Coco Cay - Royal Caribbean Cruise Port

[BigDaddyGlad]

Back yesterday from our cruise, so here's my promised review of this excursion!

First, I must give full credit to RCI for the job they've done with PD@CC. The site is clean, with tons of shaded seating and loungers. Lots of pools/beaches and plentiful food and drink. Truly a 5* experience (especially if you like water slides!). Well done, RCI.

The dive shack is located at Chill Beach, a short walk from the pier. No problem carrying all my gear in my mesh backpack for that distance. Dive staff was great; helpful and attentive. Rental gear looked well maintained. I liked that they allowed me to hang my gear post-dive, and I could pack it all up at the end of the day and it was dry. Rinse tanks are provided. There were 8 divers in my group, plus the guide and a safety diver. Most divers were newly certified, and it showed in the water (kicking up lots of silt, tons of hand waving).

The dive is a shallow shore-entry. You gear up at the shack and walk to the beach, and swim out past the swim/snorkel area. Once there, a jetski with an attached plastic stretcher picks up divers one by one and pulls you out to the descent spot. That was unique and kinda fun!

The dive is shallow. Max depth is 11m. Total dive time was 50m, with the last 10 minutes at less than 2m (basically swimming back to the beach under the snorkelers). I surfaced with almost 1000 psi, which has never happened before!

There is a big anchor at the start, and a couple plane engines at the turnaround point. The reef seems prey healthy, with a decent amount of sealife. Saw lots of smaller parrot fish, several lobsters, some triggers, and the general array of tropical reef fish. Nothing big, but I was pleased with the overall amount of life.

I'm glad I did it, and for $25 on sale, it was a worthwhile dive. I mean, any time under water, right? That said, I wouldn't book it again, and would instead take another run or two on the water slides.

Any questions?

 

[Bubblesong]

Back yesterday from our cruise, so here's my promised review of this excursion!

First, I must give full credit to RCI for the job they've done with PD@CC. The site is clean, with tons of shaded seating and loungers. Lots of pools/beaches and plentiful food and drink. Truly a 5* experience (especially if you like water slides!). Well done, RCI.

The dive shack is located at Chill Beach, a short walk from the pier. No problem carrying all my gear in my mesh backpack for that distance. Dive staff was great; helpful and attentive. Rental gear looked well maintained. I liked that they allowed me to hang my gear post-dive, and I could pack it all up at the end of the day and it was dry. Rinse tanks are provided. There were 8 divers in my group, plus the guide and a safety diver. Most divers were newly certified, and it showed in the water (kicking up lots of silt, tons of hand waving).

The dive is a shallow shore-entry. You gear up at the shack and walk to the beach, and swim out past the swim/snorkel area. Once there, a jetski with an attached plastic stretcher picks up divers one by one and pulls you out to the descent spot. That was unique and kinda fun!

The dive is shallow. Max depth is 11m. Total dive time was 50m, with the last 10 minutes at less than 2m (basically swimming back to the beach under the snorkelers). I surfaced with almost 1000 psi, which has never happened before!

There is a big anchor at the start, and a couple plane engines at the turnaround point. The reef seems prey healthy, with a decent amount of sealife. Saw lots of smaller parrot fish, several lobsters, some triggers, and the general array of tropical reef fish. Nothing big, but I was pleased with the overall amount of life.

I'm glad I did it, and for $25 on sale, it was a worthwhile dive. I mean, any time under water, right? That said, I wouldn't book it again, and would instead take another run or two on the water slides.

Any questions?

Any long lines at any of the options, given the whole ship could unload thousands of passengers at once?

 

[drrich2]

Sounds like a good way to get in one more island on your list of 'I've dove that.' Hope you enjoyed Symphony of the Seas; my family cruised it in July, and spent most of our time at Thrill Waterpark.

On the issue of long lines at attractions, it could get rather long waiting on the big water slides, though not all equally. Our daughter and I did a little sliding, not a lot. The wave pool was a hit. Symphony of the Seas is an Oasis-class ship, one of the largest cruise ships in the world, and yes, it can unload thousands. I think our trip there were slightly under 6 thousand passengers.

 

[BigDaddyGlad]

One of the things I think RCL does extremely well is crowd management. The Oasis-class ships almost never feel crowded, despite carrying upwards of 6000 passengers plus 3000 crew.

PD@CC was not crowded at all, and Mariner of the Seas was also docked the same day. My longest wait for a water slide was about 30 minutes, and that's only because one of the tubes at Dueling Demons was down for about an hour (but quickly repaired, and then the line really moved well). Early in the morning the wait for the tallest slide, Daredevil's Peak, was almost an hour, but after lunch the wait was minimal. It took longer to climb up all those stairs! Food/bar service had virtually no lines at all.