Today is the second day of our 3-night Bahamas cruise and we docked in Nassau this morning around 7:30AM. I always love visiting the Bahamas, and I was looking forward to today's shore excursion to the picturesque Pearl Island.
Watching the ship sail into port is always a nice way to start the day, and I watched from the upper pool deck as Freedom of the Seas arrived in Nassau.
It's interesting to look at the western side of Paradise Island when sailing into Nassau. This land is what Royal Caribbean will be turning into the Royal Beach Club, one of the cruise line's upcoming major projects over the next couple years.
Related: What's New & Coming to Royal Caribbean in 2022, 2023, and 2024
A quick breakfast at the Windjammer was in order before getting my daypack ready to go ashore.
Pearl Island
I booked an excursion to Pearl Island, a small island located about a mile northeast of Paradise Island. I booked it through Royal Caribbean directly for around $93. My parents and I disembarked the ship around 8:15, where we met with the tour group and boarded a smaller vessel that would take us to the island.
The ride took around 30 minutes, and we were rewarded with beautiful views of Paradise Island and the large waterfront homes and golf courses along the way.
Our location on the boat right near the door meant we were the among first to be let off, so I quickly walked (ran) to find the best lounge chairs possible on the island. I had read reviews that the island could get crowded (note: it did not) and I wanted to make sure we had a nice shaded area to spend the day.
I picked three chairs under a covered structure with a perfect view of the beach.
A great benefit of an excursion to Pearl Island is that water sports activities are included in your tour price. While the water was a bit too choppy for standup paddles, my mom and I went kayaking around the beach and had a blast! The water was so clean and clear and we lucked out with perfectly sunny weather.
I was pretty shocked how relatively empty the island felt. Pearl Island sells both a regular beach-access day pass and a day pass that includes a snorkel tour on the opposite side of the island. Around half the guests on our boat had booked the snorkeling tour, so they were nowhere to be found at the beach for the first hour or two of the excursion.
Even when they finished snorkeling and when a second boat came to drop off passengers from the Disney Dream ship later in the morning, the island did not feel overly crowded.
Next up were drinks. Drinks (aside from iced tea and water at lunch) are not included in the excursion price at Pearl Island, but I found the prices to be fairly reasonable at $10-12 per cocktail. We ordered three Miami Vices which were extremely refreshing in the warm Caribbean sun.
A buffet lunch is included at Pearl Island, which consisted of Caribbean rice, BBQ chicken, fried grouper, and coleslaw. I thought it was pretty good for being included in the excursion cost.
We spent the next couple hours relaxing at Pearl Island before a nice, breezy ride back to Nassau at 1PM. I will be writing a full, in-depth review of Pearl Island, so be sure to check that out soon. Overall I liked the island even more than I initially thought I would!
Back in Nassau
My parents have never been to Nassau before, so I wanted to give them a short tour of the city. First we grabbed a beer at Pirate Republic Brewing followed by a walk around downtown Nassau.
Next I wanted to show them two places I discovered while wandering around Nassau during my Independence of the Seas cruise in January: the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle.
These landmarks are adjacent to each other and the fort provides a fantastic view of downtown Nassau and the ocean. While the inside of the fort was not open, we walked around the grounds and took in the history and views.
The sun was extremely strong mid-day, so we got back onboard Freedom of the Seas around 3PM and headed to the pool deck.
It seems everyone else headed to the pool deck because it was packed! The atmosphere of a 3-night cruise is a lot different than a longer sailing, but I find the party atmosphere to be a lot of fun.
The lines, though, are crazy… I had to wait 20 minutes in line for a snack at El Loco Fresh!
Evening onboard
As this is a 3-night cruise and it doesn't give us much time to relax on the ship compared to longer sailings, we opted for another quick meal at the Windjammer tonight. This way we could eat quickly and spend the rest of the evening exploring other areas of Freedom of the Seas.
It turns out we stayed in the Windjammer longer than expected because we began sailing away from Nassau as soon as we sat down. We decided to stay for a while to take in the views.
Following dinner was a short round of mini golf and an hour spent watching the sunset from pool chairs on the running track. After such a busy day in port, it was nice to sit back and relax with the ocean view.
It was a bit chilly tonight, so we moved our hangout spot to the Viking Crown Lounge where we grabbed a drink before taking a walk through the Royal Promenade.
We stumbled upon karaoke in Star Lounge and I'm very glad we did. The venue was jam-packed and the karaoke was absolutely hilarious. While the singing was (purposely) not top-notch, the confidence and dance moves of the performers had the whole audience dying of laughter.
Tired from a long day, I went to my stateroom to get ready for another fun port day tomorrow at Perfect Day at CocoCay.
Stray observations
I feel like the Viking Crown Lounge is underutilized. There are rarely many people in there, yet it has great views of the ship and ocean. My dad mentioned it would work well as a piano bar and I agree.
I always forget there is a Johnny Rockets on Voyager and Freedom Class ships due to its location on the way to the sports deck.
