Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Norwegian Sky Cruise: Bahamas | Days 1 & 2











March 7-8, 2016


My family had planned as early as Christmas to do a trip together over spring break - my sister and I coincidentally had the same week off - and the idea had originally been to rent a beach house for a week on the NC coast, as we've done multiple times in the past and have always enjoyed. So it came as a surprise when, barely three weeks out, my parents booked a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Sky.

This trip marked the second time I've visited the Bahamas; the Bahamas was the first country I ever visited outside of the US. I was excited to return to a (somewhat) familiar place, take in the astonishingly clear, blue seas, and enjoy all the complimentary food and drinks.

What I was not prepared for were our fellow cruise passengers. I was expecting a few other college students, but unbeknownst to us, Norwegian had rented out most of the rooms on the boat to a third-party vendor called College Party Cruise, which had filled the boat with loud and trashy frat guys and sorority girls. This particular cruise included unlimited alcohol, which meant that many of them were drunk the entire trip. On top of that, the College Party Cruise organizer had found several bars on the islands to partner with and the college kids would get off the boat hungover from the night before and get drunk on the islands, then return to the boat and continue drinking.

I'm all for enjoying your vacation any way you want, but I had been expecting a vessel predominantly full of seniors and families, and instead I was surrounded by my less savory peers. What I had assumed would be a fairly calm, quiet trip was full of long bar lines and constant yelling in the corridors.

Despite the unpleasant company, we were able to enjoy ourselves and relax. After the first day we figured out where the college kids would be most of the time and stayed to different areas of the ship - particularly the outdoor lounge/bar/dining area at the back of the boat, which offered some incredible ocean views. The first two days were largely spent on the boat - we spent day 2 was docked in Freeport, but aside from a quick trip ashore we opted to watch movies in the ship's theater and relax on the back deck the whole day.

Though our ship's company was less than could be desired, it didn't much diminish our enjoyment of the trip. We were able to quickly bond with other boat guests also taken unaware by the number of college students, and nearly all of the boat's areas that didn't contain a bar were completely empty and free to use. On days three and four - posts coming later - we were able to get out and explore the islands more without much interference from fellow passengers.
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