ships in CocoCay
Wonder of the Seas made it to the dock at CocoCay on our scheduled port day, an improvement over the previous year’s visit on Symphony of the Seas which was unable to dock due to stormy weather. While both the sky and water were blue this time rather than the last attempted visit’s gray, it was still not the makings of the advertised perfect day. My perfect day would have included snorkeling, but the air was windy and the water cold and choppy. Someone we talked to who did brave the cold to give snorkeling a try said visibility was too poor in water left murky by a recent hurricane to see anything so we didn’t bother to try.
map and signs at the entrance
The balloon sat firmly on the ground all day and we never saw anyone on the zip line either so the weather must have been too windy for those. There were people in the water park though. Ours was the second of two ships to arrive on the island that day so most of the beach chairs were already occupied. More so by towels than people as is usual on cruise ships. Apparently it is just as bad at cruise ship private islands.
seagulls on a beach umbrella
One good thing about the beach chairs on this island is that all of them seem to be under a beach umbrella rather than just a select few like on some other cruise ship private islands. We found a couple unoccupied lounge chairs relatively close to the beach, though not front row, that had a small table as well as the beach umbrella. Not all the chairs there had access to a table, but the ones in that row did. The table is a nice addition if you want somewhere to set a drink or something.
food spot before it opened
Rather than just one big barbecue spot that everyone goes to like on some cruise ship private islands, CocoCay had a couple barbecue grill areas as well as several snack shacks all with complimentary food to spread people out a bit. The lines were not long. Royal Caribbean is better than most cruise lines about keeping lines minimal for most things.
lunch
There were plenty of tables available at the chill grill when we went there, which was not right when first getting to the island. They had chicken, corn, French fries, hamburgers and hot dogs, some fruit and salads, a couple desserts and ice cream.
the balloon stayed right there on the ground all day
There is a lot to do on CocoCay if the weather cooperates, but a lot of things there cost extra and some have to be booked in advance. The water park (which has the tallest slides in the Caribbean), zip line, balloon ride, and excursions cost extra. The balloon ride stays on a tether so it’s more of a high view than an actual ride. There’s also cabana rentals and a private pay-only beach, but the beach chairs, beach games, most of the beaches, and any pools outside of the waterpark are free. Snorkeling is also free if you bring your own gear, but there is a cost if you need to rent it. Other beach rentals include floating mats and kayak tours. We did not see anyone using any of those things the day we were there so either the rentals were closed due to the weather or nobody wanted to rent stuff to use in cold choppy water, though some people did venture out into the water at the beaches.
view of Chill Grill, Captain Jack’s Bar, and a waterslide tower from Harbor Beach
The island has over half a dozen beach bars scattered about different areas. They were quite popular that day. Maybe they always are or maybe that’s just where a lot of people went since it was too cold and windy for a lot of other things.
relaxing at Chill Island beach
We didn’t stay out at the beach as long as we would have if the water would have been warmer and the snorkeling good. A lot of other people came back to the ship early too. Since it started to rain an hour or two before all-aboard there probably wasn’t anyone left out there until the very end.
some people braved the cold and wind to venture out into the water
I guess the comedian at the onboard comedy show we went to was right when he said it would be pretty hard for the cruise to deliver the perfect day customers expect when the cruise is billed as Perfect Day at CocoCay. So far our two visits have been no day and a less-than-perfect day at CocoCay, both due to stormy weather. Either we just had incredibly bad luck or the island is located in an area susceptible to frequent storms. This is just a guess, but I’m inclined to go with the latter due to there being plenty of other mentions of not so perfect days and cancelled stops at CocoCay online, as well as the fact that we got on MSC Meraviglia the day we got off of Wonder for a cruise that included 2 stops at their private Island (Ocean Cay) which is in a different part of the Bahamas and made both stops there with beautiful sunny weather. Then again Royal Caribbean spent a fortune on that island so it must have enough days of good weather to make that investment worthwhile.
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