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Shy Girl Goes To Sea. An Ecstasy Review 11/17/11

TriciaEMTB

By TriciaEMTB,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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TriciaEMTB

TriciaEMTB

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After the pirate museum I walked outside, met a security guard who was standing on the street. I was walking by and he just said "Hello Sweetie, how are you?" People are REALLY friendly in Nassau! I talked to him for a bit, and asked him how to get to the queen's staircase. By then, my camera battery was running low, so I turned it off to save it for my next destination, so there aren't any pictures between here and there.

 

He gave me wrong directions, or maybe I heard him wrong. But I started walking up the street I thought he told me too.. I got pretty far and realized the area didn't look too safe... The houses were run down, and I hadn't seen any tourists. I was approached by a toothless homeless man. I asked him how to get to the queen's staircase and he told me I was WAAAAY off. He walked me back to Bay Street and set me in the right direction.

 

If you want to visit the queen's staircase, I recommend taking a taxi. It was a long walk through the neighborhood.. I didn't feel very safe. A few times I was going to turn around and go back, but I decided juuuust a little further. A piece of glass wedged into the sole of my flip flops and poked the bottom of my foot. It didn't draw blood and I'm up to date on my tetanus so I wasn't worried. I almost got hit by a car crossing walkways. There was a portion with no sidewalk.

 

And eventually, I made it!

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suebee53

suebee53

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Tricia, your review is absolutely delightful. I love your perspective as a first-time cruiser, not to mention you're on the wonderful Ecstasy!

 

Your pictures of coming into Nassau made me smile. Some years ago, before my first cruise, I was speaking at a conference at the British Colonial Hilton when I suddenly realized that nobody was paying attention to me, they were focused on what was going on through the windows behind me. A cruise ship was turning on its axis, and I thought, "Holy cr*p! That ship is so close I could swim to it!" Since then, every picture I've seen of the pier confirms--yeah, you can swim from the beach to the ships! What fun!

 

Love your posts. . . keep 'em coming!

 

Sue

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miss lifeboat

miss lifeboat

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Hi Tricia!

 

I am really enjoying your review. Take care of those feet! Looking forward to reading more. I am a nurse and have done a lot of solo travels. (not recently though). Most were great. Some weren't. But at least it was different and I was getting away....Thanks again for taking the time to post this!:)

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RuthlessBoss

RuthlessBoss

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I have loved reading your review so far! You write so well and it's easy to follow.

 

I will be cruising solo for the 1st time on Dec. 10th on the Fascination and you have made me feel a lot calmer about it.

 

Glad you had a good time!

 

~Helen~

Cruising solo has some positive perks, do what you want and when you want. The mealtimes can be soso. Unless you have a perfect match roomie, there is too much compromise in things to do. I didn't do some things, but knew I'd be back on board shortly to do them.

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TriciaEMTB

TriciaEMTB

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Enjoying your Review,You may be shy, But you're definitely brave,I would have turned around the minute i got lost and said to heck with Queen's Staircase.:D

 

Brave or foolish? I probably should have turned around... But I REALLY wanted to see the staircase! I did pull out my phone and called my mom on the walk, and told her I was lost in Nassau. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I thought it was kind of funny... I mean people come to Nassau, they go swimming or go to Senor Frogs. I come to Nassau and I get lost and make friends with a homeless man.

 

If anyone is brave enough to walk it (Again, NOT recommended!!!! It was a LOOOONG walk!) you take bay street down to Elizabeth street or drive or something, turn right and keep walking. There is a sign when you get to Elizabeth St that points to the queen's staircase. There is a chinese food place on the corner, that was my "marker" to look for according to the homeless man. I really wish I would've gotten a picture with him. He was very friendly!

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TriciaEMTB

TriciaEMTB

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When I got to the queen's staircase some man waved me over. He started talking about the history of the staircase. He told me that when the slaves found out they were free, they picked up their tools and made it in Queen Elizabeth's honor. One stair for each year of her reign.

 

He then told me this was how he made his living and asked for a donation for a guided tour... We walked maybe five steps towards the staircase, and he talked about it.. I wasn't aware it was a guided tour.. But I gave him $5 anyway.

 

At this point, I thought my legs were going to fall off. And I was hot. I bought a bottle of water from the back of some van (Cold Water One Dollar!) and downed half of it in one long drink.

 

There are some stalls set up in the corridor of the stair case, but they are not very aggressive. They just asked you if you wanted your hair braided (my hair was sweaty and tangled, not something I want braided!) or to come and look at their stall. They had some really cool wood carvings... But the fact I'd have to carry it back kind of turned me off of all that.

 

I had come all this way, I wasn't leaving without climbing the staircase! My feet were crying in protest, but I was determined! I pushed forward and climbed aaaallllll the way to the top.

 

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At the top, I was listening to another tour guide give the history of the staircase. Apparently the tour guides to don't talk to each other to get their story straight. This one said it was Queen Victoria, and the staircase was made by slaves in conjunction with Fort Fincastle to protect Nassau from invaders and pirates. He went on to say that many slaves died while laboring on the staircase and that the next queen, queen elizabeth, was so outraged that she ended slavery in Nassau.

 

I haven't googled yet to find out which story is more accurate.

 

From the top of the staircase I walked through another small market to get to Fort Fincastle. It's hard to believe this was ever expected to be an actual functioning fort. It's VERY small.

 

There is a man selling tickets, they're a dollar. Then you walk two feet and put your ticket in a box. I didn't get the point of that, it's silly!

 

Anyway, you walk up a narrow staircase, and you're standing in Fort Fincastle. There are like three rooms to walk into, again very small. It was still worth the dollar, because you can practically see the whole island here.

 

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TriciaEMTB

TriciaEMTB

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After the fort, I decided to walk back. I was walking back towards the staircase I walked between a wall and a taxi, right then the taxi started backing up at kind of an angle to take off, and almost crushed me. I am getting into a lot of trouble in this port!

 

So I climbed down the staircase and set back the way I'd come. The walk back seemed quicker than the walk out. My back hurt from carrying my bag, my feet hurt, and I was hungry.

 

I stopped at a place a friend recommended called Lum's Iguana.

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It's upstairs. Nice atmosphere, but way expensive.

 

I ordered fries and a fruit punch. It was $9.50.

 

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The fruit punch had a little too much pineapple, but the fries were really good.

 

After that, I continued on, all the way back to the ship.

 

I had planned to go to the stores with my free stuff coupons from the shopping talk and gem seminar but I was just waaay too tired and achy. When I got to my room, I sat down, kicked off my shoes. I took a shower and sat back down on my bed for just a minute... then I ended up laying down for just a minute... that turned in to a two hour nap!

 

When I woke up I headed out to the lido deck. And at the bar I saw... MONKEY HEADS!!!!

 

I HAD to have one. I ended up getting a virgin strawberry daiquiri in it. Mmmm! I sat on down by the pool and drank it. This is what cruising is about! A frozen drink by the pool. It was about sixteen dollars and some change. Woooorth it!

 

I returned to my cabin to drop off my monkey head, played around with my camera and headed out for dinner.

 

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TriciaEMTB

TriciaEMTB

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Dinner was very good. The waiters in the section I was seated in were VERY good. They always smiled, and said "You're welcome" when I said thank you. Somehow the head waiter knew my name when I sat down, and I thought that was a nice touch. He greeted me with a "Hi, Patricia!"

 

He also made a point to tell me what he recommended before I ordered. He recommended pretty much the entire menu. I ended up having fried shrimp as an appetizer.

 

When I eat shrimp at home I peel the tails off. Here, I didn't feel it was appropriate to use my hands, so I just cut the tails off.

 

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The fries were a little soggy, not bad but I prefer the super crispy burnt fries. The shrimp was really yummy but... watermelon? Really??? I have never wanted shrimp and thought HEY! You know what will go REALLY great with this? Watermelon!

 

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Dessert was of course warm chocolate melting cake... With TWO ice creams!

 

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I got to see the waiter dance again this night, the same old lady got up and danced with the waiters!

 

This dinner is really where I started to feel a little lonely. I tried to talk to the couple next to me, but they weren't interested. So I pulled out my phone and started to text. Yes, I was in a dining room but I was seated by myself and felt this was better than me awkwardly looking around. The woman made a snooty comment to her husband/boyfriend about phones at a dinner table but you know what? You wouldn't talk to me, so you really don't get to complain and hello! We are like a foot apart I can still HEAR you even if you're not talking to me! Some people!

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TriciaEMTB

TriciaEMTB

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After dinner, I headed to the country show (Xtreme Country, I think?) in the blue sapphire. It was alright. I thought the songs were just kind of thrown together. We went from I Hope You Dance to She Thinks My Tractors Sexy????

 

Steve the cruise director played the fiddle. Let me say, I think he is a GREAT cruise director. I don't really have anyone to compare him too, but he was friendly, funny, and I don't know what it was about his voice, but I thought he had a great speaking voice. He played the devil goes down to georgia, he's very talented.

 

After the show I headed back to my room and got in my pajamas. The next night was formal night. I don't get dressed up very often (The last time I wore a dress I'm pretty sure it was my high school graduation.) but thought the price of the pictures way waaaay expensive! So I decided to practice self pictures with my tripod, to try and get the placement/timing right so I could take my own formal picture.

 

I think I finally got it right:

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Oh, and my towel animal for the night:

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yj2cute

yj2cute

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Patricia, I'm really enjoying your review. Also let me say, you say you're shy, but from your review it sounds like you went out of your way to meet new people, start conversations and try new things. Going on this trip solo was an amazingly secure thing to do. So many people, especially women, would never do it. Possibly out of fear of what other people may think or possibly they worry if they will be safe. I've cruised solo numerous times and enjoy it very much. I just want to congratulate you on "doing you". You go girl! ;)

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