Do you have an upcoming cruise vacation stopping in Nassau, Bahamas? Not only is there a beautiful new cruise port, there is a new beautiful waterpark excursion that cruise passengers can explore and spend the day. The Baha Bay waterpark at the Baha Mar Resort is worth every penny! This new Day Pass excursion option in Nassau, Bahamas offered by Resort for a Day was by far one of my favorite excursions.

I booked independently online about a month before our cruise using the website Resort for a Day. Resort for a Day always makes booking an independent excursion easy and stress free. We docked from 8:00AM to 5:00P.M on the Carnival Sunshine this past June 2023. The Baha Bay waterpark opens at 10:00A.M and is only about a 15-minute taxi ride from the cruise pier so we took our time enjoying breakfast on the ship, and disembarked at about 9:00AM to take a look at the new port area and shops before grabbing a taxi. The new Nassau Cruise Port area is just amazing! Such a wonderful transformation. Taxis are always lined up and waiting right outside the port area, you will never have any problem getting a taxi here in Nassau. Most taxi drivers do not take credit card, so make sure you have some cash and small bills as they do not always have the ability to make change.

Taxi from the Nassau cruise port for two of us it was $18+tip so $20 one way. No waiting in line at Baha Bay check in counter. Handed them our printed pass and signed a liability waiver. Those under 18 must have a parental guardian accompanying them. I Love the electronic wristbands. After getting the wristbands you will walk over to the park entrance where employees will ask to check bags for any outside food/drink and glass bottles. Employees did not touch our bags, but asked that we open and show inside the bag to verify that there were no restricted items in our bag. 

The Baha Bay Waterpark has a great layout and great informational signs all through the park. I liked that everything was in one large area not spaced out that you get lost trying to find all the attractions. I took a picture of the map when I walked in so I had it saved on my phone to navigate while in the park. They do also have an APP and Wi-Fi was included to use, but I found just using my phone picture was easiest for just the 1 day. Plenty of shops and small shopping kiosks for forgotten essentials or souvenirs. Plenty of snack shacks, bars, and restaurant options in the park. The entire Baha Bay park is cashless so you will need a credit card for any purchases made. If you use a Visa/Mastercard debit card be sure to let your bank know that you are traveling internationally.

Restrooms with private showers, and a family room with changing tables near each attraction. Restrooms were very clean and well maintained. Nice to have so many different restroom areas so no long waiting lines, or wandering around trying to find one.

There are 3 different areas for the lockers. The lockers locations are outside restroom areas. Locker rental is accessed with your wristband so no worry of losing key. We rented the larger $20 locker which fit our two large backpacks and shoes with room to spare. It was a bit complicated at first to use. There are two separate Bar Code Reader areas on each side of the locker room. For your first initial locker opening, you have to scan your wristband on the smaller QR Code reader at the left for it to locate and assign you a locker in that area, then that locker door will open. When you come back and need back into that locker, you use the bigger QR Reader on the right that will ask you if you are done for the day, or if you want to continue to use.

One thing we did not find at Baha Bay was lines or crowds. The large waterslide attractions maybe had 5 guest waiting in line, but the line moved so fast because the rides have the option for families to go down together. Those steps to get up to the top of those slides is a workout. Start your stair stepping a few months before your cruise to be prepared and not have severely sore leg muscles later that evening or next day. Also nice that you did not have to carry your slide floats up the steps with you. Elevator takes the floats back up to the top. There was also many pool / lazy river floats available. Life jackets for adults and children are also set up by many of the attractions like the kids splash park area and the wave pool area.

My favorite attraction was the lagoon wave pool area. Every so often like maybe every 15 minute the calm pool will have a large tidal wave come up from the back area. Lifeguards do not like for you to get too close to the rocks so stay in the central area here. This location in the park would also be a great area to set up camp for the day if you are traveling with family or friends and want a good meeting point. Plenty of chairs with umbrellas on the soft sand, almost felt like kinetic sand. Also a shoe storage station here.

Kids areas are in opposite side of park, and beach area well-staffed with certified lifeguards stationed at many positions to keep an eye on everyone. I didn’t have any young children with me on this trip so I did not spend much time in the kid’s areas. I did observe plenty of staff, lifeguards, and also plenty of chairs/umbrellas for parents to stay close by. This area also was not crowded in any way. Most children were playing in the splash pad area that has a large bucket of water that dumps down every so often, maybe every 15 minutes as it gets filled.

Favorite Food/drink location in the Baha Bay waterpark is the Sugar Factory. Sugar Factory has so many fun drink options and a candy store with fun nostalgic candies and souvenir cups you can buy. The fun drinks can be with or without alcohol. They are a bit pricey but this was our fun splurge for the day. There is a larger restaurant inside the resort that opens at 5:00PM for dinner if you are docked late to 8:00P you might be able to make an early reservation online to enjoy an even more magical

We wanted to also check out the beach area in Nassau so we navigated back to the Beach club area. Day Pass guest can have access to the Beach Club, but you have to make a reservation in advance and they say there is a minimum food/beverage purchase required. I do not know what that minimum purchase amount is. Getting out to the beach area is easy with staff standing by to assist. Scan wristband to go out, and there are many set up new lounge chairs and umbrellas to the left area of the entrance. The Baha Bay Beach is on Cable Beach so calm waves and soft sand that you can wade out some ways to play in the waves.

When we finished up at 4p staff was happy to help get us a taxi back to the ship. We got back with plenty of time to check out the new shops at the port. Compared to the other waterpark options in Nassau, I feel we got the best value for our money at the Baha Bay. I recommend to all my friends and family going on a cruise to Nassau, and I will not hesitate to book again.