Our first stop was at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas. The tiny island’s actual name is Little Stirrup Cay, and is roughly halfway between Nassau and Freeport. When we first visited Coco Cay many years ago it felt a little like Gilligan’s Island, a remote tropical paradise with little in the way of amenities. It could only be reached by tender (small boats that shuttled back and forth to the cruise ship), and had little more than beach chairs, a food area, a bar or two, a snorkeling hut, a few small thatch-roofed shops, and restrooms. Most of the palm tree covered island was undeveloped, and it was fun to wander the paths and find an isolated section of beach ringed by palms and sporting a few beach chairs. Needless to say, I liked it very much.
Unfortunately (at least in my opinion), the Coco Cay I remember no longer exists. Over the years Royal Caribbean has fully developed the island and turned it into a beach resort and water park. A long concrete pier now allows two large cruise ships to dock right at the island, disgorging thousands of passengers to enjoy everything from jet boats to water slides to private, concierge-served cabanas. The day we were there, the world’s largest cruise ship, the Wonder of the Seas, was docked alongside our much smaller ship, unloading more than 6000 passengers onto a spit of land that is fully capable of showing twice that many vacationers a good time. Most of the new amenities cost extra, sometimes a lot extra, allowing Royal Caribbean to monetize Coco Cay, obviously the point of it all.
Nevertheless, it is still possible to find a beach chair among the rows of them that line the free beaches, and we spent a pleasant afternoon reading under the shade of an interesting tree I couldn’t identify. Coco Cay is still nice, and I’m sure it will be very popular with the short cruise vacationers who make up the bulk of Royal Caribbean’s clientele.
Tomorrow is a sea day, followed by a visit to Cozumel, from where we will travel to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. That promises to be quite an adventure.
Comments