Pina coladas, swimsuits, your favorite people and the blazing sun were all the things I had on this week-long vacation to The Bahamas. Tell me, do you think it can get any better? The answer is: only if you throw in a few horses. I have decide to put together an Extensive Travel Guide For The Bahamas. If you can’t tell, I’m about to walk you through one of the most exciting trips I have taken in a very long time; that one time we went to the Bahamas. Yes. Are you ready to get away for a brief moment? Let’s Go!
Okay let me set you up: my parents decide that they were going to be amazing people and take my husband and I on a family trip to anywhere we wanted to go to in the US or Caribbean. Naturally, I’m going to choose the waaay south where there is [sun] unlike the Wisco-disco where we only get good, hot weather one month of the year. Ok, so I’m obviously exaggerating but I’m not far off.
Important: This particular vacation is going to be a series of posts that I break up telling you about various topics on the trip. That being said – You should be sure to come back to check out more pieces of our Caribbean Vacation!
This series is going to consist of topics such as: Where We Stayed, What We Ate, Specific Activities We Did, and so on. Lucky for you, we already went through different ups and downs which I’m going to reveal to you so that when you plan to make the trip – you can enhance your vacation and make it stress-free! score!
Extra Important: After you have read this post, at the bottom you will see a highlights video that my husband made showing how much fun we had on this trip. Wow, look at you, getting specific deals and a show #winning.
Pre-Flight:
My husband and I had to drive down to my parents house about three hours away. When we got there, my mom had planned a manicure and pedicure for us. [She’s so sweet]
We did some shopping before our trip. Can I please tell you how terrible it is to shop for swim suits and vacation wear in March and April? You are probably thinking to yourself, ‘duh – the weather is terrible at that time why would you want a swim suit.’ Good point – but it isn’t bad weather everywhere! How is anyone supposed to purchase cute beach outfits if no one is selling said cute beach outfits?
We did a lot of the planning for this trip prior to flying out. I will give you those details when we get to the specific activity or topic.
General Vacation Details
Flights & Hotel Booked approximately two months prior to trip.
- Departed From Chicago, IL to Miami, Florida: April 22nd at 6:00am
- Departed From Miami, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas: April 22nd at 1:15pm
- Departed From Nassau, Bahamas to Charlotte, North Carolina: April 27th at 12:05pm
- Departed From Charlotte, North Carolina to Chicago, IL: April 27th at 3:50pm
- Important Note: Be prepared to sit in customs for an extremely long time when you first arrive in Nassau, Bahamas.
- We had just arrived in Nassau and got immediately directed to the customs line and was there for a couple hours whereas when we were leaving Bahamas going to the states the line wasn’t long at all.
First up: Where We Stayed
Location: Nassau, Bahamas
Name of Hotel: Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
Why We Chose This Hotel:
- It catered to adults
- Now, this isn’t because we don’t like kids – we wanted to have a calming vacation. Kids & Calm don’t really mix.
- It had a Casino & Spa
- Two of the things my parents are obsessed with and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree 😉
- It was a new build
- That isn’t always something that you seek out but in this case, we really enjoyed the fact that it just opened.
- It was not far from the action of downtown Nassau, Bahamas
- We wanted to be near the heart of the country where we could go explore on a moments notice
- It was by the ocean
- Listen, there is no way I am going to the Caribbean and not getting an ocean view.
Let me show you the good stuff:
Grand Baha Mar Casino
My husband and I have never been to a casino before. Not that it is all butterflies and roses but we thought it would be really cool to experience the hype that is gambling. My dad is really into going to casinos when my mom has conferences in various cities. So he was able to give us his tips, tricks, or as he would say -loses-. I’m pretty sure my dad could do a post about ‘What not to do at a casino’. Nevertheless, it was exciting to see him in his element; it was really fun.
When my dad heard that I wanted him to take me to the casino on our vacation he got a bit worried. On our Alaska vacation I located the quarter machine, you know, the one where you put a quarter in and then you hope for the whole machine to push out a bunch more quarters so you can keep playing. I was obsessed with playing it and ever so sad when I lost. [every time] So you could understand why my dad my be a little skeptical to take me to a big casino. #easilyaddicted
Since Zach and I didn’t have a pile of money to blow on machines that were just going to eat it all up, we decided that we were each going to put in $20 each and see how long it would last. Zach, unfortunately, lost his pretty quick on the Wheel of Fortune game. Sure enough, dad taught his daughter well and I managed to put my $20 in and came out $20 positive with a total of $40 in pocket. So we ended even in the end. The fun didn’t last long but it sure was fun pulling that lever down to have a chance at winning hundreds of dollars.
Grand Baha Mar Fire Show
Our hotel had this automated fire fountain go off occasionally. It was a really amazing addition that we didn’t expect. Inside the hotel it was extremely cold all the time so it was nice to come out to this to warm up a bit; that’s of course if the sun didn’t do it first. 😉
Grand Baha Mar Light Show
I’ll to be honest, we stumbled upon this by accident but it was a wonderful accident. We were taking a stroll along the grounds of our hotel and it was getting dark and all of a sudden BOOM. Music started playing and the fountains were going crazy. We popped a squat and watched. The song that happened to be playing was Pirates of the Caribbean. Super appropriate. Cue Johnny Depp please.
Grand Baha Mar Positives
- The beach area was spectacular.
- It had beautiful, clean area to swim, lay out or walk.
- The private grounds of the hotel were exceptional
- Again, the areas surrounding the pools and outdoor eating were clean and really pretty.
- Our hotel room was absolutely beautiful
- Everywhere we walked the hotel staff said hi to us
- I thought this was so amazing. They were really welcoming and friendly.
I talked a lot about some really great things that we came across with our stay but, you know there is always something that you don’t love that needs to be told so you can help others. So, I’ve compiled a short list of things that I’d either wish it had or some downfalls about our stay.
Grand Baha Mar Not So Greats
- The staff was not aware of everything the hotel had to offer
- There were some restaurants we wanted to try (and yes, we had a map) but when we asked the staff if they could point us in the right direction they didn’t know that the restaurant existed even though it was on the hotel grounds map.
- The hotel was too new
- This point is good and bad – we loved that it was new but it had drawbacks such as (like I mentioned above) no one knew what was up and running or not. There were also several vacant storefronts that weren’t open with business’s yet.
- I’ll get to the restaurants in more detail on another post but to be brief – the on-ground selection was slim.
- I’ll also note that the restaurants’ staffs were not so friendly
- Nightlife was non-existent
- They didn’t have any night activities and all the restaurants and pools shut down really early. Being young, I would’ve loved some night hotel activities
- Even though we thought that we were close by to downtown Nassau, we weren’t actually that close
- Taxi to downtown Nassau was way too expensive to just go on a whim (about $40 one way).
Overall our stay was extremely nice even though looking above it appears that I have more negatives than positives. Our stay was very nice and we really enjoyed our relaxation on the beach. Now, I know you have been just itching at getting your eyes on that video my husband made. Grab your popcorn and your pina colada and feast your eyes on this amazing highlights video from our trip.
[I hope you didn’t skip all the quality information above just to see this amazing video. But, if you did – you’re in for a treat]
Our 2018 Highlight Video – Nassau, Bahamas
