We woke up early again this morning around 6am. Our scheduled arrival into Nassau, Bahamas was 7am and I was not about to miss our arrival at the port. Up and dressed I made it to the Deck 6 Observation area with camera and camcorder in hand. By the time I had made it there the island was clearly visible with the sunrise at 6:53am on that day. As the sun quickly rose against the horizon the beauty of this small island was breath taking. We quickly reached port where the Conquest proceeded to do a 180 degree turn and back into the dock. This was the first time the port side of the ship faced the dock. The downtown area of Nassau is amazing to behold.
Anyone who has been there before remembers the multi-color pastel paint on the various shops. The shops glistened in the morning sun light. Even on the starboard side you have a portion of Paradise Island which features the amazing Atlantis in the distance. This Resort dominated the landscape in the distance and rightfully so. The pastel pink color of the resort blended with the beautiful blue water and surf.
We quickly headed down to the Lido Deck for the breakfast buffet. Heck I was so excited I said "forget the egg, bacon, and bagel" and just swallowed my cereal with sliced banana.
We did have an excursion planned here in Atlantis and it was the Carnival scheduled "Atlantis Aquaventure" at 8:30am. Now before you even blink at the $155 per person price for this excursion let me say this. YOU MUST GO ON THIS EXCURSION !!! I promise you will not be disappointed. Let me state for the record on Carnival's website they list 5 hours for this excursion...that is not the case. You will be dropped off by shuttle in front of the resort by 9am and you will not have to return until the last shuttle at 4pm...this gives you 7 hours of utter fun. I almost balked at paying $155 for five hours with a lunch included...boy would I have made a huge mistake.
We were in line by 8:20am and the line was long. But they had plenty of shuttle buses and we were divided into groups of 30 with each of us given a red wrist band with which we were instucted to wear thru out the day while in the Resort. Upon a 10 minute bus ride we found ourselves standing at the front entrance with a scheduled guide from the resort. She gave us our instructions that we had total access to the Resort including Casino, shops, beach, and water park rides. She quickly took us to one of the swimming pool areas where we each were given a beach towel and the whereabouts of a locker should we choose to rent one for $5, $10, or $15 for the day. The prices represented the small, medium or large secured locker.
We quickly found our pool, lounge chairs and dove into the sparkling pool. The water slide rides did not open until 10am so after swimming a while we walked over to the nearby beach located only about 100 feet away from this pool area on the north west end of the island and it was simply mesmerizing. The sun was still low on the horizon to our east and the surf just sparkled. We took a lot of pictures and camcorder shots. Some of my best pictures came from our day at Paradise Island.
At 10am we made our way to a series of 5 water slides each with its own uniqueness located at one particular structure. Wow what a blast. We headed next to the famous "Leap of Faith" water slide. It has a near 60 foot vertical drop into a enclosed tunnel surrouned by sharks then landing in a small wading pool. My son and daughter in law had to do this ride multible times...once was good enough for me to say I had done it. The younger crowd will go crazy on this water slide.
We made our way back to our towels and chairs around 11:30am because I was now getting hungry...big time. That bowl of cereal had run out quickly. Now let me tell you the lunch you get is not just a cold, stale hamburger or hotdog. You actually get a lunch voucher to any of the number of food shacks thru-out the resort. You can eat when and where you want. Close to our pool was a place called the Sea Shark Hut. They served hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and a fried fish bucket. We all got the chicken sandwich, medium fries and a medium soft drink. The food was made to order and hot from the small kitchen.
After lunch we decided to explore the Resort and made our way over to the east side of the island where we stopped at one of the many bars and I ordered a drink I have come to love called a "dirty banana". Made with Rum, banana liqueur, half and half and blended ice. I was first introduced to this drink 4 years ago when I was at a company meeting in the Bahamas.
After our tour of the resort we made our way back to our chairs and towels. I was ready for a small nap...what can I say...I'm 52 years of age and I needed a short nap. The kids headed back to the water slides for Round 2. After about a 20 minute nap i decided to take a trip down the "Lazy River". This was the best lazy river water ride I had ever been on. Sitting in your inflatable tube you are taken thru a series of rapids, tunnels, tidal pool area, and just floating peacefully along the river. The ride around the park takes about 20 minutes.
We collected our stuff and headed into the resort around 3pm to do some shopping and check out the Casino. We found a gift shop, bought some souvenirs and stopped briefly in the casino to try our luck on the slots. My son won $25 on his 3rd spin on the "Wheel of Fortune" he cashed out and walked out smiling ear to ear.
We were back at the loading area in front of the resort by 3:30pm where we found a shuttle bus waiting. Now they will tell you the buses run every 30 minutes but that is not the case. They are running about every 10 minutes. A quick 10 minute bus ride has back to a series of shops next to the dock. We bought some more souvenirs and were back on the ship by 4:15pm. They want you back on the ship by 4:30pm because the Conquest departs at that time.
Back to our cabins for a quick shower and change of clothes. We made our way back to the Lido Deck to watch the sail away.
By far this was my most favorite port of call. The city is beautiful, clean and bustling with people and excitment. As we were looking over the series of shops from high above on the Lido Deck my son approached me and said that he had the time of his life today and this excursion more than made up for the Freeport disappointment. Boy was I happy to hear that.
Dinner in the Monet Resturant was a 6pm so we made our way down to Deck 3 Rear of the ship. We really enjoyed the nightly song or dance from the Carnival Serving Staff.
Again right after dinner we headed to the Casino. I was on a roll and won $117 dollars from the craps table that nite. I was up roughly $577 for the week and very happy about that. My son, not much of the gambler wanted to try his luck at craps too, so I gave him $50 which he proceeded to lose in about 12 minutes. I gave him another $50 and said "this is it for the night". He worked it done to about only $12 dollars then got hot rolling the dice about 25 times before crapping out. When he looked down to count his chips he had $219. He immediately cashed out and was done for the evening.
We made our way down to Deck 4 to check out some pictures that had been taken by the staff the previous few days. Picked some up we liked and made our way to the Lido Deck to the SeaSide Theater for the 10pm Movie "Duplicity" and some $1.50 popcorn.
At movies end we headed back to our cabin totally satisfied with today's activities.
So let me say it one more time...if you can get the Atlantis Aquaventure Excursion you should get it...in a heartbeat.
So stay tuned for my next review Day 6.
Chuckyd