Does Coco Cay have a welcome committee/boat parade like Labadee?

[Subman738]

When we pulled into Labadee a few years ago as we were tying up there was a really cool boat parade with welcome to Labadee signs/banners. Does anyone know if they do this at Coco Cay also?  

[BND]

No, but there is music.  When we left CC, there were Bahamian dancers on the pier next to the ship.  Remember, Labadee is part of the country of Haiti and people live nearby there.  No one lives on CC.

[bobmacliberty]

I haven't seen this as Coco Cay.  They usually have an island style band playing.  Was the boat parade at Labadee a Royal thing, or was it done by locals?

[BND]

1 minute ago, bobmacliberty said:

I haven't seen this as Coco Cay.  They usually have an island style band playing.  Was the boat parade at Labadee a Royal thing, or was it done by locals?

From all of the trips we've been there, it appears to be done by locals.  Jet skis, boats with a parasail with a smiley face on it, stuff like that.  

[BND]

Here's one pic

 

[BND]

And another

 

[Oceansaway17]

you will be welcomed at lot of times by a nice wind or breeze as you take the long walk up to the entrance and signage area.  Unless you ride the tram.

 

I like all the interesting signs around the island as well.

[mo&fran]

2 hours ago, BND said:

No, but there is music.  When we left CC, there were Bahamian dancers on the pier next to the ship.  Remember, Labadee is part of the country of Haiti and people live nearby there.  No one lives on CC.

I believe Royal has staff that lives in dorms on CC.

[BND]

27 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I believe Royal has staff that lives in dorms on CC.

Labadee has a dorm.  Last I heard the staff at CC commutes there via boats.

 

[Sea Viewer]

8 minutes ago, BND said:

Labadee has a dorm.  Last I heard the staff at CC commutes there via boats.

 

 

The vendors at CC commute by boat, there are some royal staff members who live on the Island during their assignments. they are evacuated if there are hurricane/ storm warnings. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Sea Viewer

[mo&fran]

The dorms were reported by CC member Radio on his trip reports from earlier this year.

[karena1]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

I haven't seen this as Coco Cay.  They usually have an island style band playing.  Was the boat parade at Labadee a Royal thing, or was it done by locals?

It is done by the royal staff that runs the jetskis and the boats.  We have seen it many times, very cool

[karena1]

6 minutes ago, Sea Viewer said:

 

The vendors at CC commute by boat, there are some royal staff members who live on the Island during their assignments. they are evacuated if there are hurricane/ storm warnings. 

We were just there again.  We talked to one of the staff and he said about 400 people actually live on the island.  Most are from Royal, but there are some locals also.  We have been to cococay so many times, we know a lot of people live on the island and others commute from the neighboring islands

[BND]

8 minutes ago, Sea Viewer said:

 

The vendors at CC commute by boat, there are some royal staff members who live on the Island during their assignments. they are evacuated if there are hurricane/ storm warnings. 

 Locals are the ones doing the parade which is the original question.

Edited January 28, 2022 by BND

[Sunshine3601]

30 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

The dorms were reported by CC member Radio on his trip reports from earlier this year.

YES, you are correct 🤩there are several motel like buildings that house workers on coco cay.     

For anyone that goes up to the top of the water slide you can see the area where they live and the other buildings they have for storage of food and equipment for the island.    

 

The locals that sell their goods in the little huts/shops they travel to the island every day by boat

 

They had also been using coco cay for quarantine of covid positive crew in their dorms/apartment buildings.    

 

I guess Royal was able to evacuate all the Haitians that took over the dorms and other buildings on Labadee during their political unrest.   

[twangster]

A few months ago before Omi they had a parade march down the pier, stop, do some things and head back onto land just before the ships cleared passengers to get off.  Haven't seen that during Omi.   

[twangster]

Not the best video as the parade had come up the pier and turned around by the time I started recording video.  I have stills on a good camera somewhere.  Nov. 12, 2022.

 

 

[FireEMT978]

9 hours ago, BND said:

 Locals are the ones doing the parade which is the original question.

At Labadee, the RCI employees that live there, are the ones that do the "Welcome Parade". The only thing that the locals do, are the straw market. And, gather around the Waverunner and Kayak guests, trying to sell items. We were "warned" of the "local sellers", when we did the Waverunner tour. They actually latched on to mine, and my daughters Waverunners. I told them very sternly, to back off immediately.  

Edited January 29, 2022 by FireEMT978