# One day in Nassau... what to see? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079 "2013-08-01T14:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/1 "2013-08-01T14:05:36Z")
The Barbarians will be touching in Nassau for one day on a cruise this August. If we do nothing there, it won’t be a loss; this is a relax-and-stay-mildly-drunk cruise, not a tourism one. Is there anything exceptional to see there that isn’t tourist traps, Chinese-made souvenirs or generic Caribbean sights? We have another day on a semi-private island that’s all beaches and surf, so we can skip that. ETA: Any one who suggests we go see the hurricane can consider themselves slapped, right now. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/2 "2013-08-01T14:21:43Z")
If the kids like waterparks you can get a daypass to the [Atlantis resort](http://www.atlantis.com/thingstodo/waterpark.aspx) on Paradise Island. Unless your ship is in port for at least 8 hrs I wouldn’t bother though, it’s about an hour each way from the docks. It is a tourist trap but it’s a fun one 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/3 "2013-08-01T15:27:51Z")
Senor Frogs and their Bucket of Beer. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/4 "2013-08-01T16:09:09Z")
In my opinion, Nassau is nothing but a beach & a tourist trap straw market. BTW, the straw market will open minutes before your ship arrives & will close the minute you leave. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/5 "2013-08-01T16:56:02Z")
Does the semi-private island have a name? Is it part of the Bahamas too? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/6 "2013-08-01T17:27:25Z")
Stay aboard ship. It’s cheaper and less annoying. Nassau is one of the few places on Earth that I never wish to see again. More crooks, swindlers and operators in a few square blocks than I have ever encountered anywhere else, and I grew up in Bridgeport. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/7 "2013-08-01T17:36:19Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Senor Frogs and their Bucket of Beer. I plan to have a bucket of beer near me at all times on board. The deck waiters quickly come to learn that I make unhappy faces if there isn’t at least one cold one deep in the ice, and work hard to keep me smiling. And dozing. > [@kath94](#): > > In my opinion, Nassau is nothing but a beach & a tourist trap straw market. BTW, the straw market will open minutes before your ship arrives & will close the minute you leave. Yeah, I’m aware that the native markets open only when a ship docks. The one thing we do \*\*not \*\*cruise to do is _shudder_ “shop.” > [@lieu](#): > > Does the semi-private island have a name? Is it part of the Bahamas too? Great Stirrup Cay. As I understand it, the cruise lines bought it as a group and turned it into a beach day resort with a really, really enormous dock and shore-based tender services. So we can get in a Bahamas beach day without having to do it in a third-party tourist trap. > [@DrFidelius](#): > > Stay aboard ship. With a lack of anything to see - and I am mildly interested in the colonial/pirate era history of the region - we will probably just stroll off, have a snack somewhere and stroll back to my refilled bucket o’beer. We cruised Hawaii and Europe as much to see things as to do the floating resort thing; this is an overdue vacation for resting up and relaxation and there are hardly any good choices of destination cruise out of the northeast anyway. A side jaunt to KSC in Florida is the only planned activity… especially now that Nassau promises so little. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/8 "2013-08-01T17:41:56Z")
Oh wait - I had one good thing happen at Nassau. I was able to buy some duty-free gin to refill my 1-litre water bottle. (The vermouth is in the mouthwash bottle; my only issue was with obtaining proper olives.) That alone shaved at least a hundred dollars off my bar tab. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/9 "2013-08-01T17:46:24Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Oh wait - I had one good thing happen at Nassau. I was able to buy some duty-free gin to refill my 1-litre water bottle. I haven’t ever found DFS prices to be all that great, except in the sense that ultra-premium brands are down to only about 50% of what I’d never pay for them. We’re usually exempt from onboard bottle restrictions, though, so I might consider some… dietary supplements if they’re really well priced. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/10 "2013-08-01T18:25:46Z")
One night in Nassau and the world’s your oyster. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/11 "2013-08-01T19:05:36Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > In my opinion, Nassau is nothing but a beach & a tourist trap straw market. BTW, the straw market will open minutes before your ship arrives & will close the minute you leave. Hah - is that the market beside Senor Frogs where every single booth has the same “Coach” and “Gucci” purses and the same “Rolex” watches? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/12 "2013-08-01T19:37:06Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Hah - is that the market beside Senor Frogs where every single booth has the same “Coach” and “Gucci” purses and the same “Rolex” watches? Yeap. And some hand-woven straw crap made in China with a pseudo-Rastafarian slogan inexpertly “embroidered” on it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-day-in-nassau-what-to-see/665079/13 "2013-08-02T22:46:15Z")
Actually, I’ve been on the lookout for one of the high-quality Daytona knockoffs. Maybe that’s the place to find one.