MALABRIGO KNITTING CRUISE, PART 3:  CENTRAL PARK AND NASSAU

I think I mentioned (numerous times!) how amazing the Allure of the Seas is.  At this moment in time it is the largest cruise ship in the world.  And it more than lives up to the "hype".  Today let's take a walk through Central Park.

Central Park is on Deck 8.  It is open to the sky so one can look up to see the other 9 decks.  Yes, if I didn't say it before, there are 17 decks.  The top deck is comprised of a chapel and the luxury suites for those with very deep pockets.  I have been told that there are 2-story suites, one complete with grand piano.  Anyway, Central Park is set up as just that.  Live trees and plants, bird sounds and lovely places to sit.

And these gorgeous glass birds were an absolute delight!

Here is a view from above:

And another:

There is an amazing cafe in Central Park where they make panini sandwiches and salads to order right in front of you, including the tossing of the salad after you choose your ingredients from a big case full.  The first time I visited at lunchtime I had a shrimp and Asian noodle salad and a sugar-free strawberry mousse.  There was a case of beautiful desserts and fruit everywhere.  I sat outside.

And I had an unexpected guest for lunch.  Butch would have been so excited to see him.

Remember we are on a ship!  Lovely stores and restaurants for $ line Central Park.  My favorite was the Coach store.  I've always coveted a Coach bag and I found the one I lust after.

To die for!

It was now Monday and the ship pulled into Nassau, Bahamas before daylight.

It was always fun to see the other cruise ships docked beside us and believe me, it is amazing to see how closely they are moored and how they parallel park.

When we got off the ship, the Disney Dream Cruise was parked next to us.

And a really fun activity was to watch other cruisers on their own ships from the vantage point of the Allure.  I saw people playing basketball, swimming and just running around.  It was like watching another city with binoculars!

Kathi and I had been to Nassau last July so we didn't take very many pictures but here are a few from that first trip.

This is the Nassau Masonic Hall.  I was a Rainbow Girl in high school and college so I was very excited and moved to see the Hall here.  After walking and walking and walking towards the Fish Fry, a collection of very small and locally owned restaurants housed in one area, we were exhausted.  We had been told that the walk would only be about 15 minutes.  45 minutes later we hailed a cab, a lesson we took with us on this trip.  However, we lucked upon Junkeroo Beach and Kath took this picture of me bathing my poor tired, hot feet.

And I, of course, caught one of Kathi.

This trip, after shopping along the main street (more about that later) we decided to go back to the Fish Fry for lunch and were told by a store clerk that we could grab the public bus for $1.25 instead of paying $5 each for a cab.  The buses are open air and the weather was absolutely perfect.  After awhile I asked the driver when we would get to the Fish Fry.  His reply was that we had passed that stop and that he would drop us off after we had gone around the regular route in a loop.  It was an early shore day, meaning that we had to be back to the ship by 1:30.  At this point it was 11:00 so I didn't panic but I could feel Kathi getting a little tense as the ride went on and on around the island.  We were able to get the "3-hour" tour for very little and the scenery was really beautiful.  But obviously the trip took far longer than we had expected!  We finally stopped at the Fish Fry at 12:00, just in time to have conch fritters made fresh when we arrived.

I LOVE conch in any form or fashion.  And the price was certainly right.  For two appetizer plates of conch fritters with fries and Diet Cokes we only spent $12.  The above picture is from last year because this time we were intent on eating and making sure we made it back in time to board.  The plates of conch fritters this time included about 12 each!  And the waitress was kind enough to hail us a cab.  The driver was waiting outside when we finished and got us back to port at 1:00.  Perfect timing!