Royal Caribbean opened Perfect Day at CocoCay over the weekend, and there is a lot that you can see, do and experience on Royal Caribbean's private island. Just how much, you ask? Check out this new infographic to get a sense of just how much Royal Caribbean has packed into this island makeover.
Happy weekend! In case you missed any Royal Caribbean news, here is a look at everything that happened this week!
Royal Caribbean celebrated the grand opening of Perfect Day at CocoCay with its private island transformation completing its first major phase.
Guests sailing on Navigator of the Seas were welcomed to Perfect Day at CocoCay, where a number of new venues, activities and offerings were officially open for guest use.
Chief among the new offerings is the opening of Thrill Waterpark. At Thrill Waterpark, you can find Daredevil’s Tower, where guests can try a number ofsingle-rider waterslides of various heights, including the 135-foot-tall Daredevil’s Peak – the tallest waterslide in North America.
The 300th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we begin a mini-series of episodes focusing on cruises to Alaska.
Call us crazy, but we think you should ignore online reviews of cruise ships. Matt explains why concerns people have about a particular ship due to something they read is nothing to actually worry about.
Please feel free to subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! We’d appreciate it.
Houston Chronicle detailed how Royal Caribbean now rivals Broadway in terms of its show productions.
Cruise Fever wrote about how 12 Royal Caribbeans are moving to new homeports this week.
Royal Caribbean officially opened its revamped private island in the Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay.
The newly opened destination welcomes guests following a $250 million transformation of the cruise line's existing private destination in The Bahamas.
Guests sailing on Navigator of the Seas were welcomed to Perfect Day at CocoCay, where a number of new venues, activities and offerings were officially open for guest use.
While Royal Caribbean opened some areas of Perfect Day in the weeks leading up to this grand opening, today was the first day guests had the opportunity to try Thrill Waterpark.
At Thrill Waterpark, you can find Daredevil’s Tower, where guests can try a number ofsingle-rider waterslides of various heights, including the 135-foot-tall Daredevil’s Peak – the tallest waterslide in North America.
Additional highlights are the twin Dueling Demon drop slides, launching riders from a vertical position; the Manta Raycers, where friends can race down twin open flume slides; the high-speed, fully vertical Screeching Serpent; and the coiling Green Mamba, a massive aqua tube slide.
There is also lots for kids of all ages to enjoy. From three dry slides and 16 water cannons, to rope features and a splash pad, Captain Jill’s Galleon is an interactive play structure loaded with swashbuckling thrills. There's even Sprayaway Geyser, which shoots water 80 feet up into the air!
Of course, Perfect Day at CocoCay features the beautiful beaches that people have flocked to The Bahamas for years. Chill Island has beach favorites here, including jet skiing excursions as well as plentiful cabanas and daybeds for relaxation under the shade.
The island features a 1,600-foot-long zip-line course that crisscrosses Perfect Day at CocoCay.
Perfect Day features the Caribbean’s largest freshwater pool, Oasis Lagoon, which has three distinct coves. Children can get in on the fun, too, with the kid-friendly zero-entry zone.
Skipper’s Grill is a waterfront restaurant that mixes the best views with an array of complimentary menu items, like salads, sandwiches, tacos and burgers.
The first—and only—Splashaway Bay ashore features two drench buckets, five slides (two tubes and three racer slides), as well as numerous fountains, water cannons, sprinklers and geysers. There is also an obstacle course featuring cannons and rope bridge.
Refer to our guide for Perfect Day at CocoCay prices and costs, including what is complimentary and what has an additional charge. We also have a list of Perfect Day at CocoCay waterslides & experiences height and weight requirements.
What are you most excited to try at Perfect Day at CocoCay? Let us know in the comments!
A keel laying ceremony was held today for Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship, Odyssey of the Seas, at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.
The ship's keel is the first block, and was officially lowered and put into place. This block weighs 970 tons and is one of a total of 79 blocks for the new cruise ship. The keel laying ceremony marks the official start of construction for Odyssey of the Seas. The ship will have a gross tonnage of about 169,000.
The first steel parts for Odyssey of the Seas were cut to size in the Meyer Werft Laser Center already back in February 2019.
Representatives from Royal Caribbean International and Stephan Schmees, Executive Board Member Project Management at Meyer Werft, placed the lucky coin under the block of the new ship before it was lowered into position.
“With the keel laying for Odyssey of the Seas at Neptun Werft it becomes clear again, how well our teams at the different locations are working together. It is our great pleasure to build these innovative ships for Royal Caribbean International and to continue our long-standing business relationship”, said Stephan Schmees.
Odyssey of the Seas is scheduled to be delivered by Meyer Werft in Papenburg in autumn 2020.
Odyssey of the Seas’ deployment and itineraries will be revealed later this year.
Guests with sailings booked on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas are receiving emails from the cruise line that their itinerary has changed due to a speed restriction.
Emails similar to this one that Royal Caribbean Blog reader Nathan shared with us, were sent to guests informing them of the itinerary change.
Royal Caribbean has not indicated the nature of the issue exactly. Based on emails sent to guests, it appears the changes mostly affect Eastern Caribbean itineraries, with St. Thomas often being replaced with San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our readers have indicated that Western Caribbean itineraries have mostly seen some shifts in times, but no port swaps.
Allure of the Seas had an issue with her propulsion in 2017, that resulted in the ship going in for a dry dock to repair the problem. She also had a propulsion issue back in 2013.
After each fiscal quarter, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. holds a conference call with investors to go over their quarterly results that were released earlier in the day. While most of this discussion is mired in financial discussion, there are some interesting tidbits that guests can pull out of these discussions.
We rounded up the most intriguing bits from the earnings call that may provide guidance or a view of where the cruise line is going, and how leadership sees things currently.
Ever since the U.S. Administration made an announcement that it intends to clamp down on recent changes to America's policy towards Cuba, many have wondered what impact that will have on cruises to Cuba.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd Chairman and CEO Richard Fain took a little time to speak on the subject, saying essentially that nothing has changed quite yet, "If such legislation does ensue, we believe that we possess all defenses. And we're not expecting to change our itineraries as a result. The administration also commented on possible changes to the regulations that apply to travel to Cuba."
"At this point, we don't know if there will be any changes, what those changes might be? Or to what extent they would impact us. Only 3% of our itineraries currently go to Cuba. And any impact would depend on what the regulations say. And how much advanced notice we and our guests would receive."
Throughout the call with investors, Royal Caribbean's executives were very bullish on the potential Perfect Day at CocoCay will bring to the cruise line's offerings. Not only is it looking like a really fun place to spend the day, but it also looks like it will bring a big return for the company.
Mr. Fain started off the call saying, " To say that, she is a beauty is a massive understatement and we believe that we have created a truly game changer for the cruise industry, in fact for the vacation industry."
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty spoke to the early returns the cruise line is seeing, "Perfect Day at CocoCay hasn't officially opened yet, but it's clearly fueling additional and higher-yielding demand for our Caribbean itineraries. Bookings and pricing have been exceeding our expectations overall for the Caribbean, with sailings visiting Perfect Day up by more than other Caribbean itineraries."
If you are looking for a common thread among the recent strong financial results that Royal Caribbean has shown lately, the onboard purchases guests have been making is a good place to start.
Once again, onboard spending was up and clearly guests are enjoying the various packages they can purchase for their sailing.
Mr. Liberty mentioned, "On the onboard side, which has been exceptionally strong we saw an over index of spend on shore excursion our packages like beverage packaging, internet package and again more focused on the experiential stuff versus seeing more spend occur within the retail shops."
One of the analysts on the conference call inquired about the prospect of Perfect Day at CocoCay might seem overcrowded. More generally, he wanted to know how all the new additions and expansion will not impact the customer experience that would create a negative passenger experience.
Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley responded by saying, "We've designed Perfect Day to deliver what we think will generally be a perfect day for our customers. And we, from what we've seen so far with between 4,000 and 6,000 people on the island, we've got a huge amount of space available."
"So we've engineered designed for peak and the peak was way up close to 10,000. We obviously know we'll operate it with bigger ships coming to Perfect Day, and we'll see how we go. I think we're kind of feeling pretty optimistic about the potential for three ship calls versus two ship calls that could take us up to 12,000 a day. And remember, it's a fairly large island and we've only developed about a third of it."
One analyst noticed a trend that Royal Caribbean is able to hold on to pricing premiums on new ships.
Mr. Bailey answered by talking about the cruise line's strategy of attracting people new to cruise, while retaining loyal customers, "I think we stated a few years ago one of our key areas of focus was on new-to-cruise in particularly in market like the United States we've been quite focused on growing our new-to-cruise segment. "
"We have changed some of our strategy so everything that we've done with the short product where we took the Voyager class ships and put them through role amplified and then place them into the short product with Perfect Day CocoCay has really stimulated that new-to-cruise segment. So that's part of it."
"Our loyalty customers continue to grow. They like the brands and they enjoy what we provide. I think the new ships, we've been very focused on not only the continuation of kind of on innovation in bringing new products and services to our guests. But we've done a lot more analytics on, really trying to understand what's going to attract those customers and bring them back and also be able to maintain higher yields."
Many guests have been wondering when will a certain ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet gain support for the cruise line's new smart phone app.
Mr. Fain provided a brief update on the project rollout at the start of the call. "I'm particularly excited this is already been so broadly deployed that 60% of our guests can get it available. And, towards the end of the year it will be virtually all our guests. And the ratings that it's getting in the Apple App Store are 4.7."
Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas arrived for the first time at Bintan Island, Indonesia on May 2, 2019.
The visit is part of a 3-night cruise from Singapore, which also called at Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) yesterday.
To commemorate the occasion, a traditional plaque and key ceremony was held onboard, whereby Voyager of the Seas’ Captain Wu Huimin exchanged plaques with Mr Nurdin Basirun, Governor of Riau Island and Mr Frans Gunara, Vice President Director of PT. Bintan Resort Cakrawala. Angie Stephen, Managing Director, Asia Pacific of Royal Caribbean Cruises was also present at the ceremony.
The Indonesian port and government delegation with the Royal Caribbean team onboard Voyager of the Seas in Bintan.
Bintan Resorts is famous for its pristine sandy beaches and boasts of 13 different types of resort accommodation. There are many attractions and all visitors are treated to a vast variety of indoor and outdoor activities. These include water and sea sports, Crystal Lagoon Treasure Bay which is the biggest sea water swimming pool in Southeast Asia, golf at four different designer courses, various traditional Indonesian massage and spa therapies, mangrove discovery tours and the nature walks at Safari Lagoi where visitors can soak in the beauty of nature. Guests will also get a chance to immerse themselves in Indonesian culture and tradition particular to the Riau region. In addition, they can partake in the local delicacies, especially fresh seafood that can whet any appetite and make one crave for more.
In greater Bintan, guests can enjoy the Trikora Coastal Exploration Tour which is an eight-hour adventure that brings guests to sacred caves to learn about the island’s migrant history. On the Tanjung Pinang Highlights Tour, guests can learn about the Chinese heritage at Tian Shang Miao, a walk around 500 Lohan Temple with life-sized sculptures, Vihara Dharma Sasana temples followed by Banten's oldest monastery before ending with picturesque sand dunes and blue lagoons.
The ship will continue her Southeast Asia season out from Singapore until late June, which includes itineraries such as the 3-night cruise to Penang, 4-night cruise to Penang and Phuket, and a 5-night Spice of Southeast Asia cruise to Penang, Langkawi and Phuket.
In the weeks since a shipyard accident required Royal Caribbean to make unscheduled repairs to Oasis of the Seas, it now appears the ship is on schedule to return to service on May 5.
During an earnings call with investors today, executives from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. announced that Oasis of the Seas is expected to return back to service for its normally scheduled May 5, 2019 sailing from Barcelona.
On April 1, 2019, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas was undergoing maintenance at the Grand Bahama Shipyard when an accident involving the drydock caused two construction cranes to collapse on the stern of the ship. The damage to the ship was extensive and the ship had to go to a dock in Europe for repairs. As a result, the ship was taken out of service for almost a month.
The company estimates the direct financial impact of this unusual event, net of insurance, will be a reduction of approximately $0.25 per share to the company's full year Adjusted EPS, mostly driven by lost revenue.
Royal Caribbean's WOW Sale begins today, with 50% off second guest, kids sail free offer and up to $300 onboard credit.
The WOW Sale is valid on bookings made between May 1 – 5, 2019 on select sailings departing on or after June 1, 2019.
The WOW Sale includes:
BOGO and Kids Sail Free are combinable with each other as well as with WOW Sale, promotional OBCs, NextCruise offers, Instant Savings, restricted discounts (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military), Promo Code driven offers, Free Upgrades, Crown and Anchor discounts and Shareholder Benefits. WOW Sale is combinable with promotional OBCs, NextCruise offers, Instant Savings, restricted discounts (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military), Promo Code driven offers and Free Upgrades but not combinable with Crown and Anchor discounts and Shareholder Benefits. Offers are not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to, Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, Net Rates.
Offer available to residents of United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and select countries in the Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean is transforming its private island in the Bahamas to an all-new experience known as Perfect Day at CocoCay. It promises to revolutionize the cruise line private island visit by offering a variety of new venues, activities and ways to indulge and relax. Perfect Day represents a major step forward in what guests can expect from a private island day.
Royal Caribbean is spending $250 million in making over CocoCay and will open the Perfect Day experience in multiple phases. Royal Caribbean thinks Perfect Day will deliver the kind of memorable vacations its guests want either on land or at sea.
Perfect Day at CocoCay is Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas and the first island in the cruise line's Perfect Day Island Collection, a series of private island destinations around the world.
Perfect Day at CocoCay, Bahamas will boast a number of distinct experiences and iconic features, including racing down the tallest waterslide in North America, riding the tide of the Caribbean’s largest wave pool, or taking in the highest view in The Bahamas from a helium balloon 450 feet in the air, unwinding at the largest freshwater pool in the Caribbean, or enjoying the perfect beach day. Royal Caribbean hopes it can offer enough to create a guest's perfect vacation day – no matter what that may look like.
Guests can choose from a variety of things to do at Perfect Day at CocoCay. Beyond a traditional beach day, there are dining venues, a water park, beach club, helium balloon and more to try.
Here are the major highlights:
The new pier that allows ships to dock at the island opened in March 2019.
The first phase of Perfect Day at CocoCay officially opened on May 4th with Thrill Waterpark, the Zip Line, Splashaway Bay aqua park, Up, Up and Away helium balloon, Captain Jill’s Galleon, Skipper’s Grill dining, Captain Jack’s dining, Chill Island, Chill Grill dining, and Oasis Lagoon freshwater pool available to all guests.
South Beach, Coco Beach Club and the overwater cabanas will open in December 2019.
A number of Royal Caribbean cruise ships will offer stops at Perfect Day on CocoCay on select itineraries over the next two years. In 2019, 11 ships will visit Perfect Day at CocoCay. These include:
Your Royal Caribbean ship will dock at the new pier Royal Caribbean has added to the island, eliminating the need for tenders.
Just like any port of call Royal Caribbean visits, there are posted times and operating hours for Perfect Day at CocoCay. Refer to your Cruise Compass and onboard announcements for specific times, but your ship will spend many hours during the course of your visit.
A majority of what Royal Caribbean offers at Perfect Day at CocoCay is complimentary, with some attractions and experiences carrying an additional cost.
Some of the experiences that have no additional costs include Oasis Lagoon, Captain Jill’s Galleon, Splashaway Bay, and new sports courts on South Beach. Royal Caribbean has also enhanced its beaches like Chill Island and South Beach, both offering plenty of free beach chairs and beach side activities.
Thrill Waterpark offers full day passes for an additional cost. They go onto your SeaPass card and you simply scan at the entrance to the water park. You can also purchase passes at the entrance if you did not pre-purchase prior to your cruise or on board.
Up, Up, and Away and the Zip Line are treated as excursions, and carry an additional cost.
A variety of dining venues are also included at no additional cost to ensure there is plenty of food to enjoy while on the island throughout the day. Five new complimentary dining venues are located throughout the island.
You can view a full breakdown of what is included and what costs extra at Perfect Day at CocoCay.
You will find complimentary freshwater showers, restrooms, and changing rooms available on the island. Towels, umbrellas and beach chairs are complimentary to all of our guests.
Lockers are available throughout the island for a nominal rental fee.
Cabanas are available for an additional cost.
There are no age restrictions for the experiences at Perfect Day at CocoCay. Some slides and activities have height and
weight restrictions, and you can refer to our list of restrictions for specifics.
Many of the island’s other experiences, such as Up, Up and Away helium balloon, Oasis Lagoon freshwater pool, and Captain Jill’s Galleon, are open to all adventurers.
If Royal Caribbean cancels the excursion, your onboard account will be fully refunded.
Just like any shore excursion you book at any port Royal Caribbean visits, shore activities are subject to the same policy as the cruise line's shore excursions at other global destinations. This essentially means you cannot opt for a refund/cancellation because the weather is not to your liking.
Excursions can be modified or canceled up to 48 hours prior to port arrival without penalty. The deadline for tour exchanges is 48 hours before port arrival.
Yes, Royal Caribbean will honor beverage and internet packages purchased online or onboard its ships while visiting the island.
Royal Caribbean's Voom internet offerings are also available to use while on CocoCay.
Just like any port of call your Royal Caribbean ship visits, you will need your SeaPass card to exit and re-board the ship. In addition, your SeaPass card is what you will use to pay for things on the island.
Your SeaPass card or Royal Caribbean app is needed to scan your tickets for admission to the waterpark.
The only exception is the straw market, which is operated by Bahamaians, and only US Dollars are accepted by these vendors.
No, drones may not be operated at Perfect Day at CocoCay.
GoPro cameras are allowed to be used on the island, with the exception that for safety reasons any personal electronic device of any kind are not allowed on any of the following attractions:
On the island’s Zip Line, riders who wish to wear a GoPro must bring their own helmet mount that attaches securely to the helmet. If the staff notices the camera prevents a guest from safely participating in the activity at any time, they may ask the guest to remove or adjust the camera.
Babies and toddlers with swim diapers can swim in all pools, and also in the ocean at all beaches.
Splashaway Bay and Captain Jill’s Galleon are also available to children. Splashaway Bay on Perfect Day at CocoCay is the largest edition yet, and comes naturally with three of its own waterslides.
A tram service will run every 15 minutes at all times on the island and includes five stops: Thrill Waterpark, South Beach, Coco Beach Club, Chill Island, and Oasis Lagoon.
A tram line will also serve Coco Beach Club exclusively during morning peak hours. All trams are accessible.
Royal Caribbean's dining venues on the island will offer gluten free and vegetarian options, as well as options to suit most dietary needs.
Royal Caribbean is considering the possibility of designing the island to accommodate overnight and/or extended stays in the future. For now, visits to Perfect Day at CocoCay are only during the day.