Just back from Perfect Day At Coco Cay

[PopeyeDaSailor]

I was there last Friday on Symphony.  We booked a 1/2 day at the waterpark but because of a glitch in their systems everyone got a full day or no one bothered to kick us out.

 

I will say this, the waterpark is lots and lots of fun but the lines when on such a big ship are ridiculous.  We basically spent the whole day in the park but we waited over an hour for the large slide.  There is no way they should sell 1/2 day passes when an Oasis class ship docks.  At most you may get to go down about 3-8 slides total with the lines (depending on what slides you pick).  Then they close the park and start shoving you back on the ship at 4pm.  My suggestion would be to have the park open as soon as possible (7am) and close as late as possible (6pm) since the sail back to Miami is tiny.  I got to see the rest of the park from the top of a lot of slide lines and it looks impressive.  If you plan on hitting the waterpark don't bother renting a cabana it will just cost you a lot of $$$ to have a place to put a towel.

 

My observations ...

 

1. The large "red" slide (Daredevil's Peak) at the top has only ONE slide coming off the platform.  There is easily enough space up there to put two more slides and they should have.  It would have moved the line along at 3 times the speed.  This was the first slide I hit with my son when the park opened but it still took us an hour.  I later heard the wait was over 2 hours.  I only rode this slide once because of this.

 

2. The workers seemed overwhelmed or just didn't have the procedures down yet.  I noticed RED/GREEN lights at the top of the slides but that system didn't seemed to be running because the workers were relying on visual and walkie-talkie's to send the next sliders.  Perhaps they'll work out these bugs but there were times where one worker was sending people down two or three slides and left larger gaps where slides were open and people waiting.  I'm not blaming the workers they did the best they could be again the procedure was not well planned out.

 

3. The park hours were way too short.  9am to 4pm.  Our ship was docked at 6am why did it take until almost 9am to open?  Plus we were on our last day and headed back to Miami there was no need to close the park at 4pm it easily could have stayed open past 6pm. 

 

4. Food was okay we had hotdogs, lemonade and mozzarella sticks but didn't spend much time eating since we were trying to make every water-slide.

 

5.  Wave pool was fun as well, my 5 year old loved it.

 

From what I could tell from above almost none of the back of the island is done and just looked like a beach with people wading on sandbars.  They did run parasailing and jet-skis from back there..  Chill beach looked okay but never got over there to verify anything.  At least the dock was 100% done. 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by PopeyeDaSailor

[tunisbridal]

I purchased the excursion that gives you shade and 2 loungers on the island.  Anyone know where on the island this is

[Beukeboom]

February 2020 can't come soon enough! 😎

[itsanita]

4 hours ago, PopeyeDaSailor said:

I was there last Friday on Symphony.  We booked a 1/2 day at the waterpark but because of a glitch in their systems everyone got a full day or no one bothered to kick us out.

 

I will say this, the waterpark is lots and lots of fun but the lines when on such a big ship are ridiculous.  We basically spent the whole day in the park but we waited over an hour for the large slide.  There is no way they should sell 1/2 day passes when an Oasis class ship docks.  At most you may get to go down about 3-8 slides total with the lines (depending on what slides you pick).  Then they close the park and start shoving you back on the ship at 4pm.  My suggestion would be to have the park open as soon as possible (7am) and close as late as possible (6pm) since the sail back to Miami is tiny.  I got to see the rest of the park from the top of a lot of slide lines and it looks impressive.  If you plan on hitting the waterpark don't bother renting a cabana it will just cost you a lot of $$$ to have a place to put a towel.

 

My observations ...

 

1. The large "red" slide (Daredevil's Peak) at the top has only ONE slide coming off the platform.  There is easily enough space up there to put two more slides and they should have.  It would have moved the line along at 3 times the speed.  This was the first slide I hit with my son when the park opened but it still took us an hour.  I later heard the wait was over 2 hours.  I only rode this slide once because of this.

 

2. The workers seemed overwhelmed or just didn't have the procedures down yet.  I noticed RED/GREEN lights at the top of the slides but that system didn't seemed to be running because the workers were relying on visual and walkie-talkie's to send the next sliders.  Perhaps they'll work out these bugs but there were times where one worker was sending people down two or three slides and left larger gaps where slides were open and people waiting.  I'm not blaming the workers they did the best they could be again the procedure was not well planned out.

 

3. The park hours were way too short.  9am to 4pm.  Our ship was docked at 6am why did it take until almost 9am to open?  Plus we were on our last day and headed back to Miami there was no need to close the park at 4pm it easily could have stayed open past 6pm. 

 

4. Food was okay we had hotdogs, lemonade and mozzarella sticks but didn't spend much time eating since we were trying to make every water-slide.

 

5.  Wave pool was fun as well, my 5 year old loved it.

 

From what I could tell from above almost none of the back of the island is done and just looked like a beach with people wading on sandbars.  They did run parasailing and jet-skis from back there..  Chill beach looked okay but never got over there to verify anything.  At least the dock was 100% done. 

 

Thanks so much for all the info.  We bought all day tickets and have our grandkids with us...ages 5,8,10, and 12.  Sounds like fun, but not liking the wait times.  We will be there when it opens, and try to head to the Daredevil's Peak first, since it sounds like that is the most crowded.  Was there any slides your 5 yr old could ride?  Anything else in the water park beside the wave pool he could do?  My little one is a real dare devil and will be very disappointed if he is limited.  

 

[PopeyeDaSailor]

There was a kids play area with slides right outside the waterpark.  Our five year old rode one of them and like it but she still wears swim arms and isn't confident yet in swimming.  I paid for her to be in the park but outside of the wave pool she didn't ride any slide.  I think the minimum is 42 inches and she barely cleared it but still didn't want to ride.  I did see a couple of daredevil little ones go down some big slides but that always scares me when someone is at the bare minimum of requirements because these slides are designed for weight and height.

[Getting out there]

Did the kids pirate ship have padding or is it concrete?

[itsanita]

59 minutes ago, PopeyeDaSailor said:

There was a kids play area with slides right outside the waterpark.  Our five year old rode one of them and like it but she still wears swim arms and isn't confident yet in swimming.  I paid for her to be in the park but outside of the wave pool she didn't ride any slide.  I think the minimum is 42 inches and she barely cleared it but still didn't want to ride.  I did see a couple of daredevil little ones go down some big slides but that always scares me when someone is at the bare minimum of requirements because these slides are designed for weight and height.

 

Thanks, that helps.  Any other suggestions to get the best use of our time there.  I will not get the cabana, as you made a valid point...we will just dump our towels etc on some chairs.   Are there lockers inside the water park for our cruise cards?  We will leave all other valuables on board.  

[Maraprince]

23 hours ago, A boat named Jenny 1 said:

I have looked at the map, does anyone know if the "straw market" is still there where you can buy things from local vendors?

What else besides items made from straw do they sell?  Any wood carved items?

 

MARAPRINCE

[PopeyeDaSailor]

48 minutes ago, itsanita said:

 

Thanks, that helps.  Any other suggestions to get the best use of our time there.  I will not get the cabana, as you made a valid point...we will just dump our towels etc on some chairs.   Are there lockers inside the water park for our cruise cards?  We will leave all other valuables on board.  

 

The lockers are right inside the waterpark and cost nothing.  They are basically like a room safe, you pick a 4 digit code and set them.  They will hold about a 15 inch size backpack.  We stored extra suntan lotion and our phones in one then just threw our towels/sandals on a chair somewhere in the middle of the park. 

[PopeyeDaSailor]

1 hour ago, Getting out there said:

Did the kids pirate ship have padding or is it concrete?

 

It was mostly concrete with some padding.  You will have to watch your little ones if they are running around.

[CityChickCruising]

Spent a lot of time on the phone yesterday with different workers. Mass cancellation of Cabana's for tomorrow's Navigator sailing as they're now having Symphony dock on a day that they were supposed to be cruising, and having Mariner dock with us. We were both supposed to dock on separate days. What I've learned - they will cancel cabanas for another ship. The capacity of the island is 10,000 people. There are supposed to be attendants helping everyone find chairs. There aren't enough chairs for people, especially when two ships are docking. Their advice? Purchase the plastic floating beach mat or be the first person off the ship 🙂 

[PopeyeDaSailor]

6 minutes ago, rikkimiller said:

Spent a lot of time on the phone yesterday with different workers. Mass cancellation of Cabana's for tomorrow's Navigator sailing as they're now having Symphony dock on a day that they were supposed to be cruising, and having Mariner dock with us. We were both supposed to dock on separate days. What I've learned - they will cancel cabanas for another ship. The capacity of the island is 10,000 people. There are supposed to be attendants helping everyone find chairs. There aren't enough chairs for people, especially when two ships are docking. Their advice? Purchase the plastic floating beach mat or be the first person off the ship 🙂 

 

Wow.  Like I said the waterpark was MOBBED with just our ship there.  Navigator can carry around 3,800 (full) and Symphony around 6,600 full.  I'm assuming they both aren't full but it's still close to 10,000 people.  The waterpark is going to be saturated (pun intended).  If you're going to the waterpark better hope your ship docks first and be ready to run for the slides!  

 

RCL should never dock any other ships there when an Oasis class is in town.  I'm curious to hear how this works out for you.

[BillOh]

Is the dive shack still there? Anyone dove since the Perfect Day began?    It's not on my cruise planner yet, but  with Royal that doesn't mean anything. 

[Big_G]

1 hour ago, Maraprince said:

What else besides items made from straw do they sell?  Any wood carved items?

 

MARAPRINCE

 

We didn't look close but there appeared to be a wide variety of crafted items.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

27 minutes ago, PopeyeDaSailor said:

 

Wow.  Like I said the waterpark was MOBBED with just our ship there.  Navigator can carry around 3,800 (full) and Symphony around 6,600 full.  I'm assuming they both aren't full but it's still close to 10,000 people.  The waterpark is going to be saturated (pun intended).  If you're going to the waterpark better hope your ship docks first and be ready to run for the slides!  

 

RCL should never dock any other ships there when an Oasis class is in town.  I'm curious to hear how this works out for you.

 

Symphony will be there alone.  They moved the Mariner to Coco Cay to share with Navigator.

 

My friend had her cabana cancelled on her with no explanation, shes sailing on Navigator.  I had to explain what was going on with the ships switching days.

[travelplus]

On 5/6/2019 at 11:34 AM, ramidon1 said:

Pros:  no tendering, music and dancers to welcome you, food was fresh and delish, drink servers were frequent and quite quick, lots of different areas to explore.  Floating tiki bar was great,  could walk waaay out on sandbar...watch out for stingrays....do the stingray shuffle!  Fireworks just prior to departing COCO Cay were great but need to be later as it was not dark enough!  A very worthy effort tho.  Loved the beer tap at the buffet!  Lots of bathrooms around.  

 

Cons:  Oasis lagoon cabana was underwhelming.  Poor and limited seating in the cabana, poor location...could not even see the pool past rows and rows of the free chairs... zero service except for regular bar servers.  No towels in cabana.  Music at lagoon pool was obnoxious and relentless.....got louder as afternoon progressed.  We were hoping to relax and nap in cabana but music was too much.  Did not realize it is set up as such a party scene....not described that way—would have never wasted the money on the cabana.  Pool water was cold in the morning but warmed up as day went on.  Waterslides.....per our twenty somethings in the group....1.5 hour wait for the big slide with only one ship at coco....what will it be with more than 1 ship??

 

Overall impression.....it feels pretty disney-ized, miss the natural relaxed beauty of the Bahamas.  Plenty for everyone to do and lots of opportunity for RCCL to get their hands onto more of your $$.  It’s nice and all but personally not really anything I’m looking for on a cruise.  

 

Would make for an imperfect day at the Cay. Sorry nothing is perfect therefore I would never call my hotel Hotel Perfect. 

Edited May 23, 2019 by travelplus

[Big_G]

2 minutes ago, Sunkissed Mommy said:

 

Symphony will be there alone.  They moved the Mariner to Coco Cay to share with Navigator.

 

My friend had her cabana cancelled on her with no explanation, shes sailing on Navigator.  I had to explain what was going on with the ships switching days.

 

While cabanas will be in short supply, judging by the empty chairs on our Navigator visit, two Voyager Class ships probably won't break the island.

[CityChickCruising]

11 minutes ago, Big_G said:

 

While cabanas will be in short supply, judging by the empty chairs on our Navigator visit, two Voyager Class ships probably won't break the island.

I hope that there are enough chairs. How were the beach areas? We have no interest in going to the pool or anywhere near it, but want to be sure we'll be able to utilize our unlimited drink package and get chairs by the beach. Would appreciate any and all insight! 

[suesnake2002]

So for those with cancelled cabanas. You get nothing. And they resell them to others at a higher price??

I say if this was a schedule change for symphony, they should get the leftovers

[CityChickCruising]

1 minute ago, suesnake2002 said:

So for those with cancelled cabanas. You get nothing. And they resell them to others at a higher price??

I say if this was a schedule change for symphony, they should get the leftovers

Correct. I was on the phone all day yesterday, emailing, tweeting, twitter DMing and nothing. He tried to upsell me champagne on one call to "commemorate my amazing cruise," twitter staff told me to be sure to be the first person off the ship, and the supervisor on the phone said to buy the floating beach mat and use that as a chair :))))

[itsanita]

  Is there a website you use to find out if any other ships will be with you at Coco Cay?  Or do you just go on to Royal Caribbean Cruise  website, and pull up all the other ships to see if anyone is there on the same day you are?

[Liverpoolfan181]

16 minutes ago, itsanita said:

  Is there a website you use to find out if any other ships will be with you at Coco Cay?  Or do you just go on to Royal Caribbean Cruise  website, and pull up all the other ships to see if anyone is there on the same day you are?

 

http://crew-center.com/coco-cay-bahamas-cruise-ship-schedule-2019

 

Also shows 2020 but may not take into account any itinerary changes.

Appears Voyageur class and smaller will pair up with other ships and the Oasis class will be docking solo.

 

[Clarea]

25 minutes ago, itsanita said:

  Is there a website you use to find out if any other ships will be with you at Coco Cay?  Or do you just go on to Royal Caribbean Cruise  website, and pull up all the other ships to see if anyone is there on the same day you are?

 

I've used cruisett.com and cruisetimetables.com.

[BillOh]

25 minutes ago, itsanita said:

  Is there a website you use to find out if any other ships will be with you at Coco Cay?  Or do you just go on to Royal Caribbean Cruise  website, and pull up all the other ships to see if anyone is there on the same day you are?

There is no fool proof way,  Most of those websites I've seen are 60-75% accurate.  You can look at Marinetraffic.com the same days as  your stop and see what ships are there that day of the week.  Also, not fool proof.

[Big_G]

52 minutes ago, rikkimiller said:

I hope that there are enough chairs. How were the beach areas? We have no interest in going to the pool or anywhere near it, but want to be sure we'll be able to utilize our unlimited drink package and get chairs by the beach. Would appreciate any and all insight! 

There were plenty of chairs at Chill Island and there was a bar behind the Cabanas that wasn't too busy.