Magic in the Bahamas December 2019 Unmerry Cruise

[MsSimone]

Since I got so much out of other folks trip reports, I thought I'd try this.

My family (husband and me in our 40s, teen daughter) booked one of the only non-'Merrytime' cruises available in December. It was a 4-night cruise out of Miami leaving on 26 Dec, going to Nassau and Castaway. We live in Colorado and wanted to escape to somewhere warm. This was also to be our 'Disney fix' for the year, as the parks around the holidays are not our idea of fun.

This was our first cruise and we weren't sure what we'd think of cruising. We only looked at Disney cruises, because the big feature of this trip was getting to go to Castaway. It was a short cruise; if we hated it we never had to do it again, it was only a few days, and we'd be able to check Castaway off the list.


Embarkation
We selected a 1230 PAT. This was plenty early for us. We flew in the night before, stayed in mid-beach, and got to spend some time playing in the waves before we boarded. The boarding process went fairly well. The port is very much lacking in Disney Whimsy but that's okay; we weren't there long.

We *hate* the announcement process and being clapped on. I had been looking forward to having crab legs at Cabanas. The no-line, multi-station buffet process is pretty chaotic, but there was a fine selection of food and we got a table outside where it was much quieter. Food was not spectacular, but much better than a typical buffet meal. After lunch we dropped off our carry-ons and wandered the ship, took pictures, played ping-pong, had a drink in O'Gils, and then headed up to the Muster Drill.

Our first dinner was in Rapunzel's. The performers were great; we're not big on interaction. But they picked up on that and kept the interaction brief so it was charming. Our serving team was great -- I highly recommend Orlan on the Magic. We had second seating, which we wanted. It was calm and we were able to get a private table. We are also used to eating dinner around 8pm most nights, so it wasn't a hardship.

About half-way through my entree the motion of the ship caught up with me. I don't usually get car sick, I love roller coasters, but it was too much for me. I went to have a lie down. For the rest of the cruise, I had a Gin Gin candy before dinner and was fine. But I needed a day to get my sea legs.

Next Post -- Day Two: Nassau

 

[MsSimone]

Day Two: Nassau and Atlantis Aquaventure

I read a lot of comments about people not getting off the boat in Nassau. Since this was our first time in The Bahamas, we decided to get off the ship. The Aquaventure at Atlantis looked like fun so we decided to check it out.

To say that it was not worth it is to radically understate things. It's a complete racket. First of all, the transportation process takes forever so the first hour of your excursion is spent getting a sticker, waiting in lines for a bus, getting on the bus, etc. The park itself is..... fine. We took a long, fun ride on the rapids. The sun was out and it was really delightful floating along and getting pushed around by the waves. However, the signage in the area is awful. It takes ages to find anything, or a sign will direct you somewhere .... that you will discover is an exit not an entrance. The other rides were a disappointment -- they were either too intense or too dull. It didn't help that it began to rain. We got some fried seafood with our vouchers, looked at some fishes in the aquarium, and played on the beach for a bit when the sun came back out. We tried to head over to the Pirate Cove taproom, but it began pouring rain again so we ended up just heading back to the ship. Atlantis itself is an orgy of bad taste. If you've ever walked through the Las Vegas Strip and thought 'yeah, I mean this is fine, but could it be... MORE' then Atlantis may be your jam.

Back on the ship, we spent more time playing ping pong and foosball, playing board games in O'Gils. My teen spent more time in Vibe -- which she really enjoyed. Then the two of us had a mother/daughter massage, which was really nice.

Dinner was Lumiere's, and I think was the best of the trip. The food was tremendous. I was impressed by how nice the savory dishes at dinners were in general.

 

[Meeko28]

Atlantis itself is an orgy of bad taste. If you've ever walked through the Las Vegas Strip and thought 'yeah, I mean this is fine, but could it be... MORE' then Atlantis may be your jam.

 

[MsSimone]

Day Three: Castaway Cay

This was the most perfect day I've experienced in a long time.

My daughter and I had signed up for the 5K but never got our stuff. I'm sure I missed a memo somehow about how/when you were supposed to get your number and the info on where to be. If we do this again, I'll do more research. Instead we got around, had breakfast, and exited the ship around 9am into a breathtakingly beautiful day.

We did the bike trail, snorkeled (sea turtles!!), sat with our feet in the sand reading, hung in hammocks, drank fruity boozy punches, had yummy soft serve ice cream, walked over to Serenity Bay just to see it. Had a nice bit of fish and salad from Cookies Too. We stayed until about 30 minutes before all aboard, just enjoying the day.

That evening we tried Bingo (not for us, but now we can say we tried it) and had a couple of very nice G&Ts from the World of Gin cart at Promenade (we are gin drinkers, so it was fun to try some new ones). We very much enjoyed the show at Animator's. We also had another good meal, with the exception of the dessert course. In general I found almost every dessert on the ship to be far far too sweet, tooth-achingly sugary.

We went up to Deck 10 to watch Mickey on the zipline and see the fireworks. It's a bit cheesy, but it was fun and I'm glad we went.

 

[lorimay]

Day Three: Castaway Cay

This was the most perfect day I've experienced in a long time.

My daughter and I had signed up for the 5K but never got our stuff. I'm sure I missed a memo somehow about how/when you were supposed to get your number and the info on where to be. If we do this again, I'll do more research. Instead we got around, had breakfast, and exited the ship around 9am into a breathtakingly beautiful day.

We did the bike trail, snorkeled (sea turtles!!), sat with our feet in the sand reading, hung in hammocks, drank fruity boozy punches, had yummy soft serve ice cream, walked over to Serenity Bay just to see it. Had a nice bit of fish and salad from Cookies Too. We stayed until about 30 minutes before all aboard, just enjoying the day.

That evening we tried Bingo (not for us, but now we can say we tried it) and had a couple of very nice G&Ts from the World of Gin cart at Promenade (we are gin drinkers, so it was fun to try some new ones). We very much enjoyed the show at Animator's. We also had another good meal, with the exception of the dessert course. In general I found almost every dessert on the ship to be far far too sweet, tooth-achingly sugary.

We went up to Deck 10 to watch Mickey on the zipline and see the fireworks. It's a big cheesy, but it was fun and I'm glad we went.

Castaway Cay is always a pretty great day!!!
Wish I was sitting there right now with a Konk Kooler!

 

[MsSimone]

Day Four: At-Sea Day

As you may have gathered from our previous entries, we are not 'joiners'. A lot of the activities on the ship just weren't for us. So the at-sea day was a long one for us.

We did a guided tour of the ship. This was informative, and I would like to do even more. It did lead us to discover corners of the ship we wouldn't have found otherwise. We did a trivia session, which was fun. I would have liked more general trivia sessions -- or maybe we'll study up on our Disney facts before another cruise so we can compete at those. We had some nice drinks at Signals, played some shuffle board, played more games at O'Gils (we always bring a number of tabletop games with us on trips; Villainous was a great on-theme game for the cruise). Our daughter did more time at Vibe.

I nearly forgot -- we did the chocolate and liquor tasting. It was tasty and informative. The scotch they served was a real treat.


We packed up the room and put our luggage out for collection. The farewell dinner was again a combo of good savory courses and an overly-sweet dessert. Our serving team made sure we knew the process for the morning.


Leaving the cruise

We got around, went down for breakfast, and waited for our group to be called. And waited. And waited. I don't know what happened, but our group didn't get cleared until well after what was supposed to be the deadline. We managed to get our bags and a taxi just in time to make our arranged tour to the Everglades.

 

[MsSimone]

Overall feelings as a first-time cruiser.

The room was nice and felt pretty good-sized considering you're on a ship. The bed is pretty big. Our daughter was pleased by the comfort of the converted bed. We all really liked the way they made up the room for day time and night time use. The level of tidiness and cleanliness on the ship is impressive. They are continually working to keep things ship-shape; we saw cleaning crews, electricians, painters, etc at work throughout the cruise.

The food is pretty good, especially given how many people have to be served at once. I found the desserts disappointing and too sweet, but the savory courses were tasty. It was great to be able to eat so much seafood since we don't often get that chance in CO.

Cabanas is overwhelming if you are someone who does not thrive in chaos. The idea that you're supposed to just pop in to the station you want instead of lining up, even though it's one long buffet is anti-intuitive for a lot of people. You end up having to either elbow your way in or wait for someone to let you in, and you're liable to get someone else reaching around your chest to grab something. It is not a pleasant experience unless you go at an off time. I enjoyed the crab legs on the buffet, but if we do this again I may do room service for lunch on the ship.

Castaway Cay is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been able to spend a day.

Vibe was great for our teen. She met some fun kids, including a few she'll keep in touch with. She really liked the counselors and the mix of activities. One of the selling points of the cruise was that as someone who's used to a lot of autonomy at home, on the ship she'd likewise be able to run around on her own.

The level of service and the staff are great. You are really treated well. The ship is lovely, with lots of fun little nooks. The 'Disney whimsy' throughout the ship is nicely done -- the music, the art work, the changing carpet schemes.

We ended up putting down a placeholder. We are thinking Alaska next summer (2021) if we think we can handle multiple at-sea days, or a similar Bahamas cruise -- but one without a Nassau day or maybe after they add the second private island. Or we may end up not cruising again and doing something else. The cruise had its high points, but we would also be fine with never cruising again. We like a very active vacation (lots of hiking, walking, exploring) and while the lounging and relaxing made a nice change for a short while, it wasn't really our 'speed'.

OTOH -- we are very excited about our WDW trip in May. We typically go about every two years and it's one of our favorite places.

 

[Deb T.]

Thank you for your review! I'm sure it will help other new cruisers.

 

[monkeydawn]

Atlantis itself is an orgy of bad taste. If you've ever walked through the Las Vegas Strip and thought 'yeah, I mean this is fine, but could it be... MORE' then Atlantis may be your jam.

This is one of the funniest lines EVER. Thanks for the laugh and the review.