Nassau, Bahamas is one of the most common port stops on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and offers a variety of activities for all interests and budgets. Whether relaxing on the beach, walking around the city center, or trying out a day pass at a local resort, I try to find a new activity to do every time I visit Nassau.
On my recent weekend cruise on Freedom of the Seas, I booked an excursion to Pearl Island during our stop in Nassau. While I did not know much about Pearl Island prior to booking the excursion, I was excited to see what the island had to offer.
Booking options
There are three types of tours to book at Pearl Island: Pearl Island Beach Escape, Pearl Island Beach Escape & Snorkel, and Pearl Island VIP Cabana for 2. Each tour is five hours long including transportation.
I decided to book the Pearl Island Beach Escape excursion. I booked the tour directly through Royal Caribbean for $92.99, although the price briefly lowered to $83.99 a few weeks prior to the cruise.
The Pearl Island Beach Escape tour includes transportation, water sport gear, beach chairs and umbrellas, lunch, and access to climb the island’s lighthouse. The snorkeling tour, which is priced around $20 more than the Beach Escape, includes a 30-minute guided underwater tour of a protected reef on one side of the island.
VIP cabanas are also available to book through the “Pearl Island VIP Cabana for 2” shore excursion. Each private waterfront cabana comes with butler service, complimentary towels, a power outlet, ceiling fan, 30-minute guided snorkeling trip, and fully-stocked cooler.
The cabanas also come with an all-inclusive drink package, which includes sodas, beer, wine, and cocktails. While cabana guests will indulge in the same lunch as other guests on Pearl Island, they are served lunch directly in the cabana.
The cost of a VIP cabana at Pearl Island is $480 total for two guests.
It appears you are able to book a Pearl Island tour directly on the island’s website, although booking through the cruise line seems to be a much better option. The price is comparable to what Royal Caribbean offers, but when booking independently the website states that the boat will depart from the Paradise Island Ferry Terminal as opposed to right near the cruise ships. When factoring in the cost of a taxi to and from Paradise Island, it will probably end up being more expensive to book directly through Pearl Island.
How to get to Pearl Island
Booking an excursion to Pearl Island through Royal Caribbean includes roundtrip transportation from the cruise port to the island. Fortunately our tour boarded the boat that would take us to Pearl Island very close to where we disembarked the ship, so there was no need to walk very far.
Pearl Island is located just 30 minutes by boat …….
Source: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/05/11/excursion-focus-pearl-island-beach-escape-nassau