Hotel: At first glance we were shocked - yes, coming from the Westin Diplomat to the Royal Islander was a major downgrade, but you adjust after 4 Rum 151 drinks and life is good again. The "restaurant" is only open for limited hours, but there's a burger king and KFC around the corner. The waitress there "her name escapes me" was very nice and you can see she worked hard for her family so I appreciated her very good service and tipped her more than the actually breakfast (stay away from the "bacon"). The beds are HARD, but again.. open mouth insert enough rum and it feels like you're sleeping in heaven.

Transportation: We paid $2 pp for a taxi from the harbor to the hotel. $1.75 for the bus (which has no schedule and stops running at 8 pm or so) from the Royal Islander to Port Lacaya Marketplace. Expect vans labeled taxi and bus to be packed with tourists.

Shopping: Port Lacaya Marketplace. The food and shops were grossly overpriced so we ate one meal and bailed. If you're used to NY prices, then it would seem reasonable but for us we could beat all the prices at the local walgreens. The nightclub Amnesia???? in freeport next to the royal islander was closed (but heard there was one at the lucaya casino) and the international bazzaar was 75% closed.

Nice surprise: Now the best $60 spent was Ester's personal 3 hr tour of the island, the residential homes, the kentucky fried chicken founder castle, the marketplace and the beaches. Ester is the "concierge" at the Royal Islander, with her bubbly personality, we fit right in. She took us to the fruit market, which was mainly closed on Sunday, but two shops were open Mr. Conch fritters man and the drink stand across the alley from him. Before you knew it, we were dancing in the alley drinking some concoction of a drink and enjoying the bahamaian locals. Not getting any kickbacks or promos but she was awesome and I look forward to seeing her again and bringing about 20 people with us to see how we can all fit in her van! Call her and tell her Jerry & Ora said hey! Her number: 242-352-9176 or 242-441-3764

Resort Lunch: The downside - we fell for the 3 hr free lunch, free 6 tshirts and 1 wk vacation resort spill. the lunch was sandwiches and the resort exterior was old, but the rooms were very modern. The $9490 payable today sticker price just screamed are you freaking kidding me! So not worth it for us.

Overall: Freeport/Lacaya is not Nassau so manage your expectations accordingly.. no one carries a watch or knows the time and after asking about 10 times, you'll soon give up and learn to go with the flow. sundays are church day so expect 80% of the shops to be closed until night time. Yes, you can do all the activities you want, but for us, we just wanted to put our feet in the sand, watch the sun set and have as many drinks as we can stomach.