The Bahamas Cruise

The ‘Caribbean’ and the ‘Bahamas’ islands have always sounded exotic. The vision of deep blue sea, the unending beaches, the swaying palms, the calypso music, sexy gals and the heady rum cocktails have always appeared a dream destination but a bit too far. Little did I know that most cruises to these destinations originated from Miami, Florida. I almost jumped with excitement when I heard that there were a few cruises from Orlando itself, where we were planning to spend a few days. Disney world had made a visit to Orlando mandatory and what better way to spend a few days after the roller coaster and several other nerve wrecking rides? The itinerary was re-worked, research was done and we were booked onto a balcony suite of cruise ship ‘Carnival Sensation.’ Bahamas was becoming a reality.
Visa & all that
The cruise Company’s website does not have too much information regarding visa requirements for Bahamas for nationalities other than those from the US. They have stated that we should find out ourselves. There is indeed a Bahamas consulate in Delhi. “Do we need visa?” I enquired. They informed me that it was not a consulate as such but more of a Liaison office. “Yes-you do need the visa definitely but it will be issued by British High commission,” I was informed. The British High Commission helpline informed me that it would me approximately GBP 150.00 (Around Rs 12000.00) per visa so I should be prepared to shell out approximately Rs 50000.00 for the visa for the family to go to Bahamas for a few hours. Having already spent a fortune on USA, Canada and Schenegan visas for our trip, this was a shocker. We thought and we discussed and we read forums and travelogues. No conclusion for derived. We decided it was not worth spending this kind of money so we would take a chance on this and if need be, stay on board if the visa was an issue. Later, in Bahamas, we did not even have to carry the passports to shore. The card issued by the cruise ship and a photo ID was more than enough to explore the exotic Bahamas!
Meet the Americans
The first thing you notice on the cruise ship is that there are people everywhere. 2 hours before the sailing, people were already in swimming pool and the bars were full. There were all kinds of people and from many nationalities. The majority were Americans and considerable numbers of people were African-Americans. When an American introduces himself, he is very particular about the city and the state he is from. For example, he will always say” I am George from Springdale, Utah” or “Richard from Cleveland, Ohio.” Soon, I got into a habit of saying ‘Rohin from Delhi, India.”

Too many things to do
Unless you are on the deck or in the balcony, you don’t even feel that it’s a ship you are on.’ The Carnival sensation’ was not a big ship but I understand that it had 2700 passengers and around 900 crew members. For a first time cruiser, it was fascinating to see swimming pools, Jacuzzis, water park, Golf putting course, clubs, casino, video game parlour, auditoriums, discos, studios, shops etc on board. Kartik did well to win a Golf putting competition and surprised many grown ups. There are a lot of people to serve you and help you on board. For once you don’t have to worry about tipping the staff. The cruise Company bills it to you and you have no choice but to pay what they ask.

The Lido and pool decks were ‘happening’ during the day with live band, competitions, dances etc.The casino and the discos were packed at night. The 13-17 year olds had their own club which kept them pretty occupied with parties, video games, play stations, pizzas and ice-creams. At night it became a disco. Separate parties were being arranged for singles, so they could meet each other. There were late night parties arranged for smaller kids as well and this helped the parents to go to discos, casinos or offshore on the docking days. These late night paries ended at 3 AM, I am told.

Eat, drink and be merry
The amount paid at the time for bookings take care of almost everything except booze, casino and luck games like Bingo. Carry on booze is a strict no no on the ship and yet people like me do manage something. Booze is what these ships make real money on as people were always drinking. Gallons of beer must be consumed in a day.
The food is everywhere. Pizzas, burgers, tea, coffee, lemonade and ice-cream are available round the clock. The Americans sure know how to eat! Have a look at their plates and you will know the reason for their size. All of us put on a few kilos on the ship. The whole day the food is served and in humungous quantities. So, people eat a lot and they eat all the time. You could eat in dining room or eat in informal environment on the deck. This cruise had one formal evening where one was expected to dress up formally. It was a delight watching so many women in their best dresses. Most of them must have purchased them especially for this occasion. The older generation looked the most enthusiastic and each old couple was impeccably turned out. The cruise photographers had a field day that evening. The photographers were generally kept busy as enthusiasm amongst most people was tremendous. Later, each of these photograph was sold for $15.00.


Nassau, Bahamas
The ship docked at 2 islands of Bahamas. The first one was called the ‘Freeport’ and it was a pretty ordinary place. It had some expensive shopping and a decent beach. The next day the ship docked at Nassau, the Capital of Bahamas. The place is immensely popular with the American tourists as the prices of watches, jewellery and booze is much less than USA. All the big brand names like Cartier, Tag Heuer etc. were there. The Americans bought a lot of liquor and deposited it once they reached the ship as you cannot carry liquor to your rooms. They were handed over the bottles once they reached back at Orlando.
Nassau has some lovely beaches and a part of it across the bridge is called the ‘Paradise island’ and this island is famous for Atlantis hotel. Atlantis itself is a tourist destination as it has a huge aquarium, a water park, casino, a beautiful beach and an entertainment centre. The hotel is HUGE. Many hotel like 'Shereton' and clubs like 'breeze' give you day rooms for around $ 100.00 so one could stay on shore for the day. You could spend the day at the beach or in the casino or play Golf. I saw many from our ship taking this offer.We spent most time on the beach near the Atlantis. The water was crisp and clean. The entire beach was full of tourists.We had planned to eat lunch at the Atlantis, but seeing the prices on the menus of most restaurants there, we decided to head back to the ship after a couple of hours on the beach.

In the evening, I took a local bus to check out the town and see what actual Nassau was all about. The place was quiet and didn’t look very prosperous. All shops close by 5.30 PM so things were pretty deserted. I asked the bus driver where all those famous Hollywood star houses were? The reply came fast. “No Maan, they buy no houses, they buy islands.”
The Goods and the bads
To those, planning a cruise in near future, I would advise a room with balcony if the budget allows.Its not advisable if you have uncontrollable small kids. It is worth spending extra if one can stretch the budget by around 20%. The colour of Caribbean Sea was dark blue, like dark ink colour. One could just sit on the balcony and watch the wide expanse of the ocean for hours. At night, the stars seems so bright and so many. The sea breeze is refreshing and in the evenings we would actually feel cold. We had a suite room which was spacious enough for our family of 4. The room was colourful and very well lighted. I would emphasize on ‘well lighted’ as most places we live in while on a holiday normally have inadequate lighting. Near the shore, the dolphins were visible many a times and for us, the people who stay in concrete jungles, watching the dolphins’ dance is perhaps one of the most pleasurable sights.
While we were on ship, the behaviour of co-passengers was impeccable. They were fun loving but not rowdy. They drank liquor but did not misbehave after that. We were not woken up in the middle of the night with shouting by loud people. The passengers had a casual look about them during the day and by the evening many became formally attired.
Each group minded his own business and did what was suitable to them. If there was a queue for something, not one person barged in or broke the discipline. For us, living in India, this is a big eye-opener. For our family, it was a perfect cruise. For many it often is not. A sickness on board or an accident can make it into a nightmare. A CNN report talks about increase in sexual molestations on cruise ships in the last few years and how difficult it is to get evidence and catch the culprit due to the ship being in international waters. A few days after our cruise, a person fell from a Carnival ship and her body was never found. Another person was saved in the nick of time. I read recently that a few crew members of one of the ‘Royal Caribbean’ cruise ships got infected with swine flu and it was a big mess for everyone.
Can you Dance ?
The pool deck was the most happening place on the entire ship. It was always having some activity like live band, DJ, competitions, skills contests etc. Well, goaded by my family, I had the pleasure of participating in a competition – ‘The hairy chest competition!’ The rules were simple – you had to have hairy chest and you had to seduce 2 women judges on the beat of the music. As I stood with ‘semi Bears’, I knew I had no chance in this competition. Some guys before me were very good and the cheering for them came from the people of their state. I had 3 faithful people to cheer for me when my name was announced. They happened to be my family !
I would have had no chance in the competition if Helen hadn’t come to my help.
Helen ? Yes-Helen ! Our own bollywood cabaret dancer Helen! As the music played, I copied her! I seduced the women judges on stage as Helen did to our heroes. The seduction worked. The loud cheering of the audience and the judges told me that Helen was a hit.
I have carried the trophy safely back to India.