Trip Report Day 4: Blue Lagoon Beach Day Nassau

If you would like to start this trip report from the beginning, you can do so by clicking here.

We were scheduled for the Blue Lagoon Beach day excursion through DCL and were supposed to meet in the Buena Vista Theater at 9:15.  We woke up, put on swim suits, packed our excursion bags with the necessities (we took a backpack and our new KYSS lockable bag) and headed to Cabanas for breakfast.  I do not particularly care for breakfast in Cabanas (or any buffet for that matter) because it can be hard to find a table and there are just so many people all trying to get to the same food at the same time.  It can be quite chaotic.  But, we needed a quick breakfast and it would get the job done.  I later realized that one of the main dining rooms is also open for breakfast with a buffet, so we did that the next morning and I liked it much better as we were practically the only ones there.

We walked through the atrium on our way to Cabanas and noticed that the Pumpkin Tree had “bloomed” overnight.

We actually found a table for all 6 of us pretty easily, thank goodness, and had a good, although noisy and crowded, breakfast.  We were sailing into Nassau at this point (and the seas were much calmer as promised), so I stepped outside to take a few pictures of our arrival.  Here is the Atlantis resort:

After breakfast we went to the Buena Vista Theater to meet our excursion group.  We were a few minutes early and some of the first ones there.  I was impressed with how organized it was.  There was a cruise staff member near the door who greeted us and told us to go check in with another staff member down at the front of the theater.  That staff member checked our excursion tickets and gave us Peter Pan stickers to wear that would identify us as part of the Blue Lagoon Beach day group.  Then we sat down to wait.

This is a good time for me to fill you in on why I chose this excursion and my thoughts of ship-sponsored excursions vs. booking excursions on your own directly with tour operators.  I actually have an entire blog post dedicated to this subject (click here to read), as well as a post about how I choose excursions (click here to read).  We have been to Nassau several times before on cruises and have always stayed on the ship.  My husband and I have been to the Atlantis Resort before and don’t feel like it is worth the high price and large crowds.  I know some people love going there, but it is not something I have ever wanted to do, having been there before.  We would have stayed on the ship this day as well (and enjoyed brunch at Palo!) except for the fact that my niece was with us.  This was her first cruise, and first beach vacation, ever, and we wanted to make sure that she got at least one good beach day in on this trip.  We would be at Castaway Cay the next day, but having been there several times, I know that occasionally the ship is unable to dock due to high winds/seas and that even if you dock, the weather doesn’t always cooperate.  So, we decided to book this excursion through DCL and just deal with all of the cons (i.e. lots of waiting around) that often comes with a ship-sponsored port adventure.

We waited in the theater for maybe 15-20 minutes.  During this time we decided to purchase one of the DCL coolers with 6 bottles of water for $20 that they were selling.  I had some water with us, but I really wanted that cooler!  You will see it in a picture later.  Soon we were instructed to leave the theater and disembark the ship.  There were people handing out towels as we left the theater, so we each took one.

We left the ship and proceeded to wait some more.  We stood in a line on the pier for another 15-20 minutes.  I think we were waiting for a tour operator to come get us and lead us to the ferry that would take us to the island.  At least it wasn’t too hot and there was a nice breeze.  During this time, someone came around and passed out wristbands to everyone.  I took some photos while we waited.

This is a view of the tourist/market area:

I think there were 3 other ships in port that day.

Eventually we were led to the ferry.

Hurricane Matthew had come through 1 week prior, and we saw a lot of roof damage to many of the buildings in the port area.  Overall, I thought it looked pretty good considering how bad the storm had been.  When we got the the docking area, the ferry wasn’t there yet so we waited some more.  Anyone notice a common theme here?  Tons of waiting!  While we waited, a tour operator walked around helping people put on their wristbands.  They were a little bit tricky to figure out, so we appreciated the help.

The ferry finally arrived, and I forgot to take a picture of it.  It was nothing fancy, with 2 levels and bench seating.  There was a primitive bathroom onboard, and I think they may have been selling some snacks and drinks.  We took a seat and waited for everyone else to board.  Someone walked around and passed out food & drink tickets at this point, as they were included in the cost of the excursion.  I took a picture of my watch to note the time:

It had been 1 hour since our scheduled meeting in the Buena Vista Theater, and we still had a 45 minute ferry ride to the island before our beach day would officially start.  Here we are waiting…..

We eventually started moving.  On the ride, we had a great view of the Atlantis resort and a lot of beautiful homes.

It appeared that Atlantis had suffered some damage from Hurricane Matthew the week before:

After about 30-45 minutes we approached Blue Lagoon Island.

Blue Lagoon is a pretty island with a nice sheltered beach and swimming area (including an area with inflatables that costs $16 per person extra), a gift shop, an area for dolphin and sea lion encounters, and a covered area that serves food at lunch time.  We exited the ferry about 11:00 (now almost 2 hours after our meeting time) and walked to the beach area, only to find that all of the chairs were already taken.  I don’t know if it was because there were 4 ships in port that day or this is the norm, but they really need to add more chairs.  The girls were anxious to swim so we went old school and just threw our stuff on the sand.  This was our pathetic set up:

Above you can see the DCL cooler on the left and our KYSS bag on the right, next to the backpack.

The girls had a great time playing in the water and sand.  The little cove area is nicely protected from the open ocean and is a safe, shallow place for kids to play.  We didn’t see any sea life while we were there.

I walked out into the water and took these pictures of the beach area:

There was a lifeguard on duty which was a total joke.  The ENTIRE time this girl was up there, she was looking at her phone.

My husband said the guy up there before her was doing the same thing.  Blue Lagoon should save themselves some money and do away with the lifeguards, or better yet, insist that the guards actually look out at the water.  Rant over.

We played on the beach for about 2 hours and then it suddenly looked like it was going to storm, so we decided to pack up our stuff and go eat lunch as the food area was covered.  Unlike beach chairs, there were plenty of picnic tables to choose from.  For lunch, you walk through a line, drop your ticket in a cup, and choose from a few items.  I think our choices were a hamburger, hot dog, or chicken sandwich, with french fries, rice, or fried plantains on the side.  There may have been a few more choices but I can’t be sure.  There is a station with toppings for the burgers, as well as a drink station and cookie station.  The food was acceptable but not great.  It got the job done.

It never did end up raining.  After we ate we decided to go look at the dolphins and sea lions, which are on the other side of the island.  We saw some stingrays too, so I think they may also have a stingray encounter.  Here is the dolphin area:

And some sea lions:

By this time we decided we were ready to go back to the ship.  I think it was about 1:40.  When we had arrived at the island, we were told that there would be a return ferry at 1:00, 2:00, and 4:00. Well, at 1:40 the 1:00 ferry had still not arrived and there was a very long line of people waiting to get on it.  We didn’t think we would be able to fit on the ferry as we weren’t even in line yet, but we started walking towards the line anyway.  The ferry arrived a few minutes later.  We walked up to the boarding area and at first they told us the ferry was full and we would have to wait for the next one.  We were ok with that, but then a minute later they said they could add 15 more people, so we jumped on.  I think it turned out to be a very good thing that we got on this ferry as I would expect that the 2:00 ferry was going to be severely delayed as well.  The only bad thing was that all of the seats were full, so we had to stand at the back of the boat the whole way back breathing in exhaust fumes.  We eventually sat on our towels on the floor.  Here we are sailing away from the island.

We saw some people parasailing which was cool to see.  We had booked parasailing the next day at Castaway Cay but kept it a surprise from the girls, so they didn’t know yet.

The boat crew was trying to keep everyone entertained on the journey back.  They were making some jokes and trying to get the crowd to interact but they weren’t having much luck.  We were so far back that we couldn’t hear very well.  They announced that we were going to first stop at Atlantis to let some people off.  We stopped and 1 person got off.  One.  At this point it felt like we were never going to get back to the ship, but the girls were being very patient and for that I was grateful.

We eventually pulled up to the cruise ship area.

The place they dropped us off was much farther from the ship than the place where we had boarded, which is frustrating.  It really was quite a far walk, and we had to go through the tourist area where locals are selling stuff and shouting at you.  I had heard that they are pushy so I told everyone to walk quickly and not make eye contact.  People still shouted at us to buy stuff, but overall the strategy worked pretty well and we were for the most part left alone.  After what felt like walking for forever, we were back on the ship.

Here are my overall thoughts on this excursion:

Positives

The beach was clean, pretty, and nicely sheltered from the open ocean

We got to see dolphins and sea lions

I thought the price was fair

Negatives

You spend just as much time, if not more, going to and from the island than you do on the island.  We spent a total of 3 hours waiting and in transit and a little over 2.5 hours there.  I think they did they best they could under the circumstances, but this will always be an issue when you are moving such a large number of people at a time.  My kids were fine, but I think some might have a hard time with all of the waiting.

Not enough seating on the beach

Ferry boats returning to the ship were way off schedule

They drop you off too far from the ship upon returning

If this is your only chance for a beach day on your cruise and that is important for you, then I say go for it.  It will accomplish that goal.  But, Castaway Cay is just so much better, even with inclement weather (spoiler alert!).  In hindsight, knowing that we were indeed able to dock at Castaway Cay the next day, I wish we had stayed on the ship and gone to Palo brunch.

We got back to our rooms and found our pirate bandanas waiting for us.  I had forgotten that it was pirate night!  We all showered and got dressed in our pirate outfits and then watched movies until dinner at 5:45.  It was nice to have some down time.  We also ordered a cheese platter from room service, which I forgot to photograph.  I love the cheese platter and try to order one several times each cruise.

On our way to Royal Palace, we took some pictures in the atrium.  I’m not sure what is up with the girls wearing the bandanas cowboy style.  They had been on their heads earlier.  My husband recycled his Smee outfit and I just work red, black and white stuff that I already had.  The girls’ outfits were all from previous cruises.

We got to our table in Royal Palace and I was delighted to see that we were next to a window!  I love it when our table is next to a window.

I kept our family tradition of taking a pirate photo of this girl wearing the kids menu pirate hat:

Dinner was lovely but, no pictures.  While eating we decided that we were going to skip dessert in the dining room and instead go to Vanellope’s later for a treat.  I later regretted this once I found out that everyone in the dining room got the Halloween dessert this night.  We had it a few years ago and loved it.  Here is a picture from a previous cruise:

Since we skipped dessert, we were the first ones to leave the dining room and then headed to the gift shops which were deserted at this point.  I checked out the Dooney selection.  There seemed to be a lot more variety than I remember seeing on previous cruises.  I really like the striped one on the bottom.

I also like the Mickey & Minnie on on the top right:

My girls went crazy over these goggles.  I have to admit they were really cute.  We didn’t buy any on the ship, but I found them on Amazon (click here to see selection and pricing) once we got home and they may be making an appearance at our house on Christmas morning.  They also have some for boys.

There were SO many cute ones, but here are close-ups of 2 of them:

This was the first time I remember seeing Castaway Club merchandise for sale:

I don’t think we bought anything this night, and now it was time to go to Vanellope’s for dessert.  We were the only ones there.  We told the girls they could each pick out 1 thing.  The older 2 chose jelly beans and chocolate almonds.  I got some mango gelato which was FANTASTIC!  The younger 2 and my husband all wanted ice cream, so Andres behind the counter talked them into this, since it came with 3 scoops:

Here he is making it:

After dessert it was time for the show, which was Villain’s Tonight.  I know a lot of people aren’t crazy about this show, but our family loves it so we were really looking forward to it.  I thought that this Hades (the host) wasn’t as good as others we have seen, but we still enjoyed it.

After the show, we went back to the room and found our towel animals.  I’m not sure what this is but we thought it was awesome!

The monkey is always one of our favorites!

Now we started talking about the pirate deck party and fireworks.  It was about 9:15 at this point, and the show and fireworks weren’t until 10:30.  Can you believe that none of the girls wanted to go???  They wanted to go to bed instead!  My girls have seen it several times, but my niece hadn’t.  Once she assured me that she didn’t mind missing it, we decided to call it a night and skip the pirate party.  I felt so lame.  I mean, I was really tired so it didn’t take a lot of convincing, but I never, ever thought we would skip the pirate party and go to bed.  I guess there is a first time for everything!

These were also waiting for us on our bed:

Booo!  I hate it when the tip envelopes arrive because it means the cruise is almost over (if you want all of the details about the tipping process, click here).

Up next:  Day 5 – Castaway Cay

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