Atlantis
The Epic docked early in Nassau, The Bahamas, so that meant a 6:30 AM wake up call for breakfast at the buffet and then an 8:00 call time on the dock. NCL's organization skills continued not to impress as there was no assigned meeting place for our excursion. Then, once we found the right spot, we were led off the dock en masse along with cruisers from other cruise lines so that it was nearly impossible to stay together as a family as everyone was pushing their way forward. We finally found our way to a bus, though, about an hour after we left the ship and were on our way to Atlantis. Once there, we wandered through the main hotel and around the Aquaventure and finally found an open set of loungers over near one of the kiddie pools. J. R. sat down to read and do crosswords while the rest of the family headed off to the waterslides and pools.
The Dig
J. R. found a Starbucks for a frappuccino and then Janie came around to sit and read so we had some lunch -- burgers and fries from one of the stands nearby. The kids came shortly thereafter, so we bought them some lunch, and then Janie and J. R. toured the resort and the "Dig".
Resort
We wandered through the main towers of the resort after buying a couple of T-shirts in the gift shop. The hotel was decorated for Christmas, which made us feel more at home than on the ship, where NCL gave Christmas only a cursory glance.
Cagney's
We caught the next-to-the-last bus back to the ship after Atlantis and watched us sail away from Nassau from our balcony. Our evening dinner plans were at the specialty restaurant "Cagney's", which billed itself as a "Chicago/New York-style" steakhouse. We ordered a bottle of wine, and most of us ordered steaks for dinner, which were well-cooked. Having eaten at a couple of quality Chicago steakhouses, I wouldn't have called this a prime steakhouse, but for only $20 per person, it was well worth the additional cost.
