10 yr Anniversary - Caribbean Cruise Part 5 Nassau, Bahamas

We were now at the back part of our cruise...that awful part where you see the end creeping up on you.

We got to enjoy another day at sea.  I like having a couple days at sea to enjoy the boat and relax without having to get off the boat.  Today I also took advantage of  of the day at sea to get a massage.  This was the first time I've gotten a massage at sea.  So nice!

Peter joined in the "free" time for the under 2 year olds.  This time there was one other child in there - one of the officer's sons.  I couldn't believe that other parents wouldn't bring their kids to play.  While a cruise ship is HUGE, it can be hard to find space for little kids to play and run around without bumping into other people.

Again, the kitchen was his favorite thing to play with.

It was cute watching him pretend play with the cups

Playing around with dad before trivia started.

Woo hoo!!!  We won!  Our prize was this "ship on a stick" and some playing cards.  Fancy, right?

We went to some show in the theater.

Max liked to clap along with the audience.

Ha! Not sure what they were looking at but they seem to feel the same way about it.

He must be watching something down on deck.

Dad got him his favorite treat on the ship, an ice cream cone.  SPOILED

We were able to enjoy dinner in the dining room every night except for the night Peter and I went to the steakhouse.  We had a great system down.  Our servers knew to get Max some fruit before we even placed our order.  They brought him milk and little straws.  He was quite popular in the dining room and all the servers around us also talked to him.  Max loved eating the fruit and bread and we usually got some chicken/broccoli/or PB&J in him as well.  Then when he was done eating we'd bring out the iPad and headphones and he'd entertain himself while we finished up.  Pretty much every night, there would be some new family next to us that would get distracted from their own meal with watching how great Max was with what he was doing on the iPad.

Our fantastic server - Kittyaporn.  Max loved her.  When she'd walk away he'd ask where she was going.  Or if we didn't see her for awhile he'd say, "Where's my Kitty?"  We were lucky to have someone so great with Max!

We were all dressed up for one of the "formal nights"

Max and I boogied on the dance floor to the live music

Apparently we had an audience (look at the back left)

Max also danced with his daddy

Video - Max learned a new dance move during this cruise.  I think it's pretty dang cute.

That night, Max again asked to go to the show.  He enjoyed the glow sticks they gave out.

Fun to see the all the glow sticks

Our last day included a stop in Nassau, Bahamas.  We've been to the Bahamas before and did NOT like it.  Click here to read about it.   I was excited to finally go to Nassau and had high hopes.  Kimberly, Peter, and I were going to go paddle boarding and snorkeling  (We'd drop Max off to be babysat again.)  We were all really looking forward to it.  Unfortunately about 1/2 hr before we were supposed to leave, we got a call that the excursion had been cancelled because the boat the company used was broken.  We were so bummed.  Ugh...the Bahamas Bad Luck starts again.

Panoramic shot - Atlantis is in the background

After we navigated the craziness of the terminal, found a taxi, and waited forever until the taxi driver found other people to shove in the taxi we finally made it to the beach.  The beach was super crowded, littered with trash, and smelled like cigar smoke and pot.  We rented a few chairs and an umbrella still hoping to have a nice time.  Unfortunately, the water was super rough and Max couldn't play in it on his own.  It wasn't even fun for me when holding Max, just stressful.  I think Peter enjoyed the waves a little bit.

Not happy Max.  None of us had a great time so we didn't stay long.  We decided to just go back to the pier, do some last chance shopping, and head back to the boat.

Max liked the towel stingray

The mess your room turns into by the end of the cruise...

Such a mess after you pick up little trinkets/crap/etc everywhere!

Max was a pro at working that remote.  We watched a lot of Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie, over and over and over...

Family pic

I was running short on diapers this last day.  We had enough for the last day on the boat but not enough for the next day when we were traveling home.  I packed so many diapers - I couldn't believe I ran out!  So I had no choice but to buy diapers in port.... 19.99 for 31!!!!!!!  Killed me.  But what choice did I have?  (I ended up only being 1 diaper short by the time we got home...ONE!...grumble...)

Stinkin' Bahamas.  What a crappy way to end a great cruise.  If it had been the first port, it might not have been so bad but we had some awesome ports and Nassau didn't even come close comparatively.

Unfortunately the time came and the cruise came to an end.  It was time to go home.

A pic from the Bahamas (these smiles weren't around when we were getting back on the boat!)

We went back to the airport in style too - town car.  We flew home from Ft. Lauderdale airport so we parted ways with Kimberly on the ship.

Since Max turned two years old the next day, we moved his car seat around to be front facing.  He thought that was pretty awesome and enjoyed being able to see where we were going out the front window for the first time!

He didn't nap on the plane which led to him falling asleep in his stroller on the way out to meet Brittany.  He doesn't fall asleep like this so that really says a lot for how tired he was.  He fell asleep one other time like this at one of the ports and the security people that make you go through the metal detectors when you get back on the boat, didn't make us wake him up to take him out of the stroller which was nice of them.

Things I want to remember about Max on this cruise:

• He would take our hands (or our pants) and pull us around to where he wanted to go
• He learned numbers 11 - 15 thanks to all the floors on the boat
• He LOVED the elevator buttons and knew where all the elevators were and would run ahead of us when we were getting close and would say "this way"
• He high fived and said hello to other passengers - and not only did he give them out but there were times HE would initiate the high fives which is great because in the past he's been so shy!
• The boxes of cheerios in the morning were a great thing to be utilized throughout the day
• He didn't like being out on the balcony
• He was spoiled with more playing time on the iPad than he would get at home and quickly connected us eating to a chance for him to play on it.  He also connected trivia time with a chance for him to play on Peter's phone.
• He didn't want to wear his bib or sit in the high chair
• He loved the ocean and building sand castles
• Pineapple became his favorite fruit
• He usually would say to Peter "hold you" (meaning he wanted Peter to hold him) on the long hallways so he didn't have to walk
• He loved being with his Aunt Kimi
• His naps were never very long but he still woke up early in the morning

Vacation plans go off track

I forgot to include on important thing that happened yesterday while we were at dinner.  So the captain comes on the intercom and announces that there were issues with the port authority at Nassau, Bahamas (where we were supposed to go the next day).  Basically they had overbooked the cruise pier and there was no space for us.  So, we would be going to Freeport, Bahamas instead.  Except now we would get to port at 2 pm and leave at 9 pm.

We were NOT happy about this.  To start with, Peter and I were really excited about going to Nassau and wanted to go to the Atlantis Resort.  It was a major reason we chose this cruise.  Next we were bummed about losing beach time.  If we didn't get to port until 2 pm that meant there would be shortened time on the beach since the sun starts setting at 5 pm.  What in the world would we want to do once the sun goes down?  We are going to these places to do beachy things...those things are done in the sunlight!  I'm not going to be dragging Max around an unfamiliar city after dark.  Also we didn't know anything about Freeport.  There were no excursions planned for Freeport that we could choose from and nothing on the daily cruise compass to give suggestions of things to do.

The ONLY good thing about the change in plans was that it meant we would have a half day at sea that we weren't going to get before so we could do a few more things on the ship.

We got up, enjoyed breakfast at the buffet, and hit the first toddler class of the day.  I really appreciated these classes and the toys they had available.  We brought only a few little toys with us in our suitcases so it was nice for Max to be able to play with a variety of toys.

While Max took his morning nap under Peter's watchful eye, I went to go play some trivia.  I joined an group of ladies and we did a great job!  We ended up winning so I walked away with a RCCL hat and a key chain.  I love trivia!!!

After Max woke up we hit the Toddler splash area.  This ship was great because it had a rare area where non-potty trained babies in swim diapers could play in the water.  Most ships just say that if they aren't potty trained they can't go in the water.  The splash area was perfect because the water was shallow, there were toys for the kids to play with, and there were a few fountains as well.

Can you tell Maxwell was enjoying himself?

Peter waiting in line to try out the "flow rider"

Video - Peter did awesome his first time ever doing this!

Max watching dad.

Video - Peter bravely tried to get up on his knees.  It looked like fun to me!

Video - Max was "dancing" to the music, can you tell?  This poor boy dances like a white boy. 

Nap time again.  By this point Max was able to fall asleep with a little light which was nice for the person "babysitting".  The only walking space in the entire cabin was between the pack and play and the dresser.  We didn't even get the coffee table since we had the pack and play.

Remember how I said we were supposed to dock at 2 pm?  Well, there were delays so we didn't end up docking until 3 pm.  3 pm!!!!!  That would have been okay if there was a beach next to the dock like there is at a lot of ports.  But there wasn't.  It would have meant a taxi ride in order to get to a beach and by the time we got there it would be getting dark shortly.  It just wasn't worth it which was a HUGE bummer.  It meant I didn't get to get the pics I wanted of Max's footprints in the sand.  It meant Max didn't get to play in the ocean again.  It meant that this port was basically a total waste! GRRRRRRR...



Peter and Max in the shops around the port.  They were small and standard. 

It was a pretty pathetic port area.  I was sooo irritated at the change in itinerary.  As we walked around I felt more and more irritation about it.  I felt like we were a herd of cattle that had been dropped off in order to spend our money for a few hours by buying stupid trinkets and eating/drinking at Senior Frogs and then we'd be herded back onto the ship.  As a result, I refused to buy anything.  This is the first time ever we've been at port and I bought nothing.  Not a key chain, not a deck of cards, not a water.  NOTHING.

In case you aren't aware how big cruise ships really are - here's a little perspective.

In the background on the right are some dumpsters.  Fits well given my opinions on Freeport.

We weren't off the ship for very long but you can see through the pictures how quickly the sun is going down. 

For dinner tonight we were not game to try the formal dining again so instead we did the buffet.  While it was better for Max, the food didn't compare to what we would have had in the dining room.  Max wasn't interested in trying many new foods during this vacation.  He was pretty picky except for breakfast.  For lunch and dinner he pretty much had either chicken breast, pizza, french fries, and pickles.  He did try jello, which he loved.  

We went to story time in the library before bed.

Max modeling mom's new hat.

We did a little shopping on board since it was our last night and then I went back to the room and Peter hit the casino.  He brought back 100.00 - good job Peter!  We enjoyed late night room service one last time.

A few things about Max on this cruise:

• He has learned to say that words "pizza", "jello", and "cookie"  (Does that give you any insight into his diet for the past few days??)
• While he is still incredibly shy he has started to say "hi" and "hello" more to people that talk to him.
• And people stopped to give him attention ALL the time.  He would usually smile at them then bury his head in Peter or my shoulder.
• He loved eating bananas
• He did a FANTASTIC job sleeping.  I was worried it would be an issue and it wasn't at all.  He took 2 naps a day with no fuss (which he wasn't doing at home).  We had the white noise going and of course it was always pretty dark since we had an inside room.
• He hasn't wanted to cuddle as part of his bedtime routine.  :(