2-in-1 GT Honeymoon, Part 1

2-in-1 GT Honeymoon, Part 1

September 12th, 2008 @ 10:31 am by Mrs. Green Tea

Now that the mister has explained the planning of our two-part honeymoon, it is time to show you the results. Despite our worries, the weather was great (no sign of hurricanes!) and Labor Day crowds were thin. I know honeymoon posts aren’t super exciting to read unless you’re interested in visiting the same places, so I’ll just overload you with pictures and include some key tips for the ’moon planners out there who may benefit from them.

Ready? Go!

We started out cruising, on the Norwegian Sky:

Our first stop was the Grand Bahamas Island where we swam with, hugged, and kissed (on the lips!) dolphins…

and instructed them to do tricks!

The next day we went to Nassau where we visited the enormous Atlantis Resort:

We checked out the gorgeous grounds and aquariums…

and enjoyed a splashing good time at their water park, the Aquaventure, where there are awesome water slides including ones that goes through a clear tunnel underwater so you can get up close and personal with the sharks and other marine life:

Image Source

Our final stop before heading back to Miami was the cruise line’s private island where we enjoyed some sun and snorkel. The pic below is of us on our balcony with the island as backdrop:

Some notes on the cruise:

The excursions were great. The cost was approximately $250 per person for the dolphin swim. We only were allowed less than an hour of actual swim time. The cruise line marked up the $150 per person cost for the water park significantly, however. You can save a lot of money buying tickets directly from the park when you get there, but because the cruise business gets priority and you cannot buy tickets in advance, we paid the extra anyway to make sure that we wouldn’t miss out on the fun.
It may have been better if we went on a bigger ship, but the bigger ships are all for longer trips and we didn’t want to be stuck on a ship for any longer!
There were tons and tons of not very good food. We even paid extra to try their top restaurant on the boat, and it was still rather unimpressive.
Sadly, the mister was sick so we missed out on some of the parties. If the few shows that we were able to attend were indicators for the quality of all of the entertainment, it appears that we didn’t miss much.
Paying extra for the balcony room was sooo worth it! Being able to relax and enjoy the ocean view in the privacy of our own room made it feel like a real vacation, even though room service was gross.
There was a lot of Bingo, and a lot of Elton John.
Verdict: It was good to experience it and we thoroughly enjoyed the activities at the stops, but we can now say for certain that we are NOT cruise people.

Then we were off to Disney World!

Tags: honeymoon, sacramento |

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15 Responses to “2-in-1 GT Honeymoon, Part 1”

Bee

Mrs. Cherry Blossom (message) 696 posts, Busy bee

So pretty. Loved swimming with dolphins, experience of a life time. DISNEYWORLD - yay! can’t wait to see more. and OOOOOooh AAAAH atlantis, so pretty, wish i had stepped foot there, but we saw it from a far! :o)

9/12/08 @ 10:39 am (reply)

Guest

NiftyBa

I got engaged at Atlantis, right next to a blowfish in The Dig! Hope you enjoyed Disney! (… Unless it was hot. And sweaty. And the lines were way too long for Splash Mountain.)

9/12/08 @ 10:44 am (reply)

Guest

Starry-Eyed Barefoot Bride

I’m glad you had fun. Don’t rule out all cruises for this one experience! I’ve only been on one (Royal Caribbean through Alaska) but it was great. The excursions were amazing adn a great range of prices and activity levels. (Anything from whale watching and hiking to mountain biking and white water rafting.) The people were fun, I never saw Bingo the whole time! The food was to die for and there were varying levels of party atmosphere every night. You could go full on club party, to swanky bar, to a backyard bbq fire pit feel.
Can’t wait to hear about DW!

9/12/08 @ 11:10 am (reply)

Guest

Annie

I went on the norweigian spirit for my honeymoon and felt very similar to you as far as the food went. we also went to the bahamas! But instead of the dolphin swim, we did the Sea Lion encounter - it was AWESOME! And it only cost like $70? Something like that.

9/12/08 @ 12:03 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Green Tea (message) 705 posts, Busy bee

I should clarify that I meant ALL the excursions were marked up significantly by the cruiseline, not just the water park tickets.

@Starry-Eyed Barefoot Bride: wish i woulda talked to you before booking our cruise!

@Annie: yeah i remember there being a sea lion encounter offered and was much less expensive. they also offered the dolphin encounter that was cheaper as well, but we figured if we were gonna hang with dolphins we might as well go all out if the opportunity comes up again, we will sure check out the sea lions though!

9/12/08 @ 12:19 pm (reply)

Guest

sunflowers

SO HELPFUL!!! My mom and pop just offered to take me on a cruise and after a lot of thought, I told them no, thank you. I don’t think I’m a cruise person either. Your post confirmed that I made the right decision.

9/12/08 @ 12:28 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Pomegranate (message) 956 posts, Busy bee

That shot of Hubby GT in front of the fish is pretty spectacular! Looks like a TON of fun!!

9/12/08 @ 1:00 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Sweet Tea (message) 461 posts, Helper bee

Aw, if I knew you were taking a cruise I might have been able to help! My mom has been on tons of cruises all over the place, and I’ve helped her with booking a good number of them. I actually was a travel agent on the side two years ago (not now, phew!) but booked my cousin’s honeymoon cruise around the Caribbean. I’m not a cruise person either but she loved it! I’m glad you and Mr. GT had a good time… and yay Disney World! Now THAT is a place I know tons about and still love now.

9/12/08 @ 2:13 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Sweet Tea (message) 461 posts, Helper bee

oh and psst- the only cruise I’ve ever liked was in Alaska, too!

9/12/08 @ 2:14 pm (reply)

10.

Member

ladyjane (message) 67 posts, Worker bee

Ooo! I saw that resort with the big fish tank on some Travel Channel special… it looked so cool

FFIL is a big fan of cruises and keeps offering to send us on one for our honeymoon. Thanks for confirming my own doubts about taking him up on it!

9/12/08 @ 2:32 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

kandaceandjason

In order to get the cruise experience you want, you have to choose the right cruise line for you. If you like fancy food, top-quality entertainment, etc., then you have to pick a luxury cruise line. Hubby and I went on a honeymoon cruise and we loved it! We chose an economy line because we figured the transportation getting around and the quality of a few meals was not worth shelling out tons of money. for. Instead, we splurged in port, doing the excursions we wanted, and indulging in good food at local places. Please don’t write off cruising from this one time. Just know you’ll have to shell out big time if you want big time amenities.

http://www.cruisecritic.com was a godsend in planning our honeymoon. It has info on all cruise lines, all ships, all ports of call, etc. I think everyone should go on at least two cruises in their lives before they write it off altogether - choose two different lines/ships and different ports of call just to be sure.

9/12/08 @ 4:03 pm (reply)

12.

Guest

twelvetigers

I’m a fan of Royal Caribbean as well… I think it’s a nice middle ground in between the super pricey ones and the ones that aren’t so great. I liked the food! I REALLY liked the drinks!

9/12/08 @ 7:17 pm (reply)

13.

Guest

goodvoile

I did a Princess line cruise to Alaska a few years back, and it was great. Maybe not rowdy-partyish, but I don’t remember any bingo . . . the food was awesome and the excursions were great! Just something to keep in mind; as Starry-Eyed Barefoot Bride and kandaceandjason said, I think it depends on the cruise line a lot . . . sounds like you had fun, though! I’d give my . . . I dunno, something! . . . to swim with dolphins! Hope Disney was fun too!

9/13/08 @ 1:40 am (reply)

14.

Guest

Erin J.

We went on a 7 day cruise for our honeymoon with Royal Caribbean and it was great! The food was fantastic and there was a good price range for all the excursions. Like others have said I think it depends on the cruise line.

9/13/08 @ 11:01 am (reply)

15.

Guest

Jessica

We went on the Oosterdam ship with Holland America and the food was OUTSTANDING! We usually skipped the average buffet food and ate 3 meals a day in the dining room, where the food was gourmet, lovely variety, and quite aristically served. Our party of four from two generations were all wowed by the food, the service in general, and the fun/relaxing time we had. I later had a friend ride the Carnival line and their food was quite disappointing. All to say, don’t give up on cruises - just take the right one!

9/14/08 @ 1:25 am (reply)