Freeport and Nassau

[lcccbeloeil]

I started a new thread for those asking about these two ports.

 

Freeport: The International Market was damaged in an earlier hurricane and when our taxi passed by it, it was mostly empty. We took a taxi ride (10 - 15 minutes) to Port Lucaya and Lucaya Beach (next to each other). $5 per person... the non-air conditioned taxi waits on the dock until it is full (8 to 10 passengers) so you hope that there are others who want to go where you're going. There was lots of arguing about which taxi got there first and we had to change taxis, but eventually we got to Port Lucaya. There are many shops there - both brand name ones and local merchants you have to haggle with. Then we crossed the street to the Westin Hotel and used the beach there. The sand is clean but the water was a little cloudy because of the strong winds. You're not really supposed to, but we used the bathrooms and showers at the Westin pool and no one seemed to mind. You can also do a banana boat ride and I believe you can also rent a jet ski there. Finding a taxi back to the ship was no problem.

 

Nassau: The local straw market shops (under a tent) and the main street shops are right off the pier. Make sure you bring a photo-ID to get back onto the dock. Local officials check every ID and ship card to see that they match. We took a taxi to Atlantis ($4 per person - 5 to a cab). We had the choice to pay to use their beach (someone told us it was $21) but we opted for the free public beach just down a ways. Apparently the $21 does not give you access to any of their pools or amenities, though. We walked through the hotel and spent some time in front of the free part of their aquarium (beautiful... just down the stairs from the main lobby). Visitors ahve acces to the main lobby, free aquarium, and shop corridors, but that's it. You need a hotel guest card to access anything else. We walked through the shop corridors to outside, passed the Riu Hotel. The free public beach is right there. The sand is clean and the water is simply spectacular. Clean - no fish, jellyfish, seaweed, nothing! Neck deep you can see right down to your feet. Beautiful Caribbean blue warm water!

 

There are local gentlemen renting chairs and umbrellas and you have to haggle. We managed to get our chairs for $5 while most people were paying $10 per chair and per umbrella. About two hours later our "entrepreneur" decided we hadn't paid enough and demanded another $5 per chair or he would drag them away. Some reluctantly paid. My husband complained to the local cop patrolling on 4-wheeler. The cop intervened and told the gentleman he wasn't allowed to up his price like that. He left us alone after that.

There are vendors on the beach... bracelets, skirts, rum punch in a coconut (not sure about taking his ice, though, but we did). There is a beer stand at $5 per can that opens up around 2 p.m. No bathrooms to be seen and no food... so bring some with you (in sealed containers... to get off the ship with it) or buy some at Atlantis or the Riu Hotel.

 

Had we stayed another day, we would have taken a cab to the Blue Lagoon to try that. Oh well... next time.

[phinfan63]

Thank you! We were suppose to go to Cozumel and Key West and just found out yesterday that we will now be going to Nassau and Freeport. I appreciate all the information I can get at this point.

[caprcorn28]

Had we stayed another day, we would have taken a cab to the Blue Lagoon to try that. Oh well... next time.

 

We went to Blue Lagoon in '03 - It was Fabulous!! You will need to take a ferry there, but it is worth the ferry ride time!

[Photomom22]

Just returned a week ago off the Celebration.We paid $33pp thru the ship and went by ferry to the Blue Lagoon, we really enjoyed what time we had there.Next time would like to do the Dolphin swim.You could see some doing this from where we were.

 

Tips: bring along a drink for the 45 min. boat ride it took to get there,they had drinks,but a little pricey.Bring goggles if you have some,we were able to do some snorkeling along the waters edge and couldn't believe how many fish there were, If you don't have any they rent them for $5.00 + $5.00 for the fins which the kids had to have.

 

BIG TIP: If you plan on doing some souviner shopping,either go before or right after,we went back to the ship to rinse the sand away and eat and planned on going back out to buy souviners for everyone at the straw market,and was very shocked when we found out the city shuts down except for Senior Frogs and Atlantis which we took a taxi ride w/Jeff a tour guide who walked us thru the Aquarium & Digs and found us a couple of people with Nassua T-Shirt & necklaces for sale, so we could have a few and was only going to charge us $20.00 and we had 5 people plus the toll he paid.Needless to say we payed extra since he was very nice and even took some photos of the whole group with our 1 dying camera we had with us, since we were only going to do shopping we left the good one in the room.

 

Next time we will know.1st cruise and 1st time in the Bahamas.Would love to spend a day at the Blue Lagoon Island,they had picnic tables and hammocks we didn't try the food because there really wasn't alot of time.1:30-5:00 but the boat ride over there took 45 min, plus the walk to the boat from the Cruise Ship think we got there around 2:30 and had to be back at the boat for the ride back at 4:45.

[gram4haley]

Freeport was not my favorite. I was there in 2000. At that time the dock was not at the city, and it was too far to walk so you needed a taxis just to explore. Right at the dock, there was a small (8 or 10 stalls) straw market. The main entertainment right at the dock was watching some of the crew involved in a baseball game. Freeport was dirty, more dirty than other cruise ports.

 

Nassau was a different story. You dock right at the city and there is much to see and do on foot. The history of the area is preserved well in this city. Tourist attractions were cheap in comparison to similar things in the US. On a later trip I went to Atlantis and enjoyed it (without even gambling).

 

I hope Freeport has changed in 5 years. Otherwise, the day at Freeport would be the day I stay on the ship with a good book and a drink.

[lcccbeloeil]

We were told on the ship that Freeport and Nassau were indeed different. The immediate area around the Freeport dock has absolutely nothing for tourists. You do have to take a taxi to get anywhere. Port Lucaya was highly recommeded to us and we enjoyed the many shops and the hotel beach across the street. If I had done the Nassau public beach first and then the Port Lucaya beach, I would have been very disappointed. The other way around was perfect! The public beach next to the Atlantis Hotel was perfect!

 

Truthfully, the purser's desk on the ship was not very helpful because this was the first time they visited these ports. We had to ask around and the taxi drivers automatically assumed we wanted to go to Port Lucaya, so chances are, other than swimming and snorkeling excursions, Port Lucaya is the only place to go.

 

I did not see a straw market near the Freeport dock. Most of the shops at Port Lucaya fall into the straw market type.

 

The Nassau dock is right downtown. There is a large straw market under a tent right at the dock and the downtown main shopping street with smaller shops and big-name shops is one block behind the tent and runs the whole length of the dock and then some.

 

For Starbuck's lovers, there's one along the dock street.

 

There are two ways to get to the public beach and Atlantis. You can take a 5-minute taxi ride for $5 per person or a 45-minute packed-like-sardines (with no life jackets visible) ferry ride for $4 per person.

 

You can get a taxi ride directly to the public beach or get dropped off at Atlantis and walk through the hotel and see the free part of the aquarium.