Just back from Perfect Day At Coco Cay

[gatour]

46 minutes ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

It would appear you answered your own query.

 

Clearly there isn't an established process in place yet (especially for the largest ships) which has been mentioned before. There have been a series of Navigator and Mariner dockings there, without the same kind of issues.

 

Sorry to hear your experience was different this very early in the life of the new Coco Cay.

Navigator and Mariner are much smaller ships.

 

So you are comparing apples and oranges.  I agree there will be growing pains as RCCL figures this out.  Do you want to be the guinea pig using the water park over the next few months (while paying for it) as they figure it out.  It is a risk/reward type thing

 

I had no interest in the water park so headed to our favorite place on the beach.  It has shade and fairly close to the Wacky Seagull junior bar and restrooms.

 

On our two Enchantment cruises last year, their was only one bartender at the bar.  Periodically I would sit at the bar with only a few other people at any one time and a few walk ups.  On our Symphony cruise, the same bar was constantly busy with three and sometimes four bar tenders working behind the counter.  I predict that this bar will be either expanded or more likely replaced with something bigger.

 

Having been to Coco Cay twice before in the last 9 months I felt there was little risk in the beaches being overcrowded as they are bigger than Labadee and it would be a relatively simple process to dump more loungers on the beaches (which they did).  However my back up plan would be to retreat back to the ship.

 

There is a reason why I don't go to new independent restaurants within six months of opening.  It takes time for them to work out systems, learn to work together (and even replace initial hires that didn't meet standards when getting under fire).  Royal Caribbean has never operated a complete water park (multiple slides, wave pools, etc) and have no idea what the demand may be (see the widely fluctuating of admission prices available pre-cruise)

 

You are discounting reports by people that are experiencing waits while yourself not actually having visited Coco Cay on an Oasis class ship within the last month is mind boggling.

 

It looks like your cruise will be on Navigator in November.  Seven months after the "new" Coco Cay opened and on a smaller ship.  My assumption you will come back and say everything was perfect and the people who made bad reports in May and June (and perhaps longer) were wrong.  However you will have had the benefit of seven months of Royal Caribbean getting their systems worked out and being on a smaller ship.  So their reports at the time of posting was correct.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by gatour

[JoeFan]

11 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

At least they offer a reduced rate if you don’t want to use the slides.

 

Rereading this I assume you mean Atlantis offers a reduced rate?

Edited May 27, 2019 by JoeFan

[Ourusualbeach]

8 minutes ago, JoeFan said:

 

Rereading this I assume you mean Atlantis offers a reduced rate?

Yes Atlantis offers a reduced rate. 

[Iamcruzin]

I don't image the lines getting any better during peak times. It's no different than any land based amusement park. A two hour wait is expected for the most popular rides. What I do see happening is Royal Caribbean adding a fast pass option maybe tying it in with the key. If people are willing to pay $1450 for a cabana what's another few hundred dollars.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

2 hours ago, gatour said:

Navigator and Mariner are much smaller ships.

 

So you are comparing apples and oranges.  I agree there will be growing pains as RCCL figures this out.  Do you want to be the guinea pig using the water park over the next few months (while paying for it) as they figure it out.  It is a risk/reward type thing

 

I had no interest in the water park so headed to our favorite place on the beach.  It has shade and fairly close to the Wacky Seagull junior bar and restrooms.

 

On our two Enchantment cruises last year, their was only one bartender at the bar.  Periodically I would sit at the bar with only a few other people at any one time and a few walk ups.  On our Symphony cruise, the same bar was constantly busy with three and sometimes four bar tenders working behind the counter.  I predict that this bar will be either expanded or more likely replaced with something bigger.

 

Having been to Coco Cay twice before in the last 9 months I felt there was little risk in the beaches being overcrowded as they are bigger than Labadee and it would be a relatively simple process to dump more loungers on the beaches (which they did).  However my back up plan would be to retreat back to the ship.

 

There is a reason why I don't go to new independent restaurants within six months of opening.  It takes time for them to work out systems, learn to work together (and even replace initial hires that didn't meet standards when getting under fire).  Royal Caribbean has never operated a complete water park (multiple slides, wave pools, etc) and have no idea what the demand may be (see the widely fluctuating of admission prices available pre-cruise)

 

You are discounting reports by people that are experiencing waits while yourself not actually having visited Coco Cay on an Oasis class ship within the last month is mind boggling.

 

It looks like your cruise will be on Navigator in November.  Seven months after the "new" Coco Cay opened and on a smaller ship.  My assumption you will come back and say everything was perfect and the people who made bad reports in May and June (and perhaps longer) were wrong.  However you will have had the benefit of seven months of Royal Caribbean getting their systems worked out and being on a smaller ship.  So their reports at the time of posting was correct.

 

 

WOW.

 

The two named ships would nearly equal one Oasis class ship...so the comparison is real - not apples & oranges.

 

We’re not going to address an agenda post or oratory one either.

 

Good luck.

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by CRUISEFAN0001

[orville99]

12 hours ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

Mmmmm....not necessarily....they are pretty heavy into surveys and polls this first full month of operation. Likely, they'll leverage the feedback for changes you might see as early as July...

Not holding my breath...

[CRUISEFAN0001]

50 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Not holding my breath...

That's good. Not everyone looks good in purple. 

[Dat Cruisin Couple]

2 minutes ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

That's good. Not everyone looks good in purple. 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I will apologize now if this has already been mentioned or addressed.  I just got off the Symphony this morning. I dont have any concerns about Oasis class ships being there.

 

 We had a last minute change of itinerary and we called on Coco Cay on Sunday.  Symphony was the only ship there.  There was NO chaos that I saw.  We got off the ship around 10am.

 

We took the kids to Splashaway Bay for a bit, then relocated to Harbor Beach.  Plenty of lounge chairs with umbrellas were available the entire time we were there at Harbor Beach.  The kids then wanted to swim in a pool so off we went to Oasis Lagoon.  We decided we wanted to make that our home base for the day around 12pm.  Also plenty of lounge chairs available with umbrellas too, so we moved our stuff.

 

Oasis Lagoon was very popular, but it handled the people well since it is such a large area.  The music was only loud if you were by the swim up bar.  If you were by the beach entry portion of the pool you could hear it but it wasn't obnoxious.

 

I peeked in the water park a few times throughout the day as I walked around and it did not look busy at all. I could not see long lines on any of the slides.  I wasn't physically in the waterpark, but from outside it looked just fine.

 

Absolutely NO lines for food as there are plenty of places throughout the island to get food.  No issues with seating by the food huts either.

 

Food is definitely improved with a much wider variety of things to eat!

 

I was dreading Perfect Day because I was really upset about them ruining the island with overdevelopment.  However we left loving it.  There is something for everyone and I never once felt like I HAD to spend extra money.  We actually didn't spend a cent on the island.  We used all the free venues and still had a great day.  There is still something for everyone from quiet beaches to thrills and more.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Sunkissed Mommy

[itsanita]

13 minutes ago, Sunkissed Mommy said:

I will apologize now if this has already been mentioned or addressed.  I just got off the Symphony this morning. I dont have any concerns about Oasis class ships being there.

 

 We had a last minute change of itinerary and we called on Coco Cay on Sunday.  Symphony was the only ship there.  There was NO chaos that I saw.  We got off the ship around 10am.

 

We took the kids to Splashaway Bay for a bit, then relocated to Harbor Beach.  Plenty of lounge chairs with umbrellas were available the entire time we were there at Harbor Beach.  The kids then wanted to swim in a pool so off we went to Oasis Lagoon.  We decided we wanted to make that our home base for the day around 12pm.  Also plenty of lounge chairs available with umbrellas too, so we moved our stuff.

 

Oasis Lagoon was very popular, but it handled the people well since it is such a large area.  The music was only loud if you were by the swim up bar.  If you were by the beach entry portion of the pool you could hear it but it wasn't obnoxious.

 

I peeked in the water park a few times throughout the day as I walked around and it did not look busy at all. I could not see long lines on any of the slides.  I wasn't physically in the waterpark, but from outside it looked just fine.

 

Absolutely NO lines for food as there are plenty of places throughout the island to get food.  No issues with seating by the food huts either.

 

Food is definitely improved with a much wider variety of things to eat!

 

I was dreading Perfect Day because I was really upset about them ruining the island with overdevelopment.  However we left loving it.  There is something for everyone and I never once felt like I HAD to spend extra money.  We actually didn't spend a cent on the island.  We used all the free venues and still had a great day.  There is still something for everyone from quiet beaches to thrills and more.

 

 Thanks so much for your review, we will be there in November, and I am now looking forward to it a little bit more!   

[kings2001]

On 5/24/2019 at 1:50 PM, suesnake2002 said:

Has any one been to south beach?? Pro's, cons?  Bungalows?

 

@suesnake2002 We were in Coco Cay on May 8th and rented a beach bungalow.  South Beach was absolutely beautiful.  My family enjoyed the day playing in the water and hanging out at the bungalow.They were doing construction way down at the other end of the beach but not near where the bungalows are located.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Sunkissed Mommy said:

Oasis Lagoon was very popular, but it handled the people well since it is such a large area.  The music was only loud if you were by the swim up bar.  If you were by the beach entry portion of the pool you could hear it but it wasn't obnoxious.

Thanks for your review. Quick question - when you were there on Sunday had they moved any of the Oasis Lagoon chairs or umbrellas off of the sand and on to the actual pool deck? When we were there in March, they were all on the pool deck.

Edited May 28, 2019 by orville99

[PopeyeDaSailor]

16 hours ago, gatour said:

Navigator and Mariner are much smaller ships.

 

So you are comparing apples and oranges.  I agree there will be growing pains as RCCL figures this out.  Do you want to be the guinea pig using the water park over the next few months (while paying for it) as they figure it out.  It is a risk/reward type thing

 

I had no interest in the water park so headed to our favorite place on the beach.  It has shade and fairly close to the Wacky Seagull junior bar and restrooms.

 

On our two Enchantment cruises last year, their was only one bartender at the bar.  Periodically I would sit at the bar with only a few other people at any one time and a few walk ups.  On our Symphony cruise, the same bar was constantly busy with three and sometimes four bar tenders working behind the counter.  I predict that this bar will be either expanded or more likely replaced with something bigger.

 

Having been to Coco Cay twice before in the last 9 months I felt there was little risk in the beaches being overcrowded as they are bigger than Labadee and it would be a relatively simple process to dump more loungers on the beaches (which they did).  However my back up plan would be to retreat back to the ship.

 

There is a reason why I don't go to new independent restaurants within six months of opening.  It takes time for them to work out systems, learn to work together (and even replace initial hires that didn't meet standards when getting under fire).  Royal Caribbean has never operated a complete water park (multiple slides, wave pools, etc) and have no idea what the demand may be (see the widely fluctuating of admission prices available pre-cruise)

 

You are discounting reports by people that are experiencing waits while yourself not actually having visited Coco Cay on an Oasis class ship within the last month is mind boggling.

 

It looks like your cruise will be on Navigator in November.  Seven months after the "new" Coco Cay opened and on a smaller ship.  My assumption you will come back and say everything was perfect and the people who made bad reports in May and June (and perhaps longer) were wrong.  However you will have had the benefit of seven months of Royal Caribbean getting their systems worked out and being on a smaller ship.  So their reports at the time of posting was correct.

 

 

 

Agree with this post.  Like I said we were on Symphony there on 5/17 and you could dock two smaller ships at another time and still have less people on the island.

 

Also like I mentioned way back the slides had green/red lighting systems at the top that clearly were not functioning yet since the staff was using walkie-talkie's and visual to send the next slider.   Once these systems are working I expect the park to function much more efficiently.  I will say this the staff did the best they could.  I did witness a change of staff at the top of the Daredevil slide and the new guy started instructing people how to slide (crossed arms/crossed legs) and the guy he relieved wasn't instructing anyone just saying, "GO".  The staff needs better training because these slides are not toys.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

11 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Thanks for your review. Quick question - when you were there on Sunday had they moved any of the Oasis Lagoon chairs or umbrellas off of the sand and on to the actual pool deck? When we were there in March, they were all on the pool deck.

 

 

 

They were all in the sand from what I recall because there was a lot of wide open walking space between the chairs and pool.  The chairs we got, in the second row, were in the sand.

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Sunkissed Mommy

[PopeyeDaSailor]

1 hour ago, Sunkissed Mommy said:

 

I peeked in the water park a few times throughout the day as I walked around and it did not look busy at all. I could not see long lines on any of the slides.  I wasn't physically in the waterpark, but from outside it looked just fine.

 

 

 

It's hard to tell from outside the WP the line size especially on Daredevil since the line wraps up the steps.  But as others have mentioned RCCL will work out better plans, the staff will get trained better and long lines for good slides are just the norm.

[Maraprince]

Do you need to bring towels from the ship or are there places on Coco Cay to get towels?

 

Thanks.

 

MARAPRINCE

[ShelleyUM]

I completely agree with @Sunkissed Mommy‘s assessment of Coco Cay. We were also just there 2 days ago on Symphony and the day was really great. We headed off the ship before 9 am and went straight to the water park.  Since we were there early, we experienced no lines for any of the slides.  Once we were done in the water park, we headed to South Beach on the trolley and we set up close to the Floating Bar.  Loungers were in abundance. When it was lunch time, we headed back to the water park to have lunch, hoping to have reduced crowds at the food venue in the water park.  We were able to walk right up to the stand and we had our meal within 1 min.  When we were done with lunch we headed to the Oasis pool and found a few loungers with shade. We then moved to the beach, as the pool area was hot without much of a breeze. We were pleasantly surprised to find yet more loungers with an umbrella without much effort. We eventually migrated back to the Oasis pool and lounged on the pool chaises for a bit.  When it was time to head back to the ship, we had absolutely no lines to deal with.  All in all, it was a great day with plenty of fun and relaxation. 

[SAmome]

2 minutes ago, ShelleyUM said:

I completely agree with @Sunkissed Mommy‘s assessment of Coco Cay. We were also just there 2 days ago on Symphony and the day was really great. We headed off the ship before 9 am and went straight to the water park.  Since we were there early, we experienced no lines for any of the slides.   

Did you see many lines when returned in the afternoon?  With the lack of notice on this sailing (for visiting Coco Cay) and no sales prices on waterpark; I think this particular Oasis class sailing may have set up the least crowded waterpark scenario for it's class.

 

 

[ShelleyUM]

@SAmome When we headed back to the water park for lunch, at around 1 pm, we did not notice any big lines. There were some people lounging by the wave pool and having lunch, but the slides were never crowded.  I think the price point for the water park on this particular sailing might’ve deterred a lot of people.  In addition, there were not too many kids on this sailing altogether, thus even shorter lines. We did notice that the maintenance crew was installing time interval notices on the stairs to the slides. When we were heading up, they were installing the 60 minute notice.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

25 minutes ago, SAmome said:

Did you see many lines when returned in the afternoon?  With the lack of notice on this sailing (for visiting Coco Cay) and no sales prices on waterpark; I think this particular Oasis class sailing may have set up the least crowded waterpark scenario for it's class.

 

 

 

This is a good point to consider.  We had about a week's notice for the change and could have had an impact as far as the water park was concerned.

 

As for the rest of the island, its was great and pleasant even with 6,400 people on the ship this weekend.

[flannbarr]

2 hours ago, Sunkissed Mommy said:

I will apologize now if this has already been mentioned or addressed.  I just got off the Symphony this morning. I dont have any concerns about Oasis class ships being there.

 

 We had a last minute change of itinerary and we called on Coco Cay on Sunday.  Symphony was the only ship there.  There was NO chaos that I saw.  We got off the ship around 10am.

 

We took the kids to Splashaway Bay for a bit, then relocated to Harbor Beach.  Plenty of lounge chairs with umbrellas were available the entire time we were there at Harbor Beach.  The kids then wanted to swim in a pool so off we went to Oasis Lagoon.  We decided we wanted to make that our home base for the day around 12pm.  Also plenty of lounge chairs available with umbrellas too, so we moved our stuff.

 

Oasis Lagoon was very popular, but it handled the people well since it is such a large area.  The music was only loud if you were by the swim up bar.  If you were by the beach entry portion of the pool you could hear it but it wasn't obnoxious.

 

I peeked in the water park a few times throughout the day as I walked around and it did not look busy at all. I could not see long lines on any of the slides.  I wasn't physically in the waterpark, but from outside it looked just fine.

 

Absolutely NO lines for food as there are plenty of places throughout the island to get food.  No issues with seating by the food huts either.

 

Food is definitely improved with a much wider variety of things to eat!

 

I was dreading Perfect Day because I was really upset about them ruining the island with overdevelopment.  However we left loving it.  There is something for everyone and I never once felt like I HAD to spend extra money.  We actually didn't spend a cent on the island.  We used all the free venues and still had a great day.  There is still something for everyone from quiet beaches to thrills and more.

Overall, I agree with your review based on my assessment from the Mariner on 5/25/19. Food is MUCH  better than Labadee. Pool is awesome. Chairs available all day. Umbrellas are plentiful and everywhere. It is not hard to find shade without getting a cabana. 100% different and better than Labadee.

 

Our kids experienced long lines (30-60 minutes) for the slides early AM. That being said, they loved the slides but did not want to wait in line to go on them again.

[flannbarr]

41 minutes ago, ShelleyUM said:

I completely agree with @Sunkissed Mommy‘s assessment of Coco Cay. We were also just there 2 days ago on Symphony and the day was really great. We headed off the ship before 9 am and went straight to the water park.  Since we were there early, we experienced no lines for any of the slides.  Once we were done in the water park, we headed to South Beach on the trolley and we set up close to the Floating Bar.  Loungers were in abundance. When it was lunch time, we headed back to the water park to have lunch, hoping to have reduced crowds at the food venue in the water park.  We were able to walk right up to the stand and we had our meal within 1 min.  When we were done with lunch we headed to the Oasis pool and found a few loungers with shade. We then moved to the beach, as the pool area was hot without much of a breeze. We were pleasantly surprised to find yet more loungers with an umbrella without much effort. We eventually migrated back to the Oasis pool and lounged on the pool chaises for a bit.  When it was time to head back to the ship, we had absolutely no lines to deal with.  All in all, it was a great day with plenty of fun and relaxation. 

100% agree.

[flannbarr]

59 minutes ago, Maraprince said:

Do you need to bring towels from the ship or are there places on Coco Cay to get towels?

 

Thanks.

 

MARAPRINCE

You need to bring towels from the ship which you can get on deck 1 (or similar for other ships) before you exit the ship. You need to bring the wet towels back to the ship and turn them in or get the $25/towel charge. You can exchange towels on the island though.

 

Since this is RCI's island, why can't they just have the entire towel process occur on the island? It would be easier on the customer.

[ShelleyUM]

We got towels just off the ship, on the pier.  There were also towel stands on the island where you could exchange your towels but not leave them. We were asked to return them to the ship.  The towel stand was just outside the ship, again by the pier on our way back onboard. 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

12 minutes ago, flannbarr said:

You need to bring towels from the ship which you can get on deck 1 (or similar for other ships) before you exit the ship. You need to bring the wet towels back to the ship and turn them in or get the $25/towel charge. You can exchange towels on the island though.

 

Since this is RCI's island, why can't they just have the entire towel process occur on the island? It would be easier on the customer.

 

They had a towel pick up and drop off on the pier on Sunday.  Never had to get towels from the ship or even bring them back on.