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Freedom of the Seas - Issues at Coco Cay

VanDyne

By VanDyne
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VanDyne Pre-Gold

VanDyne

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We are currently sitting at the dock on Freedom of the Seas, and the Bahamian government has not allowed the ship to disembark. It has been two hours past the posted arrival time. The Norwegian ship at the next island over is also not docked. Not sure what the issue is as we were in Nassau yesterday. The ship has not communicated any COVID issues and stated that RC HQ is working with the Bahamian Tourism Agency.

VanDyne Pre-Gold

VanDyne

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The cruise director just opened up Adventure Ocean, Flow Rider, and the rock climbing wall. They are playing a movie in Studio B. It doesn’t sound promising at this point in time. Feels like a sea day on the upper decks.

DunwoodyDad Diamond

DunwoodyDad

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I just posted this as well on the news board. But yes this feels like it’s not going to happen which is frustrating and confusing since we were in populated Nassau yesterday while there’s just the Royal employees here at Cocp Cay. And unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they are ready for the shift … Top level Lime and Coconut isn’t open/staffed, Windjammer shows as closed for lunch, etc

DunwoodyDad Diamond

DunwoodyDad

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10 minutes ago, BrianB said:

Could it be the case counts on the ship? Or just a general temporary shut down of the Bahamas….

I dont think it’s counts on this ship mainly because everything seems so normal. I haven’t heard of anyone being sick for sure. I’ve tried to keep my eye on the tender for NCL. Doesn’t seem like it’s shuttling passengers 

AnchorsAway Pre-Gold

AnchorsAway

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1 hour ago, DunwoodyDad said:

On Freedom right now and it’s 10:00 and for whatever reason the Bahamian officials haven’t given clearance for us to exit the ship to Coco Cay. Really disappointed since we haven’t been before. Also really odd since we were in Nassau just yesterday and everything seemed fine. 

Hi there. Were you cleared to go to Coco Cay? That would be a total bummer if that is not an option (says the party of 4

cruising next week).

Beaker Gold

Beaker

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If the Bahamas does indeed decide to continue this policy of not allowing cruise ships to disembark on their "private" islands, I don't see how the cruise lines can continue.  That is the one thing keeping us from postponing our Jan 16th cruise.  I don't really care about the ports so much, but seven days on Harmony without anywhere to go?

No thanks.  

DunwoodyDad Diamond

DunwoodyDad

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30 minutes ago, AnchorsAway said:

Hi there. Were you cleared to go to Coco Cay? That would be a total bummer if that is not an option (says the party of 4

cruising next week).

Still sitting on the ship. Definitely a bummer for us since we’ve never been there and we can look out and see it. I mean, we are docked and everything. 

DunwoodyDad Diamond

DunwoodyDad

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36 minutes ago, Carlyn3 said:

Disney Magic has not been cleared to enter Castaway Cay either.  

So the Bahamian government is pulling something here. It would be interesting if there are any ships in Nassau today and what is going on with them. 

JohnK6404 Pinnacle

JohnK6404

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4 minutes ago, DunwoodyDad said:

Are they being allowed to let passengers off?  If they are, that’s ridiculous. It would mean they are letting people into Nassau for the $, while stopping the lines from using the private islands where (I assume) they make far less. 

I can't tell from the camera feed... maybe someone on one of the 2 Royal ships will chime in...

 

PG Cruiser Pinnacle

PG Cruiser

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9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I get Nassau or some other population center. But the isolated Coco Cay? A location that's 99% outdoors?

From another thread we see a port cam image of three ships in Nassau at the moment.  We're trying to get information whether guests were allowed to get off the ships there.

 

PG Cruiser Pinnacle

PG Cruiser

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37 minutes ago, Jill said:

From Facebook group: 

Mariner, Independence, and Scarlett Lady all in Nassau today with no issues. Passengers coming and going as normal.

So what's with all the denial of debarkation on the private islands?   We're getting (somewhat unconfirmed) reports that at least ships from 4 cruise lines are being denied entry.

EDIT:  Make that 3 cruise lines.  We're getting accounts that Disney guests have been allowed to get off the ship on Castaway Cay

Old and Lazy Gold

Old and Lazy

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I am no where near someone with any authority on this issue.  But since I am booked on a future cruise that is going to Perfect Day.  I googled the Bahamas COVID travel and found their website.   Looks to me they are requiring testing and in the near future the testing needs to be PCR results.   Not sure if this is the answer to the current situation   Maybe someone smarter than me will have the official answers soon  

https://www.bahamas.com/travelupdates

 

 

 

AshleyDillo Pinnacle

AshleyDillo

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5 minutes ago, Big Red said:

Is it possible that the Island workers for COCO Cay may have contacted covid, and they may not have enough staff not infected to serve folks disembarking off the boat?

That wouldnt explain the other islands that are having the same issue..MSC and Disney from what I am hearing anecdotally.

DunwoodyDad Diamond

DunwoodyDad

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5 minutes ago, Big Red said:

Is it possible that the Island workers for COCO Cay may have contacted covid, and they may not have enough staff not infected to serve folks disembarking off the boat?

It’s definitely not the RC staff. The Bahamian government is not allowing us to exit the ship. 

Beaker Gold

Beaker

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18 minutes ago, Old and Lazy said:

I am no where near someone with any authority on this issue.  But since I am booked on a future cruise that is going to Perfect Day.  I googled the Bahamas COVID travel and found their website.   Looks to me they are requiring testing and in the near future the testing needs to be PCR results.   Not sure if this is the answer to the current situation   Maybe someone smarter than me will have the official answers soon  

https://www.bahamas.com/travelupdates

 

 

 

They have not updated the cruise passenger part of that, been the same since Aug.  Perhaps it has changed, and they've not updated their website yet.

Jill Pinnacle

Jill

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15 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

That wouldnt explain the other islands that are having the same issue..MSC and Disney from what I am hearing anecdotally.

I saw in Facebook group that Disney has been allowed to disembark. 
 

Mariner, Indy and Scarlet Lady also were allowed to disembark in Nassau. This is really weird. 

barbeyg Diamond Plus

barbeyg

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1 hour ago, DunwoodyDad said:

Also While the snack shacks are open it seems like the larger restaurants are closed (at least from what I could see). 

Probably didn’t have time to set up after that mess. Hope you enjoyed the time you had!

VanDyne Pre-Gold

VanDyne

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Well, we managed to salvage the day. The captain announced that we received approval to disembark at approximately 1:30 pm. My kids had a blast at the water park and Coco Cay was in full swing (from my limited view at least). Royal Caribbean provided a 50% refund on a slew of excursion charges including thrill water park passes, cabanas, and other excursions.

All aboard was pushed to 5:30, but we couldn’t stay later due to sunset.

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