cloudsail

Birthday cake!

No candles allowed on the ship, but the waiter got my daughter to blow on the fake candle, then covered it with his hand 😄

Dessert menu

Banana soufflé

Chocolate eclairs

I forget if this was kiwi or lime sherbet. In any case the sherbet was always excellent and different flavors every day.

Chicken and matzo ball soup

Cream of asparagus soup

Mixed garden salad

Baked brie salad

Coconut chicken tenders

Braised lamb shank

It was my daughter's birthday, so she got a gift from Splash Academy. We got the kids to take a nap because we'd be up late for the Glow party. We watched sail away from our balcony while they slept. Then at 6:30 pm the kids woke up and we headed to Crossings for dinner.

Birthday gift. The bag came in very handy.

Sail away

Offshore oil rig

Appetizers

Featured entrees

Great Outdoors buffet items:

The kids had pizza from La Cucina for lunch, then went to Splash Academy. By this time all the restaurants were closed for lunch, so we just got some food from the buffet and ate in the Great Outdoors. We had great views of the harbor and watched a container ship come in.

Back on board we changed and headed straight to the pool. I did mani-pedis for my daughter and myself with the new color changing nail polish that we just bought. Then we put life jackets on both the kids and let them into the pool. Husband hung out in the hot tub while I did some (very short) laps in the deep pool. I actually hadn't realized until now that the pools are filled with salt water.

We never had trouble finding loungers beside the pool.

We strolled around, got a coconut, bought some color changing nail polish, then a little past 11 the kids were ready to go back onto the ship.

We woke up with Jasper's arrival announcement again. I didn't have anything planned for Freeport and going by the previous day's experience, I knew my kids would probably prefer to be back on ship. So we ate breakfast at the buffet and just walked around the port for a little bit.

Day 4 Freeport

The Dailies:

Oh, I forgot to mention that we did pop into the comedy show for a few minutes. It seemed to be more fully attended than the Rock You Tonight show. The few jokes we caught weren't very funny though, and our kids didn't understand them so we didn't stay for long.

At turndown we got the laundry service offer, which we didn't need, but otherwise it seemed like a good deal.

We walked around a bit, picked up some free art, and listened to the excellent Barry. Then we picked up the kids and took them to the Great Outdoors for a before bed snack.

Barry

Some pictures of the late night snack selection at the Great Outdoors:

Salads

Sandwiches

Burger fixings

Hot dogs and sausages

Pizza

Dessert

Dessert menu

Cannoli

English cherry trifle

Cheddar and roasted corn chowder. Husband loved this, especially with the bacon bits.

Smoked mozzarella ravioli

Asian noodle salad. Thick noodles really don't work that well in a salad, though the flavor was fine.

Chicken cordon bleu. My husband didn't like the chicken very much. I thought the potato salad was very good though.

Grilled calamari. This was excellent.

After sail away we dropped the kids off at Splash Academy and went to have dinner at the Palace MDR.

Splash Academy

Appetizers

Daily changing entrees

3 hours ago, agcruise said:

Thanks so much for the review. Did your kids go to the kids club and, if so, did they enjoy it? Our 3year old LOVED splash academy on the Escape last month and the staff was wonderful. Wondering if you would recommend the one on this ship. 

Yes, my kids spent a couple hours in splash academy every day except for the first day. They had fun and the staff seemed to be great with keeping kids entertained. The pajama party on the last day was especially a hit. 

Soon we were sailing away from Nassau. We went up to the very top deck to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Dancing to the music

Perfect weather and a crescent moon

After homework we went back to the pool deck. It was almost time for sail away. Husband and kids played ping pong while I strolled around and took pictures. The band was actually quite good and did some very decent covers of popular songs.

Introductory ping pong lesson

Fitness center

At 2:30 pm we headed back to our rooms and showered and changed, then headed to Spinnaker Lounge to paint t-shirts for the Glow party tomorrow. You want to get there early for this event because table space is limited, also I believe they ran out of some T-shirt sizes. 

So the glow paint is pretty permanent, and the crew member in charge of the event was super worried that we'd get it on the carpets or furniture. He kept reminding everyone not to splatter or place finished shirts on couches. But despite his best efforts, a little bit of orange paint ended up on one of the seats... poor guy, I hope he didn't get into trouble. I feel like the lounge really isn't the best place for such a potentially messy activity.

After the event was over, we stayed and hung out in the lounge so that the kids could do their homework. The bar unfortunately was not open.

Kids loved this event

Carnival Sunshine docked beside us

Homework in the lounge

After lunch at La Cucina, we got dessert from the buffet then spent some more time in the main pool and hot tubs.

Dessert and uh, second lunch?

The flans throughout the cruise were excellent

On the days when we weren't at GSC, La Cucina was open for complimentary lunch with pizza and one other food station. At Nassau it was Indian rolls, which were really good, especially the paneer. At Freeport it was focaccia bread with various toppings, which wasn't good at all. They had three different kinds of pizza: cheese, pepperoni, and one that changed (it was BBQ chicken or Greek for us). I found it strange that they didn't offer a pizza with just veggies on it. 

BBQ chicken pizza and Indian roll

Indian roll with chicken

Indian roll with paneer

By this time the kids were done and really just wanted to get back to the ship. So we gave up on the Straw Market and took the shortest route back to port. On the ship we changed into bathing suits and played in the kids pool for a while. There was just one other family there, then later on an older couple came by to use the hot tub. I was a little disappointed that the waterfall wasn't turned on.

Our beautiful ship

Atlantis in the distance

Kiddie pool

2 hours ago, AshDawn3 said:

Loving your review ! I wasn't getting off the ship in Nassau since I have been there several times but have never heard of these stairs. Will most definitely be going there! Hopefully I wont get lost since I am going by myself...lol

The shortest route is to go down Sands Road. The entrance is just before the hospital to the right, you can't miss it.

On top of the Queen's Staircase and to the right is Fort Fincastle. It is apparently built on the highest point on the island. There is a small entrance fee of $3 + VAT. There's not too much to see but you get a good view and there are some interesting info about the island's early history.