Coco Cay Waterpark

[irishnyc]

I went back a few pages to look, and it's been a LOOOOONG time since I cruised or visited the boards here, so be gentle!

I have a cruise booked end of November 2021, and under the excursions for Coco Cay no waterpark activities appear at all. Are they not booking these yet? Or are they available closer to cruising? Thanks in advance for answers!

[Beagle Rancher]

You buy the passes in the cruise planner not as an excursion. 

[irishnyc]

Yes, in cruise planner,  under shore excursions for Coco Cay there are no waterpark items listed. There are only beach club, oasis, and swimming with pigs or stingrays. When I booked wp passes on a canceled cruise, that's where I found them.

Edited November 11, 2020 by irishnyc

[orville99]

IMHO, Doubtful that any of the waterpark related activities will be open until the CDC gives the cruise lines the "All Clear" to resume full operations, and highly doubtful that the Bahamas will allow any of its workers to move back and forth between Coco Cay and their home island until they are certain that the virus can't be carried back with them. I expect that for the foreseeable future, Coco Cay will feel a lot more like it did before the "Perfect Day" enhancements were added.

Edited November 11, 2020 by orville99

[irishnyc]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

IMHO, Doubtful that any of the waterpark related activities will be open until the CDC gives the cruise lines the "All Clear" to resume full operations, and highly doubtful that the Bahamas will allow any of its workers to move back and forth between Coco Cay and their home island until they are certain that the virus can't be carried back with them. I expect that for the foreseeable future, Coco Cay will feel a lot more like it did before the "Perfect Day" enhancements were added.

Thank you. That's what I thought it might be, but I didn't know if maybe these items didn't show up until within a year of the cruise or something.

[Stick93]

34 minutes ago, orville99 said:

IMHO, Doubtful that any of the waterpark related activities will be open until the CDC gives the cruise lines the "All Clear" to resume full operations, and highly doubtful that the Bahamas will allow any of its workers to move back and forth between Coco Cay and their home island until they are certain that the virus can't be carried back with them. I expect that for the foreseeable future, Coco Cay will feel a lot more like it did before the "Perfect Day" enhancements were added.

If that is the case and I am not saying your opinion is correct or incorrect - There will be no cruising at all until there is an all clear. They are not taking people to coco Cay like its a museum showing kids what it was like to have fun before the pandemic.  

If and "IF" they start to cruise and they stop at Coco Cay - its because its open like it was before the pandemic started. A private island is as close to a bubble for the cruislines that they can create - and they will need them to sell their product. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Stick93

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, Stick93 said:

If that is the case and I am not saying your opinion is correct or incorrect - There will be no cruising at all until there is an all clear. They are not taking people to coco Cay like its a museum showing kids what it was like to have fun before the pandemic.  

 

Lololol that made me laugh out loud

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

If that is the case and I am not saying your opinion is correct or incorrect - There will be no cruising at all until there is an all clear. They are not taking people to coco Cay like its a museum showing kids what it was like to have fun before the pandemic.  

If and "IF" they start to cruise and they stop at Coco Cay - its because its open like it was before the pandemic started. A private island is as close to a bubble for the cruislines that they can create - and they will need them to sell their product. 

Prior to the "enhancements" to Coco Cay, the island was effectively a bubble because all of the service staff, provisions, and support services were brought off of the ship. There was a very small island staff that essentially kept the lights on in between ships, but they had very little interaction with either the guests or the ship staff. When they started construction, they had the entire "Perfect Day" area fenced off and (more or less) hidden from view. When we were last there in February the number of staff that were "locals" was significant, and most were in highly interactive roles with passengers. My best guess is that a pre-perfect day beach experience will be essentially what passengers to Coco Cay will see when cruises resume.

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

Prior to the "enhancements" to Coco Cay, the island was effectively a bubble because all of the service staff, provisions, and support services were brought off of the ship. There was a very small island staff that essentially kept the lights on in between ships, but they had very little interaction with either the guests or the ship staff. When they started construction, they had the entire "Perfect Day" area fenced off and (more or less) hidden from view. When we were last there in February the number of staff that were "locals" was significant, and most were in highly interactive roles with passengers. My best guess is that a pre-perfect day beach experience will be essentially what passengers to Coco Cay will see when cruises resume.

If this were the case they wouldn’t be selling passes for Oasis Lagon, Beach Club, snorkeling and more. I believe this is simply a case of too early combined with classic RC IT department. 

[Stick93]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

Lololol that made me laugh out loud

It will be funnier when we all buy tickets to see the ancient relics of coco cays past 

[rockmom]

2 hours ago, irishnyc said:

Yes, in cruise planner,  under shore excursions for Coco Cay there are no waterpark items listed. There are only beach club, oasis, and swimming with pigs or stingrays. When I booked wp passes on a canceled cruise, that's where I found them.

I have 3 cruises booked that have CocoCay as part of the itinerary.  July '21, Jan '22, March '22.  In the cruise planner for each of these, the availability definitely varies and new things pop up fairly regularly.  I will say that the Thrill Waterpark cabanas and passes are showing up for all of mine though.  But with Royal, who knows what random method they are using to load stuff to each cruise.  I have a cruise booked for September that does NOT have CocoCay as a stop, but for that one there are NO excursions at all showing yet.  Like I said, random. I normally check almost daily because I work from home, always on my computer so it's easy to do.  

Edited November 11, 2020 by rockmom

[firefly333]

27 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

It will be funnier when we all buy tickets to see the ancient relics of coco cays past 

Well the beach is still there. Lol, people could use the beach the old fashioned way. 

 

How terrible. 

[Cutigerlady]

I moved out my December cruise to next December and I do see water park passes available for Coco Cay.  I also see them for another cruise I have in September.  

[orville99]

RCL will continue to market and book everything that they can until reality rears its ugly head and says not today. They continued to take bookings for December right up to the day they announced cancelling those cruises. They're still taking bookings for January even though they haven't started their CDC mandated simulations, and no one knows whether the CDC 60-day CSO certification clock has even started yet.

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

RCL will continue to market and book everything that they can until reality rears its ugly head and says not today. They continued to take bookings for December right up to the day they announced cancelling those cruises. They're still taking bookings for January even though they haven't started their CDC mandated simulations, and no one knows whether the CDC 60-day CSO certification clock has even started yet.

Doesnt the 28 day clock to re-enter US waters come first, or are they concurrent?  I dont see any ships moving into US waters.

[Ashland]

I have a Harmony booked for April 2022 and can purchase the cabanas already. Considering the Water Park cabana that comes with some WP inclusions.

I had purchased this cabana for our May 2020 that was cancelled by RCI.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Ashland

[stevea36]

I sort of remember that RCI has 350 or more employees who live on CoCoCay since the upgrade.  If they return they will be in the same bubble as cruise passengers and will not be travelling to other islands.

 

[hallux]

51 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Doesnt the 28 day clock to re-enter US waters come first

I believe it's actually that the ships planning to enter US waters/ports need to have submitted a rolling 28-day buffer of EDC (Enhanced Data Collection) reports regarding COVID (and maybe other viruses/diseases) on board.  If the ship never stopped submitting those there may not be a 28 day 'clock' to run out.  I'm reading the footnote on page 36 of the CSO.

[firefly333]

15 minutes ago, hallux said:

I believe it's actually that the ships planning to enter US waters/ports need to have submitted a rolling 28-day buffer of EDC (Enhanced Data Collection) reports regarding COVID (and maybe other viruses/diseases) on board.  If the ship never stopped submitting those there may not be a 28 day 'clock' to run out.  I'm reading the footnote on page 36 of the CSO.

Still I'd expect to see something, hear more from employees if ships were sailing soon. It's been very quiet from rcl except from the usual nothing statements.

[cured]

10 hours ago, orville99 said:

Prior to the "enhancements" to Coco Cay, the island was effectively a bubble because all of the service staff, provisions, and support services were brought off of the ship. There was a very small island staff that essentially kept the lights on in between ships, but they had very little interaction with either the guests or the ship staff. When they started construction, they had the entire "Perfect Day" area fenced off and (more or less) hidden from view. When we were last there in February the number of staff that were "locals" was significant, and most were in highly interactive roles with passengers. My best guess is that a pre-perfect day beach experience will be essentially what passengers to Coco Cay will see when cruises resume.

I am booked for Coco Cay in August.  I have already purchased tickets to the waterpark.  In fact, they went on sale today.

 

So, if they are selling them for August, I highly doubt they will then shut it down for November.

[TravelerThom]

8 hours ago, cured said:

I am booked for Coco Cay in August.  I have already purchased tickets to the waterpark.  In fact, they went on sale today.

 

So, if they are selling them for August, I highly doubt they will then shut it down for November.

Remember: Royal Caribbean is staying temporarily solvent through

Interest Free Loans  

 

They have sold lots of things (Cruises, excursions, drink packages, etc) which most rational people doubted were going to happen. Just because you were able to purchase something from them doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen. 

[orville99]

12 hours ago, stevea36 said:

I sort of remember that RCI has 350 or more employees who live on CoCoCay since the upgrade.  If they return they will be in the same bubble as cruise passengers and will not be travelling to other islands.

 

While there may have been that many staying on the island when it was open, the ones we talked with at the beach club and the trams in February indicated that they were on 2-3 month contracts and would be going back home once those contracts were done. I expect that RCL has not contracted with any Bahamians since they closed sailing operations, so all of those people would be back home. 

[Sunshine3601]

14 hours ago, stevea36 said:

I sort of remember that RCI has 350 or more employees who live on CoCoCay since the upgrade.  If they return they will be in the same bubble as cruise passengers and will not be travelling to other islands.

 

From what I have read and in speaking with several locals on cococay.  They do not live on the island.  They take a ferry to work everyday.  There maybe a couple that are housed on the island when ships are there on a daily basis but they have all probably gone back home the last 8 or 9 months.

Once rcl resumes it would be easy enough for rcl to have a small ship as a floating hotel for their cococay workers.  No need to ferry in locals.

[stevea36]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

From what I have read and in speaking with several locals on cococay.  They do not live on the island.  They take a ferry to work everyday.  There maybe a couple that are housed on the island when ships are there on a daily basis but they have all probably gone back home the last 8 or 9 months.

Once rcl resumes it would be easy enough for rcl to have a small ship as a floating hotel for their cococay workers.  No need to ferry in locals.

no need for a ship to be a hotel, they already have some 500 rooms built there.

 

[Sunshine3601]

29 minutes ago, stevea36 said:

no need for a ship to be a hotel, they already have some 500 rooms built there.

 

Wow I didnt know that.  That's great they can easily create their own safe bubble for workers.