Being the world travelers that we were, we decided that we were ready for whatever travel deals we could find. So the winter after we got married, we booked a trip through some discount travel page. I had decided that I wanted to try a cruise, Emily and her family had been on a couple and talked about them all the time. We were still young and didn’t have a ton of money so we booked a cruise with Norwegian out of New York City traveling to the Bahamas in…..March.
I know….I know the writing is in the wall, how could we possibly have not thought this through but, we didn’t.
The start of the trip went really well. We travelled down from Maine to New York with no problems. My mother and her husband came with us. We met up with my in-laws and my wife’s aunt and uncle traveling up from Pennsylvania, again with no issues. In fact we timed it so well that we both arrived on the Marina parking deck within 10min of each other.
Getting on board from what I was told was pretty standard. We hadn’t paid for any upgrades or higher end rooms so we had to wait in line with everyone else. “So what? We are on and adventure.” This is when I started to notice it……lots of backpacks…….small backpacks…..with small people attached. Oh no. Emily and I do not have children of our own, so things like “school break” elude us. Oh well it’s a big ship with lots of adult only entertainment, casinos, shows, bars, and the like everything will be fine.
We got on board with no incident, the crew had taken our bags and tagged them and let us know that they would be in our rooms later. We set off to check out the ship, we made our way to the top deck, which housed a couple pools and couple bars. WOW! Drinks on the ship not cheap. We picked up a bucket of Sam Adam’s and relaxed in a couple loungers near the pool. This is when the second realization hit me….we were dressed for winter, drinking cold beer, in the sun, and shivering……oh well it’s an adventure, the Bahamas will be warmer.
After awhile we went up to the front of the ship to watch as we pulled out of harbor. OMG. No warning to that horn!
Most of the trip went really well. The food was okay, the temperatures got warmer after a day or two, much better than the New England winter we were having, and we were on an adventure!
Our first port of call was in Port Canveral and our small group got split up trying to go on an excursions. We couldn’t get off the ship at the same time, ended up on different buses and ultimately Emily, my mother(Edie), her husband(Fran), and I went on a airboat ride with the crocodiles while the rest of them were 10 minutes or so behind us. We got to try deep fried crocodile, had a great boat ride on a nice day, got within 10′ of some rather large animals, and finished off with a reptile show. It was definitely a nice break to the cold breeze on the deck of the ship.
Our next port of call was a private Norwegian island. The island didn’t have much in the way of entertainment, but we got some food and some drinks. Emily and I snorkeled nearly half way out to the cruise ship around a small rock island that was there. Unfortunately there wasn’t really anything to see, but at least it got us out of the hot sun and in the water for a bit.
Our final port of call was Nassau. We spent the first half of the day on a snorkeling excursion that turned out to be a bit colder than we had hoped. We saw a lot of fish and even got a few good photos with out rudimentary underwater cameras and housings. The second half of the day we walked around the port, checked out the shops, and got a chance to stretch our legs, before getting back on the boat to begin our journey home. That is definitely a down side in my mind to taking a cruise, once you get back on the boat for the final port of call, you are already headed home. It kinda makes it feel like you are cutting the trip short.
A couple things to note about the Bahamas in March. Yes it is much warmer than a cold winter, but water sports are still pretty cold. Secondly and what to date has turned me off from another cruise, was that there were kids everywhere at all hours of the day. You would have thought that a show at 11pm would have been adults only, but no. Kids crying, five year olds staring at you as the couple on stage talked about the first time they had sex, while driving down the highway towards Atlantic City. I don’t know if it was the value cruise, the timing of spring break, or maybe just Norwegian, but wow.
All in all this trip truely was an adventure. One we will never forget. But we definitely cemented in our minds, you get what you pay for. I would definitely go on another value vacation again, anything to travel really, but some more research before jumping in would definitely be warranted.
Tree Tops and Flip Flops 