On 16th July 2022 myself and my Husband (still doesn't feel real saying that) Jetted off to to beautiful island of The Bahamas for our 2 week long honeymoon.
We flew during the day so landed in the Bahamas, direct from London Heathrow, mid afternoon. As it was quite an early start that morning, we got to the hotel, checked in, had a quick wander round, had dinner and then went to bed. As it was our honeymoon I had emailed the hotel prior to arriving and they upgraded us to a higher room with a better view and made sure we had a reservation at the steakhouse for our first night which was a lovely touch.
The next morning we were awake and bright as a button at 4am due to the time difference, but tried to get back to sleep and eventually got up for breakfast and to go down to the pool around 7am. The best thing about the Riu Palace was that it was the majority American's who did not have the time difference jet lag to contend with so the pool was always pretty quiet until around 11am which was perfect for me to lay in peace, reading my book before the super loud music came on and the day time party and drinking began! The beach is also super peaceful and quiet first thing in the morning so it is lovely to just walk along the sand and take in the beauty. By 2pm everyone was partying in the pool, people were twerking around the pool and everyone was chatting away to each other.
That evening we had our first meal at the Kulinarium (which turned out to be my favourite restaurant and we ate here 3 times over the holiday) and the food was delicious. I had the prawns on potato to start, the surf and turf which was lamb, prawns and chicken with asparagus on a bed of sweet potato for main and the Tres Leches sponge cake for dessert. The food was cooked perfectly.
The next morning we got up and chilled around the pool for a while before taking a walk round to the local shops and Atlantis marina shops before a quick trip to the Atlantis casino (a place we became quite accustomed to throughout our stay in Bahamas). One thing to note is the Bahamas is very expensive. If you do decide to come here you need to make sure you have saved a lot of spending money if you want to leave the hotel (especially if you want to do the excursions as most require island hopping so paying for planes/boats). We picked up a packet of crisps in the shop and it was $7 and a bottle of suncream that usually costs us £6-10 was for sales for $30 a bottle.
That evening we went to Tengoku - The hotel's Japanese restaurant. I wouldn't really rate the sushi as it just tasted like sticky rice and the starter of Tuna Tartar was the strangest combination I've ever tried with avocado and ready salted crisps on top, but the main of Shitake-crusted steak with yakisoba was delicious.
I spent a lot of my mornings on the beach - taking photos for my friend's brand - Ess Ess Swim whilst I waited for Lee to wake up and I loved the beach. It was so beautiful to look at, the sea was lovely and clear, with little fish swimming around and early in the morning it was so calm just sitting and watching the world go by.
Whilst we were at the pool taking part in the aqua aerobics we met a lovely couple (who got married the day before us and was also from England on their honeymoon) - Becky and Charles. We got on so well and found ourselves our holiday friends who we ended up spending a lot of time with. It always makes the holiday finding another couple to chat to and go out with - and we met a couple who we will definitely stay in touch with! The next day we went to checkout downtown Nassau with them - had a wander round the shops, went to check out the fish fry (this is a strip of little bars/restaurants where all of the locals go) which I can imagine having a great atmosphere on a busy evening, and then went to the Atlantis where we had a walk around the aquarium and saw the lively atmosphere of the casino and bar area in the evening. The Atlantis hotel is massive and is definitely worth checking out!
On the Thursday we had booked our first excursion (a wedding gift from my father in law) to take a powerboat to the Exuma cays. We booked this through powerboat adventures as this was the one I found with great reviews and the best price, and when you booked online you got 10% off (the trip cost £450 for 2 people after the discount). On the day we were put on the SunUp SunDown Charters boat and they took us to Allan's Cay and Ship channel Cay for the day. The Crew were so lovely and we met the amazing Anna and Byron who owned the boat and the funniest crew member - Edison (who we swear is trying to get himself eaten by sharks). The ride out to Exuma was as Lee described it - a white knuckle ride. The sea was pretty rough the day we went but it hit us when we was already half way there otherwise we probably would have turned back. We were flying over the waves, the boat crashing down on the ocean and waves flying over the top of the boat, but after an hours journey - we made it there and it was so worth it! The first stop we made was to Allan's Cay where we were greeted off the boat to hundreds of Iguanas. We were given sticks and grapes so that we could feed them, had a dip in the crystal blue waters and then we got back on the boat to head to Ship channel cay. This private island is beautiful with white sands and clear blue sea. When we docked we went through to the converted fishing cottage where we could see all of the sharks swimming in the sea - nurse sharks, lemon sharks and reef shark that were hanging around waiting to be fed. We was served rum punch and stood on the decking watching the sharks for a while. It was so peaceful here and such a great environment. After a little while of relaxing we went onto the beach ready to see the pigs. They are not out on the beach all of the time they come out for around 20-30 minutes and then run off back to their pens but whilst out you can hold the piglets, swim with the pigs and feed them carrots. This was so much fun and I loved every minute. After this we all got in the sea with fish and the sting rays come swimming over to us. You put the fish in between your fingers and place your hand flat on the sea bed and the sting ray glides over your hand to eat the fish. This was such a cool experience, in their natural habitat. After we had fed the sting rays we were advised to get out of the water as the sharks were coming over for feeding time. There was fish on the end of a rope (no hooks or anything to harm the sharks) and the rope would be launched into the sea where the shark would then grab onto the fish to eat in and the ropes would we pulled in to show us the sharks and how they feed. The sharks could let go of the rope at any point and swim away which they would eventually do. We was actually on the trip with Nick Kyrgios, the tennis player who had a lot of stick for being filmed holding the rope but the sharks were not being harmed and were not trapped - it was in the sea for them to swim away at any point out back out to sea. They come to the island every day as they know they will be fed as the island is actually a sanctuary for the animals. After we had finished watching the sharks we went back up to the shack for our lunch. The food is all prepared fresh and was lovely! From fresh fish, burgers, hotdogs, salad, pasta - there was so much choice and a really nice lunch for us to enjoy. After we had eaten our final show for the day was the conch show where we watched a conch be taken from the sea and prepared to eat. We were then served the local delicacy - conch salad to try and it was delicious! I love fresh fish anyway but this had so much flavour! I got to keep the conch shell to bring home for decoration too which is a great memento of an amazing day to remember! The people on this trip - all the crew and staff and even the other tourists really did make our day so special!
The next day we wanted to spend some time out of the sun so we met up with our holiday friends - Becky & Charles and jumped in a taxi to downtown Nassau. We stopped for a drink in Señor frogs which has a great vibe and i could imagine being a really fun place to go in the evenings with the locals (the bars out here are super expensive though so be prepared!)
We also found a cool bar - Pirate Republic where we stopped for a home brewed craft beer before wandering around through the straw market and into the shops.
That evening the four of us went for dinner at the hotel's Krystal fusion gourmet restaurant. This wasn't my favourite meal but I think I chose wrong as everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals. I had Scallop and shrimp ceviche to start and creamy shrimp risotto for mains. We then headed back to the Atlantis to spend the evening as we loved the atmosphere here.
On Saturday we had a chilled pool day ready for what was to be our heaviest night out of the holiday. We got ready in the evening and headed to the Baha-Mar hotel to check it out for the evening. It is a beautiful, luxurious hotel. If you are playing the tables/slots in the casino you get your drinks for free, like in the Atlantis. Little did we realise how strong they were making the drinks until next thing we know its 4am and we are still in the casino, drunk and needing our beds! We were planning on walking around and exploring the hotel whilst there and then stopping at the Atlantis night club on the way back but this went out of the window!
The next day was just spent chilling on the beach/in the pool, hungover in the day, a visit to the buffet in the evening and an early night ready for our day of sightseeing the following day. Monday morning we got up, had breakfast and then decided to get a taxi driver to take us round the island for the day to see Nassau. We asked the taxi driver to take us to see some of the tourist sites but then also to places he would go to see some of the culture and this is where we got so lucky with our choice of driver. We saw the Queen's steps, an old fort and water tower first and then went for a drive through 'the ghetto' where we saw how the poorer people of the island lived. We stopped at the university of The Bahamas and then headed to our driver Kian's friend farm which was a great experience. We saw his goats, chickens, pigs and dogs and then went through to see all of the fruit he was growing, bananas, mango, guinep fruit, breadfruit, jack fruit, papaya and coconuts. We even got to try the mango, guinep fruit and avocado as well as drinking the fresh coconut water from the coconut. After the farm we went to visit compass point. Back in the day this was a lively venue and a great place to watch the sunset but unfortunately the day we visited was one of its final days before closing down so it was very quiet. We stopped here for a drink and then got Kian to take us to find the best jerk chicken on the island - Sonia's Jerk at the fish fry! It took quite a while for the food to be ready as she had only just opened so we went to a bar on the fish fry before coming back for our jerk, but it was worth the wait! We even got Sonia to make us some jerk to bring home for our own BBQs. This was our final stop and we headed back to the hotel after this. It cost us $250 for 4 people for the tour plus another $20 to get home from the Fish Fry as we were dropped here and picked back up later. The trip was with unique royal taxi & tours - I would recommend it to anyone who wants to book - Contact Kian on Cell 1 (242) 436-9414 / 455- 1386.
In the evening we got dressed up for the hotel's white party but it wasn't really our vibe so we ended up walking back to the Atlantis for the evening where we went for a boogie in the casino bar - Dragon's Ultra Lounge. It was a fun night in here - the only thing I would say is you are allowed to smoke cigars in here so it gets quite chokey and stinky!
The following day was our first rainy day and it rained for most of the morning. The hotel doesn't have much to do on a rainy day - the entertainment team played a movie in the bar and that was about it so we went and got some playing cards and played card games in the lobby. In the afternoon we booked our free 25 minute massage in the spa area which we got through Riu Class (it was okay but I'm glad we didn't pay for it. We timed it and it was only 14 minutes long and not work the money they were charging had you paid for it). We got ready for our evening and headed back to the Atlantis to the Dragon's Ultra Lounge bar where Charles treated us to a couple of bottles of champagne. We had a fun night in here dancing and having a laugh and then walked back to the Riu at around 1.30am where we stopped off in the 24hr sports bar for snacks. (The Nachos and tuna sandwiches went down a treat).
The rest of the holiday was mainly spend chilling after this. on our last evening, after Charles and Becky had gone home, we stopped by the turtle pond on our final walk to the Atlantis.
Lee and I went to the casino and played the craps table where we ended up $150 up which was a bonus!
As our flight home wasn't until the evening we checked out in the morning, left our luggage in the luggage room and spent one last morning round the pool. I had a walk along cabbage beach where the market had been set up ready for the cruise guests who had docked for the day. We booked the showers in the spa to get freshened up and changed and then headed to the airport. Nassau airport is really small with not much there. We ate Wendy's before going through security which was soooo tasty and then once we got through security there wasn't much there! The duty free is tiny - they didn't even sell cigarettes for anyone that is a smoker hoping to grab a bargain to take home, and the perfumes/alcohol/sunglasses were more expensive than back home. We then boarded our flight ready for our 9hr night flight home (although we upgraded to premium club we still struggled to sleep as it is just not comfortable) ready to land super tired back in London.
The Bahamas was a great holiday and we really loved our trip here! It was super expensive to do anything whilst there so unless you don't want to leave the hotel or have a lot of spending money to take it may not be for you but we are so glad we got the opportunity to go and experience the beautiful island and make some amazing friends along the way and what a memorable honeymoon we have to always look back on.
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