One of the most popular shore excursions in Nassau, Bahamas is the Blue Lagoon Beach Day tour. I decided to check it out for myself and see what it offers.
Blue Lagoon is a private island that is about a 30 minute boat ride away from where the cruise ships tender in Nassau. It is located just off the coast of Paradise Island, which is home to Atlantis Resort and many extremely extravagant mansions.
Blue Lagoon offers a variety of options for booking a visit to their island. There is a basic beach day pass, dolphin swim combo, stingray encounter, Segway and more. I counted nine different tours that take you to Blue Lagoon.
Ultimately, I settled on the VIP Blue Lagoon Island Beach Day since I did not want to do any of the animal encounters or other tours.
The VIP tour came out to $120.99 per person. I believe the non-VIP tour would have cost around $88.
Check-in for the tour was on the pier in Nassau where the ship docks. Since I had the VIP tour, I was taken out of the regular line and escorted ahead of everyone else to a ferry that was waiting to take us to the island.
On the ferry, VIP members were given a bottle of water and a granola bar snack.
As we arrived to the island, the crew instructed VIP guests to debark first, ahead of everyone else.
Blue Lagoon is made up of a variety of beaches that you can visit at your leisure. The dolphin, stingray, shark and sea lion encounters are all on the east side of the island. Even if you do not have an encounter scheduled, you can walk around the area and see the animals.
Our VIP guide escorted us to a private beach area that was a short walk away on the northwest side of the island.
There, we found a pristine beach with plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas to enjoy.
The VIP tour provides unlimited bottled water, mimosas and fruit punch to enjoy.
The beach was beautiful and very private, although the rockiness of it made swimming and wading beyond your waist impossible.
VIP guests are free to wander the island and enjoy any of the other beaches. Snorkeling equipment rental is included with the VIP pass.
A BBQ island buffet is included with the VIP pass, and served just outside the beach in a shaded area with picnic table seating.
The buffet lunch consisted of salad, fried fish, steak, BBQ chicken, plantains and corn on the cob.
The other beaches offer different ocean depths and views. Some are better for swimming, others better for wading and others suitable for snorkeling.
You have the option to add onto your beach pass to add an animal encounter, aqua park or other tour.
Comments
As advertised, Blue Lagoon is indeed a beautiful and serene island to spend the day and delivers a relaxing beach day option.
There was plenty of seating, and the service provided to VIP guests was excellent.
I was disappointed to find the VIP beach to be too rocky to swim. In fact, it was too rocky to even walk very deep in and I noticed only a few brave guests venturing across the rocks to get waist deep.
Of course, I could leave the VIP beach and enjoy a rock-free beach elsewhere, but it seems to be a waste of paying for the VIP perks.
I think Blue Lagoon is a good choice for someone who wants to do an animal encounter, or some other type of tour, and combine it with a great beach day.
