I have been curious about going on a boat cruise for about fifteen years. We have gotten close a few times, but for some reason, my family has never really been interested in getting on a boat and traveling. It was a surprise to hear from Girlie that her and her family would be going, more surprising was that they decided to do it on a school week in the middle of September, taking her and her three siblings out of school. I mentioned most of this last week or so, but this is what she learned and shared with me today when she got back.
She did not like the islands where they got off, at all. Her take is that the people are so poor, they make it uncomfortable to do anything. She already had her hair partly braided as her younger sister does this for her all the time, yet on the beach she was still harassed to get her hair braided at an expensive cost. When we went, to the same islands way back when we first got married, some ladies even shamed me, in the bad Bahamian accents, "come on, Mon! Are you cheap, Mon?! Pay for some braids for your Wife, Mon!" They do ruin the touristy parts when you want to just walk around. I then asked about being on the boat, was it enjoyable? she said yes, once her mom relaxed and got off their back. She said the first day, their mom was screaming and rushing all of them to get them to go to breakfast together. She said the food was possibly the best part, as it was always available. They were on the second floor from the bottom and would constantly go up to the Lido deck to take their meals. There must have been a joke in the phrasing because she kept smiling when she said Lido Deck.
In her pictures, she showed a couple of hot tubs/pools and she said they were nice, but they were not alone in them like it looked. She said people constantly showed up, like within five minutes of getting in the water, if the hot tub was empty, other people would join them. She said it was fun talking to a couple of families at points from different parts of the world.
I asked about the rooms, and their comfort level, she said at night, the A/C worked good, you did want the blankets to cover up, but as soon as the sun came up, it was not really that comfortable to try to stay in bed under the blankets.
Her biggest complaint was that everything was expensive. She didn't do any excursions, other than the family going to a "private" beach where they paid $30 to go on a beach for a couple hours plus $100 for the family to take a cab ride. I think I would also want to skip this part, and just be happy to walk around where the boat was docked and have lunch or something close by.
I think I still want to go, but I would prefer to start with a three or four day cruise rather than the full on week, for my first attempt. We have seen the Bahamas in the past, I think I would prefer to check out the Cancun area, if we decide to do this, say, even next year, with or without our extended family.
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