Nassau Culinary Tour

Last night’s dinner was in the main dining room, the first time we’ve ever had a meal there (on any ship). The suites concierge had arranged for a table for two next to a big round window (porthole?). We were on Deck 3, so closer to the water than we’d been before. Our servers seemed a little upset that we hadn’t been there the first two nights, but were very nice.  We both had polenta fries with a roasted red pepper dipping sauce, then the beef short ribs with mashed potatoes and carrots. 

I had a coffee pot de crème for dessert, and Charlie opted for the chocolate pudding cake. We were impressed with the quality of the food, especially given the scale of the three-level dining room.

After dinner Charlie took a photo of Miami as we passed by.

This morning we were on our balcony as our ship approached Nassau. Charlie got a nice photo of the lighthouse on Paradise Island as we went past. 

Several other cruise ships soon joined us at the pier, including two Disney ships and another Royal Caribbean ship, the Allure of the Seas.  We walked down the pier to meet our tour group.  The nine of us were led to a nice van, and the driver was also our guide. He claimed to be related to Sidney Poitier!  

At the first stop, we sampled lemongrass tea and guava duff, a steamed pudding filled with guava and topped with a sweet cream sauce. It was delicious! 

The next stop was about medicinal teas, but wasn’t very interesting. We went to a rum distillery next, housed in a former plantation house, but since it’s Saturday, no workers were there. We did get samples of piña coladas that convinced some of us to buy full-sized ones! Our guide also brought conch fritters for us.  

The flowers are everywhere here, with bougainvillea in many colors. 

Then we had a very windy lunch at a roadside restaurant, consisting of traditional Bahamian food—fish fingers (fresh and delicious), rice with pigeon beans, cole slaw, and a tiny cup of yellow grits and beans. It was very good, but portions were tiny!  (That’s a dessert-sized plate.) They also gave us beer or fruit punch.

That was the last time we’ll be on dry land for a week!  Here’s hoping I can come up with something interesting to blog about!