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Torn on Bahamas Stops - Melia or Private Island?


LuCruise
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We have a 4 day cruise coming up with our kids end soon at the of August that stops at Nassau and Royal's private Island CoCo Cay. Originally we were thinking of staying on the ship in Nassau and enjoying CoCo Cay (assuming water isn't too rough and they can tender), but I have heard that there are lots of jellyfish at the moment at CoCo Cay. That will scare our kids (and me too as don't want them to get stung).

 

On the flip side, I read a post that someone was at Melia recently and no jellyfish there and water was great. So.....should we swap our plan and get off in Nassau and go to Melia, and stay on ship in CoCo Cay? Can others confirm as well that water is clear and good at Melia? The flip side is what was supposed to be a free day will now cost us $$ but safety is priority.

 

Also to confirm for Melia...

  • I think the cost is $47 for adults, $25 for kids (our son is 13 so think he is adult price)?
  • Taxi is around $20-25?
  • Includes chairs, umbrella, chair and towels?
  • Can we buy passes when we get there? Or do we need to buy ahead? Bahamas in August can have iffy weather so if raining, we wouldn't want to go.

Thanks in advance for confirmation, and any advice really appreciated.

Edited by LuCruise
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Why not get off at both? I'm missing something. You can walk around Nassau very easily. The ship lets you off right in town. Lots to see, if you don't want to spend money at a resort.

 

It's just a 4 day cruise so we'd rather have the extra sea day and enjoy the ship...with the other one day being a beach day.

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We were in Coco Cay August 7 and Nassau August 8. Coco Cay was full of jellyfish that day I don’t really know if they come and go or what factors determine their presence. We went to Melia from the ship paid $25 to get there. There were only three of us and the taxi driver said it was five dollars apiece if we had five people but we couldn’t find anyone else so just went the three of us for $25. Cost includes use of the pools...2 family pools and one adult pool…chairs and towels and use of the beach. Each adult gets a coupon for a free drink at Starbucks which is in the lobby. We booked ahead of time with bookatourcaribbean.com

There is a restaurant if you want to buy lunch.

Edited by Marie51
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We were in Coco Cay August 7 and Nassau August 8. Coco Cay was full of jellyfish that day I don’t really know if they come and go or what factors determine their presence. We went to Melia from the ship paid $25 to get there. There were only three of us and the taxi driver said it was five dollars apiece if we had five people but we couldn’t find anyone else so just went the three of us for $25. Cost includes use of the pools...2 family pools and one adult pool…chairs and towels and use of the beach. Each adult gets a coupon for a free drink at Starbucks which is in the lobby. We booked ahead of time with bookatourcaribbean.com

There is a restaurant if you want to buy lunch.

 

Yes...I think it was your post on another thread that worried me ;)

 

For us, Nassau is first and CoCo Cay is second, so we can't make a judgement call after CoCo Cay (and we want one of those as a ship day for such a short cruise). Melia does look nice.

 

Jellyfish come and go; you can have them at a beach one day and they're sometimes gone the next. Or vice-versa. Here's more information (than you ever wanted to know): https://qz.com/133251/jellyfish-are-taking-over-the-seas-and-it-might-be-too-late-to-stop-them/

 

 

Do you know how quickly things can change? i.e. if it was bad last week, could following week be clear? Gonna check out the article in your link. Thanks.

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There is also a bus (#10) for $1.25pp that will take you to Melia...a huge savings compared to a $25 cab ride plus tip, right?

Of course bus per person is much less than taking a cab but from all the information I read it was a few blocks to walk to the bus stop. This is why I decided it is not for us. I recently had hip replacement surgery and to walk several blocks would be difficult. Getting off the ship and walking to the taxi stand was about my limit.

The taxi was $20 and I gave the driver a $5 tip that’s the total of $25.

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Of course bus per person is much less than taking a cab but from all the information I read it was a few blocks to walk to the bus stop. This is why I decided it is not for us. I recently had hip replacement surgery and to walk several blocks would be difficult. Getting off the ship and walking to the taxi stand was about my limit.

The taxi was $20 and I gave the driver a $5 tip that’s the total of $25.

Got it! The taxi is always better if there is a problem walking several blocks...and in the heat! Plus I bet the taxi was faster as I'm not sure how many stops the bus makes on the way.

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OP here. At the moment we are leaning towards CoCo Cay. Royal's private island seems really nice and with other things going on (e.g. balloon toss, relay races, etc). We'll just be very careful in the water and if one area seems bad, try another (and we did purchase anti-jellyfish suntan lotion as a precaution).

 

But we can always change our minds when we reach Nassau (which is our first stop) and head to Melia resort. No one responded to my last question, but I think you can also drop in (vs having to pre-book passes).

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OP here. At the moment we are leaning towards CoCo Cay. Royal's private island seems really nice and with other things going on (e.g. balloon toss, relay races, etc). We'll just be very careful in the water and if one area seems bad, try another (and we did purchase anti-jellyfish suntan lotion as a precaution).

 

But we can always change our minds when we reach Nassau (which is our first stop) and head to Melia resort. No one responded to my last question, but I think you can also drop in (vs having to pre-book passes).

We are going the week after you, so please let us know if you can just drop in instead of rebooking. Thank you!

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We are going the week after you, so please let us know if you can just drop in instead of rebooking. Thank you!

 

We fly in tomorrow for our cruise . At the moment we are leaning towards CoCo Cay, but will report back.

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We fly in tomorrow for our cruise . At the moment we are leaning towards CoCo Cay, but will report back.

Okay....we go to Cococay first on our 3 night cruise...still checking the weather but probably won’t have a true forecast for next Sunday until Wed. Or Thurs.

Enjoy every minute of your cruise!

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We went to Melia a few years ago and bought day passes at the front desk. Honestly we had just as much fun last year at the Junkanoo public beach.

I think we will wait and see how the weather is that day...right now the forecast is scattered thunderstorms:( so we don’t want to spend the money going to Melia when we can just walk to Junkanoo. All we want to see if that beautiful blue water...but the sun needs to shine!

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