I really thought that I had been to Nassau before. But it didn’t seem familiar at all. Must have been Freeport.
Before disembarking in Nassau we had breakfast on the ship. We tried to have breakfast in the buffet, as we always do. But on the Vista the lines were staggeringly long – over 100 deep everywhere. Horrible. Unacceptable. My review of the cruise will reflect this. Whoever designed the Vista simply did not provide sufficient serving stations for the volume of passengers.
We went to the dining room instead and were annoyed to learn that we needed a reservation. We never needed reservations for a dining room breakfast on other ships. We dutifully requested one via the app and were immediately awarded a table. Why was a reservation necessary (the dining room was nearly empty)? Don’t know. Seemed like an unnecessary hurdle. That, too, will be mentioned in the review.
The service was pathetically slow – perhaps to not make the buffet look bad? But we were seated next to Rob and Pat, two seasoned cruisers who proved to be entertaining breakfast companions. So the time – nearly an hour for breakfast – passed quickly.
Nassau, like every other Caribbean cruise port, has a large cluster of souvenir shops near the dock. And restaurants, jewelry stores and pubs. I bought a coffee cup and had a beer (a nice pilsner at the Pirate Republic) while Marlene went in search of clothes. I went back to the ship but had to return when Marlene texted me that she had found something that I urgently needed to see. After a search to find her (she said she was “near the Barcardi Rum building” – a description that puzzled even the three policemen that I asked – she cleverly texted me a photo of the building. The police recognized the building and gave me directions.
The thing I “had to see” was a God-awful pair of Bermuda shorts that she liked. Fortunately they didn’t fit well. But she did get three very nice summer outfits.
After returning to the ship I napped and read. After dinner (in the buffet again) I lost $100 in the casino in about 20 minutes (but am still up $2,570). I then attended the show which was a revue of rock songs featuring the Vista Rockband. Not a bad show, but the Vista Rockband is a pale imitation of the Luminosa Rockband. I also went up to the pool rock party but didn’t stay long. Wasn’t in a dancing mood.
