Is Coco Cay worth the cost?

[Sorcerer Tim]

We were there in September and purchased a cabana in the water park. Water park tickets were $99/each for five of us and the cabana was $599 so for essentially $100 more we had the park passes and the cabana. We had a great time. I do not think I would do it again unless I brought different nieces and nephews, but sure glad we did it once. Yes the price is ridiculous, but nobody made me buy it 🙂 

[Iamcruzin]

5 minutes ago, Sorcerer Tim said:

We were there in September and purchased a cabana in the water park. Water park tickets were $99/each for five of us and the cabana was $599 so for essentially $100 more we had the park passes and the cabana. We had a great time. I do not think I would do it again unless I brought different nieces and nephews, but sure glad we did it once. Yes the price is ridiculous, but nobody made me buy it 🙂 

Royal Caribbean must have picked up on the fact that they were actually offered someone a good deal and then decided to hike up the prices $1600 to $1900 for the Cabanas.  Someone probably lost their job over your good deal 😆

[Sorcerer Tim]

Ouch, I did not know the water park cabanas shot up to that. I knew the Over the Water ones were high, but glad I got it when I did. No way I would pay that now.

[MightyMike]

14 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Considering you already paid for the fun stuff on the ship I would just stay on it. You can always get off to go an the beach and the bbq.

 

Is that possible? I read elsewhere that most of the crew leaves the ship in order to take assignments on the island. The cruise line practically pushes you off. Only the bare necessities such as Windjammer are open and there are few ship activities.

 

I am debating between a Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise next year. My family better fits the Royal Caribbean demographics than Celebrity, but even thought they are optional, I see the upcharges and temptations offered by Royal Caribbean as a negative, not a positive. 

 

I know that you can simply not purchase the extras, but that can be hard. It's more difficult to enjoy beach time when there are all these slides and attractions nearby. It's not easy to pass an arcade or candy store without the kids asking. I feel like we might be happier if these distractions and temptations didn't exist, which is why I am leaning toward Celebrity.

 

In order to fairly compare the costs of these two cruises, I think I need to add about $1000 to Royal Caribbean's price in order to account for the extras that they will charge for--drinks, onboard activities and Coco Cay. 

[island lady]

9 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

Don't say that around Captain Johnny! He corrected a passenger who asked a question about the "boat" but in a nice way. Pretty funny Captain.

 

I always remember Captain Johnny's term "A ship can carry a boat, a boat can't carry a ship".  Indeed he would cringe when someone called his ship "a boat".  😉 

[island lady]

IMHO...no...not worth it.  

 

Why pay all that money for a cruise, just to go to a "theme park"?  IMHO, if theme park is what you are interested in, go to the "land of the mouse" (AKA Orlando) and save the money you would spend to go on a cruise.  

 

I am one that really misses the quiet and natural tropical island feel and all the wildlife we saw on our nature walks. All gone now.  Theme park score one...Mother Nature...zero.  

 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by island lady

[mrpayroll]

2 hours ago, sun_lovin!1 said:

Hi Betty.  I have adult kids and pre teen grandkids that all just love waterparks.  I can't imagine taking them to Coco Cay and not getting them water park passes.  There will likely be some lines; however, this is the case at any water park our family has ever been to.  My personal opinion is to get them the passes and relish the enjoyment of the day!

 

Agree fully. Some people don't blink an eye at the cost of the  deluxe beverage pkg. but think the price of the waterpark is too high. We will get the grandkids the passes. Very many excursions  cost more than the passes. Ever look at the price to swim with the dolphins ? ( for 30 mins )

[rockmom]

1 hour ago, Sorcerer Tim said:

Ouch, I did not know the water park cabanas shot up to that. I knew the Over the Water ones were high, but glad I got it when I did. No way I would pay that now.

I just paid $499 for our water park cabana for our Oasis cruise later this year.  There are 6 of us, so it was a no-brainer.

[CruiseWendy]

Having something being "Worth It" is all relative. We live in Seattle where there's a small window of water parks to go to and there's nothing like Thrill Water park.  I for one don't do water slides however my kiddo had a blast. It was a great experience to do once. Worth it to us.

 

Oasis Lagoon was too crazy for me however I saw lots of people enjoying themselves, smiles on their faces, having a great time. Worth it to them.

 

Wave pool. Fun but lots of noise and commotion. People enjoying themselves. Worth it to some, others maybe not. 

 

While my kid was doing the water slides I parked myself on a chair, with an umbrella, reading a book, drinking an island drink. Worth it to me. Others may not like it as it's too sedentary. Not worth it to them.

 

If waiting in line is not your thing then get up at 8:30 and get there first like we did. Worth it to us. Moseying off the ship at 11 and expecting there to be no one else is unrealistic. If you don't like being on a schedule, having to be somewhere, and still expecting to not have to wait, not worth it for you.

 

The island truly offers all levels of fun. It's value and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

[Iamcruzin]

2 hours ago, MightyMike said:

 

Is that possible? I read elsewhere that most of the crew leaves the ship in order to take assignments on the island. The cruise line practically pushes you off. Only the bare necessities such as Windjammer are open and there are few ship activities.

 

I am debating between a Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise next year. My family better fits the Royal Caribbean demographics than Celebrity, but even thought they are optional, I see the upcharges and temptations offered by Royal Caribbean as a negative, not a positive. 

 

I know that you can simply not purchase the extras, but that can be hard. It's more difficult to enjoy beach time when there are all these slides and attractions nearby. It's not easy to pass an arcade or candy store without the kids asking. I feel like we might be happier if these distractions and temptations didn't exist, which is why I am leaning toward Celebrity.

 

In order to fairly compare the costs of these two cruises, I think I need to add about $1000 to Royal Caribbean's price in order to account for the extras that they will charge for--drinks, onboard activities and Coco Cay. 

I'm not sure how old your kids are or how active they are  but unless they enjoy the kids club you better be prepared for them to be tugging on your arm and annoying you because of the lack of activities on the ship.  We sail on Celebrity and Princess and even at 60yrs old it can be a snoozer cruise. However, sometimes those of us who are on the cusp of retirement need that.  I would switch the focus off of the water park and play up the included activities. Every time our  kids annoyed  my wife she would sing "You can't always get what you want". Now that they are older in their mid 20's she tells Alexa to play it.  Works every time.

[brillohead]

7 hours ago, MightyMike said:

 

Is that possible? I read elsewhere that most of the crew leaves the ship in order to take assignments on the island. The cruise line practically pushes you off. Only the bare necessities such as Windjammer are open and there are few ship activities.

 

I am debating between a Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise next year. My family better fits the Royal Caribbean demographics than Celebrity, but even thought they are optional, I see the upcharges and temptations offered by Royal Caribbean as a negative, not a positive. 

 

I know that you can simply not purchase the extras, but that can be hard. It's more difficult to enjoy beach time when there are all these slides and attractions nearby. It's not easy to pass an arcade or candy store without the kids asking. I feel like we might be happier if these distractions and temptations didn't exist, which is why I am leaning toward Celebrity.

 

In order to fairly compare the costs of these two cruises, I think I need to add about $1000 to Royal Caribbean's price in order to account for the extras that they will charge for--drinks, onboard activities and Coco Cay. 

I wouldn't consider a ship to have a "skeleton crew" on a port day.  The MDR isn't open for lunch, but Windjammer, Park Cafe / Cafe Promenade, bars, pools, etc., are all open for business as usual.  Stores/casino are typically closed, but those aren't huge entertainment spots for families!  LOL

As for arcades and candy stores, they're easy enough to just not walk past, if your kids are that enamored with them.  Honestly, I've never felt the need -- there are plenty of sweets available as dessert offerings, so the candy store isn't as big a draw. 

 

And as for arcades, it's a simple matter to just go swim in the pool, go on a waterslide, play mini-golf, climb the rock wall, watch the wipeouts on the Flowrider, or some other activity instead -- try something like,  "Vacation is time to spend together as a family, not each of us looking at a different video screen. Do you want to go swimming or play mini-golf right now?"

Any type of activity you would do on a Celebrity cruise can also be done on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and Celebrity (and all the other mainstream lines) charges for drinks and specialty dining and galley tours and the like, too.  The difference is, there are a lot of things you can do on a Royal ship that you CAN'T do on a Celebrity ship, so your kids would be missing out on a lot of experiences.  

[Joebucks]

I'm not sure what kind of answer you are looking for. I think some of the questions are valid though. You wouldn't want to build this up and find out it's sold out.

 

However, you want someone's opinion if the lines will be short or if it's worth it? What's different than any other water park? As you've seen, lots of people are already going to complain that a company could offer all of these options at a price. How dare they! Some people find it worth it, some don't.

 

If it were me, you're willing to pay for it, and your kids are interested in it, why not?

[csnarpy]

We were there in December with our kids and other friends and family. Because of the cost, we skipped the waterpark and went with a Southbeach daybed. ($200 total) It does say only for 4 but I split it with a buddy of mine and between us we had 4 adults and 3 kids. When we showed up, they said as long is was no more than 4 adults then we were good - so the kids were no problem.

 

Got the daybed which comes with server (about every 20-30 mins), 2 lounge chairs, cooler with water (always stocked), and 2 of those floaty mats.

 

That was a great day at the beach, to say the least. Kids were disappointed not to go to the park for about 30 seconds and then had an incredible time. If we were impatient with the server, the bar was 50 steps away and the food was 100 steps behind us. The bonus was that the beach was not busy and pretty quiet.

 

To top it off, we had other friends of ours stop by and park with us for lengths of time without any hassle.

 

Next time we go with friends, we will book multiples of these and try to get them side by side. much better value than the Cabana's.

[cb at sea]

You don't have to spend a penny to have a nice beach day on Coco Cay!  They do make it possible to spend a bundle, and they hope you do, but it's definitely not necessary!

 

[Bailey & Sophie]

On 2/14/2020 at 10:16 AM, MightyMike said:

 

Is that possible? I read elsewhere that most of the crew leaves the ship in order to take assignments on the island. The cruise line practically pushes you off. Only the bare necessities such as Windjammer are open and there are few ship activities.

 

 

We got off the ship, walked around a bit. Walked through the market area. Did not spend the money to get into the park area. Looked over the lunch options and went back on board for lunch. Jammer wad open. So peaceful! Did not feel forced to get off.

[Tree_skier]

On 2/14/2020 at 7:54 AM, Iamcruzin said:

Royal Caribbean must have picked up on the fact that they were actually offered someone a good deal and then decided to hike up the prices $1600 to $1900 for the Cabanas.  Someone probably lost their job over your good deal 😆

My upcoming to trip to Cococay has the Thrill Park Cabana at $499. We're not Cabana folks so there is no interest from us but I imagine the prices are dependent on demand.

[Tree_skier]

2 hours ago, csnarpy said:

We were there in December with our kids and other friends and family. Because of the cost, we skipped the waterpark and went with a Southbeach daybed. ($200 total) It does say only for 4 but I split it with a buddy of mine and between us we had 4 adults and 3 kids. When we showed up, they said as long is was no more than 4 adults then we were good - so the kids were no problem.

 

Got the daybed which comes with server (about every 20-30 mins), 2 lounge chairs, cooler with water (always stocked), and 2 of those floaty mats.

 

That was a great day at the beach, to say the least. Kids were disappointed not to go to the park for about 30 seconds and then had an incredible time. If we were impatient with the server, the bar was 50 steps away and the food was 100 steps behind us. The bonus was that the beach was not busy and pretty quiet.

 

To top it off, we had other friends of ours stop by and park with us for lengths of time without any hassle.

 

Next time we go with friends, we will book multiples of these and try to get them side by side. much better value than the Cabana's.

Do you know what the difference between the Breezy Bay At Chill Island Full-Day Beach Bed Rental and the Full-day Beach Bed rental is?  Is the only difference location?

[csnarpy]

It’s just the location. We picked south beach because we thought it would be less busy. When we got there, south beach was not open due to construction so they actually transferred us to the chill side. Which, like I said, was great.

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by csnarpy

[later]

On 2/13/2020 at 8:39 PM, eddeb said:

Rccl spent about 250 million updating the island.

Rumour has it that they will make that back in 6 months.

I really get annoyed that every one mentions "free" food, pools, etc.

You pay a lot of money for the cruise so you paid for it and it is not at all free.

Rccl is 2nd behind NCL for ASF's, added service fees. Added costs to each passenger.

Spending hundreds to go to a water park for a few hours and stand in line

is sort of a joke. 1st big hurricane and that big plastic tower will be heading towards 

New York...

I personally like Gilligan's Island over donating to their stock futures.

 

We are the Moore's

Tampa Bay  🙂

Already made it through a major huricane.

[trajan]

On 2/13/2020 at 5:39 PM, eddeb said:

Rccl spent about 250 million updating the island.

Rumour has it that they will make that back in 6 months.

I really get annoyed that every one mentions "free" food, pools, etc.

You pay a lot of money for the cruise so you paid for it and it is not at all free.

Rccl is 2nd behind NCL for ASF's, added service fees. Added costs to each passenger.

Spending hundreds to go to a water park for a few hours and stand in line

is sort of a joke. 1st big hurricane and that big plastic tower will be heading towards 

New York...

I personally like Gilligan's Island over donating to their stock futures.

 

We are the Moore's

Tampa Bay  🙂

Best post today.

[eddeb]

10 hours ago, later said:

Already made it through a major huricane.

The hurricane missed coco cay by 100 miles. 90 to 110  MPH. Cat 2.

It went in way north of bend over island.

Trees bent, no damage at all. Aruba destroyed, 12 hours over their island.

Cat 5 hurricane, we will see the slide soon in NYC, and the BIG balloon.  

Gilligan where are you?

 

We're the Moore's

Tampa Bay 🙂

[brillohead]

9 hours ago, eddeb said:

The hurricane missed coco cay by 100 miles. 90 to 110  MPH. Cat 2.

It went in way north of bend over island.

Trees bent, no damage at all. Aruba destroyed, 12 hours over their island.

Cat 5 hurricane, we will see the slide soon in NYC, and the BIG balloon.  

Gilligan where are you?

 

We're the Moore's

Tampa Bay 🙂

I think you need to look at a map. 

 

Aruba was NOWHERE NEAR that hurricane, and in fact is so far south that it's pretty much immune to hurricanes.  


(BTW, the plural of Moore is Moores.  Using an apostrophe makes it possessive, not plural.)

[LMaxwell]

You'll spend $600 +/- for the kids to ride a water slide a couple times.  Your call

[Driveshaft]

Can anyone tell me about snorkeling on Coco Cay? Is there a spot worth lugging my snorkel set  onto the island. The only thing we have paid for for the cruise is the jet ski tour.

[eddeb]

Thanks for the correction Brillo. there are 200 plus islands and it came in north

of coco and hit the grand bahamas; my bad. check this out for the real deal.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/04/us/bahamas-hurricane-dorian-explainer-trnd/index.html

My  point is still the same. that thing they built to make tons of $$$ is not at all  compatible

for a serene place like this.

Thanks for correcting us.

 

We are the Moore's 🙂

Tampa Bay

Rhapsody 2/29 & 3/22/2020

Video of our special son winning the belly flop contest with 400 lb guys! hope you like it.Harmony 10/22/2019. we had a great time.