2022 Cruise to the Bahamas!

 

After two years of being canceled due to Covid, and after not being sure whether we could find a cat sitter who could deal with Ginny's diabetes, we finally went on our Bahamas cruise! It took us almost 8 months to find a cat sitter for Ginny, after trying out two vet offices for boarding and four former vet techs who came to our house. Plus we had to pass a Covid test, so we really weren't sure until almost the last minute that we'd actually get to go.

 

The drive to the port terminal at Cape Canaveral took less than two hours, and parking in a lot right next to the ship went smoothly. And as soon as we boarded, all of our stress melted away - it was really happening!

 

We were joined by Grammy Barbara, Aunt Amy, and Cousin Stella, who had boarded before us. They were just two rooms away from us, so we met up with them first thing to reunite the cousins. The ship pulled away from the dock a couple of hours after we boarded. It was rainy, but that didn't matter too much since we were focused on exploring the ship and spending time together.

The ship, Royal Caribbean's "Independence of the Seas" was 15 stories tall, and there was plenty to explore. When walking down to the Promenade, we happened upon a dance party, which was a lot of fun.

 

 

We wouldn't reach our first destination (Nassau, Bahamas) until the next morning, so we just explored the ship and watched the evening lightning storms (which were far away). At least the rains brought a rainbow!

We booked balcony rooms, since getting to sit outside of the room and enjoy the view was important to us. There are some rooms that just have a small window or even no window (if you want to save money). But the view from our balcony was priceless.

 

The dining options for vegans aboard Royal Caribbean were really great (and thank you, Amy, for taking this into consideration when you chose this cruise!). For dinners, we ate at the Main Dining Room, which had a new vegan menu each night with a choice of appetizer, soup, main dish, and dessert! During breakfasts and lunches we went to the Windjammer buffet, which had a large selection of hashed browns, cereals, fruits, Indian food, Italian food, etc., so eating was never an issue for us.

The kids enjoyed sitting in this large red chair outside of the dining hall. It was designed to have a hole in it, and Ronan liked hiding parts of his body in the hole.

 

The next morning we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas. It was so exciting to wake up and go out on our balcony to see the turquoise waters.

We had an excursion planned for the morning - a 2-hour bus ride exploring the city. Given that it was still rainy, this ended up being the perfect choice for the morning.

When we got off the ship, I tried to take a photo of the family in front of the ship to highlight its immense size. I backed up as far as I could on the dock, but there was no way I was going to be able to capture a shot of the entire height of the ship.

The next few photos are from our bus ride, with most of the photos taken from inside of the bus with rain on the windows. Still, I wanted to capture some of the colorful uniqueness of the town. There were a couple of times when we were able to get out for a few minutes as well.

Afterwards, we decided to walk through the marketplace to explore and get some souvenirs.

Back aboard the ship, we said goodbye to Nassau and prepared for a "day at sea".

The "day at sea" was not bad news at all, when you're on board an amazing ship with water slides and all sorts of other activities. The only question was how to catch times when the lines would be lower, since everyone was aboard. The kids were old enough that we could split up as needed, with the younger ones doing the thrill rides and the adults chilling out in or by the pools.

The "Flow Rider" was a big attraction, so the kids didn't mind standing in line. Water is pushed in like a challenging wave, and the goal is to keep steady on your boogie board to "ride" the wave.

Pretty much everyone we watched "wiped out" at some point, being pushed to the back of the Flow Rider. Both kids did great, but Brielle showed amazing balance and never wiped out!

The ship also had a miniature golf range at the front top of the ship!

One of the main onboard attractions was the "Sky Pad" virtual reality trampoline experience. We had to stand in line, but it was worth it. You get strapped into a jumping bungee on a trampoline and put on a headset to watch a virtual reality experience as you bounce. It's a little difficult to describe, but you experience yourself bouncing up and down as you watch a video showing you gliding through a landscape. Totally cool!

 

And, of course, we had to catch the "belly flop" contest. It was actually a lot of fun. The contestants strutted around to music before "flopping", and the audience got to vote for each flop by holding up a certain number of fingers. It was very amusing.

There was also a huge rock wall that all three kids enjoyed conquering.

That evening we had semi-formal night at the Main Dining Room. The service was wonderful, and the waiter was nice enough to take our photo.

 

After dinner we explored the ship at night. The one thing we didn't experience on the cruise was seeing the sunset. The first couple of nights it was overcast, so I don't think we missed anything. But the other couple nights we had a late dinner interfering with the timing. We didn't want to eat too early and miss out on daily activities, so it was a trade-off.

 The next morning we docked at Royal Caribbean's private island, dubbed, "Perfect Day at CocoCay".

  

The name "Perfect Day" sets up a lot of expectations, but honestly, the weather was perfect, the water was turquoise, and it looked very promising. Plus, we were the only ship docked that day - sometimes there are two - so that was really good news.

Our goal was to start the snorkeling immediately, before crowds of people stirred up sand into the water. We had brought our own snorkel masks, so we were ready to go. The kids were also excited about the coconut palm trees lining the island, and they picked out baby coconuts to bring home as souvenirs.

The waters were calm, and in fact there weren't any waves. I don't know if the waves tend to hit the other side of the island, but it was more like a lake where we were. It wasn't a "shelling beach", but we did get to see a number of tiny hermit crabs living in shells in the water. There were also larger crabs that lived on the rocks in the water. While snorkeling I also saw a foot-long whelk shell with the animal inside!

This was the first location where we got to try out the underwater camera I got for my birthday (Thanks, Dad!) We used it for underwater photography, as well as photos we wanted to take while out in the water.

 

This location has an optional thrill water park that we opted not to do (at over $100 per person). That was totally fine, since we ended up needing all of our time to explore the beaches and free water park areas during the day. The paid area has this cool balloon that you can pay to take up into the air. I was hoping to see it raise into the air, but apparently no one decided to ride it that day.

We didn't see any large iguanas as hoped, but the island had birds, including laughing gulls, a peacock with one tail feather, and small, wild chickens!

CocoCay had numerous locations to hang out, including a huge pool lagoon with a party-style swim-up bar area playing music for everyone to dance to. There were also quieter areas to just relax.

The kids enjoyed the free water park area, including some slides, a splash pad, and pools

At the end of the day, we returned to a different beach for more snorkeling and to chill out at a swim-up bar.

During our last evening, we caught a performance of "Grease" in the theater. We also enjoyed ice skating earlier in the trip. There we so many things to do!

And yet another rainbow at sea to complete our journey.

 

And Ginny was fine. :-)