Balmoral Park Nassau

[CakeGirl]

I see this excursion listed for my cruise on the Breeze in September and I wonder exactly what it is all about. I hope someone will be the guinea pig and try it out and then post a review before my sailing.:)

[plattwear]

We will be sailing the Conquest and will be in Nassau on Sept 5th. 3 new excursions were added that are available for booking on our cruise to Balmoral Beach (making that 4 total)... A deluxe Beach day that includes lunch, a beach day with stingray encounter and a beach day with a dolphin encounter. There is not much information about the last one yet. I will be watching it to see if they add more description to the dolphin encounter option as we may have to change our plans. :D

Edited August 12, 2013 by plattwear

[j&bcruzing]

These shore excursions are also now available on the Conquest Oct 6th sailing as well.

[nikiandscotti]

I called carnival! This excursion is at your own leisure! You travel by boat and the boat runs every hour! You can stay as long as you want for the same price! I'm sure it's cheaper because its new! Hope this helps!

[Aldeya]

I called carnival! This excursion is at your own leisure! You travel by boat and the boat runs every hour! You can stay as long as you want for the same price! I'm sure it's cheaper because its new! Hope this helps!

 

Just checked this excursion for our September cruise. It says Duration - 4.5 hours and the Departure time is listed at 10 am only. Very confusing.

[nikiandscotti]

It's different now!! I'm not sure, that's what carnival told me!!

[kangaand2roos]

Going on the Pride in February and the Balmoral/stingray encounter looks interesting. I'm interested in how long you actually get with the rays.

[plattwear]

I am interested in the dolphin encounter option. I was hoping to see more reviews from people who had been before making a final decision. We have 16 more days and have to cancel our current excursion by the day before we leave to change plans. It seems from what I read that you get more time with them and the beach time afterwards would be great. Its cheaper than our current dolphin encounter excursion. I will keep watching for reviews. :cool:

[NJcruisemom]

We will be sailing the Conquest and will be in Nassau on Sept 5th. 3 new excursions were added that are available for booking on our cruise to Balmoral Beach (making that 4 total)... A deluxe Beach day that includes lunch, a beach day with stingray encounter and a beach day with a dolphin encounter. There is not much information about the last one yet. I will be watching it to see if they add more description to the dolphin encounter option as we may have to change our plans. :D

 

 

It says, "Your shipboard Sail & Sign card may be used for purchases."...Looks to me like this is a Carnival operated island, similar to Grand Turk.

Edited August 18, 2013 by NJcruisemom

[rushwater7710]

We are going to Nassau in June and we normally go to Blue Lagoon.When I looked at Carnivals web site it was not an option but Balmoral was.I am looking forward to someone's review on this option. Did Carnival replace Blue Lagoon for Balmoral ? If so when is the switch taking place.

[plattwear]

Both options are available for our cruise Sept 1st.

[trucruz]

There are about 16 pictures on the Carnival website. The place looks great. There is one review on the Carnival site. I just googled Balmoral Island and the search brought up a link, which took me straight to the Carnival information.

[smurfm69]

I'm curious as well and looking forward to seeing a review of the place. I saw the one review on the Carnival website and can't help but wonder if it is a real review or a fake positive review by the cruise line to get people to sign up.

[SweetestOne]

Thanks, that would be great! :)

 

Just returned from our cruise on Saturday!

Unfortunately, when we arrived in Nassau it was pouring and everyone seemed to be canceling their excursions so we did not book Balmoral Island. They did however have posters and fliers around the guest services desk and excursions desk with information on the different packages offered for Balmoral Island.

Each package is for 4.5 hours.

The Balmoral Island Beach Day is $49.99 per person and includes transfer by boat from the pier, use of the pool, lounge chairs. You can purchase "light bites" from the market which has snacks such as fries or salad or food from an indoor food venue with burgers, wraps and sliders. There is also a Starbucks. You can also purchase drinks from several of the pool bars there and you can rent an umbrella. All of the purchases are done using your sail and sign card. You will need to remember to bring your own towel (and bring it back with you!!).

The Balmoral Beach Day Deluxe is $59.99 per person. Same package as above but lunch is included.

The Balmoral Island Dolphin Encounter & Beach is $129.99 per person. This package is the same as the Balmoral Island Beach Day ($49.99 package) but you begin with an educational briefing and overview of the dolphins and then are taken onto a submerged platform where you are standing waist-deep in the water and introduced to a dolphin and allowed to kiss it. I do notice that the advertisement says "A" dolphin...so I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if you see only one. It says the time with the dolphin is around 30 minutes and then you are walked back to the beach.

 

This is a Carnival operated island like Half Moon Cay so they will only be taking your Sail & Sign card for purchases. I am also under the impression that you can come and go at your leisure but the excursion only lasts 4.5 hours so you may want to just plan on staying the entire time if you are booking this. I do wish we were able to go and bring back some pictures for you all but like I said, when we arrived in Nassau (our cruise was Aug. 10-17th and we arrived in Nassau on the 15th), it was absolutely pouring!! Hope some of this info helps at least a little. :)

[SweetestOne]

It says, "Your shipboard Sail & Sign card may be used for purchases."...Looks to me like this is a Carnival operated island, similar to Grand Turk.

 

 

Yes, you can only use your sail & sign. But I think you're thinking of Half Moon Cay, not Grand Turk. You can use any form of payment at Grand Turk :)

[SweetestOne]

We are going to Nassau in June and we normally go to Blue Lagoon.When I looked at Carnivals web site it was not an option but Balmoral was.I am looking forward to someone's review on this option. Did Carnival replace Blue Lagoon for Balmoral ? If so when is the switch taking place.

 

Blue Lagoon was still an available excursion on our cruise and several people had it booked. I haven't heard anything about it being canceled and sure hope they won't! :)

[Crusin Karen]

Sweetestone, thanks for all that info and sorry your Nassau day turned into a WASH OUT. :( Hope you had good weather the rest of your cruise. I wonder about the ride over. For us, $50 is kind of pricey for a few hours at the beach and a lounger to sit on. But I remember going to Blue Lagoon a few years ago (went on our own,not a CCL excursion) and the boat ride over alone was worth the price IMO.

[SweetestOne]

Sweetestone, thanks for all that info and sorry your Nassau day turned into a WASH OUT. :( Hope you had good weather the rest of your cruise. I wonder about the ride over. For us, $50 is kind of pricey for a few hours at the beach and a lounger to sit on. But I remember going to Blue Lagoon a few years ago (went on our own,not a CCL excursion) and the boat ride over alone was worth the price IMO.

 

You're welcome!! No worries, gave me time to do some shopping!! Thank you! We did, the weather the rest of the time was absolutely beautiful!!

I agree with you. Once I saw that even food wasn't included, I was a bit shocked. I would think that maybe the light snacks would at least be included. Plus considering the unknown travel/boarding time, I'm unsure as to how much beach time you would actually get out of that 4.5 hours. But that's jmho as well.

Blue Lagoon looks beautiful! There was another couple on our trip that had that excursion booked and sadly, they had to cancel due to the weather. I felt terribly for them as they were very excited and also doing a belated honeymoon! If we venture that way again, Blue Lagoon will definitely be the excursion we choose.

[jcleveland]

Our family actually got bumped to this excursion for the shallow water dolphin experience after we missed the blue lagoon departure. It is a quick 30 minute boat ride to a small island with chairs and umbrellas lining the beach.

 

The water was super clear nice sandy beach, snorkeling was just ok because there wasnt much cover for any fish to hang out for you to see while snorkeling. we did see a pretty big star fish and a baby sting ray. We thought he may have escaped from the stingray pen since they have dolphins and stingrays in pens on the island for you to swim with for extra costs.

 

Like everybody has heard about every excursion they line you up outside the ship march you over to the pier, load you on three separate boats depending on what you are doing on the island. The dolphin and stingray excursion people rode over on a catamaran boat and all the kids sat on the netting, one of my daughters napped the whole way on the netting. When we got to the island they took us to the beach and assigned us a waitress for the beach, they served Starbucks (not a full on Starbucks) on the island so my wife immediately made a bee line for that! They then called us over for our dolphin excursion. nice walk in beach and 30 minutes or so with Dixon our 3year old new best friend, (they did not allow cameras but guess what carnival had some one there snapping 14 dollar a piece pictures for you!) after that we were free to go swimming or snorkeling until about 2 when they said you need to get on your boat the 2:00 boat is leaving, well I'm out at the buoys snorkeling my wife is freaking out hollering for me you know typical scene, clueless husband spastic wife,,,,the catamaran is pulling away she's hollering wait wait wait!! I'm hollering they wont leave us on the island, were running to the pier to get on the boat, I told my wife since we got our tour thru carnival they wouldn't leave us, so 2 seconds after the 1st boat left the second boat pulled in and we got on it and waited 30 minutes for it to leave. In the mean time we watched a couple of families walk over to the dolphin pen and walk in the water and sit down and the dolphins swim right up to them and start playing, my kids were super bummed about someone making us run for the 1st boat!. (finally dad was not the bad guy!)

 

Over all the island was nice the water was nice, the trip felt rushed, that may be normal for cruise excursions like this. They excepted sail and sign cards for you bar tabs and food. It wasn't to crowded for chairs and umbrellas that were included. we didn't try any food but allot of people around us were eating and didn't look disgusted by the food.

 

If you are just looking for a beach it sounds like the junkanaroo beach is the best bet, less rush bigger area, cheaper food and drinks and you get to see some of the island, If you want to dolphins or stingrays it was a good educational time, with plenty of petting the dolphin "kiss and hug" my 8 and 4 year old daughter were able to do this with no problems, and they loved it.

 

Any other questions just ask.

[plattwear]

Just returned from our cruise on Saturday!

Unfortunately, when we arrived in Nassau it was pouring and everyone seemed to be canceling their excursions so we did not book Balmoral Island. They did however have posters and fliers around the guest services desk and excursions desk with information on the different packages offered for Balmoral Island.

Each package is for 4.5 hours.

The Balmoral Island Beach Day is $49.99 per person and includes transfer by boat from the pier, use of the pool, lounge chairs. You can purchase "light bites" from the market which has snacks such as fries or salad or food from an indoor food venue with burgers, wraps and sliders. There is also a Starbucks. You can also purchase drinks from several of the pool bars there and you can rent an umbrella. All of the purchases are done using your sail and sign card. You will need to remember to bring your own towel (and bring it back with you!!).

The Balmoral Beach Day Deluxe is $59.99 per person. Same package as above but lunch is included.

The Balmoral Island Dolphin Encounter & Beach is $129.99 per person. This package is the same as the Balmoral Island Beach Day ($49.99 package) but you begin with an educational briefing and overview of the dolphins and then are taken onto a submerged platform where you are standing waist-deep in the water and introduced to a dolphin and allowed to kiss it. I do notice that the advertisement says "A" dolphin...so I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if you see only one. It says the time with the dolphin is around 30 minutes and then you are walked back to the beach.

 

This is a Carnival operated island like Half Moon Cay so they will only be taking your Sail & Sign card for purchases. I am also under the impression that you can come and go at your leisure but the excursion only lasts 4.5 hours so you may want to just plan on staying the entire time if you are booking this. I do wish we were able to go and bring back some pictures for you all but like I said, when we arrived in Nassau (our cruise was Aug. 10-17th and we arrived in Nassau on the 15th), it was absolutely pouring!! Hope some of this info helps at least a little. :)

 

 

Thank you so much Sweetestone. I am so sorry it rained for you that day.

Edited August 20, 2013 by plattwear

[plattwear]

Our family actually got bumped to this excursion for the shallow water dolphin experience after we missed the blue lagoon departure. It is a quick 30 minute boat ride to a small island with chairs and umbrellas lining the beach.

 

The water was super clear nice sandy beach, snorkeling was just ok because there wasnt much cover for any fish to hang out for you to see while snorkeling. we did see a pretty big star fish and a baby sting ray. We thought he may have escaped from the stingray pen since they have dolphins and stingrays in pens on the island for you to swim with for extra costs.

 

Like everybody has heard about every excursion they line you up outside the ship march you over to the pier, load you on three separate boats depending on what you are doing on the island. The dolphin and stingray excursion people rode over on a catamaran boat and all the kids sat on the netting, one of my daughters napped the whole way on the netting. When we got to the island they took us to the beach and assigned us a waitress for the beach, they served Starbucks (not a full on Starbucks) on the island so my wife immediately made a bee line for that! They then called us over for our dolphin excursion. nice walk in beach and 30 minutes or so with Dixon our 3year old new best friend, (they did not allow cameras but guess what carnival had some one there snapping 14 dollar a piece pictures for you!) after that we were free to go swimming or snorkeling until about 2 when they said you need to get on your boat the 2:00 boat is leaving, well I'm out at the buoys snorkeling my wife is freaking out hollering for me you know typical scene, clueless husband spastic wife,,,,the catamaran is pulling away she's hollering wait wait wait!! I'm hollering they wont leave us on the island, were running to the pier to get on the boat, I told my wife since we got our tour thru carnival they wouldn't leave us, so 2 seconds after the 1st boat left the second boat pulled in and we got on it and waited 30 minutes for it to leave. In the mean time we watched a couple of families walk over to the dolphin pen and walk in the water and sit down and the dolphins swim right up to them and start playing, my kids were super bummed about someone making us run for the 1st boat!. (finally dad was not the bad guy!)

 

Over all the island was nice the water was nice, the trip felt rushed, that may be normal for cruise excursions like this. They excepted sail and sign cards for you bar tabs and food. It wasn't to crowded for chairs and umbrellas that were included. we didn't try any food but allot of people around us were eating and didn't look disgusted by the food.

 

If you are just looking for a beach it sounds like the junkanaroo beach is the best bet, less rush bigger area, cheaper food and drinks and you get to see some of the island, If you want to dolphins or stingrays it was a good educational time, with plenty of petting the dolphin "kiss and hug" my 8 and 4 year old daughter were able to do this with no problems, and they loved it.

 

Any other questions just ask.[/quote

 

Finally, someone who has been. I am so excited and I do have a question. We are thinking about cancelling our dolphin swim in Freeport (which is more expensive) and booking this option instead. The description for the excursion on Carnival indicates you get an hour with the dolphins 30 minutes for photos and education etc and 30 minutes of free swim time. Did you not get free swim time with the dolphins? Thank you for the information.

[kangaand2roos]

Jcleveland, I am specifically interested in the stingrays. We're the people there for that tour allowed to just hang out with the rays the whole time, or were they given time slots? S hours playing with rays would be pure heaven for me! Though playing with dolphins does sound tempting!!

 

Stacey

Edited August 20, 2013 by kangaand2roos

[kangaand2roos]

Jcleveland, I am specifically interested in the stingrays. We're the people there for that tour allowed to just hang out with the rays the whole time, or were they given time slots? S hours playing with rays would be pure heaven for me! Though playing with dolphins does sound tempting!!

 

Stacey

 

Interesting...the dolphin swim isn't listed as on option for my date...

[rrraydon]

Thanks for the reviews of your excursions!!!

[nikiandscotti]

I've been waiting on someone with a review! Thank you so much! Question, it's 7 of us, 4 adults and 3 kids! We aren't looking for animal encounters rather just beach day, shopping and food! Do you recommend this?