Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

I'll be sailing on Anthem of the Seas next April with my DH, 3 and 7 yo boys. I have a bunch of questions about the excursions at 2 ports we're docking at: Orlando and Nassau, Bahamas.

Orlando: Is there a faster/better/cheaper way to get to Universal?

Nassau: We want to go to Atlantis to the pools and water park. The excursion for that is 5 hours but the ship is still docked for another 3-4 hours. Has anyone stayed longer and taken their own transportation back to the ship? How easy was it? Has anyone planned their won day off the ship and visited Atlantis on their own? Is it cheaper/better?

Thanks so much for any advice/tips. This is the first time I'm planning anything like this and I can't much online about such questions.

Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

I didn't do a Royal Carribbean cruise but, did Nassau on a Disney Cruise.

People told me to book a room at the Comfort Suites since they offer day passes to Nassau. You take a cab there and back (get there before the rest of your cruise) and it's cheaper.

Re: Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

Brilliant idea! Looking in to that now. Any idea how much a cab would cost?

Re: Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

We didn't take Royal, but did go to Universal when we were on the Breakaway.

My dad plans his (and planned this trip) own excursions all over the world for cruises he and my mom and their friends take. However, he booked through Norwegian for this because he didn't want to risk getting held up in traffic or something to that effect and miss the ship.

As for Nassau, we didn't do Atlantis, we did a day pass at a different hotel, much less fancy though but that's what we were going for

Re: Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

Be careful w Disney if you do not take an excursion w RC

Rules by the cruise, if you are not back on the ship in time they will not wait for you to be back on the ship. They will only wait for you and your party if you are reg with w RC excursion.

Disney is over an hour away, can be traffic, and accident etc. Be careful you are traveling w kids.

In Bahamas, there is the British Colony, you can literally walk there from the ship
you can get a day pass, free wifi etc

Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

We went to Atlantis on our stop from the Disney Cruise. I booked a room with Marriott Reward points (do you have those?). It was free. We got off the boat, went to the taxi stand, shared a van with a few others doing the same. It was $3 or $4 per person, I forget now. Then checked into Atlantis, got our waterpark bracelets, bottles of water, and towels. We didn't even see our room, had our CC on file for lunch purchases, and check out. We rented boats there in the lagoon. My kids LOVED the waterpark, it was awesome!! We got a van back to the port with no problem and we were back at the ship with plenty of time to spare. It was much easier than I had anticipated. We had been to Nassau three times before, but never got off the boat, so was nervous!

Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

Oh, and as far as going to Universal. That is a waste of money and time IMO. By the time you get there, you are walking into a super crowded park, and you don't have nearly enough time to explore anything. Getting there after park opening and there will already be huge waits for anything in Harry Potter world. I would skip it and pick something closer, or stay on an empty boat.

Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

I've been to Nassau on cruises several times and have always taken a cab or boat to Paradise Island

Re: Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

Thank you SOOO much for all the feedback. This is great advice. I really appreciate it.

Orlando: I was thinking the same thing about traveling to Universal being a waste of time and money. We'll have to buy a single day pass and Express Passes but I'm a HUGE HP geek and it's going to be hard to pass up going when we're so close. If we go, we'll opt for the RC bus since I don't want to chance missing the ship on the way back.

I am considering maybe getting us one day passes, entering park and upgrading to an annual pass. Then we'll plan another (maybe two) long weekends down to Orlando to make this worth it. I've been wanting to go around Xmas to see the new decorations and show. But of course thins requires a bigger investment and more planning. I'm up for it but have to convince the DH.

Nassau: I'm definitely looking into booking a room at either Comfort Suites or with Atlantis. I don't have many Marriott points, mostly Hilton, but it's worth looking into.

Thank you again for all the valuable tips!

Re: Royal Caribbean Excursion Questions

I've done these excursions on NCL. We went with the fast pass line option to cut the line, plus we went in May so the lines were nonexistent. We were able to do everything in one park (before HP was built) so if you are midweek offseason with a line cutting option you could probably do a lot. On a different trip we did Disney and only got in four rides. For the price I did not feel that was worth it. I compared with another family on the cruise and they did five rides. We both agreed that without a fast pass option, a late day entry is not worth it for the price. We didAtlantis through the cruise. I would do that one separately.