Looking Back: Our Walt Disney Fairytale Honeymoon (Part 8)
The next morning after Castaway Cay, we woke up in Nassau where I learned a very, VERY valuable lesson. The morning we woke up at Castaway Cay, the Island was of course quite empty and we were the only ship docking that morning.
What I failed to realise was that we were not going to be the only ship docked in Nassau. As a result on this morning the, “When You Wish Upon a Star” horn of our ship blew (in case you’ve never heard this, it puts goosebumps all over you) and I ran over to our balcony to see Nassau. Clad in my honeymoon underwear I threw open the curtain and was greeted by the sight of a rather large (but not as large as us) cruise ship, with about 300 excited passengers all pointing at our Mickey boat. I have never retreated so fast in my life. Good morning, Nassau!
After my flashing the good people of whatever cruise liner that was, we got ready, had breakfast and meandered around the ship a little while because the weather was AWFUL. There were character meet and greets in the atrium…
…and we took some time to check out the gift shop!
As we were in Nassau, look who made am appearance! I tried to get him to sign my contract autograph book and he was rather suspicious.
The weather was still awful and so we decided to grab a slice at Pinocchio’s pizzeria by the pool.
Yes, the weather was awful. Truly awful ~ people were getting blown all the way across the deck and the water was being cleared by Disney deckhands constantly.
After a while of checking out the ship, we took a look outside…..still miserable. It was time for lunch though so we decided to fuel up and then brave the wind and rain.
Off to Parrot Cay we went for another buffet lunch!
That was Gav’s dinner…this was mine…
I was a very happy bunny, despite the nasty weather.
Gav enjoyed the crab claws ~ but not as much as the ones at Fulton’s Crab House.
After lunch, out we went!
The weather started to pick up a lot and we went on a ramble. We were supposed to be doing a couple of activities here but due to the weather they had been cancelled.
We found Nassau’s parliament building.
If only our Parliament was so pretty and pink 😉
We found Gucci, but it only sold handbags. Boo 🙁
We found some more amusing souvenirs!
We also managed to find the Hard Rock Cafe!
Walking around Nassau wasn’t as much fun as it looks though ~ there were so many vendors trying to literally drag you into their stores and it was pretty scary in parts. I understand why people generally weren’t keen to get off the ship here.
There was a Starbucks that we found on the way back the Mickey boat!
We took a few more photos on the walk home….
I loved the pretty ornaments that were for sale in here.
A kind man offered to take our photo at the Welcome sign before we reboarded the ship!
No matter how many times I looked at it, I couldn’t believe the size of our ship. Immense.
Back on board and safely away from the street traders, we began to leave…
The photo below shows the market where people kept trying to grab us in.
Nassau… pretty from a distance.
That evening was formal night and we were dining at Triton’s. We had our photo taken in the lobby with this fun backdrop!
Gav decided to forgo wearing his tuxedo as he didn’t feel so good, but that was okay ~ no one else was suited up either!
I had ratatouille!
I also had some really tasty salad.
Dinner was really delicious. I had crepes for dessert and Gav had cherries flambe (I can’t find the accent key here, imagine an acute one over the e in flame please).
We finished dinner, had our photo taken and left for our room.
On the way out I had a photo with my arch enemy.
When we got back to our stateroom, this little one was waiting for us!
Sadly in the middle of the night, we returned to Nassau as someone was very poorly onboard and needed an ambulance. We have no idea what happened, but it was a sad end to a blustery, non-Disney like day in Nassau.
I’m afraid that your experience with market vendors trying to grab you is fairly typical of vendors near to cruise ship ports. They know the ships are only there a limited time, so try to maximise sales in the short window acailable to them. Conversely, in markets where there is steady footfall, the vendors are much less strident. When we vacationed in Antigue, the kids and I went to Nelson’s Dockyard to see the historic port. There is a small craft market, where the ladies are busy making handicrafts for sales. There was no sales pressure, and we had a conversation with a lady making items out of red and brown seeds, who explained to us where she got the seeds, how she baked them to preserve them, and how she made them into crafts. I bought a pretty set of coasters made from seeds from her which I love because it brings back memories of a delightful leisurely day’s sightseeing.