Just back from Perfect Day At Coco Cay

[Iamcruzin]

10 hours ago, TYMAN said:

Last thing from our trip this past week. Someone had a bit too much to drink at the pool swim up bar and chunked in the pool. They had the pool closed all afternoon till they could drain it. Lots of disappointed people. Luckily I was at the beach and only walked past the pool during that time. 

Most unfortunate. Unlimited drink packages and swim up bars are a direct conflict of interest in more ways than one. 1991 they had one on the Crown Princess. The pool was drained everyday. That was the last time I saw a swim up bar on a cruise ship.

[JoeFan]

That is a really big pool to drain. And where do they get all that fresh water to refill it?

 

Do they desalinate the sea water?

[gatour]

56 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Most unfortunate. Unlimited drink packages and swim up bars are a direct conflict of interest in more ways than one. 1991 they had one on the Crown Princess. The pool was drained everyday. That was the last time I saw a swim up bar on a cruise ship.

Why do I get flashbacks to the movie Caddie Shack.  🙂

 

We have been to a Sandals, where swim up bars and unlimited drinks are de riguer.  During the day I pretty much lived at the swim up bar reading, enjoying the cool water, and the unlimited drinks.

 

The pool never needed to be drained.  However I attribute that to a much smaller amount of people and a slightly different target market than a mass market cruise line.

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, JoeFan said:

That is a really big pool to drain. And where do they get all that fresh water to refill it?

 

Do they desalinate the sea water?

 

Yes, they have a huge capacity to make fresh water.

[OCruisers]

Hope this is not too off topic .... But ... Do Celebrity ships ever have port stops to CoCo Cay?

Our first port stop at CoCo Cay many years ago was on Celebrity Galaxy.  

[James Baird]

Has anyone tried the float out bar off the beach?

[RocCruisers]

Another question that could be its own post. 

Is there a separate staff that lives on the island, or do most come from the ship?  Do they close down any of the pools, slides, resturants etc on the ship while docked?

 

[Cru1s1ng2009]

22 minutes ago, James Baird said:

Has anyone tried the float out bar off the beach?

Yes. DD and I walked to it last year. It wasn't deep enough to swim, lol. Pretty good selection of booze.

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, RocCruisers said:

Another question that could be its own post. 

Is there a separate staff that lives on the island, or do most come from the ship?  Do they close down any of the pools, slides, resturants etc on the ship while docked?

 

 

Some of the staff live on the island.

[vacationlover_mn]

5 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Some of the staff live on the island.

Interesting!  Has it always been like that, or  is it a more recent thing?

[Clarea]

35 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Interesting!  Has it always been like that, or  is it a more recent thing?

 

Been like that as long as I can remember.  Probably more now with the amusement park.

[vacationlover_mn]

Thx!

[Ourusualbeach]

On 5/12/2019 at 7:52 PM, OCruisers said:

Hope this is not too off topic .... But ... Do Celebrity ships ever have port stops to CoCo Cay?

Our first port stop at CoCo Cay many years ago was on Celebrity Galaxy.  

I believe that they have in the past however there are none scheduled to call on CocoCay as far out as the itineraries go.  

[OCruisers]

53 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I believe that they have in the past however there are none scheduled to call on CocoCay as far out as the itineraries go.  

 

Thanks for replying. Even way back we had our Galaxy port stop there, Celebrity ships seldom had port stops there.  Too bad so sad ... but things are the way they are.  

[Iamcruzin]

On 5/12/2019 at 7:52 PM, OCruisers said:

Hope this is not too off topic .... But ... Do Celebrity ships ever have port stops to CoCo Cay?

Our first port stop at CoCo Cay many years ago was on Celebrity Galaxy.  

As someone who prefers Celebrity over Royal Caribbean I would say that now that the island is an amusement park, a stop at Coco Cay would not be a perfect day for their demographic.  

[CRUISEFAN0001]

1 minute ago, Iamcruzin said:

As someone who prefers Celebrity over Royal Caribbean I would say that now that the island is an amusement park, a stop at Coco Cay would not be a perfect day for their demographic.  

Actually...Coco Cay is more of a beach & water park location than an amusement park. By the looks of the demand for cruises with that destination...there's a huge market for that kind of destination.

 

That said, agree that the demographic typically cruising on Celebrity is less likely to seek this kind of destination. 

[Welly9]

I havent found a decent 'NEW' CocoCay map, to pre scout the best place to park ourselves at a beach...previous to the make over, we found a great quiet beach location, small crowds vs the larger crowded beach areas..

⛵🚙

[CRUISEFAN0001]

2 hours ago, Welly9 said:

I havent found a decent 'NEW' CocoCay map, to pre scout the best place to park ourselves at a beach...previous to the make over, we found a great quiet beach location, small crowds vs the larger crowded beach areas..

⛵🚙

Just spent 5 seconds to Google "Coco Cay Map 2019" and found this 3 week old one here:

 

Coco Cay Map April 2019

 

Whew...I'm exhausted...

 

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by CRUISEFAN0001

[Welly9]

HA, just found that exact one now, BUT not print friendly...

[CRUISEFAN0001]

40 minutes ago, Welly9 said:

HA, just found that exact one now, BUT not print friendly...

Save the file first on your computer...then print out. It can be enlarged or shrunk. You could even insert it into a Word doc and adjust the size. Lots of options...but its crystal clear here when printed.

[Welly9]

8 minutes ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

Save the file first on your computer...then print out. It can be enlarged or shrunk. You could even insert it into a Word doc and adjust the size. Lots of options...but its crystal clear here when printed.

Yep, yep and Yep, but I went to legal, and did custom and didnt work until I checked fit to print..all good thanks!

Will be there this time next week..

[CRUISEFAN0001]

21 minutes ago, Welly9 said:

Yep, yep and Yep, but I went to legal, and did custom and didnt work until I checked fit to print..all good thanks!

Will be there this time next week..

Great...now you can check out all sorts of things in advance of your visit there soon.

[jpm1973]

Had a stop at Coco Cay on the Mariner on April 26 - the weekend prior to the official opening. We were originally supposed to be the only ship there but Enchantment ended up swapping days in Nassau and pulled in right after we did. I'm guessing they were wanting to test capacity with two ships docked on the same day. We ended up finding spots by the pool and stayed there most of the day. It was fairly empty at first - we were off the ship by 8:30 - but by early afternoon there were no chairs to be found at the pool. Same at Harbor Beach but when we walked around there seemed to be plenty of spots around the outer beach areas.

 

We had a 3-day on Symphony booked over Memorial Day and just received notice yesterday that they are adding a stop at Coco Cay on Sunday and switching our day in Nassau to Monday. No sea day anymore. From what I can tell we will be there with Mariner so depending on booking there could be upwards of 10,000 passengers on the island this day. Will be interesting to see how crowded it feels - I'm sure now that all the areas are open it may seem less so this time. But I can only imagine the wait for those slides.

 

I checked out prices for cabanas and things and no thanks - $600 for a pool cabana? With chairs and bottled water? I'm perfectly happy snagging a regular chair and just flagging down a waiter when I need a drink. I'm sure people will pay it though. 

 

Here are some pictures from our visit in April.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by jpm1973

[SAmome]

15 minutes ago, jpm1973 said:

Had a stop at Coco Cay on the Mariner on April 26 - the weekend prior to the official opening. We were originally supposed to be the only ship there but Enchantment ended up swapping days in Nassau and pulled in right after we did. I'm guessing they were wanting to test capacity with two ships docked on the same day. We ended up finding spots by the pool and stayed there most of the day. It was fairly empty at first - we were off the ship by 8:30 - but by early afternoon there were no chairs to be found at the pool. Same at Harbor Beach but when we walked around there seemed to be plenty of spots around the outer beach areas.

 

We had a 3-day on Symphony booked over Memorial Day and just received notice yesterday that they are adding a stop at Coco Cay on Sunday and switching our day in Nassau to Monday. No sea day anymore. From what I can tell we will be there with Mariner so depending on booking there could be upwards of 10,000 passengers on the island this day. Will be interesting to see how crowded it feels - I'm sure now that all the areas are open it may seem less so this time. But I can only imagine the wait for those slides.

 

 

Just a couple of things.  I don't think the waterpark was open just yet on your April 27th visit and it looked like South beach was closed on many maps, so both ships were occupying a smaller space than normal.

 

Also, Mariner swapped days, similar to Enchantment did, such that it will be with Navigator instead of Symphony at Coco Cay.  RCCL is betting that they have enough room for either Oasis class or two sister ships like Mariner/navigator.  I'm guessing that is their max capacity until 2020 when the other areas will be done.

 

They erased all the Mariner excursions for May 26th and right now the cruise planner shows very little and at full cost.  Hopefully they will offer some similar sales as Navigator is getting on Coco Cay visits b/c without some going to water park and cabanas, the pool will be nuts, even if "just one" ship in port. 

 

8 or 9 days isn't a lot of lead time for people to think about coco cay reservations.  I'd consider a jetski or something but not at full price.  empty cabana areas if they don't discount somewhat.

 

 

[jpm1973]

You are correct the waterpark was most definitely not open on our visit in April - I thought I had said that but realized now I did not. And after I posted I saw that Mariner is swapping dates and we'll be the only ship there on May 26. There are hardly and Coco Cay excursions available for our sailing - I'm guessing more will open but we are running out of time for people to plan...