Carnival Ship will be using Royal Caribbeans Coco Cay

[MrFunInTheSun]

Back on 1/20/13 Grady had heard a rumor on the Monarch of the seas that Carnival was going to use Coco Cay.

 

Post Below.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1772197

 

Rumor is now no longer a rumor as Carnival Fascination has scheduled 22 stops between March 11, 2013 and April 28, 2014 according to the below itinerary change notice from Carnival. With just this ship of course. Looking at carnival.com though they don't make mention of "Little Stir up Cay" as of yet. They must still be keeping it on the down low.

 

 

 

Little Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, is one of the Berry Islands, a collection of cays and small islands and is located approximately 55 miles north of Nassau.[1] The island is less than a mile (around one kilometer) wide from east to west and less than 200 yards (183 meters) from north to south. The east end is the center of recreational activities with beaches fronting a coral basin where manatee, rays, and numerous fish can be seen. There is a rocky inlet on the north side of the island large enough for the tenders to operate from. Nature trails run the entire length and width of the island.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, assumed the lease of the island upon acquisition of Admiral Cruises[2] and renamed it Coco Cay, one of the first cruise lines to lease islands for their exclusive use.[3] Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise ships frequently anchor off the island and bring passengers ashore by tenders. Activities available to guests include swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, parasailing, scuba diving, and Waverunner piloting. Royal Caribbean extends its children's programs onto the island including a Fisher-Price sponsored Power Wheels track for young children.

Little Stirrup Cay is adjacent to Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Line's private island

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

This is just amazing. I wonder why Carnival is not using its own private island.

[loeytalldog]

I wonder what happens to those of us scheduled to be at Coco Cay on FOS on March 11 or any of those other days?

 

Lois

[grand isle joe]

With Carnival's luck their ship will be anchored at CoCo Cay for days until they fly in spare parts......;)

[MrFunInTheSun]

I wonder what happens to those of us scheduled to be at Coco Cay on FOS on March 11 or any of those other days?

 

Lois

 

Looking at the letter, I don't believe the Fascination will be at Coco Cay on 3/11/13. That's the date of the sailing so they would be at Coco Cay on 3/14/13 if I'm looking at it correctly.

[teamrlk]

This is just amazing. I wonder why Carnival is not using its own private island.

 

We've sailed the Fascination several times and love going to Half Moon Cay. In the winter months, the HAL ships use it, so Fascination tends to get bumped. Its possible the sailings for Fascination to Half Moon Cay were not selling well, and they are leasing CoCo Cay to satisfy the folks who prefer the private islands to the Bahamas.

 

FWIW, I've been to Half Moon Cay, CoCo Cay and Princess Cay. Half Moon Cay is by far the nicest of the 3.

[3CatsInMA]

With Carnival's luck their ship will be anchored at CoCo Cay for days until they fly in spare parts......;)

 

LOL you beat me to it!:)

[smoosh21]

very strange. I wonder how much Royal is getting for leasing out the island

[MrFunInTheSun]

Actually some folks over on the Carnival board brought up some good points on this subject what might be the cause of this for the Carnival Fascination and docks in Key West. Was discussed at the following link.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1794454

 

Below are some of the items brought up about the docking issues in Key West and the Navy Pier.

 

You may be right there. I just googled the outer mole dock, it's leased from the Navy, and the city is in negotiations on that lease. Could be that they may lose it all together if the navy keeps doing what they have been, I know the Great Lakes training base last week moved all corpman trainees to texas, they could be moving other training locations off this base, perhaps moving another school to key west, and rebuilding that dock for Navy use.

 

That is a great point. The Navy just banned all non military boat traffic from inside the pier. This essentially just shut down the short lived Duck Tours because they had to use the ramp. The current Navy Commander down here stood up to the city. In fact, I would bet this has something to do with it.

 

The owner of the Duck Tours was the same owner of the trolleys they used to transport guests from the ship.

 

Don't believe you have Carnival to thank for this. Seems like Key West is in negotiations with the Navy who is closing the pier except for government traffic.

 

in reading some of the local blogs it seems a lot of the long time locals could care less if another cruise ship ever docks there.

 

Will be interesting to see how much they will miss the cruise ships once they are no longer there.

 

Now if we could replace Nassau I would be one happy camper.....LOL

[sandy toes]

We've sailed the Fascination several times and love going to Half Moon Cay. In the winter months, the HAL ships use it, so Fascination tends to get bumped. Its possible the sailings for Fascination to Half Moon Cay were not selling well, and they are leasing CoCo Cay to satisfy the folks who prefer the private islands to the Bahamas.

 

FWIW, I've been to Half Moon Cay, CoCo Cay and Princess Cay. Half Moon Cay is by far the nicest of the 3.

 

Just don't understand why they are not using HMC...I have been to CC several times when more than one ship was anchored and it is very crowded; always because of some conflict with the other ship and it was an extra (or so we were told). Hope schedules don't over lap. I enjoy CC very much and actually take certain sailing dates because it is included. However, IF I were on the CCL Fascination, I would have booked that sailing for Key West and would be rather upset and probably looking to change to a different ship...like the Majesty!!!! Where I could get both Key West and Coco Cay, along with Nassau.

 

teamrlk - I do not understand your statment, "Its possible the sailings for Fascination to Half Moon Cay were not selling well, and they are leasing CoCo Cay to satisfy the folks who prefer the private islands to the Bahamas". They added CC after taking away Key West FL and HMC is a neighboring island in the Bahamas that Carnival owns. I just wonder WHY Carnival needed to book onto Royals island at all???? And like you, I have been to HMC and it is very nice.

[travelplus]

I love this solution. Royal Caribbean gets the rent and Carnival passengers will see what Royal Caribbean passengers get and how much fun we have . This is one step in the right direction for taking away passengers from Carnival and new passengers on Royal. I imagine Royal is in the talks to buy Carnival and its ships in the near future so this is the start of the buy out process :D:D

[maureencruiser]

This is one step in the right direction for taking away passengers from Carnival and new passengers on Royal.

The right direction? Ever hear of supply and demand? The more people that want Royal, the higher prices will be!

[Merion_Mom]

Back on 1/20/13 Grady had heard a rumor on the Monarch of the seas that Carnival was going to use Coco Cay.

 

Post Below.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1772197

 

Rumor is now no longer a rumor as Carnival Fascination has scheduled 22 stops between March 11, 2013 and April 28, 2014 according to the below itinerary change notice from Carnival. With just this ship of course. Looking at carnival.com though they don't make mention of "Little Stir up Cay" as of yet. They must still be keeping it on the down low.

 

 

 

Little Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, is one of the Berry Islands, a collection of cays and small islands and is located approximately 55 miles north of Nassau.[1] The island is less than a mile (around one kilometer) wide from east to west and less than 200 yards (183 meters) from north to south. The east end is the center of recreational activities with beaches fronting a coral basin where manatee, rays, and numerous fish can be seen. There is a rocky inlet on the north side of the island large enough for the tenders to operate from. Nature trails run the entire length and width of the island.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, assumed the lease of the island upon acquisition of Admiral Cruises[2] and renamed it Coco Cay, one of the first cruise lines to lease islands for their exclusive use.[3] Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise ships frequently anchor off the island and bring passengers ashore by tenders. Activities available to guests include swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, parasailing, scuba diving, and Waverunner piloting. Royal Caribbean extends its children's programs onto the island including a Fisher-Price sponsored Power Wheels track for young children.

Little Stirrup Cay is adjacent to Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Line's private island

 

I would NOT prefer CocoCay to Key West! :(

[stevea36]

I wonder what happens to those of us scheduled to be at Coco Cay on FOS on March 11 or any of those other days?

 

Lois

 

All of the thursdays for cruises listed are open dates at cococay.

 

Gee, just imagine coming on a carnival ship and everything being branded with RCI logos.

 

Steve

[stevea36]

Just don't understand why they are not using HMC...

 

HMC already has ships coming in on the dates involved, in fact it is totall booked from may on (no free days at all). So, Carnival had to look for an alternative.

 

Steve

[CrzGrl62569]

This is just amazing. I wonder why Carnival is not using its own private island.

 

 

Probably be because there were many times that they couldn't stop there because it was supposedly "too windy" or other lame excuses. Probably got tired of the bitching.

 

I suspect now there will be bitching because people will say they booked the cruise because they wanted to go to Key West.

[matj2000]

Coco Cay is a bad alternative to Key West.

[PantherFan]

One point nobody has mentioned yet. If Carnival can't go to Key West anymore at the Navy pier neither can RCL.

 

So what will RCL put in place of Key West????

[temple1]

Another vote from someone who would be really annoyed at missing Key West.

[Cruising89143]

I would NOT prefer CocoCay to Key West! :(

 

 

I agree Carol. I love KW. We rented a home there twice last year for a week at a time and will do the same again this October. Just a great place.:)

[Aquahound]

One point nobody has mentioned yet. If Carnival can't go to Key West anymore at the Navy pier neither can RCL.

 

So what will RCL put in place of Key West????

 

I've seen the Celebrity Millennium there recently, but I don't recall ever seeing a RCI ship dock at the Outer Mole pier.

[Aquahound]

very strange. I wonder how much Royal is getting for leasing out the island

 

That's my question. I'm baffled by this partnership. I would also like to know how much RCI is benefiting from this contract. There's got to be info somewhere on this.

 

Any of you shareholders have inside info?

[kc320]

I've seen the Celebrity Millennium there recently, but I don't recall ever seeing a RCI ship dock at the Outer Mole pier.

 

The Monarch was at the Navy Pier in August 2011 when we stopped in Key West to dodge Hurricane Irene..in fact someone posted a pic of Majesty & Monarch docked there together...

[Tim,n,Sue]

It will be a nice boon for the locals. Extra ships will mean more money and perhaps a few more jobs.

[Aquahound]

The Monarch was at the Navy Pier in August 2011 when we stopped in Key West to dodge Hurricane Irene..in fact someone posted a pic of Majesty & Monarch docked there together...

 

That's right...I remember that. In fact, it was me who posted the photos. That was a special circumstance though because Majesty was at Pier B and Monarch was an unplanned visitor.