Florida and Bahamas trip – Day 6 and 7

30th Dec – Ship was docked at Bahamas. We had pre-booked glass bottom boat tour and shallow water dolphin interaction but due to last minute time changes we had to cancel glass bottom boat. The ship itself has excursion desk where we can book/cancel excursions and booking via cruise gives the guarantee to return to ship before departure time. We had booked excursion at Bahamas via cruise and Keywest via third party after comparing the prices. If your excursion is returning close to departure time then its better to book it via cruise.

The shallow water dolphin interaction at Atlantis is a must visit. There are few islands at Bahamas but Atlantis is the preferred one. As the excursion was booked via cruise, they arranged for transportation to/from cruise. Otherwise, taxi costs around 12 dollars and it takes 10-15 minutes to reach the resort. So, we reached Atlantis, took part in dolphin interaction, roamed around the island, visited the beach, aquarium and returned to cruise port around 3pm. We got to kiss, hug, feed and take picture with the dolphin. It was an awesome experience though it was sad to see the dolphin dance to the tunes of the instructor. Only solace was that they were kept at their natural habitat, sea water that was recycled every few hours or so they said. Can you believe if I say LHB gave the perfect kiss to the dolphin and he fed the dolphin with no fear. The pictures cost a fortune but we bought them as it was lifetime once experience.

At Bahamas, we took a horse carriage ride tour around the city, shopped some souveniors and returned to ship at 4pm. It was a busy evening/night as that was the last night at the ship. Also, it was captain’s night. That means we have to dress up in formals for dinner. Adi and I wore dress, M wore suit and for LHB as he didn’t have a formal suit I just put a sweater over his regular shirt 🙂 It is optional to attend captain’s night dinner but I wouldn’t suggest to skip it. We took family portraits as we were all decked up and the hard copies of these pictures were expensive. We still bought them for the quality was very good and anyways we were planning for a family portrait. We were roaming around the pool and cafe for sometime and then retired at 11pm. We had to pack our big luggage and keep it outside the room before going to bed.

31st Dec – Woke up little late, packed all bags and visited cafe for breakfast. Stuffed ourself and waited for our group number to be called for disembarkation. Out of all the food, the one I enjoyed the most was egg omlette with veggies of our choice. LHB survived with cheese pizza and Adi ofcourse ice creams. It took around one hour for the disembarkation, we collected our big box on the way and entered the land of US of A again. There was port of entry during the exit so a valid visa or immigration status is must to travel in cruise that sails outside the country.

The hotel shuttle picked us though there was a long wait and dropped at the hotel where we parked our car. Then, we drove to Miami where we roamed around the city for few hours to find the beach. Then, visited south beach, had a good walk on the shore for few hours and let the kids play on water/sand.  Late afternoon, we started the drive towards Coca beach where we had pre-booked a hotel for the night stay. The room had a balcony with beach view that was breathtaking. New year eve and all that so we booked a better hotel. Had dinner at pizza hut, packed the leftovers and relaxed at the room for rest of the evening watching fireworks. While we relaxed, M did the laundry 🙂

Sorry to bore you all with this series but I hope this will be a nice recollection after few years. I will try to keep the next post as the last one. Promise..

I had a pretty long day today and tomorrow will be no better. We were locked down at home for two days due to the snow storm Juno. Work has raised its monster head again and my daily routines have taken a toll. I am not reading this post again. Good night!

 

Atlantis resort

Atllantis resort

LHB trying straw hat

On the way to Atlantis

Just before dolphin interaction. It was so hot

Ship leaving Bahamas

LHB dozed off before food arrived during dinner

On the way to Miami

relaxing at south beach

relazing at south beach

Atlantis resort

Aquarium at Atlantis

Clear water beach at Atlantis

 

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