Friday, 17 January 2025

Perfect Day at Coco Cay

Finally we had come to the last day of the cruise...perfect day at Coco Cay Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas (pronounced like the name Kay and NOT like Quay). The weather did not get the memo. When we disembarked at 08:00, there were heavy clouds, it was raining and it was cold with top temperatures predicted to be only 23 degrees. Oh well, we had already pre-paid for the water park as well as the day bed rental (fortunately both at half price!) and so the Albanys had to make our day at Coco Cay as perfect as we could!

The instructions to check-in for our day bed was not very clear and we were told 3 different things each time we asked someone. It was frustrating as wandering around easily chewed up 15 minutes. Once we had our day-bed sorted, it was off to go on the water slides before the crowds came. We were able to go on them with no wait or minimal wait. Perhaps the 220+ steps just to get to one of them put off many...We squeezed as many slides in as we could until we started having to wait in line. By now the rain had stopped and more people had come off the ship.

It was then time to enjoy the ocean. The air was so cool that it was warmer in the water. Our day-bed came with floating mats which were nice! The beach was still virtually empty. We explored the island, played the various beach sports that were available, drank our included bottled water, ate cheeseburgers and churros and called it quits mid-morning. There were still a stead stream of people who were only now getting off the ship. When we reached the Grove Suites sundeck, we had the area to ourselves including the hot tub. Bliss...

I must admit I was somewhat concerned being on such a big ship but I haven't really felt that it was crowded most of the time. Perhaps having a suite area to retreat to helped. The food has also been surprisingly, and not just the one off. Our dinners have been consistently tasty and prepared well with a good variety of options. Perhaps desserts were a touch sweet but still nice. We learnt from the staff on this cruise that the best personnel gets picked and invited to go on the new ships including the best chefs! So no more old ships for us... 

A shout out to the Nobles, our cruising buddies! Thank you for a week of fun and relaxation! My least favourite time of any trip has come, which is to head home. Tomorrow we leave the ship and fly back to Sydney. It has been an incredible 6 weeks filled with many highlights and wonderful memories. Unless something dramatic happens tomorrow, I will end my blog here as detailing 3 flights might be the definition of boring...so until next time!

229 steps to the red slide. It went VERY fast!

We were one of the firsts on the island

2 RCL ships

Yeah the rain probably helped keep crowds on the ships until later

We had the beach to ourselves

Our day bed

We had to close the sides at the beginning to keep the day bed dry!

It was right at the water and would have been amazing it was a sunny day

Use them or lose them!

The ominous clouds

Beach snooker!

I was excited to see this until I noticed there were only 2 books...

Not sure what this was but we played it! We just made our own rules

Paid for day-bed must lie down

Once to the red slide was enough

Back to the ship!

Malcolm found a tiny duck!

Hot tub was ours!

Cleaning up at trivia and collecting more useless Royal Caribbean paraphernalia

Lobster fritters as appetisers to end what was a lovely week on Icon of the Seas


Thursday, 16 January 2025

Last Sea Day

It is getting close to the end of the cruise and the blues were already starting to creep in. We made the most of our last sea day on this beautiful ship.

Lunch was at Hooks, the seafood specialty restaurant. We had pre-purchased it a few months ago as it was on sale at 50% off! Whilst the food was enjoyable, the lobster at dinner was MUCH better!

That was Susan Lee. Awake at 0600 to go to the gym. Mark this day as historic.

Our reward. Banana and peanut butter muesli and iced latte

Tasted like garlic scones. Super yummy with the clam chowder

A decent chowder but we've had better

Lobster roll

He had lobsters. A happy child

When you're 16 and 10 cookies don't affect your waistline

Highlight of my afternoon! A jazz band I could watch form my balcony

Trying to be Tom Cruise from Top Gun...


Wednesday, 15 January 2025

An Unexpected Sea Day

We arrived at St Thomas in the US Virgin Island at the crack of dawn. We were only here for 5 hours and we were keen to make the most of it. Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances (I won't go into details...) our tour was cancelled. To be perfectly honest, no one was too sad as we were all secretly happy to be on the ship. There were many things to go! Water slides to go on, corn hole and ping pong tournaments to win, trivia quizzes to dominate, cookies and cocktails to be consumed and ducks to be found!

We later discovered that our wonderful waiter Shaan is being promoted to being supervisor at Windjammer! As a joke, we all ordered spaghetti bolognese from the kids menu. He cottoned on after the 3rd person ordered it. Congratulations Shaan! Absolutely well deserved.

Hello St Thomas!

It really is hard to appreciate how big the ship is!

Goodbye St Thomas!

Today was a day of wins. Collecting Royal Caribbean plastic products that no one really needed!

When this is free, you collect

The stomach needed a rest

Thank you facebook for reminding that we were here exactly 4 years ago!

Jonah's daily afternoon cookie run

Enjoying the sunset while duck hunting

Anything the kids could do, we could do better!

This pianists pops up in different lifts every day. He is very good!!!

The spaghetti bolognese from the kids menu that the adults coveted

How could a day end better when dessert was tres leches cake



Tuesday, 14 January 2025

Sint Maarten

One island, two countries. Today was our first port day, and our stop was Saint Martin (the part belonging to France) or Sint Maarten (the part belonging to the Netherlands). We had booked a private tour and our guide Juliana was there waiting for us with her clean a/c van. It was a lovely tour with just enough of everything. Juliana gave us the interesting facts and stories about the island, and made stops at beaches, viewpoints as well as pointing out important landmarks. She was good natured and friendly but will not hesitate to say what she thinks! Our last stop was a lovely swimming spot which was surprisingly quiet given that 7000 passengers were onboard the ship! There was a restaurant right at the beach which was convenient as well as a freshwater shower/foot tap.

Tonight's show was Aqua Action, billed as a water spectacular held in the Aqua Dome. The start was promising with an exciting act on the wheel of death. The 2 acrobats were mesmerising. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there onwards. The music was fun and upbeat with a great arrangement but was WAY too loud. The remaining acts felt rudderless with no cohesive thread. Everything felt random. The acts themselves were also subpar. We appreciated the diver's skills but it didn't make captivating entertainment. Plus...the seats were so uncomfortable!

First views of St Martin

Ship docked!

Forced photo lol

One of the first off the ship. Good job team!

We're off!

Oyster Bay. Unfortunately there were still many parts of the island that has yet to recover from the 2017 hurricane

Jonah enjoyed looking for things on the beach

Iguana everywhere

Friar's Beach

Oma would be impressed with Julian. Excellent de-sanding tools for the car!!

One of 4 border crossings! One foot in France and one in Holland!

The sign says it all

And we're in France

Crazily busy Maho Beach, where people come to see planes fly low over the beach as they approach to land. 2 people were killed last year from the jet blast

Plane!

Drink and swim time!

Water was cool but not cold

Back on the ship!

Tonight's towelgami