Christmas had arrived! Santa had somehow figured out where the kids were and left them each a present. I’m not sure how he got in our room but he’s been doing this for years and he’s perfected his magic!
The ship was decorated for Christmas the whole cruise, but on Christmas morning they had Santa and Mrs. Claus come by to the main Atrium area for the kids. We ate breakfast in a nearby restaurant hoping to finish quickly, get off the boat early and walk around the town for a few minutes before our excursion meeting time.
Exploring Nassau
The weather in Nassau was overcast and quite windy with temperatures hovering just below 70 degrees. There were periodic showers through most of the day. It wasn’t quite the tropical Christmas we were hoping for but we would try to make due and hope the weather would get better as the day went on.
We had an hour before meeting the tour to Atlantis so we decided to do some exploring. The port is right near a touristy part of town. Or maybe the touristy part of town grew up around where the port was located. Either way there were a multitude of shops to by cheap souvenirs and shirt and other trinkets that said Nassau or Bahamas. There were people yelling at us constantly to buy stuff or offering a taxi to different places. It was not for us so we quickly tried getting back to the ship to wait at the meeting point.
When leaving at port they told us we needed to take a photo ID with us. It was unclear if that was only for the adults or for the kids as well. For the kids that would mean their passports, so I had my wallet with my license and I grabbed the kids’ passports. I assumed my wife had her ID and she assumed when I had grabbed the passports I had all our passports, not just the kids. Oops.
When crossing the checkpoint back into the port we only had my ID and the ID’s for the kids. They didn’t need to see any ID for the kids since they were underage, but they needed to see my wife’s. The security person directed us to a different security checkpoint and we were beginning to panic a little. It was a bit of stress we weren’t planning for. I showed my ID to the officer and offered to show the kid’s passports but he declined saying they weren’t needed because of there age. He then paused for a second and had another person escort us through to the port. I guess he was in a giving mood but we were certainly thankful.
With that we walked along the dock to the excursion gathering point and there was already a long line. I quickly went back into the ship to grab my wife’s ID and drop off the passports since those weren’t needed while they held our place in line.
Off to Atlantis
When I got back to the meeting point the line had grown to several hundred feet long. In yet another show of slight under communication by the cruise line it wasn’t clear how things were going to work to get to or from the water park. The mass of people we were in suddenly started walking and we followed the largest mass of people as it split off. We eventually got to the port entrance and were guided though a gate marked “tours”. We were loaded onto busses which took us to Atlantis. We could actually see Atlantis from the dock as it wasn’t very far away. The drive took less than 10 minutes to get there once we started moving.
Once all the people from our ship were off the bus and gathered in front of one of the Atlantis bulding we were finally told how we could get back when we were done. All 200+ people from a half dozen busses were gathered in front of the hotel before they lead us in so there was a lot of chaotic waiting. We were told there were shuttles leaving every 30 minutes from the hotel back to the port so luckily we would be able to get back whenever we were done. There were two other ship docked in port when we left so there were a lot of people going between the port and Atlantis that day.
Once they told us that, they finally lead us in a long line through a meandering path through the hotel, casino, and grounds to get to the water park. Several people fell behind or went different ways so it was hard to know who to follow but we eventually managed to get to the right place. Once there we found a place to set our stuff down and get to some water park fun!
The Aquaventure Adventure
We were set up near the river rapids which is a not-so-lazy river tube ride. The kids jumped right in without waiting for me so I had to kick off my shoes and glasses and hurry to catch up with them. It took a furious 10 minutes but I managed, and I’m glad I did. The course of the river rapids was a solid 45 minutes to go all the way around.
While the air was still a little cool, windy and overcast, the water was downright cold. The kids thought it was fine, of course. Once I caught up with them we were only done the first portion of the river rapids. We had to get out and then rejoin the course again a few feet away. Tomatico wanted to go with me in a double tube so we grabbed one of those.
The river rapids live up to their name. They move pretty quickly and there are sections that have a wave pool type of thing to swoosh you along the river. The kid thought it was great, probably because I was doing all the work to make sure they didn’t smash up against the walls or get separated. By the end of the ride, I was exhausted and fairly well banged up.
We then went to find some of the slides. We found one of the tube slides that the kids wanted to go on. I had had enough with the river rapids so I let them go on their own. Luckily that slide came out where we had put our stuff so I went back there to wait for them with my wife.
They went on that slide a half dozen times and seemed to enjoy it, though they said there was a long wait every time. I’m not surprised because there were a lot of people at the park. Most of them were probably from the three cruise ships that had arrived that morning. They got hungry and we bought some burgers and chips at the food stand near where we had stored our stuff. This food was not included as part of the excursion and in the end was the only extra money we spent on the cruise.
By lunch time, the wind had gotten even worse and the temperature had dropped a few degrees. There were periodic showers and it was downright miserable. The kids did one more slide and we decided to head out. It just wasn’t fun and we decided to cut our losses and head back to catch the shuttle back to the ship.
Inside Atlantis
On our way back to catch the bus, we explored the Atlantis hotel lobby. There was a huge aquarium and we spent some time watching it. You would see people snorkeling on the surface and there were multiple huge stingrays in the tank along with several other types of fish big and small. There was even some kind of shark in there! The kids enjoyed being eye to eye with a stingray even though they were separated by a pane of glass. It was HUGE.
The architecture of the hotel definitely followed the theme and it was certainly impressive! If we weren’t quite so cold and worn out from the morning we would have stayed longer but it was time to find the bus home.
Back to the Ship
We found the place to catch the bus. There was a line of busses and when the first one filled up it left for the port. The bus we boarded was half full so it was only a few minutes before we started moving. The bus took some back roads to get there but dropped us right in front of the port entrance. We waded through the people yelling at us to buy stuff and made it through the same checkpoint with ease since we had both of our ID’s this time.
Tomatico was recharged and he ended up playing some basketball. We tried calling family to wish them a happy holiday but reception on the ship was pretty poor. In the time since we had left for Atlantis a fourth ship had arrived in port so there were likely a LOT of people trying to do the same thing at the same time on their phones. We were able to get some text messages through. We’d have to catch up with people once we returned to NYC.
It was approaching dinner time and we made our way to our preferred Manhattan Room venue for Christmas dinner. There was a special menu including ham and turkey specials. I couldn’t decide between the two so I ordered both!
After dinner we made our way to the theater for a special holiday show. The casts of the shows each had a few numbers they performed with a Christmas theme. It was well produced and showed some of the actors in much different roles than they played in their normal shows.
After the show we were all exhausted and called it an early night. The trip was more than halfway done and we only had two more full sea days remaining before arriving back in NYC.
Tomatico Travels 
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