Bahamas Cruise
Enjoy! and check out our YouTube video as well!
INCEPTION
After a few hours of thinking and searching for a destination outside the US with no re-entry issues, it just occurred to me that we could check cruise options since we haven't experienced that before. We had been to Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico before, so the next best option was The Bahamas. I quickly checked out the Visa requirements for the Bahamas and it turns out if you have a valid US visa or Schengen visa, you could travel with it (We traveled on H1B and F1 visas with no issues). There is no need to apply for a Bahamas visa explicitly. Additionally, it was a closed-loop cruise, so NO CUSTOMS (unless you bought duty-free above a certain limit)& IMMIGRATION as well :) the cherry on the cake!
BOOKING:
Booking can be done on usual travel sites like Expedia, Kayak, etc. I decided to check my employee perks for some good deals. I called up travel perks (Dream vacations) which were listed as one of the most popular travel agents on the portal. I called on the number and connected with Kallie. It was our first cruise and we didn't know much about cruises n all. Kallie patiently explained everything and helped us decide the best option for our cruise vacation. There are a few types of rooms (aka staterooms), we decided to go for the stateroom with a balcony. It was quite nice. I'd recommend booking at least the staterooms with a balcony. Our total cost was $blahblah that including cruise fare, unlimited food (except a few restaurants), drinks were NOT free.
LET'S ROLL:
We left for the airport to catch our flight SEA -> MIAMI. Right after we landed, we took an Uber to the port. We reached there quite early and had a lot of time to kill. I'd suggest going to the port and handing your luggage to the porter (unless you'd like to carry it yourself, trust me you don't wanna do that). Tip nicely (at least $5 per bag). As I mentioned that we had a few hours before check-in and boarding, we went to a breakfast place nearby. I didn't really have high hopes for the food there, but it turned out to be amazing. After filling up nicely, we went back to the cruise terminal ($6 Uber). Keep your ticket, barcode handy. It's a standard check-in procedure, they checked our Covid test reports and we went to the check-in counter. After getting checked in and getting our boarding pass (we had priority boarding since we had a balcony stateroom ;) Once the announcement was made, we headed toward the cruise, it was still a long line. In, 15-20 minutes, we entered the cruise ship, it was simply amazing. The lobby was shiny and the party has already started at the bar right in front of the entrance. Everyone was required to go to their respective 'muster' station for lifejacket and safety instructions. It was a bit annoying that the rooms won't be ready until 1pm. We had quite some time and just decided to go walk around the ship. We headed to the top deck and stood in the buffet line. It was a decent buffet, there weren't too many vegetarian options but we managed to fill our plates. we had lunch and then soft-serve ice cream (available 24 hours). It was already past 1pm, we headed to our room with excitement. The room was pretty nice and the balcony was quite spacious (there was still a lot of space even though there was a Cabana and two big chairs). [checkout the Room-tour YouTube video] As we were in a stateroom with a balcony (which was Awesome), we were provided with complimentary laundry. I'd suggest requesting the same as early as possible as they return it the next day in the evening. Wash charges extra.
NOW WHAT?
Checked-in, Lunch, room tour.... now what? It was a little puzzling... we were a bit clueless on what to do. Then I checked on the Carnival app, It had all the information about events, activities, dining ...everything. I quickly browsed through the app and booked activities for our next two destinations. For the half moon cay, we reserved the Shell Canopy with Cabanas ($25 each) and the Segway tour for Nassau. After this, I checked the schedule of events on the ship.
After a quick nap and some pictures on the balcony, we stepped out. There were like a dozen elevators in the lobby with a few glass capsule ones. We checked out every deck, photo center, spa, gym, main deck. The top deck is all restaurants and an open-cinema experience that you can enjoy from the pool, hot tubs, or cabanas or while just leaning onto the deck rails. I think that was one of my best spots.
Next, we again went to grab some food (It's free! a couple of restaurants and a shop was paid one) this time it was Mexican and pizza. We just sat around and had our food. The ship hasn't sailed yet! Alas, they blew the horn and it was a feeling of joy, even when we couldn't feel the ship sailing yet. There was a deck party right at the time which we were too lazy to go to and just took some rest. After a while, we got ready and headed to the theater...for DEal or no deal, this was the official DOND live for the cruise. It was really fun to be in Deal or no deal!
We had dinner, Indian, started feeling a bit dizzy due to ship movement. food was unexpectedly good. There was camera personnel everywhere capturing pictures, so we kept posing and posing..they usually put the pic up on shelves later in the day.
EXCURSIONS:
HALF moon cay and BAHAMAS excursions were fun. Enjoyed, Bahamas market, beach, drink, cabana, water, pics, segway, food, RAINS...It was a bit surprising to hear Honey Singh track being played in the Bahamas (Indian popstar)! There was this awesome love couples game... AMAZING...this was cool...the host was brilliant. We checked out the club, didn't go dancing (being cautious). There was some guy who bought a skeleton on the ship and was on the dance floor with it as well. The comedy show was ok, enjoyed Bingo.
HEADING HOME :)
Bought 'some' pictures. Headed back home, worst flights to and fro. Uber to home. Feeling of Bliss! Home sweet home :) We experienced vertigo for 2 weeks :( which then subsided. Pick the best cruise vacation coz you're probably gonna do this once.
All in all, it was fun and a different experience. I'd say the trip was a 6/10
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