I'm convinced Coco Cay does not exist

Two cruises in a row with Royal Caribbean = two cruises in a row where we missed Coco Cay due to bad weather. When complaining about this to our dining room server, he stated, and I quote, "Yeah, we never go to Coco Cay." I'm starting to think it's a total racket that RC uses to advertise but doesn't plan on actually delivering on!

Even more disappointing was the fact that to make up for missing Coco, they had us stay in Nassau an extra day. Nassau is crappy on any given day, but Royal Caribbean did nothing to compensate for the missed beach day. Sure, there were shore excursions to Nassau beaches, starting at $65/pp (on up to $185/pp!!) but they did not offer any discounts to make up for missing Coco, which would have been "free" (at least included in the price already paid). Overall we were very disappointed and are probably not going to book with RC again in the future unless it's an itinerary that isn't Caribbean-related. Disney manages to get to Castaway Cay pretty much every time since they dock, not tender.

Cruise lines are not obligated to compensate passengers for missing a port other than for the excursions they missed booked thru them.
Passengers are free to explore the port on their own.

All cruise lines can change / cancel port stops due to weather. It happens all the time and there are Disney sailings that are forced to miss Castaway Cay due to weather.

fredandkell said:

Nassau is crappy on any given day, but Royal Caribbean did nothing to compensate for the missed beach day.

Click to expand...

What kind of compensation would you expect? Did you read the cruise contract before you signed it? Did you notice the provision that the cruise line can change the itinerary for any reason?

Yes, I know they have the right to change ports as needed. What I'm irritated by is that they apparently cancel Coco Cay more than they actually go to it!

I don't think it's true that they miss it more than they get to it. Reading CC and the experiences of hardcore cruisers they get there more often than half the time.

And Disney doesn't dock every time. When they can't dock, they don't give compensation, either.

We've been to coco and it was lovely. I hope you can get there some day.

They cannot build a dock, from what I've read. I believe there is a coral system in the way. Can't destroy that.

fredandkell said:

Overall we were very disappointed and are probably not going to book with RC again in the future unless it's an itinerary that isn't Caribbean-related. Disney manages to get to Castaway Cay pretty much every time since they dock, not tender.

Click to expand...

royal's other private "island" (it's actually a peninsula), Labadee, has a dock, so ships very rarely miss it. most eastern and western caribbean itineraries stop there. just an option if you want to keep cruising royal but have a better chance of getting to the beach.

I factor possibly missing CC into my consideration of the cruise--if a similar one goes to Labadee, I pick that, b/c of the dock. Same, to some extent for Grand Cayman--it's a tender port and ships do miss it in windy/bad weather. With a 4 day to the Bahamas, you don't have the Labadee option, so we usually opt for a 5 day.