N IS FOR NASSAU

MCS Grandiosa is massive.
One of  five cruise ships in port that day.
TAKEN: APRIL 12th, 2026

I would like to clarify that my travel buddy hubby and have never booked a vacation specifically to visit downtown Nassau, New Providence. We have always stayed in the beautiful area of Cable Beach, giving us the option to venture into downtown Nassau on the jitney.

As I am sure Google can confirm, the Port of Nassau is one of the busiest ports in the Caribbean, so with the help of a cool website CruiseMapper.com (for real time port maps) we know when to NOT go into the downtown area.

We chose the 12^th as it was raining when we left our AirBnb and there were only five ships in port (approximately 20,000 people). With it raining, we figured we could manage a hopeful 50% capacity.

Our big investment downtown this trip was a $14 USD admission price into the Pirates of Nassau Museum. Two years ago, I won the coin toss for the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle, this year my hubby wanted to check out the museum - so we did.

This is our third venture onto the island and this one has been the best by far.  Though we changed the address where we slept, we easily found our bearings with the understanding how to escape the astronomical cost of being a transient vacationer.

For this trip downtown, we selected a second story patio to enjoy lunch.

I couldn’t help but admire the colours of the World Famous Bahamas Straw Market and this size of the MSC Grandios that flanks it in the background.