Cruisin' in the Bahamas

Oh yes we are.....on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, it still sounds surreal typing it!

We're on board the Enchantment of the Seas and have so far travelled from Miami, to the capital of the Bahamas, Nassau and then on to Coco Cay, a private island owned by the Royal Caribbean cruise company.

Dylan crashed on the first day, which was actually the first day on the trip that we got to sit down and have breakfast. Our days have been super early mornings and breakfast on the go so far. This picture was taken at 10:30am!

Dylan and I are going to give you a few highlights and observations so far:

1) The ship (Phoebe) - Our ship is massive and has 11 floors and 2,700 passengers (plus hundreds of crew) on board. There are multiple pools, a rock climbing wall, a jogging track, a trampoline, 4 dining areas, about 10 bars, a shopping precinct, an art gallery, a casino, a theatre and so much more. It really is a massive industry this cruising business - there were 5 cruise ships docked at the port in Nassau - that's more than 10,000 people who jump onto the island on a single day. All the passengers looked at each others rides and got ship envy when they saw the different facilities that each one has.

5 cruise ships docked in Nassau

Pool deck

2) Food & Drinks (Phoebe) - SO. MUCH. FOOD.
And it's all included.

Dylan being escorted to our
table in the dining room by
our waiter

Seriously you could sit and eat and drink all day if you wanted to (and some people do). There are buffet and restaurant options for breakfast lunch and dinner and the amount of food on offer is seriously too much. Plus there's late night snack bars for those munchy party occasions between 11pm and 3am. It's kind of ironic that we're here because of Dylan's food wastage app when we see the amount of food that is constantly dished up in a 24 hour period. Although I have to admit that Dylan and I were playing ping pong at midnight last night and the slice of freshly made cheese pizza that I had went down a treat!

Dylan and I made a pact when we got on that we would never use the lifts to try and offset the extra food. Walking up and down stairs all day (our cabin is on the 2nd and all the good stuff like pools, games and food on the 10th) is our attempt to offset any indulgence!

3) Unlimited soft serve (Dylan) -  This machine was open from 11.30am to 9.00pm every day, and between those hours, there would be a queue, firstly to grab a cone, and then to serve your own soft serve out of the machine, either chocolate, vanilla or both of them swirled together.

4) Snorkeling and kayaking on a private Bahamas island (Dylan) - Our cruise company, The Royal Caribbean, owned a private island called CoCo Cay. We decided to do a kayak and snorkel tour with a guide. To start with, the paddling was easy because we had the wind behind us, but on the way back it was a different story. That day I learnt about the island's history and when I went snorkeling afterwards I saw a plane and boat wreck on the reef. It was quite dull compared to the Great Barrier Reef, but I enjoyed swimming in the salty, Caribbean  seawater.

Apparently the bridge joining the two
towers of this hotel was built as a
suite for Michael Jackson and now rents
at $USD25,000 per night

5) Lifestyles of the rich and famous (Phoebe) - the Bahamas is where lots of celebrities come to play in their spare time. On a ferry ride in Nassau, the driver pointed out the various celebrity mansions facing on to the gorgeous blue water - apparently Tiger woods, Beyonce, Oprah and countless others own houses here and drive their big boats around. It's an interesting contrast - one side of the island is all big houses worth $15 million+ and the other is where the locals live relying on tourism to keep their economy running. Their houses look somewhat more dilapidated than the celebrities.

6) Coat of arms (Phoebe) - this is the coat of arms of the Bahamas - best ever??!! A flamingo, a marlin and a coconut tree....