I have read a lot about the Nassau beaches and hotels where you can purchase a beach pass. Does anyone know of a nice hotel at Freeport where a beach pass can be purchased? Also, where can I find the good shopping places there?

bullrome:

nice hotel at Freeport

The Sheraton offers day passes but it depends on the occupancy at the hotel. If there are a lot of guests you would not be able to buy a day pass.

bullrome:

good shopping places there?

As you leave the ship at port there will be some tents set-up that have some stuff. At Port Lucaya Marketplace there are more shops with more stuff.

bullrome:

I have read a lot about the Nassau beaches and hotels where you can purchase a beach pass. Does anyone know of a nice hotel at Freeport where a beach pass can be purchased? Also, where can I find the good shopping places there?

I have been there twice,and each time we grabbed a cab(white van) and took it to a nice beach.It was quite nice.Are there nicer beaches? I am sure there are,but of the two times we have been there,with different people,everyone loved it,and wanted to go back.Just tell the driver you want to go to the closest nice beach.They are VERY good.They will even offer to pick you up at a decent time to get back to the ship.Our cabbie gave us his business card with his pic on it for reference.He picked us up as he said he would.He was so good,GET THIS.My daughter,22 left my ex's camera in the cab.We thought it was a gone.We let Carnival know about it,they contacted the cab driver.Two weeks after we got home,my ex got a knock on the door,it was her camera delivered by a Carnival employee.All pics intact.Gotta tell you something.

Wow....

Great story...thanks for sharing.

 Chuckyd

The best place to shop in Freeport is at the Port Lucaya Marketplace.  It is accross the street from the casino too if you want to throw away even more money! lol.  Actually I came out of there $20 up.  Also in the marketplace is a greek restaurant called Zorba's that has great gyros.  I know you don't go to the bahamas for greek food but this was really good and worth it. 

 We also ate at Zorba's. They have other things on the menu besides greek, and it is very cheap, clean, and great waiters! It is in the marketplace shopping in Lucaya, and the beach is right across the street.You don't need to get passes from the hotel for the beach. We just walked down in front the hotels and paid for chairs ($10 for the day). We also got drinks from their bar by using our credit cards. Motion Ocean is also right there with jet skiing and parasailing. We had a great time!

uh oh, we were supposed to pay for those chairs???  whooooppss  There was no one there collecting money and the beach was pretty much deserted except for a few fellow cruisers.  We just walked over grabbed some chairs put them in the water and had a relaxing day.  We spent NO money at Freeport except for the taxi ride to the beach. 

 

Ok.. how far is the taxi ride to this beach ? How much was the taxi there?

Sounds like these taxi drivers are pretty reliable , they do come back and pick you up as planned?  Or are there taxis waiting regardless?

Thanks...

The taxi ride if I remember right was 10 dollars each.  They are lined up outside the ship when you dock and they are lined up at the "beach" area all day waiting to take you back to the ship.  You won't get the same taxi both ways.  The ride is about 10 miles or so.  There isn't much to Freeport.

I've been to Freeport once on my 1st cruise on Carnival. I will say, the cab drivers are reliable.  Our driver gave us her card and told us to call when we were ready to go.  We shared our cab with some fellow cruiser ( it was a Limo). She came back at the time we gave her to pick us up.  We did not do the beach.  There was hurricane that just came through before we had arrived so it was not really pleasant looking.  The Lucaya Marketplace was OK.  I'm going in 10 days and will probably go chill on the beach.

Hope you have a great cruise!   Cheers!

Check out the carnival website on their shore excursions. I noticed today that they've added some new ones !!!!!  They weren't there a few days ago.

Hope this helps you.

 

I e-mailed:

Vernon Ellis Director of Rooms, Our Lucaya Reef Village 1 Royal Palm Way, P.O. Box F42500, Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas Tel. Direct Line 242-350-5200 Fax 242-350-5070

I asked him about using the beach at pools at the two properties...I think they have changed names, they used to be the Sheraton and the Westin and now I think they are called Our Lucaya Reef Village and The Radisson maybe, he said you can purchase a day pass at the towels huts at the hotels and it is a $20 per day pass and this gets you use of the beaches, chairs and their pools and waterslide.  You can use this at both properties.  We have been there a few times and went to the Sheraton...first time we used the pools with no problem and got a free chair on the beach, second time we got kicked out of the pools for not being a guest and not having a pass and they charged us $10 for each beach chair. 

The shopping is right across the street and taxis are readily available.  If you are going to eat during the day I would do so at the Marketplace as the food at the hotels is kind of pricey and not that great, you will get more variety at the marketplace.

thanks for the info

Taters:

The best place to shop in Freeport is at the Port Lucaya Marketplace.  It is accross the street from the casino too if you want to throw away even more money! lol.  Actually I came out of there $20 up.  Also in the marketplace is a greek restaurant called Zorba's that has great gyros.  I know you don't go to the bahamas for greek food but this was really good and worth it. 

I love Zorbas, we try to go every time we're there.

Eileen