3-Night Bahamas Cruise

My husband, my 14-year-old daughter, and I decided to take advantage of an October school break to take a 3-night cruise to the Bahamas aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. It was a first time cruise for all of us, as well as the first time to the Bahamas.

I've never had any interest in cruising, mainly because I want to be able to set my own schedule and itinerary. But I have to say, I enjoyed this very much.

I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly and quickly everything went from the time our plane landed in Miami to the time we opened the door to our stateroom. Royal Caribbean has the check-in process down to a science!

We were all surprised at how gorgeous the ship was. It was like a floating luxury hotel. We did a lot of exploring as soon as we got on board, and kept saying "wow" at each new space we encountered.

Even though the ship was at near-capacity, it never felt crowded. There were always so many things going on and so many places for people to be, everyone was spread out. The only place that was constantly crowded was the pool area. We pretty much avoided that area.

I was also amazed at the quality of the entertainment on board. We weren't expecting much, so slipped into the first night's show a little late - which we regretted because what we saw was great! We made a point to make it to the shows the other two nights and were not disappointed.

The highlight of the cruise, for us, was the stop at Royal Caribbean's private island - CocoCay. The waters surrounding the island are the crystal clear blue that you expect of the caribbean. There is plenty to do, and eat! Or, if you choose, you can spend the day reading a book while swinging in a hammock under a palm tree.

Quick Tips:

Especially on a short cruise, I recommend carrying your luggage onboard. That way, you don't have to wait for it to be delivered to your room. If you also carry it off at the end of the cruise, you don't have to put it out in the hallway on the last night.

If you can afford it, get a room with a balcony. We used it a lot. It was great to be able to go out there in the mornings to watch the sunrise and view port as we were pulling in. In the evenings, we'd grab a pretty drink from the bar and sit on our balcony sipping them as we took turns in the shower. One night, after the sun went down, I was still out there just enjoying the warm breeze. (Something you really appreciate when you're from Minnesota!)

Remember to pack at least slightly dressy clothes if you want to eat in the dining room. My daughter and I forgot about this and only packed shorts and tank tops! So, we never did eat in the dining room, but there were a couple of advantages to that:

1) At the end of the cruise, we didn't have to worry about tipping the dining room waiters.
2) We could eat when we wanted to, rather than at our assigned time.

Best Way To Get Around:

The cruise line provided transportation from the airport to the ship and vice versa. It was very easy to find and very well organized.

On Day 2 of our cruise, we were docked in Nassau. We opted for a morning shore excursion to Blackbeard's Cay - an island off of Cable Beach.

You have 2 choices when you book this excursion: You can choose just the "beach break" which means you get to spend time on the beach and use the facilities there (beach chairs, hammocks, bathrooms, bar, shops), or you can pay more and snorkel with stingrays. We went for the beach break just because of the cost savings. We were able to very clearly see the stingrays, though, because they were basically "caged" in a small area right along the dock. After seeing that, we were glad we didn't pay the extra to swim with them - although the people that did the snorkeling seemed to enjoy it.

This was a beautiful beach with very clear waters. We rented a floating beach mat for $5 that the three of us shared. Because of the crystal-clear waters, we were able to see a very large starfish moving along underneath us! As part of the excursion, we were given a ticket for one free glass of punch from the beach bar. There was recorded reggae music playing most of the time, and we just really enjoyed the sun, sand, and music. Not many people took this shore excursion, so we had the beach pretty much to ourselves.

This shore excursion lasted 3 hours, which got us back to the ship around noon. After showering and grabbing some lunch, we headed in to Nassau to see what we could see before the ship left at 4:00. Unfortunately, there wasn't much. It was a Sunday which meant that most things were closed. We hadn't booked another shore excursion through the cruise line, and were a little hesitant to strike out too far on our own and run the risk of not getting back on time. We really would have preferred the beach break excursion had happened in the afternoon. Then, we could have done some touring in the morning, and cooled off at the beach in the afternoon. Still, when you're from Minnesota, you can't complain about spending 3 hours at a gorgeous beach!

On Day 1 of the cruise, the ship arrived at Royal Caribbean's private island - CocoCay. The ship can't actually dock there, so you have to be tendered into the island. The night before, we booked a guided kayaking trip for 9:00, which meant we did have to hustle a little bit to get up, get some breakfast, get ready and onto the island in time. It was worth it though!

My 14-year-old daughter and I took this trip - in a 2-person kayak. We recieved a brief history of the area from our guide and then we were off. The water was a gorgeous, clear, blue-green. It was just a treat to be out on the water. Every so often, our guide would stop the group to tell us or show us something. At one point, he passed around a live conch for us to see. Another time, he pointed out some stingrays swimming nearby. We stopped on a secluded beach for little while so we could get out of our life jackets and swim. We found more conch to look at, and our guide pointed out sea grapes that were growing wild on shore. We all had the opportunity to taste them. (They were good!)

After the kayak trip was over, we spent most of the rest of the day on the beach from which the kayaks launched. I recommend staying at this part of the island! It's away from the bar and the food pavillion, so it was MUCH less crowded than the other beaches. We were able to swim (with the occasional small sharks and stingrays!), sun, and lay around in hammocks, and had the area mostly to ourselves.

There are plenty of things to do on the island. Live reggae music plays most of the day. Food is provided by the cruise line. There are many beach chairs and hammocks in which to relax, and shops for souvenier shopping. There's also a nature trail that looked interesting, but we never quite made it there. We did see some interesting iguanas near the entrance to the trail though. For an extra charge, you can kayak, snorkel, jet-ski, take a yoga class on the beach, or get a mat to float on in the water.