Today is the first of 2 ports we will visit. Amy and I have been to Nassau once before and did the clear kayak excursion. On that we paddled against currents the whole time and didn’t see much of anything through our “clear” kayak. This time we planned on just taking a short walk around looking at shops and then getting back on the ship. We have a late 8:30pm all aboard time. We waited until after the morning rush finished their breakfast so they can get to excursions and made our way up to the Windjammer around 8:30am. After breakfast we went back to our room to sunscreen up and leave the ship. Mariner’s sister ship, Navigator, dock right next to us so we could see its new renovations.
Our plan was just look at the close shops around the port. As we looked we slowly made our way more into town. At a certain point I decided we were close enough to the Queens Staircase to take them there. I’ve read about it ahead of time but didn’t know we would go that far into town. At the top of the Staircase are vendors and a fort along with a nice high view of the port. Both kids bought souvenirs from the vendors but we didn’t go in the fort since it cost to go in $3/each. The vendors we bought from were friendly and one hand chiseled “Bahamas” into Ethan’s wooden crab and another one used a Dremel. At that point we were tired from the heat and walked back.
Back at the ship we quickly made our way up to the Windjammer for lunch and lots to drink to rehydrate. Following lunch was the Selfie Scavenger Hunt which Amy and Hannah did on our last cruise and had lots of fun. This one didn’t have much hard items to find but it was the 20min to cover all parts of the ship that was the challenge. The only one we didn’t get was on deck 14. We were on the sports deck #12 but had 5min left to get down to level 4 to turn in our answers. We made it in time and had the most completed giving us first place and gold medals (not just a RC keychain like other activities we saw people win).
The scavenger hunt actually conflicted with another activity the kids wanted to go to which was Small Foot movie in 3D at the theater. We were 30min late but didn’t miss much important stuff of the movie and it was enjoyable to watch in 3D.
One of the new activities added to the ship was Laser Tag located in Studio B where ice skating is held. We reserved a time but walk-ins are accepted if there’s room. They take a group of 10-12 people and then randomly divide them into 2 groups Aliens and Robots. Amy, Hannah, and I were put on the Alien team and unfortunately Ethan was stuck on the Robots. It was fun. I got a pretty good score but we didn’t win (I’m Jet). I wore my Go-Pro so I hope that video turns out well.
Before dinner we squeezed in showers, Disney Song Trivia, and shuffleboard. The Disney trivia was actually naming the movie the song clip was from. This was all Hannah but she was no match for other groups that got all of them correct.
Another yummy dinner where Ethan learned he really likes Chicken Parmesan and Hannah was worried her dark chocolate cookie wasn’t going to be good because of the dark chocolate but it ended up being more of a hot brownie with a juicy center and she loved it.
The kids wanted to try karaoke again after dinner so we dropped by for one song. This time they did “Just the Way You Are”. Unfortunately they only had one mic so Hannah carried the song.
There was another headliner tonight called “El Gaucho”. He’s a musician, comedian, and performer. He had some funny parts but there were lots of technical issues with his act and he was bossy and rude to the staff and house band. It seemed like he didn’t rehearse with them as they were not on the same page.
We followed up the show with a visit to the gift shop on the Promenade to get memorabilia from the ship. I watched a little of the NBA playoffs at Playmakers while the rest shopped. Looking at the schedule we saw that the Majority Rules game was starting soon so we dropped by. This is where they ask a question and every team submits an answer and whichever one is most common is the teams that get points. Questions like “best superhero”, “best pickup line”, “worst first date location”. We never answered in the majority but I think the kids enjoyed it.
By this time (10:45pm) the late night Windjammer opened up and we made a trip there to see what they had. Unfortunately nothing we were interested in. Not many desserts but more meal food like hamburgers.
At this point we sent the kids back to their room to put themselves to sleep and Amy and I went to the adults only Quest game show. This is where the audience is divided into teams and then they ask your team to bring certain items to show the host to get points. Use your imagination of how that could get out of hand at 11:30pm with people that have the unlimited drink package. When the show was over we hurried ourselves to sleep because we were exhausted and we have a busy day tomorrow going to the newly renovated Royal Caribbean private island of CocoCay.
