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Associated Press | MIAMI —  The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a cruise ship passenger who reportedly jumped overboard in the Bahamas.

The Coast Guard says crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas reported Neha Chhikara missing Thursday afternoon as the ship was headed from Nassau to CocoCay.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says the guest was reported missing by her husband. Security camera footage showed the 23-year-old woman going overboard from the 11th deck early that morning.

Martinez said Friday that Bahamian government officials reviewed the footage and determined that the woman jumped overboard.

The ship left Port Canaveral, Fla., on Monday for a five-day cruise through the Bahamas. It’s due to return Saturday.

This brings up a good questions…. we have seen a lot of folks jumping over the past year. Do you think that people have started jumping more or that these stories are getting picked up by more news wires?  I am curious of your thoughts…….

Swiming with the sting rays

On board the ship you have many options to choose from when it comes to in port excursions. Recently I sailed on the Carnival Sensation out of Port Canaveral, Florida. I flipped through the excursion guide and found the “yellow bird party boat,” cost 37 dollars.  Party boat?! I’m in! So we bought the excursion and the front desk gave us tickets to board. 

The excursion was set to start at 1 pm. We got off the ship and there was a guy holding a yellowbird sign, shortly after he gave us wrist bands in exchange for our tickets. We followed him to the party boat.

The boat itself was about a double decker about 50′ in length, a bar, and a band. About 1:30 we departed bound for a private island. Free rum punch was served on the way over to the island and it was such a relaxing and peaceful ride over. The ride to the island took about 30-45 minutes.  When you get off the boat and onto the island they take your picture, it’s 20 bucks but I bought it. Probably cost 10 cents to develop. Memories though, right?

The island has an option to swim with the sting rays which is also an excursion in itself. We paid the extra 25 dollars to swim with the rays. A once in a lifetime experience for me. So cool. If swimming with ugly fish isn’t your thing, there is a long beach there with snorkeling and plenty of sunning opportunities. There is also a gift shop and a bar on the island. 

After being on the island for an hour and half we boarded the boat for the ride back to the pier. The band fired up and was playing all kind of fun dance tunes and even the limbo stick!

More rum punch was served on the ride back and if you tip the bartender a little extra he will throw in an extra splash of bacardi. Cash is king.

We got back to the pier at 4 pm. A very fun cruise for all ages. Bring sun screen, cash, and a good attitude!

We heard the ship docking about 6 am and it awoke us so we knew our journey was almost over. 

 If you want to carry your bags off, RCCL offers express departure between 730-830 am, so we decided to take advantage of that.  Breakfast was available in both dining rooms, we skipped it though to give us more time. If you check your bags, RCCL offers something that other cruise lines I have traveled do not offer, you can stay in your room until your bag tag is called. Usually you have to be out of your room by 8:00 am.  That alone sells me to come back to RCL… moving on. 

 About 7:45 we grabbed our bags and headed to deck four.  Getting off the ship was well organized and flawless. We proceeded directly through the terminal and onto customs. Customs officials had two lines, one line for non citizens and the other for US citizens.  We showed the paperwork and by 8:15 we were in the car and headed home. Stopped at cracker barrel to grab some breakfast and back home in Jacksonville by 11:00 am.

Overall it was a great cruise.  One again the staff at RCCL outdid themselves. The staff was super friendly, acknowledged you by name, the ship was very clean, and the excursions were great!

Thanks to a fellow cruiser Meghann for the picture. She has a cool blog about all the food on the cruise ship… check it out ! http://graduatemeghann.com/

View of ship from Senor Frogs

After a fun afternoon and evening of meeting people yesterday, day two is here. Destination Nassau, Bahamas.  We woke about 8 am, had breakfast at the Windjammer cafe. Went for a little walk to let the food settle and then headed to the gym about 9 am.  The gym is in the very back of the ship overlooking the stern of the vessel, great view!  A lot of people had the same work out idea that I had, the gym was packed.  After the gym, being a workaholic, I had to stop and check my email. The internet on the ship is .55 cents a minute, you can also choose a pre-paid package for 28 bucks, that prorated to .47 cents a minute. Either or, you gotta have it.

Early morning showers gave way to a beautiful day on the island. We arrived in Nassau right on time. Can I just say the navigation skills of the captain docking the ship is amazing. The captain backed the ship into a small berth like it was nothing.  We were all tied up and ready to leave the ship from deck 1 at noon.  Before leaving the ship make sure you have cash, your ID, and your sea pass card to get back on. Swiping the sea pass card lets the ship know whose on and whose off. 

We didn’t eat lunch on the ship and went straight to Senor Frogs.  Country music superstar, Reba was  at the Atlantis Resort for a private concert so all my co workers were already on the island for the show, they flew in on Thursday.  

 If you have never been to Senor Frogs, its a party atmosphere with live dancing,conga lines, free shots, etc. If you plan to go there, you may want to eat lunch on the ship first. We had lunch there with the coworkers, two entrees and two drinks was 70 bucks.  See the video a couple posts down for our time at frogs!

About 5 pm we said farewell to the coworkers and made our way back to the ship. It took a while cause there was a big festival set up on the pier for July 4th. I believe its a week long celebration cause Bahamas celebrates its Independence day July 10. 

Back on the ship we went to the room and took a cat nap and woke back up at 6 pm to get ready for the captains cocktail party, which is formal attire.  The cocktail party was at 7:30 pm is a welcome reception that the captain throws complimentary drinks and snacks are included.  The captain did a speech at about 8:15 and than it was time to head to the dining room for the captains formal dinner. A variety to choose from on the menu, I had the Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, sirloin, and banana cake with a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

After dinner, we went up to the viking lounge, which remember is a 360 degree unrestricted view, about 140 feet above sea level, from there we watched the fireworks from the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. Very cool!  We eased onto the room and changed for the midnight buffet. You want to talk about a spread. There was every kind of food imaginable on the buffet all the way to a roasted pig, poor piggy.  We ate entirely too much but well worth it. Finally after lots more food and a couple pineapple drinks we called it a night.  In bed by 2 am.

To be continued…