While our honeymoon cruise was, unfortunately, not quite what we were expecting (who puts two twin beds in a honeymoon suite anyway?), we had no problems at all with our shore excursions. The first of these was on Nassau, on August 18, 2003.
Now, our shore excursions were admittedly a bit retarded. We didn't do the swimming/diving/horseback riding/other sport-related stuff that might be expected - we stuck to the sightseeing. And while there's probably lots of stuff we missed (and that holds true for everywhere we visited on our honeymoon), we did see some cool things. The famous Straw Market at Nassau, however, wasn't one of them, as it had suffered a fire before we got there, so the market was instead convening under a giant tent.
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Instead we caught a boat to Paradise Island, home of the Atlantis Resort, which supposedly has the largest casino in the Caribbean. The skybridge connecting the two main buildings is actually a super-luxury suite, named after the first person to stay there - the "Michael Jackson Suite." We were told it went for $25,000 a night. |  |
| The casino is not quite the size of, say, the Mandalay Bay or the Bellagio in Vegas, but I can easily see how it could be the biggest in the Caribbean. The most noteworthy thing about it, though, are these funky glass sculptures they have spread out around the casino floor on pillars, each one composed of hundreds of pieces of hand-blown glass. |  |
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And while most of the suites don't cost thousands of dollars per night, it is a pretty opulent hotel. There are lots of gold leaf domes and decorations, with marble almost everywhere you go. The fountain in the top picture is one of several near one of the entrances in which water is constantly rollling a black marble ball while holding it in place. That only sounds slightly interesting, until they tell you that each of those balls weighs one ton! The bottom shot shows you some more of the furnishings at that entrance, but in the back you can glimpse another of the hotel's claims to fame... |
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| ...which are the aquariums. All told, the resort supposedly has ont of the largest open-air aquariums in the world. While some of it can be looked at from above, as in the picture on the left, most of it is viewed through rock-walled passages leading around the hotel's exterior. Some of these are lined with smaller aquariums, such as the moon jellyfish in the picture below. The collection of fish was rather interesting, particularly this 15-foot-long sawfish. |  |
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But, to go along with the water theme and the resort's name, they had to develop a shtick - the archeological expedition which has discovered evidence of ancient Atlantis...right under the hotel! Beginning in the room pictured on the left, you walk through corridors (some of which are also lined with aquariums) to rooms with "mysterious" devices and paintings... |
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