Royal Caribbean crew member makes a case for visiting Nassau
Many regular cruisers consider Nassau a stay on the ship port.
Most cruise ships that sail the Caribbean make a stop in Nassau. That's because the port can accommodate six cruise ships per day including the largest ships in the world.
Nassau offers beaches, shops, bars, restaurants, and a redone cruise port, all within walking distance of the ship. Many passengers, however, don't even bother to get off when their ship calls on Nassau.
For some passengers, that's because they have been there too many times. In other cases, people are worried about aggressive vendors pushing everything from native wares and hair braiding to cigars and less legal things that can be smoked.
If, however, you're willing to push through the vendors and just keep walking, there are lots of sites to be seen, and even a beautiful beach, walking distance from the cruise port.
Royal Caribbean musician Bryan James decided to spend some of his off hours walking through Nassau and he brought along his friend Jayden, also an entertainer for the cruise line.
Royal Caribbean guitarist visits Nassau
Transcript:
Bryan James: If you're taking a cruise in 2025, there is a very good chance you're going to visit the port of Nassau, Bahamas. We work on a cruise ship that goes to Nassau, Bahamas how many times a year? 100.
Jayden: 104.
James: Whoa, for real?
Jayden: Yeah. Twice a week.
James: Okay, 104 times a year. So I feel like we know it better than any port on this planet.
So all the way from the gangway of Utopia of the Seas, we're going to walk through the entire town. Our final destination is what I consider the most picturesque beach that you can get to without having to take a taxi. But before that, we're going to stop at a place that I've never been to.
Jayden: Me neither.
James: Okay, so the world-famous straw market. You cannot miss this place if you're walking out of the port. I've seen it a million times, but I've never actually stepped foot in there.
So let's let's go. Yeah, let's go see what it's like.
The ship that we're on parks the furthest away from the city as possible.
I think it's just the bigger the ship, the further away it parks. So the smaller Carnival ships are always right by the port. Oh, but actually as I'm saying this, one of the furthest parked away ships is the Margaritaville at Sea ship.
And that's a dinky dinky guy. Let's look at it. It looks like it's incomplete.
It looks like they started building it and then they just stopped halfway through. I'm banking on the comment section to tell me what the heck did this used to be. I have never seen this style of ship before.
Just look at the size difference. Golly. So these are our ships in port today.
Margaritaville at Sea. Utopia of the Seas. MSC Seaside.
I've heard really cool things about this ship, but never been on it. Disney Dream. This is, as far as like price goes, this is the most expensive ship in port by far.
And we've got the Carnival something. Carnival. Let's go find out what it is.
Okay. Carnival Miracle and Carnival. I'm going to say my guess is Carnival Paradise.
Is it right? Okay. So right here, this is like the start of the pier. This is where like a normal size pier begins.
But again, like we said, we walked all the way. So if you're one of these Royal Caribbean ships, you got to walk straight down this. You're going to go all the way around behind that ship.
So it's like, would you say that's a quarter mile?
Jayden: I'd say more. More than a quarter mile.
James: Let's say a half mile.
Jayden: That's crazy. That's too far. But definitely quarter, at least a quarter mile.
James: So if you're not a walker, figure it out, figure it out. You're going to have to be. When you finally make it to the end of the port, this is it.
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Nassau port has made improvements
James: You've got the option of going into the city or going right into kind of this built up touristy area with bars and shops. Before when you walked out into Nassau Bahamas, it was just like, boom, you're in the street. Just people shouting at you, good luck.
And now it starts off with a little bit of a just relaxed vibe because there's food, there's drinks, there's this thing called the Museum of Junkanoo. Junkanoo. And then looking forward, just shop after shop after shop.
In fact, there is a shop for hair braiding. What do you think? Is today your day?
Jayden: I think I'm good. Yeah? Okay. I wish we had time.
James: I hear it's a really great vibe in this little place, but I also hear at the end of the day, you have this, you have this reflection moment and then you realize, I'm actually swimming with pigs. This is kind of gross.
But the first like five minutes I hear are really special. Really, really special. Okay.
Speaking of the pigs, I've never done the pig thing before.
Jayden: Me neither.
James: One of your friends went to go see the pigs.
Jayden: Yeah. And they had a great time, but I would be nervous about getting in the water. Like I think feeding them would be cute in the photos, but getting in that water, I just don't think that's for me.
James: What did they, did they say like good things about it?
Jayden: Yeah. Everyone has said amazing things about it.
James: I feel like they have pictures too.
Yeah. If we have pictures, we're going to show it to you right now. But if we didn't get the pictures, there was nothing.
Okay. So to walk to the world-famous straw market, you got to go all the way down through the shopping area. And right when you see this amphitheater, just to your left, you're going to barely see right there, the world famous straw market.
Okay. Really quick, before we go to the straw market, obviously being in the Bahamas is great. And living the way that I do lets me see places like this, which is an opportunity I honestly would not trade for the world.
But the reality is that crew members like me, we spend a long time away from home. We're away from our families for months. We're sometimes gone for up to a year.
We miss holidays. We miss birthdays. We miss big events.
What I'm saying is it can get lonely. And sometimes that loneliness kind of sneaks up on people. So that's why I'm glad there are options like BetterHelp, which also happens to be the sponsor of this video.
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So whether you work on a ship or you move around a lot, or you're just busy, BetterHelp makes it easy to stay on top of your mental health so you can enjoy, you know, places like this. Click on the link in the description or go to betterhelp.com slash brianjames and get 10% off your first month of therapy. All right, let's go to the straw market.
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A visit to Nassau's straw market
James: Where do we start?
Jayden: Coca-Cola machine.
James:Okay, straight to the Coca-Cola machine. So everything that you do like is handmade like this? Yeah.
JR: Okay. That's how you make it. You take a piece of wood, you bring it to this stage, and then over there is the finish weight.
See, I just put a working one. When that finishes, it'll be like this. Hot dog.
If you come to the I do not work on Sunday, I go to church on Sunday.
James: These were the nicest folks that actually wanted to take some time to chat with us about it. So thanks, man.
I'll see you next week. We're here every week. Okay, that was the market.
I actually enjoyed that way more than I thought I was going to. Once we met JR, I feel like the vibes shifted from just wandering through a place to finding some legitimacy to it all. There's definitely some cool finds in there that are like handmade.
I'm giving it a 8.5 out of 10.
So there's one little spot after the straw market that we really barely stopped at. It's the bars that are on the corner there.
Jayden: Senior Frogs.
James: Senior Frogs. You can totally go there.
It looks wild. It looks crazy. It looks fun.
Have you been before?
Jayden: I have.
James: Okay, well tell the people. Was it good? Maybe you've got a different idea.
Jayden: You have to be in the right mood to go to Senior Frogs.
James: I'm not a Senior Frogs kind of guy.
JaydenL But if I'm just going to get food or something, I don't think I'd pick Senior Frogs.
On the way to Nassau's Junkanoo Beach
James: So I would personally continue walking down and that's where we're going to take you in the video next. We walk all the way around. It really feels like a trek.
But anyway, just you watch the next part. Here we go.
Jayden: Oh, these look fun. It's like a Jeep limo.
James: Okay, so this feels, it feels like kind of a walk. But if you want the closest beach where you don't have to get a cab, this is like your only option really.
You have to walk all the way around the corner. Then you're going to go straight down here past a sushi place, a McDonald's, past the Margaritaville, and then you'll finally be at a beach. But not the beach that I would recommend to you.
If you just pick the first one that shows up, chances are you're going to be stuck at a beach you're not going to really enjoy.
So, this is the first beach. I think a lot of people just settle at this beach because they've already walked what seems like a mile and they're just ready to get in the water.
But if you walk a little bit further, then you start getting to that more picturesque kind of Bahamas beach. So just past that first chunk of beach, you start to get more of an open, just vibe. It's less of the bars that are trying to like nickel and dime you for everything.
And just, I don't know, becomes a nicer vibe. And you can see like there's plenty of people out here. But I still think if we go down just a bit more, you're going to really find that ideal beach that you're looking for.
It won't be as packed. And honestly, I mean, look at the ground. Like it feels like the beach of like a forest or something.
It's like pine cones everywhere and sticks. It's still just not exactly what you're looking for in a Bahamas beach. So let's just make our way at least another half mile or so and we're going to get something nice.
On our way, I've always seen this guy selling coconuts or coconut water. And it seemed as authentic as ever. The guy is literally cutting coconuts out of the back of his car.
Oh shoot. Oh God.
Vendor:Please do not try this at home.
James: Coconut water. Filled to the brim.
Jayden: This is so much better than what you get like in the store.
Vendor: No, the ones in the store is not natural.
James: Josh is all about coconut water.
It's all he drinks. Should I try it?
Jayden: Yeah, try.
James: I really don't like coconut.
Oh, that is way different than I expected.
Jayden: Yeah, it's like so much better. If you like, if it was cold as well, it'd be so good.
James: There it is. Mix it. So much better.
Jayden:Wow. That's great.
James: Can you tell me just who you are? I mean, I know you did at the beginning, but can you tell me again?
Vendor: I'm the proprietor of the coconut spot here on Junkanoo Beach.
You can also find me on Shopify. I have been doing coconuts for many years. Coconut water is very good for the body.
People need to understand that coconut water, we call it life water. Even as a guy who doesn't like coconut water at all,
James: I thought it was a good vibe. It was good vibes.
That's what it was for sure. And what do I want on vacation?
Jayden: Good vibes.
James: And a good beach, which is where we're going.
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Finally, we're making it to our final destination. This is the beach we're going for. That's the one.
So this is it. This is the beach that I think is worth the walk in the Bahamas. It's not gonna be your perfect beach at the end of the day.
I've literally searched from this ship down this entire strip to here. So I know there's other parts of the island, but this is the area that I know best. And I've been to probably 50-plus times I've walked in this area.
But you're gonna get like, if you look at the sand, this is like legit, this is nice sand. It's not all rocky and nasty. You have the opportunity to get a beach chair if you want, but there's still plenty of beach that you can just lay out on.
And there's jet skis, right? Everybody likes a jet ski every now and then. Jayden, you're a jet ski fan.
Jayden: Yeah, I love it.
James: You've been sayinf all day how bad you want to be. But we're low on time. You got a show in, what, 45 minutes?
Jayden: Yeah.
James: Should probably start walking back. It's a really far walk.
Jayden: We were in a pinch for time, but I feel like we made it to a lot of things in the short amount of time we had. And there's for sure always more to see. If there's anything you guys want to see, we will be back.
James: And in two days.
Jayden: In two days.
James: So leave a comment if you want to see any more content about just cruise ships in general, or if it's more about the ports like Nassau, we can go more in depth. And there's plenty of shorts on my channel as well.
If you want to see just what life is like living down below deck on a cruise ship, it's a really strange life. So click around. We'll see you in the next video.
Bye.
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