What is the best excursion in Nassau, Bahamas? — featuring Life Well Cruised
In this video: Before Cruising to Nassau, Bahamas WATCH THIS!! *BEST* Excursion & Tips
Life Well Cruised · 4 years ago
Is Margaritaville Resort worth booking instead of staying on the ship?
Yes, if you want a clean, organized day on the beach with activities, food, and drinks in one place. The video creator regretted nearly every minute not spent there and felt safer and more comfortable at the resort than exploring downtown Nassau independently.
What this video answers
Is Margaritaville Resort worth booking instead of staying on the ship?
How much does a Margaritaville day pass cost?
Can you walk to Margaritaville from the cruise port, or do you need a taxi?
Are children allowed, or is Margaritaville adults-only?
A First-Time Nassau Port Guide: Margaritaville Resort & Beyond
This video challenges the common advice to skip Nassau entirely during your cruise stop. The creator visits Margaritaville Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas—a newly opened venue about a 15-minute walk from the cruise terminal—and documents what makes it worth your time and money. Rather than staying aboard, you'll discover a genuine excursion option with activities, dining, and beach access included in a day-pass price.
The video suits first-time Nassau cruisers unsure whether to venture ashore, families wanting structured beach activities, or anyone seeking safe, comfortable alternatives to exploring downtown Nassau alone. If you've heard Nassau isn't worth the effort, this resource shows why that assumption deserves a second look.
Key Moments
Top Experiences at Margaritaville Beach Resort
Lazy river with waterfront views—a relaxing centerpiece where you can float for hours while keeping valuables in a waterproof case
Infinity pool (adult-only area) with views of cruise ships in the harbor and abundant lounge seating
Wave surfing pool where guests can try surfing multiple times throughout the day
Included beach activities and water sports along a pristine stretch of sand
Multiple bars and on-site dining with fresh seafood and casual island fare
Clean, well-maintained grounds with towel service and locker rentals available
What You Need to Know Before Booking Nassau Shore Time
Distance & walk time: Margaritaville is a 12–15 minute walk from the cruise terminal down Parliament Street, Bay Street, Navy Lion Road, and Marlboro Road; the route quiets considerably after the first five minutes past the Straw Market
Booking & payment: Reserve day passes online through Resort for a Day or the resort's website; book in advance as availability fills when multiple cruise ships are in port; pay deposit upfront and balance on arrival by credit or debit card only (no cash accepted); print tickets before arrival
Food & drink costs: Activities and beach access are included, but food and drinks are à la carte; meals typically run $14–16 per plate and cocktails $10–14 each
Food service timing: Order meals 30–45 minutes before you want to eat, as kitchen wait times can be substantial during busy cruise days
What's provided: Resort supplies towels, so you don't need to bring them from your ship; lockers available for about $15
What to bring: A waterproof phone case with lanyard (critical for the lazy river and to secure your cruise card and ID)
Free alternative nearby: Junkanoo Beach borders Margaritaville to the left with no entry fee, though amenities are less maintained and cleanliness varies
Common Questions About Nassau Margaritaville Day Passes
Is Margaritaville Resort worth booking instead of staying on the ship?
Yes, if you want a clean, organized day on the beach with activities, food, and drinks in one place. The video creator regretted nearly every minute not spent there and felt safer and more comfortable at the resort than exploring downtown Nassau independently.
How much does a Margaritaville day pass cost?
The video does not specify the exact day-pass price, but it mentions booking through Resort for a Day and comparing options with Atlantis and Blue Lagoon. Budget an additional $30–50+ per person for food and beverages on top of the entry fee.
Can you walk to Margaritaville from the cruise port, or do you need a taxi?
You can walk—it's only 15 minutes—but a taxi is an option if you prefer. A tourist information table at the cruise terminal can provide a map and directions; the route is straightforward once you pass the initial busy section near the port.
Are children allowed, or is Margaritaville adults-only?
The resort welcomes families. The infinity pool is adults-only, but the lazy river, wave surfing pool, and beach activities are open to all ages, making it family-friendly overall.
What is the "free option" mentioned in the video?
Junkanoo Beach runs adjacent to Margaritaville with no entry fee. However, the video notes it has less maintained amenities, visible garbage, and older beach furniture, so the paid resort experience offers better cleanliness and comfort despite the cost.
This video directly addresses the "should I even get off the ship in Nassau?" question that stops many cruisers in their tracks. The creator doesn't oversell the destination; instead, she acknowledges the downtown bustle and construction, then shows a legitimate alternative that feels safe and delivers real value. Her honest tour of both Margaritaville and the adjacent free beach gives you enough detail to make your own choice.
What stands out most is the practical layer-by-layer advice: walking directions with landmarks, real wait times for food, what towels and lockers cost, and why a waterproof phone case matters. She's also clear about what is and isn't included, so you won't feel blindsided by à la carte prices. If you're cruising to Nassau for the first time and uncertain whether leaving the ship is worth it, this is genuinely useful viewing—I'd recommend it without hesitation.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
Are you going to Nassau, Bahamas on a cruise and wondering what to do in port? Don't follow the advice "stay on the cruise ship!", as you might regret it! We had an AMAZING DAY in Nassau & I can't wait to share it with you in this video.
In this video I share Nassau, Bahamas cruise tips and what you need to know when planning Nassau shore excursions. We went to Margaritaville Beach Resort in Nassau and had a great time! Here are the tips, directions for how to get to Margaritaville and Nassau cruise port information you'll want to know. If you're cruising to Nassau for the first time, this is a must-watch!
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Video transcript for “Before Cruising to Nassau, Bahamas WATCH THIS!! *BEST* Excursion & Tips” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
if you're going on a cruise to nassau bahamas and thinking about staying on the cruise ship don't i'm going to share with you the tips and things that you absolutely need to know and how you can spend your absolute perfect day in port [Music] hi there i'm elana from the website lifewallcruise.com welcome or welcome
back to my channel now we recently went on a cruise that stopped in nassau bahamas and being completely honest we were doing some research about what to do in nassau and we got a lot of this advice stay on the cruise ship it's not even worth it getting off but because it was actually our first time visiting
nassau i have a little bit of a philosophy i like to see a port at least once before i can judge for myself so i was on the lookout for some really good excursions and as well i did want to make sure that well i did choose something that was safe that was clean and it was also something very beautiful
so i'm going to share with you what we did in nassau bahamas as well as some tips that you need to know in order to make it a day that you feel really comfortable in the port now before i get started i did want to mention that if you like this video if you find it helpful informative or enjoyable in any
way then please do give this video a big thumbs up i really do appreciate it and please subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already let's get started now if you're going on a bahamas or even a caribbean cruise there's a good chance that your cruise ship will be stopping in nassau bahamas and an
interesting fun fact prior to the pandemic nasa bahamas was actually the most visited by cruise passengers the most visited destination in the world and this continues to be a very very busy cruise port now the nice thing about the nassau cruise terminal is the location really is right in the downtown
nassau area so you can walk to quite a lot of things however like i mentioned it is quite busy so when you do get off the cruise ship you will notice there is construction going on they are building a new cruise terminal and there is a lot of hustle and bustle now personally i never felt unsafe however just like in
any area any city where it is quite crowded and people are quite close to you you do want to use caution keep your items close to you and when people try to sell you things or are trying to talk to you and trying to maybe hassle you just a little bit just the affirm no thank you and keep walking now my rule
of thumb when i visit a new destination is to book an excursion whether it's through the cruise line or on my own and our three choices in this case were atlantis were blue lagoon which i've heard a lot of good things about and as well margaritaville resort now personally i am a really big fan of
margaritaville and in the end looking at the price for all of the different options and what we could do there we opted for margaritaville now i'll share with you some things that you'll probably want to know about the margaritaville resort including some frequently asked questions and maybe
some even pros and some cons and i'm also going to share with you something that you could do that doesn't cost any money that's actually free if you want to do that instead of margaritaville resort but it is really close by so the margaritaville resort is only about 15 minutes walk from the cruise port and it
is really quite a new resort just about six months old at the time that i'm filming this video now we booked this resort on the website resort for a day this video is not sponsored but that is where i booked it you might be able to book directly on the margaritaville resort website so you can also check
that out and i did see that they seem to be also taking people in for day passes if they did have the availability but you do want to watch out because they could end up having guests on site and they may not have room for you if you do not book in advance now when we booked this online we did need
to pay a small deposit and the remaining balance was due upon our arrival now something to note is they did not accept any cash on site so we did need to pay with a credit card or a debit card and as well don't forget to print out your tickets now before i show you a little bit more about margaritaville resort
what there is to do there what there is to eat there you are probably wondering how do i actually get to margaritaville resort so you have two choices you can either take a taxi or you could walk now according to google directions it's a 12 minute walk i would say it's probably about 15 minutes walking at an average
pace and what you're going to do is you're going to walk down at parliament road just to let you know at the left there is a little tourist table the lady that was working there was very very nice she provided us with a little map and she told us how to walk there because it was our first time however
i'm going to tell you right now it is super easy i'm going to leave a little screenshot of the directions up on the screen but basically you're going to walk down parliament street after that you're going to turn right on bay street you're going to turn left around a road called navy lion road and then you're
going to make a right on marlboro road you're going to follow that road right over to the margaritaville resort now as you do walk over you'll notice that only the first five minutes of the walk are very busy and bustling with people after that it does get a lot more quiet so once you pass the straw market on the
right on bay street it gets a lot quieter after that now the margaritaville resort itself is absolutely gorgeous you have the lazy river you have an infinity pool you have a beautiful beach with different beach activities that are all included in the price of your resort for a day now some
of the things that we absolutely loved at margaritaville resort were the lazy river we spent a lot of time in the lazy river that was really relaxing really fun make sure to bring your waterproof phone case uh with you for that and don't forget as well that that is a really good place to keep your cruise
card your credit card any cash you have any id that is good place to keep those items safe and secure now if you are interested in that product i will leave it linked down in the description below this video now something that surprised me was this resort was a lot less busy than other margaritavilles that i had
been to so even though we had four or i think even five cruise ships in port that day there were enough chairs for everybody to sit on it was just absolutely great and something to note by the way is if you did need to have a locker they do have lockers um at i think it was 15 if you did want to rent
a locker now an amazing feature on this resort was the absolutely stunning infinity pool now it did take us a little while to figure out how to get up to this but there are some stairs that will take you to the infinity pool it is adult only just to let you know but the view from here you could see the cruise
ships from here it was absolutely stunning and there were also ample lounge chairs in that area so if you did want an adult only area without the water slide and the lazy river and that kind of thing then you'll be best off staying in the area near the infinity pool now in terms of fun activities that
you just might want to try there is a really fun surfing pool so my son really did enjoy doing the surfing pool for well several times that he tried it he just had a really really good time and as well you are located right on an absolutely stunning beach and you have different water activities that are all
included with the price of this resorts you can definitely partake in those now something to note and i guess this could be a little bit of a con or a negative is that although this resort is all-inclusive in terms of the activities it is not all-inclusive in terms of the food and the drinks so they do sell food
and they do sell drinks right on site they were i believe it was three different bars now if you did want to save a little bit of money on bars you could definitely go down the beach and you could find some cheaper drinks but otherwise on the resort the drinks were about i'd say between 10 and 14 a drink so about
average or so i guess for a lot of different resorts and the food also was probably between like 14 and 16 for the majority of plates now we had some pretty amazing drinks and some pretty good food so i'm going to screenshot the menus so that you can take a look at this and i'll screenshot
some of the drinks as well we definitely did enjoy our day here now something that i didn't know but i think could be a good tip for you if you are going there is they actually provide towels for you so i didn't actually need to bring my towels from the cruise ship and drag them along but i did but they
actually did have towels that we were able to use now something else that you should know is even though this is a margaritaville resort at the time that we did go there the margaritaville restaurant so with like the cheeseburger and paradise and that kind of thing the margaritaville restaurant wasn't open
yet so we did sort of have the hotel or the resort food it was very good i had some fish and chips and i think we had some chicken tenders and some things like that that we shared it was all really good but it wasn't the regular margaritaville food and a little tip if you are ordering food is try to order
before you're really hungry it did take our order a good 45 minutes or so maybe even a touch longer so do remember especially if they're busy try to order your food a good half an hour to 45 minutes before you think you'd like to eat now i mentioned earlier in this video that i was also going to share
with you the free option that is right nearby and this free option is the junkanu beach so the margaritaville resort is located right on the extreme right end of the beach and if you walk further down to the left you're gonna have the junkanu beach so basically they are attached now we did walk down the
beach because i wanted to see what it was like in case this was maybe a good option to come back in the future because of course there's no cost to it and if you didn't really want the resort and you just wanted the beach this is definitely a good option but i'm going to give you my honest opinion the water
was absolutely beautiful so if you were there for the beach for the color of the water for the sand gorgeous definitely go however in terms of the beach amenities itself there were some bars some restaurants um some chairs that you could rent but in our experience from what we saw a lot of them were either
looking very decrepid old damaged so not necessarily where i would want to sit on the chairs and as well there was a lot of garbage around on the beach so it just didn't look that clean and well kept not as much so as the margaritaville resort area and beach now we had a fabulous time at the
margaritaville resort and we really did enjoy our day in nassau cruise sports so i'm so happy that we did not stay on the cruise ship my only maybe regret is not trying any contravertors because i wasn't able to find them at the resort and by the time we were heading back i ate too much and drank too much and i
was getting back on a cruise ship but please let me know if you've been to nasa before what are the things that you think people should do what did you do that you really enjoyed please let me know down in the comments below and if you are thinking of going to the margaritaville resort please let me know
as well down in the comments now if you are getting ready for a cruise i'm going to leave a video right after this one all about the things to do in the last 60 days before your cruise now i hope that you enjoyed this video and found it helpful if you did please do give it a big thumbs up i really do appreciate it
and please subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already bye for now and happy cruising
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