Bahamas And Family Vacations Article

Mega-Liners On Mini-Cruises Offer Great Escapes Year-Round, Combining A Bahamian Getaway With A Central Florida Theme Park Stay

If frolicking a few days in the never-never land of a Florida theme park sounds like your idea of the perfect family getaway, go a step further and let dreams take sail by rounding out your fantasy week with a cruise to paradise. Think of it--in one neat package you can combine escapes to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando with the beaches of the Bahamas.

Fueling your magic carpet to adventure are family-friendly mega-liners that offer three- and four-day cruises from Port Canaveral, on the east-central coast of Florida, just over an hour's drive from Orlando. Every week of the year, two tourism giants--Carnival and Disney---offer land/sea vacations that have special appeal for first-time cruisers.

Carnival Cruise Lines, the world's largest cruise line, twice a week dispatches its recently refurbished Fantasy from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. The 2,056-passenger ship entered service in 1990 and is the signature vessel in the line's "Fantasy Class," a group of eight phenomenally successful 70,367-gross-register-ton "SuperLiners."

The Fantasy's focal point is the Grand Spectrum, a seven-deck atrium crowned by an immense skylight. Computer-controlled dimmers constantly--although slowly and almost imperceptibly--change the colors of the lights that reflect off the white and gray decor, creating the dramatic illusion that the atrium itself is changing color. A glamorous double staircase with glass balustrades winds upward through the atrium, wrapping around two glass elevators outlined in red neon. A 20-foot-high kinetic sculpture on Empress Deck mesmerizes guests with brilliant geometric designs rotating on cylinders, creating a wild, flashing effect.

The Via Marina promenade, fresh from a redesign, is inspired by the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, with a faux stone floor, electric "torches," Doric columns, and terra-cotta urns. Located aft of the promenade is the new Formality Shop, where guests can rent tuxedos and purchase flowers, fine chocolates, and other "Fun Ship" mementos.

Kids flock to Children's World, a carefree kingdom with a vast assortment of toys, computers loaded with educational software and games, and an arts & crafts area. A new teen center features Sega Dreamcast video game units, plus foosball and pool tables. Other gathering spots are the three swimming pools, one with a 115-foot-long waterslide.

The Camp Carnival program for various age groups (from 2- to 15-years-old) brims with supervised activities from morning to night. Older kids might take part in a scavenger hunt or ping-pong tournament, while sing-a-longs, puppet shows, face-painting, and cookie-decorating are popular with the younger set.

Entertainment venues range from Cleopatra's, an Egyptian-themed piano bar, to the pulsating Electricity dance club; from the huge Club 21 casino, with scores of slots and dozens of gaming tables, to the multi-deck Universe Lounge with elaborate Las Vegas-style revues. Feline fanciers like the Cats Lounge, inspired by the Broadway musical of the same name; you enter through a giant Pet Milk can turned on its side. Located amidships along the promenade is a new Internet Cafe where guests can check e-mail and stock prices, obtain news updates, surf the web, and even send a video postcard.

In the Fantasy's two main dining rooms, the children's menu (printed on back of a coloring/activity book) lists favorites .like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and peanut-butter & jelly sandwiches. At the poolside Windows On The Sea, guests can enjoy a buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or a 24-hour pizzeria serving seven kinds of pizza and calzone, along with garlic rolls and caesar salad. Junior sailors find chocolate-chip cookies on their pillows the first and last nights.

Both kids and adults like using the Fountain Fun Card, good for unlimited soft drinks at any bar or restaurant on the ship. On a three-day cruise, children's cards are $9, adults $.

The Fantasy's three- and four-day Bahamas itineraries include a full day and overnight in Nassau, where passengers can prowl the duty-free shops, tempt Lady Luck in the casinos, and take a variety of tours. The most popular excursion goes to Blue Lagoon Island, a Robinson Crusoe-style hideaway with watersports, a restaurant, and a limbo dance performance. Blue Lagoon options include snorkeling in Stingray City marine park and interacting with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Also from Nassau, the Fantasy offers snorkeling and scuba tours to Athol Island National Marine Park. Four-day cruises, besides serving Nassau, devote a day to Freeport, where snorkeling and dolphin encounters are also available.

Carnival's seven-day Bahamas cruise/Orlando package includes a rental car with unlimited free mileage, Kennedy Space Center tour, and three- or four-night hotel accommodations. Among the hotel choices are Universal Orlando's exquisite Portofino Bay Hotel (modeled after the Italian Riviera village of Portofino) and brand new Hard Rock Hotel.

Disney Cruise Line's one-week land/sea getaway starts with three or four nights at a Walt Disney World resort and is followed by a three- or four-night cruise on the 83,000-grt/1,750-passenger Disney Wonder. A single key-card provides access to both shoreside and shipboard accommodations, unlimited admission to all Walt Disney World theme parks and water parks, and charging privileges at Disney restaurants and shops. Hotel choices range from Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa to the moderately priced Dixie Landings, Port Orleans, and Caribbean Beach resorts. Disney Cruise Line motorcoaches provide transportation throughout the vacation.

A highlight on every sailing of the Disney Wonder is the full-day escape to Castaway Cay, Disney's private pearl in the string of Bahamian islands called the Abacos. At three miles long and two miles wide, this tropical oasis has two separate beaches--one for families and kids, and Serenity Bay, a secluded beach just for adults. The Disney Wonder docks right at the island, allowing guests to walk from ship to shore.

Castaway Cay offers a 15-acre snorkeling course above a living reef, plus rental sailboats, kayaks, aqua-trikes, paddleboats, and rafts. There are family beach games and live Bahamian music. Other diversions include hiking and biking in undeveloped nature areas. Kids keep busy at the lagoon's three-story, water-play fort and the whale dig site, where they uncover shark's teeth, fossilized shells, and other treasures. Teens team up to play volleyball and undertake the challenge of designing, building, and racing a seaworthy vessel. Grownups can indulge in an open-air massage in a private cabana on their beach or nap in a hammock beneath swaying palms. The island's bountiful lunch buffet features barbecued chicken, hickory-smoked ribs, hamburgers, and corn-on-the-cob.

Exclusive Castaway Cay souvenirs are sold at She Sells Sea Shells. The isle even has its own post office, where guests can purchase Disney Cruise Line Bahamian stamps and receive a Castaway Cay postmark.

The Disney Wonder also spends a day in Nassau, where shore tours include Blue Lagoon, Athol Island snorkeling, and a glass-bottom boat excursion in Nassau Harbor. A beach day at the lavish Atlantis resort and casino on Paradise Island includes lunch and a guided tour of its stunning aquarium. The four-night cruise visits Freeport as well.

Launched in 1999, the Disney Wonder is fashioned after classic, 1920s-era ocean liners but boasts loads of innovative features that please all ages. The dining plan, for example, rotates guests through three themed restaurants during the cruise. Accompanied by their familiar wait staff, they enjoy the color-splashed Parrot Cay, Little Mermaid trappings in the casually elegant Triton's, and Animator's Palate, which transforms itself from stunning black and white to full color as images from Disney films appear with each new course. Palo, the adults-only restaurant, dishes up Northern Italian cuisine and topside views with not a highchair in sight.

Nearly an entire deck of the Disney Wonder is designed just for kids. From 9 . to midnight, the Oceaneer Club has supervised activities for ages 3-8, with special visits by Disney characters. In the Oceaneer Lab, kids 9-12 delve into high-tech fun, including electronic games played on giant video walls and interactive computer games. Parents are given pagers so they can stay in touch. Teens find high-seas independence at Common Grounds, a New York-style coffeehouse just for them. One of the three swimming pools has Mickey Mouse holding up a red slide with a giant gloved hand.

The ship presents Broadway-style Disney musicals in the 975-seat Walt Disney Theatre, while the Studio Sea family nightclub hosts karaoke sessions and game shows. Route 66, the adults' nighttime entertainment district, includes WaveBands dance club, Barrel of Laughs (an improv comedy club with dueling pianos and sing-alongs), and Cadillac Lounge, a piano bar evocative of vintage cars and memories of lover's lane. The Buena Vista Theatre shows just-released movies and Disney classics day and night. Other places to hang out: the Internet Cafe and ESPN Skybox for big-screen TV sports action via satellite.

Most of the 875 staterooms on the Disney Wonder feature an industry first--a bath-and-a-half. Three-fourths of all staterooms are outside, with private verandas in 44 percent of them.

To plan your magical week in Orlando and the Bahamas, see your travel agent or contact Carnival Cruise Lines (Cruise Travel Magazine), 3655 NW 87th Ave., Miami, FL 33178, on the web at .com; or Disney Cruise Line (Cruise Travel Magazine), 210 Celebration Pl., Celebration, FL 34747, on the web at .com.