6.5.2009-6.8.2009Cabin 7203Me: 5th time cruiser DH: 2nd2nd time on this vessel for usWe arrived to the port and got thru okay. No passport needed, just birth cert and I.D. They kept us in groups and sometimes we had to sit for a bit, but it was okay. Onto the boat and was one of the first ones there.We checked on our room and it appeared cleaned, but they said to come back around 2:00, no biggie. It was 11:30ish. We went ahead and ate in the Il Adagio - thank God because the buffet was the same every other day there and that does get old fast. We did dip in the wading pool up on the "quiet" deck (deck 12ish?).Our port departure was delayed because of heavy rain and lightning - the port "closed". We set sail about 6:30. We had dinner that night at the Crossings. It was great! NASSAU....Seems like we got to Nassau a little bit late and got to get off the boat, but still a little late. We had no tours/excursions planned. We fig'd we'd walk around and then go back to the pier, change into our suits and then head to cabbage beach. NCL's dock was the farthest on the port and was FOREVER away. Especially for a pregnant woman in flip flops, with blisters (take blister band-aids!). So we saw the water taxi and just went ahead and rode it across to paradise island, headed to cabbage beach. But before that, we did hit the straw market and let me tell ya, it's the same crap in a different aisle. If you've seen one aisle (or even one set-up?) you've seen it all. The ladies are forward, but appreciate a nice "just looking, thanks". Okay, so onto the ferry - it was a nice ride. It cost us $1 less pp than the taxi cab. But we couldn't find cabbage beach without a TON of walking and asking for directions. Should have just taken the taxi. We ended up right beside the end of the resort and the beach was to die for!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DH got $20 coconut drink (all you can drink) but recall - there's no bathroom facilities and we had on no swimsuits, so it was about as much as DH's bladder could handle. It was Hawaiian punch and maybe vodka? Idunno....When I got onto the beach, the locals offered lounge chairs set up anywhere we'd like (2 for $20) and we said no thanks. Then he offered 2 for $15 so we decided to stay for a bit. Water was clear, beach was a little crowded, but if you walked a bit, you could see that it was less crowded.Beach appeared non-rocky and PERFECT, but walk down was rocky. Take a cab, pay the extra $1pp! Spare yourself the embarrassment of getting lost! The cabride back was HORRIBLE. The driver was wreckless and even his little closeness alarm on his van was beeping. Yowza. We about got killed a ton of times, but I guess that's the norm! LOLGREAT STIRRUP CAY...got their SUPER EARLY and got a chair with umbrella. Umbrella had sand dropping from it all day. Beach was gorgeous! TAKE BEACH SHOES (like crocs) and you'll be sooo happy you did. Snorkeled for a bit (was denied vest use because of previous health issues), we brought our own gear. You can go all the way out to the rocks and still stand up!!!!! The best snorkeling (IMO) was in between the two rocks right there at the flat (coral?) rock. I went out with just goggles, I'm a pretty good swimmer and LOVE to swim. Anyway, we saw about 5 diff. kinds of tropical fish. BBQ does NOT have BBQ sandwiches, the food is BBQed. I was wrongly looking forward to BBQ sandwiches. LOL Potato salad and all other food was YUM-O. VERY GOOD!!!!! We waited FOREVER to catch the ferry back (it's not a small tender like we'd taken in Hawaii, it's a decent sized ferry boat).Pools were popular but not SLAMMED by any means. Jumped in once, major salt water unlike the wading pool in the front!Dinner at the Palace. Menu selections seem skimpy each night. Buffet was the same every day. Ugh. Breakfast seemed super fresh the first morn and almost tasted reheated the remainder. Kinda yuck, but it worked! Did not see choco buffet offered. Desserts were way too strange and uppity for my taste. We ate outside once in the morning. Dear Lord, watch out for the seagulls, they will all but fight you for your food. And those fockers are HUGE!There is a sign up saying no tanks and shorts after 5 pm in the MDR's. We did no specialty restaurants. Might would next time, as options were boring to us (we don't eat seafood BTW). Overall, preferred Crossings over the Palace. No waiting for either. Wore flip-flops in once, nothing said. On the 1st day, they said that attire really didn't matter.Casino was very nice - no sign up for any crap needed. We just used CA$H.Crowd age was all over the board. Sewage smell? I hadn't even told DH about the reviews and he noticed it. Even the last night in the dining room. YUCK. It was HORRIBLE one night in the cabin (and on the last day) - with blue stuff coming up from the toilet (WTF?). The stench was BAD. Didn't need the magnets for the shower curtain. But it still stuck to my azz. Ugh.Tim Kiminski was an effin SCREAM. Matt Baker did indeed give his 200%, that man is amazing! The QUEST show was too racey for us - we left. Girls in dresses doing the splits (skirts up around their waists) and guys dirty dancing together, girls and guys topless. All in good fun I guess, but not for us. Fair enough - we were warned.Drinks were YUMMY. Virgin pina coladas for $4.50?!?! You can't beat that! And DH had nice sized beers for like 6 bucks.Room steward wasn't OVERLY friendly after day one, never got turn-down service until last night. No towel animals (which I hate anyway...lol). But he kept us fresh towels coming and the important stuff. Some kids did keep us up one night being loud thru the hallway.Walked RIGHT OFF for disembarkation and caught a cabby who didn't have change for 2 $20's and then wanted to charge for us to use his CC machine.Overall, we had a fab time and it was totally worth the $$!