Bahamas & Dangerous Breakfasts

Hey!

Well, we’re on our third Bahamas cruise. Our itinerary is as follows: NYC (home port), Sea Day, Port Canaveral, Great Stirrup Cay, Nassau (New Providence Island), Freeport (Grand Bahamas) and then a Sea Day and back to NYC.

We’ve had three port days in NYC and they’ve all been great. It’s really lovely to be in NYC during the Christmas season. Everything is decked out in holiday decorations and the teeming city is even more teeming. We’ve mostly just wandered on our New York days. The first day we walked around Mid-Manhattan (the ship ports at 48th & 12th) and went to Whole Foods. The next time we walked to Time Square, then to Bryant Park, then 30 Rock, then the Public Library and back. We’ve been sampling various pizza places and doing a bit of shopping but mostly it’s just been about walking around the city. This last NYC they wouldn’t let us off the ship until 12:30 (we ported at 9:15am) so we just took a short jaunt to find some of our secret santa presents. Then back....

Tomorrow a few of us are headed to Islands of Adventure which is near Disney World. Normally on Port Canaveral day, we run errands and get some internet time. I’ve been using that day to post lots of photos to the blog. Port Canaveral is a very useful stop and we’re looking forward to going to Cocoa Beach.

The next day we port at Nassau. The town of Nassau is a fairly large city (250,000) and it has a nice shopping and restaurant district. You can also walk along the ocean front. I must say that everything is super expensive in Nassau. There’s a famous Greek restaurant on Bay Street, run by a Greek!, and we stopped there for some Gyros and a beer and it cost us $50. We weren’t ripped off - the food was delicious - but Nassau is pricey.

Paradise island is attached by a bridge to New Providence and the Atlantis Casino/hotel/shopping mall/ nature center/man made beach/aquarium is located on Paradise. We went there last week to look at the free part of the aquarium. It’s really amazing - they have two HUGE Manta Rays, a nurse shark, a sting ray and lots of fish - and that’s just the free part. To see the rest of the aquarium cost 30 buck so I’m not sure we’ll pop for that. There is a water park on Paradise Island and from what I understand there’s a water slide that goes through the shark tank. Obviously you’re enclosed in a tube....or at least I hope so.

We went to Cabbage beach on Paradise. It’s a public beach and it’s really very nice. It’s on the exposed Atlantic side so there’s some big waves but the beach is long and large. We enjoyed our first dip in the ocean and got pushed around a bit by the big waves.

Freeport is not such a great port. I’m sure the island it lovely but we’re only there until 1pm. We get there at 7am and I just can’t see getting up early to go to the beach. Also it’s hard to get a cab to take you anywhere but the “ship approved” shopping/beach stop. I’ve never experienced this before but the dispatcher will only get you a cab to this one area. They tell you it’s downtown Freeport but it’s a duty free shopping area and casino. Boo. And it’s a 20 minute/$5 cab ride....so double boo.

We’ve been enjoying a slower pace on this part of our contract. A little more sleep, spending less money and drinking less coffee.

The passenger profiles have changed a lot. In Europe, the passengers were pretty polite, fairly reserved and calm. Porting out of NYC, the passengers are still nice but they’re not as polite, far from reserved and you have to watch your fingers in the buffet. I must say that they make for great audiences - very responsive, and since they’re mostly from NYC, super hip to what we’re doing. We’ve really seen the difference in our improv shows - they’re so educated that they’re with us from the first game. It’s nice.

Still, breakfast on these cruises is a horror show. You come up to the Garden Cafe and they’re swarming like a pack of killer bees or pirana. They hover and they stare until they decide to swoop in and take everything. If you’re too slow, they buzz around you and nibble at your elbow. They eat massive amounts of everything. Lunch is the same as breakfast. I haven’t even set foot in the Chocolate buffet.

We’re getting ready for Christmas on the ship. The cast did a Secret Santa drawing. I’ve already completed my Secret Santa present. Larrance did half of his yesterday. Tomorrow Larrance is going to ship some packages to my family. So we’re almost ready....now if we could just ship ourselves home.

~Jen