drink.  Through the window, we noted that some excursions leave from INSIDE the cruise dock /those people don't have to go out into the city.  We agreed we'd be willing to do that.  The two ferries we saw were labeled Swim With Pigs and Blue Lagoon -- they may not be the only ferries /excursions that do not require entering the city, but they're the two we saw.  

 

We only felt unsafe in Jamaica.  Will never get off a ship at that island.  We enjoy nassau, interesting shopping and beaches.  You can purchase passes to other beaches not affiliated with ship.  We found the Atlantis to be expensive and the beach wasn't nice.  We no longer go their. 

[Toddcan]

After reading some other people's experiences, I have to say that your experience is very dependent upon how early in the day you head over. If your ship is one of the first in port, and you can be on the first few ferries to the Blue Lagoon, then you have a very high chance of getting a decent lounger location, and perhaps even an umbrella. We got their late morning (just before noon), so it was already packed, making our experience horrible. 

 

The ocean side beach will close if the waves are too high.  It's very pretty, but unusable when there are waves of significance. 

[GetToLivin]

Has anyone been to Nassau lately? Supposedly construction in the port area was going to be finished late-May, just wondering if it is.

[Scottdalfonso]

So..a final question (back to the original topic).. even if you go back toward the end of the excursion,is there time left to check out the port area for a little bit,or do you get back and basically head right back to the ship?

[BecciBoo]

 I spoke with them today and they have a returning ferry leaving the island at 1:00pm and 3:30pm, so you can leave early to get back and shop. You depart for the island at 8:00 in the morning. Don't know about the RCCL excursion, but you can book it right at https://www.dolphinencounters.com/ 

 

Adults - $94.00 Children - $70.00 (ages 4-12) lunch, drinks and entry.

 

Don't know what RCCL charges 

[Scottdalfonso]

50 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

 I spoke with them today and they have a returning ferry leaving the island at 1:00pm and 3:30pm, so you can leave early to get back and shop. You depart for the island at 8:00 in the morning. Don't know about the RCCL excursion, but you can book it right at https://www.dolphinencounters.com/ 

 

Adults - $94.00 Children - $70.00 (ages 4-12) lunch, drinks and entry.

 

Don't know what RCCL charges 

Thank you. RCCL is having a 4th of July sale and is actually 10 dollars cheaper than this right now, at least for my sailing...I know it changes depending on dates and ships.

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

 I spoke with them today and they have a returning ferry leaving the island at 1:00pm and 3:30pm, so you can leave early to get back and shop. You depart for the island at 8:00 in the morning. Don't know about the RCCL excursion, but you can book it right at https://www.dolphinencounters.com/ 

 

Adults - $94.00 Children - $70.00 (ages 4-12) lunch, drinks and entry.

 

Don't know what RCCL charges 

If you book on your own you have to catch the ferry at Paradise Island. That means taking a taxi to the ferry. You can still take a ferry back to the cruise port. We did it that way once since we made a last minute decision to go there. This is one where excursion better to book through RCL.  I  think booking it independently plus taxi fare was about the same as the  RCL excursion from the cruise port. 

[CDLTEL]

Do not go, this place is the reason RCCL is building its own beach experience there. Food is degusting and NOT enough space, chairs........

RCCL knows it, gave me a FULL refund with no hesitation.

[Charles4515]

13 minutes ago, CDLTEL said:

Do not go, this place is the reason RCCL is building its own beach experience there. Food is degusting and NOT enough space, chairs........

RCCL knows it, gave me a FULL refund with no hesitation.

I have gone four times and there was always plenty of space those four times. I had the included food excursion the first time. The food was not disgusting. It wasn’t very good though. The last three times I booked without the lunch, booked the stingrays excursion which costs less and bought food food at their food shack on the beach which was okay. Can go straight and get a lounger and skip the stingrays. It was a nice beach day. I have been at worse beaches. 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Charles4515

[BecciBoo]

7 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

you have to catch the ferry at Paradise Island

That was not the case when we did it.  We caught it right at the pier, we had to walk about 100 yrds to it from Allure.  But that was 2009, so lots could have changed especially with the new pier extension now completed.

[Charles4515]

40 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

That was not the case when we did it.  We caught it right at the pier, we had to walk about 100 yrds to it from Allure.  But that was 2009, so lots could have changed especially with the new pier extension now completed.

Only those booked on a cruise line excursion’s could catch it at the pier. You could not get on without an excursion ticket. That was around 2014. The non cruise ticket office was on Paradise Island so we had to go there. Can’t say how it works now. With the new expansion perhaps they will sell tickets on the pier. 

[Scottdalfonso]

14 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I have gone four times and there was always plenty of space those four times. I had the included food excursion the first time. The food was not disgusting. It wasn’t very good though. The last three times I booked without the lunch, booked the stingrays excursion which costs less and bought food food at their food shack on the beach which was okay. Can go straight and get a lounger and skip the stingrays. It was a nice beach day. I have been at worse beaches. 

From the videos and other reviews, I'm assuming its simple beach food like burgers, dogs and chicken, correct? That's all I'm expecting...not looking for some elaborate buffet...its a quick lunch to keep my kid from getting cranky. 

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

I was there last year in September and even if it was a nice experience it took all day and we never had time to even take a stroll in Nassau when we came back. We had booked the dolphin encounter but the day before the excursion they postponed the trip to an hour later. I think we left the dock at about 11.00. The boat trip took about an hour including waiting 20-30 min before leaving the dock.

When we came there they said the stingrays "weren't cooperating" so we were given the choise of free lunch or dolphin encounter instead. We choose the dolphins, a bargain for the $40 per person we payed. 

The island was nice, but only the lagoon beach was open due to the weather. It made no sense since the water was calm and there was no wind, but still. It was nice, not to croweded. Our only complaints is that there was only one boat back, at a set time. And when we came back to the pier we had about 30 min left before boarding. I think we left at 4.30 in the afternoon so it took all day.

It was nice and worth it but we would have liked the option of going back at 2 pm since a few hours there was enough for us. 

[BecciBoo]

As I said, I booked it online directly with Blue Lagoon.  In this pic you can see the yellow tower behind the boat with a ferry waiting there, that is King George Wharf, where the ships dock.  Too bad that is not the same, much more convenient and we took the first ferry back right after lunch, so we had time to schmooz around in the afternoon.

Edited June 30, 2023 by BecciBoo

[mjkacmom]

On 6/28/2023 at 4:28 PM, BecciBoo said:

As for Nassau itself, there are tons of things to do there outside the cruise port.  Don't know why people feel so unsafe.  We once took the public bus Jitney #10 I think, for $1 or 2 over to Breezes resort we did for a day, we loved it. I think we paid a day use fee about $50, got lunch and free drinks.  And we got to talk to natives on the bus which we enjoyed.  Not everyone who lives there is a criminal.  We've done the hotel across the port from the ship and to Junkanoo Beach and took a boat taxi over to Atlantis, there are many places you can go in there without spending any money even in the hotel lobby and still see some of the aquarium...had a good time in all those places, we never felt unsafe, but having done so much, the last few cruises we did stay onboard.

 

O yeah, you can take a water taxi tour too and see the harbor and go by all the movie stars houses, we did that once.

We’ve never felt unsafe either, we live right outside NYC and have traveled to many cities (plus have surrounding towns that might be as dangerous at Nassau). We’ve been to the old Hilton, Junkanoo, Melia, Atlantis and RIU, the beaches at cable and cabbage are gorgeous, and both are a 15 minute ride.