This was our last day on the cruise and it was fitting to end with the “Perfect Day at Coco Cay”. We arrived at the private island by 7:00am. I was surprised to wake up to seeing people just outside my balcony.
It turns out Star of the Seas was the other ship in port with us. That is the new sister ship to Icon. We got some great photos of the two largest cruise ships in the world next to each other.
We met the kids at the buffet for a quick breakfast before getting off around 8:30am. We didn’t know what to expect other than it was going to be a “perfect” day. It ended up being a great day but not how we planned…
We made our way to South Beach. It wasn’t too busy yet and there were loungers all over the beach with umbrellas. It was a nice first impression. Thy had showers and bathrooms and people coming to take our drink orders. It was extremely hot, so I had a shower before relaxing in my lounger.
Tavis and Ari went to dip in the water. What they found was lots of seaweed, very course sand, and not an inviting experience. They were in and out before I was back. Instead they both showered right away and we sat in our chairs waiting for our drinks.
When our drinks finally arrived, they were not what we ordered and very watered down. It was not a great experience. We stayed a bit longer before Tavis and I decided to check out the island. Ayva and Ari went back to the ship at that time.
There were 2 of the largest ships each with over 7,000 passengers on this tiny island. You would think it was so busy everyone would feel like sardines. This was not the case. There were 2 beaches, a bay, and a pool area and each area had empty loungers. There was also a huge open area restaurant, along with several food stands and bars in each area. If you don’t plan on spending g money, that is all you have to choose from.
As we walked around the island, we found several gated off areas that required a fee to enter. Many of these beaches were empty. There were also cabanas you could rent for $1,500 to $4,000 on the water. Those were actually full. There were 6-8 waterslides that you could use if you paid the $200pp entry fee. They even had a zipline and a hot air balloon. It was most definitely not a perfect day at Coco Cay for us. However, we went back to the ship by 11:00 and had a great rest of our day! The waterslides were empty and we had our pick of loungers.
The kids’ cards stopped working so I went to guest services to get new cards for them since no one wanted to walk all the way to deck 5. While I was there, I requested that they remove the gratuities for the kids so we could give cash to crew members instead.
At 6:00 we met the kids at the Dining room again for dinner. We were rushed though because we had reservations for the Aqua Show. Ayva and I left before dessert was served to save us seats. Ari also brought his girl friend and they sat on their own. Tavis and Addison handed out our gratuities and and came a bit later with our dessert 😊. Unfortunately, they informed us that due to technology issues they had to alter the show. It ended up just being a lot of dancing in water with none of the diving or stunts. 😢. It is a good thing we saw the show earlier in the cruise.
We were really sad to pack up our bags that night before bed. Hard to believe our family vacation is coming to an end! One last sleep on this huge ship.