Nassau Cruise Port With Kids: What It’s Really Like With a Stroller
We visited the Nassau cruise port in The Bahamas during our fall 2023 sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. It was our first international port as a family of three. My kids were just 9 months and 2 years old at the time, and I’ll be honest: I was equal parts excited and overwhelmed heading ashore as the only adult with two tiny kids and a stroller.
This post breaks down exactly what it was like to explore Nassau with a baby, toddler, and double stroller, from getting real Bahamas passport stamps to navigating the cruise terminal, city streets, and Queen’s Staircase. If you’re wondering whether Nassau is stroller-friendly, how easy it is to get around with little ones, or whether it’s better to stay close to the cruise port, here’s exactly how it played out.
Getting a Bahamas Passport Stamp
When we first got off the ship at the Nassau cruise port, my first priority was to get the kids a Bahamas passport stamp. It was their first time out of the country, and I wanted them to have a stamp to remember it by.
I’d read that if you go inside the Nassau Bahamas Cruise Terminal building and ask, you could get passports stamped. When we walked into the building, there wasn’t any specific place to do it, but an employee approached me right away, so I told him what I was looking for. He pointed me to a guy sitting in a chair who had a stamp and stamped them without issues.
Also worth noting: this is a real Bahamas passport stamp, not a novelty one like you might receive at a touristy location like Machu Picchu. I have one of those in an old passport, too. Novelty stamps can invalidate your passport, but that was not a concern here in The Bahamas.
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Navigating the Cruise Port Market With a Stroller
After getting the stamps, we walked through the market area of the Nassau cruise port. I didn’t stop to do anything or buy anything, but it was super nice, clean, and easy to navigate. There were no issues pushing our Zoe Twin+ double stroller through this area either. If you’re sticking close to the terminal, Nassau with a stroller is totally doable.
Here’s a quick look at what the Nassau cruise port area looked like with a stroller—smooth paths, friendly staff, and no crowds at all during our visit.
Leaving the Cruise Port Area
After that, I walked out of the cruise port area and into the city of Nassau with the kids. There are several exits along the fence line of the market that lead directly into the city. You can leave from any of them—there’s nothing special you need to do. The exits are guarded so people can’t walk in, but to leave you just walk through. When you return, you’ll need to show your cruise SeaPass card so they can verify you’re returning to one of the ships in port.
Visiting Queen’s Staircase
My only goal during our stop at the Nassau cruise port with kids was to visit Queen’s Staircase—a historic limestone staircase carved by enslaved people in the 1700s and later named to honor Queen Victoria. It’s within walking distance from the port, about a 10-minute walk.
The walk itself was pretty easy in theory. I had downloaded an offline map of Nassau with a pin at the staircase and followed that. The route was straightforward. The problem was that Nassau with a stroller is not ideal. The sidewalks are narrow, broken, bumpy, or nonexistent in some places. There are very few curb ramps, so I had to hop up and down between the sidewalk and street with the stroller multiple times. It was hot, I was sweating, and I was determined. We did make it to the stairs.
Then I realized I’d made one more rookie mistake: I had navigated us to the top of the Queen’s Staircase. And a staircase is just that—stairs. I couldn’t bring the stroller down, and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving it unattended. So we stood at the top for a few minutes, listened to a nearby guide explain the history, and then made our way back to the ship—hot, tired, and a little frustrated.
Is Nassau Cruise Port Stroller-Friendly?
In hindsight, I wouldn’t recommend trying to navigate downtown Nassau with a stroller, especially a double stroller. If you want to explore beyond the cruise port with small kids, I’d suggest babywearing or having older kids walk. Everything is close together, so it’s manageable distance-wise, but the sidewalks and curb cuts made the stroller harder than I expected.
That said, if you plan to stay inside the Nassau cruise port area with kids, or visit one of the restaurants just outside the terminal, absolutely take the stroller with you. That part of Nassau is clean, calm, and easy to explore with little ones in tow.
For us, the stroller worked well near the port, but I would not choose it again for walking all the way to Queen’s Staircase with two very young kids.
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