Nassau and Atlantis

The second of our two ports on the cruise was to Nassau. We took some time to roam the city a little and ventured over to Paradise Island to see the famous Bahamian hotel resort, Atlantis.

A view of the Straw Market

On a little ferry that took us to Paradise Island, where the Atlantis resort is.

We got a little tour down the waterway of many celebrities' mansions.

The late Mary Kay Ash's estate on Paradise Island

(The only picture where I could remember whose it actually was...)

Inside a shopping mall in the Atlantis Resort. Hand-blown glass like these sculptures were everywhere.

When there's a fun interactive photo spot, one must always take advantage...

The resort had this incredible aquarium exhibit called The Dig.

Look at that Eagle Ray!

Moray eels

Very Disney-esque aqaurium setup!

One of the water slides on the park's property is an inflatable tube ride that goes through this shark tank.

And for our next vacation? The Atlantis' famous bridge suite.

It rents for $25,000 a night requiring at least 4 nights (ahhem, that's $100K). But don't worry... it's booked solid for the next 5 years, so we have some time to save up for it.

Life on a Boat

In my estimation, there are 4 main aspects of life on a cruise ship, ports aside: food, fun, views, and entertainment. Here's a taste of what they were like for us!

PART 1: THE FOOD

The food definitely has to come first in the list. We ate like there would be no food tomorrow -- everything from escargot to lamb, duck to curry, salads to ice cream. And the always-open soft serve machine became an all-too-tempting friend poolside.

This, my friends, was our table at dinner one night. Three couples and a multitude of plates. Shaun and I shared three appetizers, four entrees, and two desserts that night. Gluttonous? Yes. Delicious? All.

Our table's waiter and wait assistant, Agnelo and Alejandro, who graciously brought us absurd amounts of food each night.

There was a midnight buffet on the third night of our stay. The DJ played while people danced poolside and ate their 4th (5th? 6th?) meal of the day. This was just a shot of the fruit table.

Ice sculptures!

One afternoon we decided to tour the galley with the chef. It was crazy to see how hard those men and women work all day long.

Mmm, midnight pizza! Food is never far...

PART 2: THE FUN!

Listening to live music before we went out and danced together.

Who says towel animals aren't fun? We loved our little surprises, like this monkey!

With a friendly bulldog, maybe?

A cool swan

Rock climbing is definitely fun!

All geared up for our rock wall climbs!

PART 3: THE VIEWS

Watching the world float by with yummy frozen concoctions

We would watch the waves from thcould not believe how blue the water was in the Caribbean.

I promise, there was no photoshopping!

Sitting on the deck after dinner, watching the sunset.

Because it was so windy, part of the time was spent with me behind a glass wall to keep my skirt from going Marilyn on me. This was before we thought of sitting on a bench instead.

We woke up early one morning to watch the sunrise too.

And another sunset....

PART 4: ENTERTAINMENT
One of the things we did each night was gamble in the casino. We each had five dollars a night to try and win it big. I ended up the trip's winner on the last night by winning us $20 with my $5, bringing us almost back to where we would have been without gambling! :)

Shaun in action

SHUFFLEBOARD! :)

And yes, Shaun and I are some of the oldest newlyweds you could ever meet.

And the shows were equally entertaining. This was our comedian on ship, Carl Banks.

A musical show through the decades that we watched one night.

After the show, the crew all came out so we could thank them for all of their hard work in making life on a boat as much fun as it was!

Coco Cay, Bahamas

The first of our two ports on our Caribbean cruise was to Coco Cay, the Royal Caribbean-owned island in the Bahamas.

We brought our own snorkeling gear with us on the trip, which saved us about $25 each. Gotta love that! We weren't quite sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised with how many fish we saw. They had sunk a cannon, a boat, and even an airplane to create reefs out from their beach. The ship also provided a BBQ lunch for us, so it ended up being an all-day outing.

The Monarch of the Seas

The view of our ship from the boat's tender (the little boats that take you from ship to shore and back)

One of the tenders

There were little wooden fish attached to weights strewn about the snorkeling area. It was a scavenger hunt type activity, and if you found one, you traded it in for a prize. Shaun, ever ready to compete, found one and won an underwater camera, which he used to take pictures of the various undersea creatures.

Us with our ship

As the sun set, we eagerly awaited the next day in Nassau.

To be continued....