Weekend Cruisin': The Alternate Reality
If you read the budget post for our cruise to the Bahamas, you know we spent about $3500 on the trip. I was curious if we could have managed a non-cruise tropical getaway to the Bahamas on a similar budget. To be clear, I don’t regret the trip we took and the chance to finally go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was one I couldn’t pass up. But, planning even fictional trips is my idea of fun, so here we are.
Let’s start with the flights. Although we flew out of Eugene for our trip, i would probably choose Portland if I were flying to Nassau. Typical costs for flights for a Wednesday to Monday trip are $530 per person in January. We could fly out Wednesday evening and arrive in the sunny and tropical Bahamas by midday Thursday. Costs so far $1060.
Now where to stay - I would want to find somewhere to stay where we could do some of the same activities we enjoyed in Nassau, but also have access to a quiet beach and the chance to relax. Traditional all inclusive resorts aren’t really our favorite, so we would look at other places to stay. Ideally, we would spend a couple of days in or near Nassau and a couple of days on another island.
Upon arrival in Nassau, we would check in to A Stone’s Throw Away. This boutique bed and breakfast is exactly the kind of place I look for - great location, gorgeous views, and a unique feel. With only 10 rooms, this small property has a year round pool and is within walking distance of the beach. Two nights at this boutique hotel would cost $568.10 including breakfast. After dropping off our bags (it would probably still be too early to check into our room), my vote would be to head straight to the beach to fill my belly with conch and a Bahama Mama or two.
We would spend Friday exploring Nassau, perhaps taking a food tour and checking out some of the historical sites. Saturday morning would probably find me by the pool before checking out of our hotel and heading to the airport for a quick flight to Staniel Cay. Local flights on Flamingo Air to Staniel Cay on the Exuma Cays would set us back about $250 each. We would get to Staniel Cay around 5 pm, just in time to check into our room at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club before dinner. We would fly back to Nassau Monday morning to catch our flight home, giving us all day Sunday to enjoy the island.
I know there are many places we could stay in The Bahamas, so many islands to explore. There are almost endless good options, but Staniel Cay has been on my radar for a while. Staniel Cay Yacht Club is appealing due to the proximity to swimming pigs and secluded beaches. The best part, though? You can add the full amenity package, which includes your very own 13 or 17 foot skiff. Twist my arm. A package plan, which includes meals and a boat, along with non-motorized activities, starts at $413 a night for two people this time of year, so the cost for two nights would be $950 with taxes and fees. We would have almost no additional costs while here. We could even ask for a picnic lunch to enjoy while out on the boat.
In addition to the flights and hotels, I estimate that we would spend about $500 on food and beverages (largely on expensive dinners and cold beverages on the beach) and $300 on activities and transportation (e.g., a taxi into Nassau). Although there’s some wiggle room in this, that would bring the total for our pretend Bahamas vacation to $3628.10. Obviously the side trip to the Exumas is a little splurgy and we could certainly find a less expensive place to stay for those two nights. An alternative would be to stay in Nassau for the duration of the trip and take a day trip like this one or this one.
Everyone’s idea of a perfect vacation is different. I honestly went into this exercise with no effort to match the budget of this trip to the one we actually took - I simply planned the type of trip I would like to take with a reasonable consideration of hotel costs (there were definitely more expensive places to stay). All in all, though, the cost ended up close to what we spent on our cruise vacation. For me, the moral of the story is that whatever your budget and whatever type of trip you’d like to take, there is probably a way to make it happen. There are so many options and so many ways to have a good vacation. We have a choice in how we spend our precious vacation time and money. It’s worth the effort to make it what you want it to be, whether it’s a day in a theme park followed by a 3 night Bahamas cruise or 4 days spent in paradise, no cruise needed.
Up next, my last hotel stay, something I did not fully appreciate at the time. Oh how I miss hotels.