It's the last day of the cruise... the one before disembarkation.

I don't know what's worse; the day before you have to leave the ship, knowing that it's all over in one day, or actually getting off the ship itself.  You be the judge and post a comment... which is worse?

We had an early breakfast in the Windjammer and headed down to meet the rest of our tour group in the Opal Theater before going ashore. When I was last in Nassau on Majesty of the Seas I did a great snorkel excursion called the Rainbow Reef Snorkel, and knew that I just had to show this fabulous place to my cousins. I'll have video of our visit to the reef up on my YouTube Channel soon, but in the mean time you can check out the video from February's visit to get a small glimpse at the aquatic life we spotted there earlier this year. Today's visit was different, so be sure to be on the look out for the video that'll be coming soon!

Once off the ship, there was minimal organization, so it was a bit chaotic to try to find our respective tour operator. I included some of this in my feedback to Royal Caribbean after the cruise, but I think we should have been kept on the ship until the tour operator had arrived and was in a clearly visible spot for us to meet them. We eventually did meet up with the woman from the tour, but it wasn't as smooth as some other experiences I'd had in the past.

The excursion was great - I highly recommend the Rainbow Reef Snorkel on your next cruise to Nassau - the tour operators definitely make the experience memorable, as well as give some fun an interesting tidbits on the boat ride back toward the cruise ships, pointing out some celebrity houses right on the water.  It's a great value for the price - I don't remember it being more than $40 a person for the whole thing.

After arriving back on land, my cousins Jen and Lindsay decided to walk around before getting back on the ship, but I wanted to get back to the Oasis so I could throw some dry clothes on since I was meeting up with a few folks from one of the cruise fan blogs that I follow that happened to be sailing on Majesty of the Seas, which was due into port around noon. As I was walking back toward the pier, I did my little check to ensure I had everything I needed to get back on board:  Photo ID... check. Wallet... check. Sea Pass Card.... Nope. As it turns out, my cousin Jen had my SeaPass card in her bag and I'd forgotten to get it from her before we had parted ways. I knew there had to be some sort of procedure for those without their cards to get back on board, and I was about to find out what all that entailed.

Upon arriving at the pier, I was told to talk with a guard in a military uniform, who wasted no time making me feel stupid for having lost my SeaPass card. He then verified my name on the manifest, and let me on to the pier via the crew access gate. Once there, I realized it was a very long walk back to where the Oasis was docked; we were docked all the way on the end, since we were the largest ship in port that day.

Also in port with us was the Disney Cream, Carnival Somethingorother, and the Majesty of the Seas.  Since my clothes were almost completely dry at this point, I opted to just wait for my friends on the pier rather than go back to Oasis, and get off again later. Majesty had just finished docking at that point, so I knew it wouldn't be long.

I had a fun meet up with some other folks from the RC Periscopers group, which is a cruise enthusiast group of folks who perform live streams via Periscope from whatever ship they are traveling on. You can tune in to my broadcasts via Periscope any time, and join the group via rcperiscopers.live. I've really enjoyed getting to know some wonderful people from this group, as well as the Royal Caribbean Blog, an unofficial fan blog run by a friend of mine who lives in Florida and gets to cruise more often than I do! It was on his podcast that I was featured a few weeks ago talking about travel credit cards.

After I'd met up with the guys from Majesty, I started heading back to the Oasis and heard my name being called from behind me. It was my cousin Jen, who was on her way back as well. Thank goodness! I didn't have to deal with trying to board without my SeaPass card!

We made it back on and proceeded directly to the Solarium for our departure from Nassau. The cantilevered hot tubs are my favorite spot on Freedom and Oasis class ships; I love being able to look down the side of the ship, especially while pulling away from port. I'm always amazed at how effortlessly these massive ships can move, and with pinpoint precision.

Dinner was at Chops Grille tonight, a fun way to end this fabulous trip. The rest of the family had such a great experience on their first visit to Chops, the night Jen and I went to Izumi, they wanted to revisit once more before the trip had finished. I'm not a steak person, so I went more for the experience of dining with family than the food itself. Dinner was good, and we headed up to Deck 16 for some impromptu family portraits taken by yours truly; we wound up saving a good bit of money by having me take our pictures instead of going with a ships' photographer.

By then it had gotten dark, and it was time to do that which I dread at the beginning of every cruise: Pack and put my suitcases outside of my door. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. As much as I hate that saying, I just tell myself that the end of one cruise means it's one day closer to the start of my next one. We went to bed around 11pm, and ended yet another fabulous day, on a fabulous vacation.  

Thank you for following along on my trip; I was having so much fun, that I wasn't blogging "live" as much as I thought I would. A little confession; I'm actually just finishing this up about 4 days late... but reliving the memories are part of what brought be back into blogging in general. I love being able to go back at a later time and think about all the fun I had on this trip.I saw a legend perform one of her iconic songs on the same day as a once-in-a-lifetime full solar eclipse, that I even got to photograph!

I spent time with incredible people, and I got to perform a full-on scuba dive. That's just a few of the amazing experiences I've had on this trip, and why I'm always humbled and blessed for the opportunity to be able to take vacations like this, and share them with all of you. I do have a number of cruises on the horizon, so be sure to stay tuned, because the next one just around the corner... granted, it's a fairly big corner, because it's not for a while, but stay tuned!