Carnival, 8 nights out of NYC to Grand Turk then Half Moon Cay/Nassau, Bahamas. Left last Saturday afternoon, got back this morning.
Grand Turk is a beautiful little island, only about 7 miles long. We were there only for a few hours. No huge resorts there, just a couple smaller hotels right on the beach. Great spot if you want to get away from the world for a week. We snorkeled there for about 3 hours. Coral reefs everywhere, including one that is a "wall" between a depth of 15 feet and a dropoff to about 7,000 feet.
Half Moon Cay is owned by Carnival. Tiny speck of an island with a perfect beach and very little else. It did have a Captain Morgan-themed bar right off the beach that was a good place to cool off, to say the least.
Nassau is Nassau, I suspect many here have been there. To me it's generally unimpressive and overrun with people trying to make a buck off you. The resorts are incredible, and we did an excursion to Atlantis, which is just ridiculous and over the top. I doubt I'll ever be able to afford to actually stay there, to boot.
As for the cruise itself, for those who've never done it, give it a try, for sure. If you don't run up an insane bar tab, excursion tab or gambling tab, it's a very affordable way to vacation. They did a ton of stuff for the kids--we barely saw them, they were having so much fun with the other kids their own ages. Gave Daddy ample time to play blackjack, and when Daddy has time, Daddy always wins at blackjack, and this trip was no exception as I won enough to cover all excursions we did. Of course, there was no relief for the bar tab--damn those fruity drinks! As for the food, it's generally very good quality and comes in endless supply--I don't know anyone who's gone on a cruise and didn't gain weight! The shows they do are decent, the comedy clubs are great if you don't mind raunchy humor and the other activities they assemble while at sea are enough to keep you occupied for sure.
Any other questions re the cruise or cruising for those who've never done it, fire away! Hey, maybe we should look into one from NYC to Puerto Rico for the 2nd week in November. ;-)
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
Guy, I love cruises, and yours sounded great. Not sure if I've ever been on a Carnival cruise, but feel all of them are good. IMO, the most important thing is where they leave from and where they go to. Prices pretty much the same, but being retired you sometimes get last minute deals, but I've never taken one, but know people who have. How did the kids like it?
The kids had a blast. They have something called "Camp Carnival", which is basically like daycare but it's actually more fun for the kids themselves. They group the kids by ages (2-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-18) and do events geared toward each age group so that the kids can meet kids their own ages. My only gripe comes here: I think the age groups should overlap by a year or two. My daughter is 5 but is probably suited more toward the 6-8 group, and she didn't have much fun the first day or two because the activities were too young for her, but then she did get friendly with a couple other 5-year-olds and all was well.
For my son's age group (9-11, he's 9), you had the option of letting the kids sign in and out of "camp" at their leisure. I know a couple parents didn't let their kids do this, but we let our son do it and he flourished with the extra responsibility and freedom.
At night they did events for all age groups. For the older kids they had an "all night party" that went to about 4 am, and my son LOVED this and had no problem staying awake and having a blast. They had similar parties for the younger ones as well, but not as late, obviously. Still, though, one night I went to pick up my daughter around 11 pm and thought she'd be sitting with the other kids watching TV, but I look on the monitor next to the entrance (so you can always see what you're little one's up to, how she's faring in the new situation, etc) and she's dancing the night away in the next room.
You also have the opportunity to have your kids eat dinner with the other kids as part of the camp (thereby freeing you up for a more leisurely "adult" dinner, as dinner was about 2 hours each night), but we just kept them with us instead. If we had to do this all over again, we may rethink that.
All in all, the kids loved it and we'd do it again. Not sure when, but we will.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
LOL. Sorry, blackjack is my game. I don't stray from the "rules" too often, it's more my betting style that produces generally good results and prevents wipeout performances.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
