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 |