Spring Break 2024 - Royal Caribbean Cruise Day 2 (Nassau, Bahamas)

 We had so much fun at the Atlantis resort in Nassau!

We had to get up EARLY if we wanted to get to the water slides at Atlantis so we were up at sunrise, even before the Oasis pulled into port.

I enjoyed my coffee on the balcony while overlooking the very blue water of Nassau (and some homes that I imagine flood every time there is a tropical system nearby).

We decided to just use the cruise ship excursion to Atlantis rather than going about it on our own. Never again! The line was RIDICULOUS to get to the buses. They made us wait forever at the port, only to then walk what felt like a mile to the bus stop, to then hop on the bus and drive to Atlantis to then wait for another hour or so to get in. Super annoying.  Note to self. Get off boat and get a cab and do it yourself!

We finally got on the bus and were carted away to the resort. I snapped a few pictures of downtown Nassau on my way. Todd really wanted a 80s style Bahamas t-shirt - he could have got one here! 

After all that, we finally got to Atlantis, only to have to wait in another long line. We had to sign a virtual waiver on our phones which was taking everyone else in front of us forever, for some reason. Meanwhile, at least we could admire our boats that were in the harbor. 

It literally took us two hours to get here, ugh.  But hey, at least it's pretty!

The signage wasn't very good - but we walked through the casino (Natalie: "Can we be in here?") which was really pretty.

I even weirdly loved the carpet in the casino!

If you walk around the hotel, you can see into the Paradise Lagoon with all of it's fish species.

When we emerged from the building, we saw sharks, turtles and big sting rays swimming around!

I don't know why but I thought this picture of my Mom was really cute!  We found some chairs in the shade and dropped our stuff off (poor Mom!) before we headed for the slides. We heard the lines get long as the day goes on!

We never did get to the Power Tower to ride those slides but we did get to ride all of the slides at the Mayan Temple, including my favorite, the Serpent Slide. Todd didn't join us for the first run because he was getting towels. 

The view from the top of the Mayan Tower is amazing!

You can even look down into the shark tank that you're about to (gulp) go through.

Bye Nat, have fun!

There goes Grant!

I'm so glad I bought waterproof phone bags for us because I was able to take it everywhere with me without being afraid I would fumble it into the water (which I'm very prone to doing!)

This water slide is one of the best I've ever been on. FIRST... it's a waterslide, so it's really fun.  It's mostly in the dark, but you go through a few areas with disco-type lights.  Then, it drops you into the shark tank! Don't worry.  You're in a tube.  But there are all kinds of sharks swimming around you!  I thought the sign up top was really funny. Please do not stop in this part of the slide.  When you get dumped into this tube, you basically come to a stop until the next persons "waves" push you farther toward the exit. That's Grant in front of me, by the way!

Everyone wanted to go in the lazy, crazy river so we did that next.  Some parts of it are lazy. Some parts of it are crazy! You can see there is a guy in the water ahead of us because it's about to get crazy!

I love this picture of Grant. I don't even know what he's yelling about here.

The thing in the water just above Natalie's head is a wave machine that spits out a giant waver every 30 seconds or so.  It keeps everyone moving and makes everyone laugh hysterically.

Look out! Another wave is coming!

The lazy parts of the river were delightful, although you would get separated from the fam a lot and run into (literally) total strangers. Totally awkward.

Finally we all held on to each other's tubes so we could float together and not get lost amongst the crowd.

But then you come to this spot where you have to separate because you go up a moving sidewalk.  Natalie went way ahead of us on the left, Grant got on the moving sidewalk on the right and Todd and I wound up together on the left.

Hi Nat! I see you back there!

We thought for sure we would be dumped down a waterfall after going up the moving sidewalk but... nope, it just gently dropped us into a lazy river!

Everyone wanted to go check out the beach after we rode the lazy crazy river, and we had to walk over the Paradise Lagoon entrance on our way there.

The kids and Todd went on to the beach while I walked across the bridge to head back to my mom at the Royal Baths Pool.  I really wish we had more time to explore because this place was massive!  

One thing that I didn't get any pictures of but that we all really enjoyed was the Challenger water slide - Grant beat me, Natalie beat Todd as you race each other down dueling slides.  I didn't even get a picture so I stole this one off the internet (sorry!)

The OTHER thing we did, which we were all kind of terrified to do, especially me and Natalie was we all went down the Leap of Faith!  This is the one that drops straight down and through the shark tank (although you have so much water up your face, you can't even open your eyes).  This is the one we always wanted to go on!  In the picture above you can see the tube for the Leap of Faith going through the shark tank, but you can also see the tube (to the right) for the Serpent's Slide!  The Leap of Faith was way more fun than I thought it would be!

Back at the pool, it wasn't too crowded!

I don't know why this picture made me laugh so much! HA!

Todd was having entirely too much fun. Grant's like, "Bro, what are you doing?"

How's everyone doing with your cocktails?  There's nothing like a day in the Bahamas at one of the world's most famous resorts!

Todd and Natalie went to the pool, Grant moved to the shady chair and Nana came over to say hello.

"I want to touch a palm tree when I'm here.  I think this one's fake."  (No, it's not!)

Us: Grant, can you please take our picture?

Grant: (TAKES THIS PICTURE!)

He thought he was SO funny. We made him take another one!

The day at Atlantis seemed so short, partially because it WAS since it took us two hours to get into the place. I didn't want to say goodbye because there were so many things I didn't get to do!

Every time I see the word Poseidon, I think of the Lonely Island's "I'm On a Boat." Which is a very appropriate song for this week!

My family lets me walk around like this. I should disown them. Water slides (and no hairbrush) will do this to you!

My mom paid this guy Stephen $40 to drive us back to the ship. Quick, take a Bailey family selfie in the back of Stephen's cab! 

We drove through downtown Nassau and even the police station feels tropical!  Can we give some props for elevated utilities?  Wait, do they even HAVE flood maps in the Bahamas?

Stephen, you really DO look great in purple!  I may never hear the end of this one, but he really did!

Finally, we were back at the port - here is the Carnival Mardi Gras with Todd for scale.  This ship looks fake to me! Like it was AI generated or something!

And here's my family with our ship, the Oasis!

Time to get back on board, waaaah. I think I'm in the minority, but I like seeing new places and getting off the ship. Days at sea are just meh to me.

Back in our room, we had a cute froggy towel animal!  Our steward Antonio was good - we got a few towel animals (and other things!) during the week but I guess some people didn't get any and they were super mad.  I also asked why we didn't get paper copies of the next day's itinerary (we got them on both of our MSC cruises) and he informed me that because they have the new app, all of the info is on there so they don't need to leave these in the rooms anymore.  And that the only people who ask for them are old!  Antonio, did you just call me old???

Adios, Atlantis. It's been real.  Also, look at those little boathouses on those docks!

I can't get over how pretty the water is in the Caribbean. I also can't help but imagine what this place would look like in a Cat 5 hurricane. I know. I mentioned this earlier, but that's literally all I can think about when I see places like this!

Todd got all gussied up for dinner on the ship.  He liked the quiet of the balcony (until the lady in the room next to us would light up a cigarette, ugh).

Natalie really enjoyed the virgin pina coladas they made in the main dining room!

We switched seats almost every night and I got to sit next to my bud this night. Here we are having some yummy dessert (I definitely gained weight on this cruise!)

Todd acting like he is taking a selfie of the table but he really just wanted a picture of Pely!

After dinner, it was time to head to Spotlight Karaoke for some family singing.

Natalie was ALL in for karaoke. Grant was absolutely NOT.  We almost convinced him to sing some Kanye West (lol) one night, but they (probably rightfully so) didn't actually have any Kanye at the family karaoke.

On the first evening, the kids went to the teen meet up that they had on the ship, and Natalie met these sweet girls Snezhana (from Washington) and Cici who also loved to karaoke. Here they are singing Britney Spears "Toxic."

Natalie and Cici went on to sing Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" and they were pretty good together!

All in all, it was a great day - until next time, Nassau!

Spring Break 2024 - Royal Caribbean Cruise Day 1 (Miami, FL)

 Our spring break was THE BEST!  We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise to two stops in the Bahamas and Jamaica! 

I kid you not when I tell you that my alarm was set for 12:55 am so we could catch a 2:20 Uber to the Logan Express for our 5:05 am flight. 5:05 AM!!!!!  Screw you, Spirit.  But these guys are pretty funny on the bus to the airport.

Naturally, when we were in the airport, we pointed out the sicked little kid in the entire airport and he sat directly behind Todd. Like, he could have sat ANYWHERE else on the plane... but nope. Right next to us.  But his dad was funny, photobombing our family photo!

Finally, we made it to Fort Lauderdale and then on to Miami, where we were staying at the Hampton Inn in Brickell.  We grabbed some hotel breakfast (after all, it was only about 9:30 am) and waited by the hotel pool for Ayala and Ellis to let us know when they were leaving.

We met up with them on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach - here are my clowns waiting among the palm trees.

Reunited and it feels so gooooood!  Happy hour started early on this particular day. Ellis and Natalie went off to check out some of the nearby shops (and the beach) while the rest of us... didn't!

I'm warm, I'm with a bestie, and I have a pina colada. Life is good.

But you knew this was coming next!!!

After spending a few hours enjoying some tapas and beverages in Miami Beach, we went back to the Brickell area to meet up with my Mom who landed from Tampa. 

I had a delicious Cortadito at Baires Grill! Thanks to Ellis for introducing me to this. I needed it, BAD. It was so good that even Grant and Natalie got one!

Dinner (even though I was pretty sure I would pop at this point from so much food and drink) was at Batch Gastropub at our hotel. They had a nice bourbon menu!

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our beautiful friends (mostly because I needed to go to bed!) so we took a selfie in this mirror. I can't decide if my favorites are Ellis or my Mom... or perhaps Ayala paying for her parking in the background? Or maybe that lady photobombing us? Too hard to choose.

The next morning, we packed it up and hopped on the hotel bus that takes you directly to the cruise port. Are we moving onto the cruise ship? This is nearly the number of bags we had when we moved to Germany!

The traffic was bad on our way to the cruise port in the morning. I think it took us about 45 minutes to drive about 4 miles!

But alas, we made it to the cruise port. We passed the Virgin ship that my Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Dave literally got off of that morning!

And finally, we saw her! The Oasis of the Seas!

The boarding process was quick and easy and right now, my kids are about to start fighting about who will be the first one to get on the ship.

Natalie's reaction pretty much says it all about how big our rooms were, particularly when compared to the interior rooms we have always gotten in the past!

I got Todd the Happy Birthday package - which came with a decorated room and a cake on his actual birthday!  Here we are at room 11154!

We took the cutest pictures on Nana, Natalie and Grant's balcony. That water is super turquoise - and it really looked like that!

Bailey family selfie's must be taken as much as possible.

We dropped our bags off and headed straight for the fun things!  Natalie, Todd, Grant and I went to the Ultimate Abyss because my niece and nephew Greta and James said this was SUPER fun when they went on a cruise with Nana a few weeks ago (they were on Wonder of the Seas but it also had an Ultimate Abyss).

We got in line about 10 minutes before it opened and we were one of the first people to slide!  Here goes Grant!  

This slide was wicked fast - See ya about 10 floors down!

Todd landed at the bottom of the Ultimate Abyss last but he looks like he had a good time!

Whew, that is WAY up there!

Humans for scale in 0.5 on the Boardwalk. I'm glad our balcony faced the ocean rather than the interior!

Our next stop was Playmakers for a drink and a game of Jenga. Of course, there weren't enough Jenga blocks for a full game but we made it work anyway.

He's smiling now but he wasn't smiling when this tower fell and I won!!!

They have a series of wooden horses on the Boardwalk that range from a block of wood that resembles horse shape to a completely carved and painted wooden horse. They also have (not pictured here) a carousel for the kids.

The Rising Tide bar was packed as it rose up and down from floor five up to floor eight.

Eventually, we made it back to our room where our bags were waiting and we got ready to depart. We watched all of the other cruise ships sail past us and off onto their adventures.  The Carnival Celebration went to two stops in Mexico and Honduras.

Finally it was our turn!  Auf Wiedersehen, Miami!

Dang, Miami Beach was packed!

This is the actual color of the beautiful water. These two are pretty beautiful, too!

I don't know why I'm in Grant's room and he's in my room in this picture!

Adios, Miami!

We strolled down to Central Park to check things out - these two look like they're on an album cover.

I think we wanted to try every single bar on the ship, but I don't think it happened. I think we missed a couple but it was a good attempt though!

I don't know why this is still so funny to us!

After another cocktail, we all went to the arcade where my mom and I played a little skee ball!

Todd and Natalie played a racing game - I think Todd won this one (but she beat him in air hockey)!

Grant lost in a game of air hockey to his dad, but he beat me in another game.

We chose "My Time" dinner on the ship, but we thought that just meant we could show up at any time and immediately be seated for dinner. That's not what it means. You can show up at any time to get in line behind a bunch of other people and wait for a table to be open. No thanks. So when one of the workers asked if there was a group of 6 in line, I raised my hand and said, "Well, we have 5!" She gave us this card, and our waiter, Pely said we could come back every night at 6:45 and our table would be waiting for us. He was the BEST!  And 6:45 is a great time - not too early (if you're still on an island at 5pm, that time doesn't work, and who wants to eat at 9 pm?  Those were my options otherwise!)  We just flashed this card to the guy at the front and bam... we went right in for 6 out of the 7 dinners we ate when we were on board!

The hallways were quiet on the first evening after everyone grabbed their bags.

With our 6:45 pm dinner time, we missed sunset every evening, but we were still able to capture some light on the horizon.

At the end of our first day on the ship, Todd and I had a nightcap at the Globe and Atlas.  Next stop, Nassau, Bahamas and the Atlantis Resort!