Showing posts with label Nassau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nassau. Show all posts
After arriving at the Port of Nassau on our Majesty of the Seas Cruise in November, my parents and I joined the group on Royal Caribbean cruise that had signed up for the Seahorse Sailing and Snorkeling Port Excursion.
As a bit of background my parents and I had talked at length about which port excursion that we would choose to do. We weren't arriving in Nassau until noon on Saturday and yet we still wanted to experience an adventure off of the ship. I had really enjoyed the Atlantis Aquaventure that my sister and I did in September, but as my parents and I discussed at length what we wanted to do, we knew that we wanted something that would be unique. It was the first time for both of them cruising and being in Nassau and it was my third time so we were looking for something that would allow us to experience the area uniquely.
After researching through all of the options we ended up choosing the Seahorse Sailing and Snorkeling Port Excursion and it really was a wonderful and beautiful choice.
The way that Royal Caribbean handles their port excursions was very nice. Having been on other Port Excursions on other ships, this system (although a bit chaotic in some ways) worked fine. When we arrived on the ship we had our tickets waiting for us in our stateroom along with clear instructions on where and when to meet - on the ship. For this particular excursion we gathered in one of the theaters(which was cool and air-conditioned and allowed everyone to comfortably sit while the groups gathered). As a heads up though what made this a bit chaotic was that there were TONS of different excursions meeting in the same place and it was confusing to know exactly which group you were to go with. We even had a woman end up in our group and on our sailboat who was supposed to be in another group. A boat picked her up and things worked out, but just as a heads up it can be a bit overwhelming if you are new to cruising and shore excursions.
After our group number was called we were led off the ship and connected with the tour guides for our specific excursion. There was a large number of us that were apart of this excursion and it took a bit of time to get everyone gathered and signed in.
We didn't mind as we enjoyed the time with each other and looking around at beautiful Nassau.
Eventually we were led by our tour guides to the sailboat that we would be sailing on to reach our destination for the excursion.
We had a great time though and honestly were not disappointed at all! The ride to the island that we would be snorkeling at was gorgeous and allowed us to see parts of Nassau that I had never seen before.
When we arrived at the island we were one of the only boats that was there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The tour guides gave us clear and brief instructions and then we were able to go into the water.
It was absolutely beautiful! The fish were so colorful and while we never saw a seahorse we enjoyed our time in the water- it was completely refreshing! We had about an hour in the ocean which was the perfect amount of time to explore the area.
As we made our way back to Nassau all three of us agreed that this was a wonderful excursion to experience. If you love the water like our family does and love seeing different parts of the ocean than this is a great choice for an excursion for you! After we got back we had a chance to walk for a little bit along the Port of Nassau and then returned to the boat to see a brilliant and beautiful sunset in the evening.
Here are a couple of tips and thoughts about the Seahorse Sailing and Snorkeling Port Excursion if you are interested in choosing this on your Royal Caribbean Cruise:
1. A word of caution about this excursion: depending on the time of year that you go this excursion may or may not be available. The tour guides were explaining to us that we were one of the last groups that they would be taking out for the season. (We went in November and the water was a bit breathtaking. *smiles*)
2. Traveling in November like we did was an excellent time to enjoy this port excursion. The boat was full, but not like it would be during the holiday season that started the following week after we went.
4. The cost of this port excursion is $55 for those who are 10 years old and up. For those who are 3 to 9 years old the cost is $39 and for those who are infants through 2 years old the cost is free. This was one of the moderate priced excursions for this port and we felt that for the time that the excursion lasted (about 3 and 1/2 hours) the price was fair.
5. All snorkel gear is provided although you are welcome to bring your own if you would prefer.
6. A heads up: "Sailing" is a bit of a stretch on the transportation. Yes, you are on a huge sailboat with about 75 other people, but there really is no sailing that is done. There is a motor that they used the entire time so if you are looking for a sailing experience don't expect that with this excursion. Some people on the boat expressed their disappointment about this so I want to make sure to give y'all a heads up.
I hope you enjoyed reading this review of the Seahorse Sailing and Snorkeling Port Excursion. It was such a delightful day that I want to go back and do it all over again! Please let me know if you have any questions!
After arriving at the Port of Nassau, Emily and I joined the group on the Disney Cruise that had signed up for the Atlantis Aquaventure. As background Emily and I had talked about doing the Aquaventure pretty much since we had seen Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson's movie, Holiday in the Sun decades ago. *smiles* So we saved up our pennies and chose this as our "major" thing to do on the cruise when we arrived in Nassau.
I have to say first that the way that Disney does Port Excursions was absolutely lovely. (But if you aren't on a cruise and just looking to experience Atlantis and the Aquaventure park this review will give you lots of helpful information too!!) Having been on other Port Excursions on other ships, this was really a dream. When we arrived on the ship we had our tickets waiting for us in our stateroom along with clear instructions on where and when to meet - on the ship. For this particular excursion we gathered in the Walt Disney Theater (which was cool and air-conditioned and allowed everyone to comfortably sit while the group gathered) where we watched the spectacular shows every evening. They had maps for us and also a map up on the screen and clearly and easily explained how the day would work.
After everyone gathered they led us off the ship and connected us with the Atlantis Aquaventure leaders who gave us our meal vouchers, further information, and walked us to waiting taxis for us to go to the resort. Once at the resort we were all shown where the water park started and given towels and given clear instructions on how and when we needed to meet the taxis to get back to the ship. It really was simple yet like everything else we experienced on the Disney Dream, brilliantly done.
As we walked to the Aquaventure we saw several parts of the Atlantis Resort. It was lovely to be back (the last time that I was there was in 2014 on a different cruise) and see the beautiful property and get to explore the area with my sister.
The Atlantis grounds and aquaventure area is absolutely beautiful. You have not just stepped into a water park but have stepped into a Caribbean dream when you pick this shore excursion.
The beautiful tall palm trees that surround the property are absolutely stunning.
The aquaventure is a unique and fun water park that features lots of different slides (including some "tamer ones" and ones that are not for the faint of heart- hello the one that drops straight down!) and a unique twist on a lazy river that has some fun surprises.
The Aquaventure park is divided into four different parts- the Lazy River and the Current, the Mayan Temple, The Power Tower, and the Swimming Pools area.
We started with the Lazy River and Current as our first part of the Aquaventure. It was really fun! The Lazy River is a 1/4 mile loop through the tropical landscape.
There are different places where you can get off and on the Lazy River to go to the other three areas of the park or you can ride the entire thing, including the Current.
The current continues to take you along beautiful lush and gorgeous landscape while at the same time propelling you through a mile-long river via water escalators, rolling waves and extreme rapids. We really enjoyed the Lazy River and it was definitely one of the highlights of the day!
After enjoying the Lazy River and the Current we headed next to the Power Tower.
The Power Tower was so much fun! We spent a lot of time in this area because of the fun different rides that were offered. The Power Tower is a 120-foot tower with four different slides. It has The Abyss- which is a 50 foot vertical drop with a 200-foot-long body slide, The Drop- which is a single or double inner tube ride that starts with a "drop" into darkness, The Falls- where you are propelled through a water roller coaster ride, and finally, The Surge- which is an inner tube ride with a drop into a cavern followed by being "dumped" into the white water rapids of the Current.
It's hard to pick our favorite water slide rides, but definitely the Drop and the Falls were some of our favorites! Both my sister and I love the opportunity to be able to do rides together and these were two of our favorites! One of my favorite memories of the day and I am giggling as I write this, was my sister who would scream things like, "drop" every time a drop was coming to help warn me. I am laughing out loud remembering this as it really did give me a warning but it made me laugh really hard all at the same time so I definitely was swallowing a ton of water!
After spending a fun morning doing the above rides we decided to take some time to eat by one of the pools, and rest for a few minutes. As mentioned above you will receive a meal voucher with this port excursion to use. You will have the option of choosing from a few different quick service places that basically all serve the same thing: (Salad, Caesar Salad, Hamburger, Veggie Burger, Chicken Sandwich). My sister chose the Hamburger which she said was really good and I chose the Caesar Salad which I really enjoyed. The last time I was in Atlantis and had the meal voucher I chose the Veggie Burger which was also really nice.
All of these places are by the different pools that Atlantis has. For a bit of reference there are more than 20 different swimming areas and 11 different pools in Atlantis - all with different offerings including an adults only pool, a children's pool, etc.
The views that surround the Atlantis Resort and Aquaventure are absolutely stunning. At different parts you could clearly see the ocean and it was just breath-taking.
After lunch we headed to the Mayan Temple section of Aquaventure. The Mayan Temple features five different slides in its tower: The Serpent Slide-a five story corkscrew slide which ends with a slow ride through a clear submerged tunnel through a shark-filled lagoon, The Jungle Slide- where kiddos can take a safari like slide through different caves and jungles and two different Challenger slides- where you can challenge friends for a splashdown race and finally there is the Leap of Faith Slide- which is the tallest water slide drop the park offers - at almost 60 feet straight down which is followed by a high speed ride through a clear tunnel submerged in a shark-filled lagoon. (Let us be honest- if you are a girl and saw the Olsen twins and Holiday in the Sun you know that this ride was shown approximately 3000 times. *hahaha*)
We spent time doing the Serpent Slide and my sister who loves all things shark related loved the ending to the ride. You really do go extremely slow at the end of the ride and there is plenty of time to see different sharks, including one who was sleeping above us on the tunnel we were in! After riding the Lazy River one more time we were ready to head back to the ship. We were so surprised that we ended up spending about 7 hours on this port excursion. It was a fun and delightful filled day!
Here are a couple of tips and thoughts about the Aquaventure Port Excursion if you are interested in choosing this on your Disney Dream Cruise:
1. If you are like us and were wondering which water slide (with innertubes) is the "highest" in the park - then the answer is definitely "the Drop" ride. We were so grateful when a staff member explained this to us as I couldn't do huge drops due to health reasons and this helped us easily enjoy our time at the park without worrying about future rides.
2. A word of caution though for those who are traveling in the "hotter seasons"... the Lazy River and the Current Water was hot. At one point in the day - near the end of our time there we were hoping to be a little refreshed but instead started to feel a bit sick due to the fact it was so hot outside and the water felt even hotter. Just a word of caution about this part of the aquaventure!
3. Traveling in September like we did was an excellent time to enjoy this port excursion. The park was not that crowded and we never waited more than 3 or 4 minutes to go on a ride. It was truly a wonderful time to go visit if you can!
4. The cost of this port excursion is $185 for those who are 10 years old and up. For those who are 3 to 9 years old the cost is $135 and for those who are infants through 2 years old the cost is free. Like I said it was definitely the most expensive thing that we chose to do, but at the same time as I mentioned in my Disney Dream Cruise Ship Review Post you can save up and pay once you are on the cruise. It is not like other cruise lines where you have to pay before. This allows you lots of time to save for an expensive port excursion like this and you do get lunch and many hours at the excursion. Once I decided to do the cruise I had approximately 9 months to save for this excursion and so I put aside about $18-20 each month to save. On the flip side it is definitely expensive so it might be something to think about for a future cruise if you are strapped for money.
5. Wheelchairs are allowed to be in the pool and beach area but they are not allowed in the water slide area just to give you a heads up. Also wheelchairs must be collapsible as no electric wheelchairs are permitted.
6. Each guest that is participating in the water slide rides must be 48 inches tall where rides require it. There are different things that children who are less than this can participate on, but for the majority of the rides this is the height limit and they are very firm on this. We saw several different sets of parents who were trying to convince staff members that their children had done the rides already, that they really were that tall, etc. and the staff was kind but firm on this rule. There is also a height limit ruler and they will make you measure so keep that in consideration when purchasing this shore excursion.
I hope you enjoyed reading this review of the Aquaventure Port Excursion. It was such a delightful day that I want to go back and do it all over again! Please let me know if you have any questions!
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