Nassau revisited ………… AGAIN!!!

We didn’t sleep too long, only until 6.30, even though the night before had been a short one. When we got up and walked out on the veranda we could already see Nassau in the distance. So, after getting ready we sat outside and watched the ship dock. At 8 we got ready to have breakfast. We walked down to deck 3 and headed to the Royal Palace and were seated immediately. Once a server was at hand we ordered our drinks and breakfast. Tom had some coffee, while I stuck with the orange juice.

The water for tea is never really hot enough and those small little cups are too small to produce a really decent cup of tea. We both ordered some breakfast starters. Tom tried something new, the Mango Mountain Hike, a fresh blend of mangoes, honey, granola and low-fat yogurt, while I went with what I always order, the Mornin' Tug Boat, a fresh blend of strawberries, bananas, almonds, raisin granola and low-fat yogurt. Funnily enough they arrived at the same time as the mains and this time we both had opted for the Traditional Eggs Benedict, a toasted English muffin with grilled Canadian bacon, served with poached egg topped with hollandaise sauce, grilled roma tomatoes and link sausages. We didn’t mind, especially since they put a lid on the Eggs Benedict, so we could enjoy the cold course first. Once we had finished our breakfast, we headed back to our stateroom, exchanged a few sentences with Oana and then got ready to leave the ship. It looked like everyone had decided to get off the ship at the same time, as there was a long line. It took a few minutes to sign off and then we were on our way into Nassau. We only had a few things we wanted to do there. Get a few more drinks for our in room fridge, some Vanilla rum and check our email. So once we were off the ship and had left the customs building we headed right for Starbucks. Tom ordered some kind of Iced tea and I got a Caramel Frappuccino, we paid for the internet and up we went to the second floor, where we found a table, connected to the internet and checked our email while sipping our drinks.

After the hour was up we took a short stroll over to the Tortuga rum company, just to find out that they hadn’t gotten their delivery yet, but they should get some Vanilla rum later that day. So we decided to just pick up some rum cakes and headed over to the Bacardi shop to do a little shopping around. Tom found some speciality rums he wanted to try and we got those before we went back to the ship. We made a short stop at the grocery store to pick up some Diet Coke and then another short stop at the off licence to get a few beers for Tom and back we went to the ship. Once we got to the customs house we were shocked to see the LONG line we had to queue up in. There were a lot of people cutting in line, which made for some uncomfortable waiting.

I think it took us about 10 minutes to get to an officer who than not even glanced at the passport, but joked at the masses heading back to the ships. They were running shuttles back and forth, but we decided to just walk. It was a nice slow walk back and felt wonderful to be back in the air conditioned Dream. We used the elevator to get back up to deck 10, freshened up and then quickly discussed where to have lunch. Well, actually it was no discussion at all, as we both quickly agreed on heading to Royal Palace. We decided to just walk down and when we walked up to the restaurant, who should be there all on his own, but Mickey himself. We could not pass up the chance of saying hello and having our picture taken with the Big Cheese himself. After that we walked right over to the restaurant, signed in and were taken to a very nice and quiet table towards the back of the restaurant. The assistant server went to fetch our drinks and we were still studying the menu a bread basket with freshly baked rolls and slices of whole wheat bread was placed on the table. It was funny as we both decided on the same starter and main course. It didn’t take long and our starters were served, the Vegetable Quesadillas, served with guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo. It was the first time I had tried them and they were really tasty. As soon as we had put our forks down, the plates were taken away and new ones with our main course were placed in front of us.

We both had ordered the Glazed Meatloaf, served with smashed Yukon potatoes, buttered carrots, long beans and gravy. A generous and tasty portion that we both enjoyed very much. When it came to dessert, the server insisted we had to order something, we were on vacation and needed some extra treats, so in the end we gave in and Tom ordered the Apple Pie with vanilla ice cream, while I could not pass up the Key Lime Pie, Lime custard on graham cracker and a meringue topping. So yummy. After we had filled our bellies, we handed the servers a small tip and wobbled back to our stateroom. We chilled for a short while, but then we wanted to get going again. So we again packed our day bag, and I wanted to grab one of my necklaces, just to find that the silver chain was broken. Now we had one more thing to shop for in Nassau. We went down to deck one, signed off and walked into Nassau again. First we headed up to the Main street to look if we could find a necklace.

We checked several stores, but the price was way over the top and I am not very good at bargaining, so we just moved on. Right when we had decided to give up we walked into one more store and I liked the necklace, the price was right and so we bought it. First part of our shopping done we walked back and had another peek into the DelSol store. There were no new adult shirts, but we picked up a super cute one for our little cousin George. Next stop, Tortuga rum company. Walked in and the shelves for the Vanilla rum were still empty. We asked about it and they had gotten a delivery, but no Vanilla rum. So we headed back to the Bacardi shop and Tom got some more of the rum he had bought and tried earlier on.

Once our shopping was complete we walked back to the customs house and this time we walked through without a line at all. Outside the customs house we stopped for one last time. There is WiFi right outside the building, so we connected to the internet one more time and checked the reponses on what we had posted earlier on. Then we slowly walked back to our beautiful ship. When we got to our stateroom I noticed that for the first time in 9 cruises, some of our magnets were missing. It really spoiled the beautiful day, but you can’t change it anyway, so we just tried to forget about it. Once back in our stateroom we settled on the veranda with a drink and some of the cake we had gotten from Narciso. It was beautiful out there, sitting in the shade and doing nothing.

We sat out there for quite a while until we could smell that someone in the staterooms around us had started to smoke on the veranda again. Since it is allowed there was nothing else to do than retreat to the stateroom and close the veranda door. We checked the TV programmes, but there was nothing of interest to us, so we decided to hand out a few more fish extender gifts. When we got back to our stateroom we were wondering a bit why there were no presents in our fish extender, as some of the ones we had just delivered to were really full, but you never know how someone does the delivery rounds, so we did not give it any more thought. We freshened up a bit and then headed out to the Skyline bar.

In the corridor we ran into Oana and she asked if we had taken off some of our magnets.She had noticed, that some were missing and when we told her that they indeed had been stolen she promised to keep an eye out for them. A few minutes later we arrived at the bar, found an open table, sat down and started to read the menu. We “were” in New York at the moment, so we both chose a New York themed drink. Tom ordered the Stiletto Manhattan, Crown Royal Canadian Whisky, Amaretto Almond Liqueur, Dry Vermouth and Bitter Orange, while I ordered the New Yorker, Kettle One Vodka, Acai Liqueur, Pomegranate Liqueur, Cranberry Juice, Agave Nectar, Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice, a Sugar Rim and a souvenir glow cube.

They also brought over a small container full of roasted, salted nuts. We sat, enjoyed the drinks and nibbles and talked about our vacation so far. Tom finished his drink faster than I did, so he ordered a 687 beer, which they were happy to get for him. We had spent more time than we had expected there and when we got back to our stateroom we decided that we didn’t feel like eating in the main dining room. We contemplated to just ordering room service, but then we decided to give something else a try. I had read that Cabanas offered a table service menu on select evenings and we had quickly checked the Navigator and found that they were open that night. So we walked up one flight of stairs and peeked into Cabanas. There were quite a few tables prepared, but only about 3 other families were eating there. We decided to stay and were quickly led to a table. The menu has best sellers from all three main dining room menus and after ordering our Diet Cokes we had another look at the menu. Before we could place the order, our server came over with a basked full of all different types of rolls and some butter.

It was nice to explore with no one else around and when we saw the Mini golf course we just had to try. It was so much fun and we giggled like little kids. After finishing the course we sat out on deck for a while enjoying the evening air and then returned to our stateroom. Funnily enough the FE was empty again, but we did not give it much thought. We sat on our veranda for a while and then got ready to go to bed when I heard some commotion outside our stateroom. I looked through the peephole and there were a bunch of boys around 12 – 14 years old. At first I was not sure what I should make of it, but then one of them reached into our FE, grabbed whatever was in it and while I was opening the door, they ran. So now we knew, this was a ship of thieves.