I think Nassau is probably the most popular cruise stop since it is just so close to Florida. It's very easy to get to and has beautiful water. It used to be one of my favorite spots, but unfortunately is just seems to be getting more and more dangerous. When we stopped there in 2022, our cruise was delayed leaving because a couple had been mugged and the ship was working with the local authorities to help the couple out. It's just sad that there's so many people who go there, which has apparently turned it into a target for criminals. I don't think it's quite so bad that you should avoid getting off the ship at this port; it's generally safe if you stay near the port, so that's what we try to do.
There's a lot you can do in Nassau, so I wanted to create a place listing what we've done at each stop here over the years. I'll update this as we come back here again and again.
Blue Lagoon VIP Adults-Only Excursion
We booked this
excursion through Carnival, and I thought it was pretty good. It's a private beach that comes with lunch and unlimited Bahama Mamas. It's on a small private island that has other excursions, show you take a tender with everyone else who has an excursion at Blue Lagoon, and then once you're there you are divided into which part of the lagoon you have access to. The tender was great, there was plenty of seating and you didn't feel cramped. They did have a concession bar where you could buy snacks, water, sodas, and beer. We thought this would be included in the price of our ticket, but it wasn't. The prices weren't necessarily cheap, but they were cheaper than on the ship.
The lagoon itself if very clean and well-maintained. It has a walkway for you to tour the area, and there's some shopping and plenty of bathrooms. The adults-only part of the lagoon was roped off, had plenty of chairs (though not all of them were covered), had a bar, and had staff coming around to take food and drink orders. We were a little disappointed that the
only free alcohol was the Bahama Mamas, and you had to pay for anything else at the bar. I was pregnant, but Ryansaid they were a little too sweet started to give him a headache after a few drinks. They did have non-alcoholic punch and water that I thought was pretty good. The cups they use are tiny 8-ounce plastic cups that had no lid, so I would definitely recommend bringing your own
insulated tumbler with a lid.
The food was actually really good and there was a good amount of options. I really liked the chicken wings and rice, and Ryan went back for seconds. They only offered lunch, so if you wanted more food you would have either needed to bring your own or to buy it on a different part of the lagoon.
There was a pier you walked down to the beach which did a good job of separating the adults-only side with the family-friendly side. The adults only side was just the beach and water, with 3 few anchored floating rafts for everyone to share. We had each brought our own
snorkel gear to use here, but there was hardly any fish to look at, so we didn't end up snorkeling and I wouldn't recommend you expect to get to do that. Instead, I would've brought my
whale tail float to sit on in the water or an
inflatable pool floats to relax on. Like I said, there was just the 3 rafts for the entire excursion, so we spent most of our time in the water just standing around waiting for something to become available.
They did do a good job of kicking any kids out of the area, so there was no screaming or splashing on our area. However, our wristbands did give us access to the family-friendly side of Blue Lagoon which has big inflatables that you could play around on.
Overall, I thought this was a pretty good excursion. If they would have included a larger variety of alcohol, heck even just some cheap local beer, I think it would've been really great. This is a park-it-in-the-sand excursion, so it might not be for you if you're wanting to be more active for your stop. Also, the shopping was pretty minimal and seemed to mostly just be for things you forgot (hat/sunscreen/sunglasses/coverup), so if shopping is all you want to do, this excursion might leave you disappointed.
