The Bahamas and Florida Cruise – April 2014

NYC is home so no port review but a big fat 5 Stars because NEW YORK :) taking a cruise from home is quite a luxury. Nothing is better than packing any amount of your personal belongings, taking a cab across town, checking in and your vacation begins.

Port Canaveral is located in the center of Florida's east coast about an hour from Orlando. Naturally most cruise passengers associate it with Walt Disney World, Universal theme parks and SeaWorld. I had never been to Disney World and while my husband and me do not have children or are particularly intrigued by American theme parts we thought that I should see it at least once. We booked the ship excursion which was very pricey but included transportation and entry to the theme parks. Cheesy as it may be, I wanted to see Epcot and take pictures with the giant life-size comic protagonists. Everything ran smoothly but somehow going all the way to Orlando and manoeuvring lines to get into Disney seemed like quite a production especially in Florida heat. We had a great time at Epcot - we walked around to all the attractions and international pavilions, and saw the award-winning fireworks. We were even lucky enough to coincidentally have our picture taken by another visitor as they were going off in the background. I also bought some pink Minnie Mouse ears as a souvenir. At times, it felt like the adults were having more fun here than the children (many of whom were asleep in strollers). 

We were surprised by a massive rain shower on the way back to the bus and arrived on the ship completely soaked but somehow this was also fun.  

I'm not sure I'd want to go back to Port Canaveral after this but for families and space geeks this is for sure a great port. With Port Canaveral smack in the middle of what's known as Florida's 72-mile Space Coast, the premier attraction is the Kennedy Space Center, where guests can meet and talk to actual astronauts.

Great Stirrup Cay is a private Bahamas Island owned by Norwegian Cruise Line for their cruise ship passengers.I was skeptical of this port but ended up spending a really nice day here. We were on one of the earlier tenders to get to the shores. It is the perfect place to spend a lazy day relaxing on the beach. The island is beautiful and immaculately kept with 10 acres of beachfront property, so you are sure to find the ideal spot. NCL set up a lovely beach BBQ (with amazing Caribbean style BBC chicken). The bars and buffet were all included for the day and there was a Caribbean soca band from St. Vincent by the name of Impac playing live music. We spent the whole time they were playing dancing and had a nice chat with them after.

We spent the remainder of the day swimming and at the beach. The water is crystal blue and flat out amazing. NCL also offers snorkeling, paddle boards, jet skis, a stingray petting zoo and a variety of other water activities for those so inclined.

The only downside to Great StirrupCay: NCL restricts you to one part of the island and that’s also where all the activities are so unfortunately you’ll be surrounded by people no matter where you sit.

We walked off the ship and took a scenic boat ride through Nassau’s historic harbour over to Blue Lagoon island, a private island used for tourism.

We had booked one of the ships shore excursions for a swim with dolphins encounter for this port. 

Prior to the late 19th century the island’s lagoon was a salt marsh and was referred to legally as Salt Cay. The Island became a stopover for pirates and privateers who used the island to cull salt from the lagoon to preserve their food and as a rest stop while they waited for permission to enter Nassau Harbour.

Since the 90s Dolphin Encounters has been running their programs from here. I love dolphins and just wanted to be near them and interact with them. For this reason I really enjoyed swimming with the dolphins. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t until after the trip that I educated myself about the dark underbelly of swim-with-the-dolphin programs and learned about the documented evidence against marine mammals in captivity. I would recommend anyone to skip activities like these and enjoy seeing them in the wild instead. 

Outside the dolphin activities Blue Lagoon has lots of other things to offer as well. We spent the remainder of the day swimming in the calm lagoon, relaxing on the beach, eating a nice grilled lunch and having a Bahama Mama - an amazing local tropical drink. You can even just do nothing but watch the coconut palms sway as you lounge in a number of double hammocks all around the island. It’s like a little slice of paradise that I didn’t want to leave. 

Home sweet home. Disembarking and taking a cab back was easy as 1 2 3. We loved our first cruise and completely fell in love with cruising as a result.