Travel Tuesday: Cruising to the Bahamas
Well, spring break is officially over and real life is currently hitting me like a pile of bricks, so let's reminisce on my cruise to the Bahamas instead, shall we?
While I am still partial to traveling by airplane, I really enjoyed my first cruising experience on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. The convenience of paying for everything beforehand removes many of the stresses that I usually deal with while traveling, such as finding good restaurants and decent places to stay, planning activities and worrying about transportation. On the ship, everything was taken care of and it was nice to be able to sit back and simply relax for a few days. The hardest choice I had to make every day was which bathing suit to wear and which end of the ship I wanted to lie on to sunbathe. And I don't know anyone who wouldn't love to have the option of ordering multiple appetizers at dinner at no extra charge. Which I did. Every night.
I'll write about the pros and cons of cruising eventually, but for now I'm going to share the highlights of my trip!
First of all, the weather was gorgeous. After a windy day at sea with intermittent clouds, we had two sunny, warm, perfect days in Nassau and CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island.
In Nassau, my friends and I wandered through the streets for a while and did a little bit of shopping. Of course, the trip wouldn't be complete without a stop at Fat Tuesday and SeƱor Frogs (yes, both) for food and frozen beverages.
Nassau wasn't what I expected at all. It is much more developed than I had imagined, which makes sense, considering it's a major port for several cruise lines.
I didn't do an excursion, but there were tons of options if you're headed there and looking for something more active.
However, CocoCay was by far my favorite part of the week. Royal Caribbean leases the island for private use, so when we got off of the ship, we were the only people there (all 2,600 of us, but still). The water was crystal clear and beautiful, and I could have sat in my beach chair and stared at the scenery all day and been perfectly content.
There were floating docks about 100 yards off of the shore, so I channeled my inner competitive swimmer (she's been retired for about 3 years now, so it was a rough start) and conquered the distance with one of my friends. We had the space entirely to ourselves for a little while, and we got to just float and enjoy the sunshine.
We even saw a couple stingrays on the swim back to the beach!
To top it all off, there was a barbecue feast for lunch. What more could a girl ask for?
Overall, the experience was certainly one for the books. I finally got to feed my craving for travel, but I already can't wait to plan my next adventure!
Scroll to see more photos from my trip!
Any suggestions on where I should go for my next trip? Or stories about the best cruises you have been on? Let me know in the comments!
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