When Royal Caribbean revamped its CocoCay private island, it set a standard for cruise-line private islands.
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL), MSC, and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) all offer lovely, quiet beaches, nice barbecues, and access to bars at their private-island destinations.
Royal Caribbean RCL, however, changed the game completely when it turned CocoCay into Perfect Day at CocoCay, offering a different experience than its rivals provide.
Yes, you still have tranquil beaches if you want them, but CocoCay also offers a massive pool, the largest in the Caribbean, and added-fee experiences including an upscale beach club and a massive waterpark.
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You could argue that just as Perfect Day at CocoCay has raised passengers' expectations for private-island experiences, Oasis and Quantum-class ships have done the same for cruise ships.
Oasis class has truly raised the bar with its outside Central Park and Boardwalk areas offering experiences that simply never existed on cruise ships.
Quantum-class, while a bit smaller, does the same thing and maximizes the ship's space for traveling to cold-weather destinations. Icon of the Seas, the first of the new Icon Class, and the next Oasis-class ship, Utopia of the Seas, will help Royal Caribbean build on its edge over Carnival, MSC and Norwegian.
During RCL's second-quarter-earnings call, the company's leadership team talked about its planned CocoCay expansion, the new Nassau Beach Club, and where Utopia of the Seas might be homeported.
Image source: Daniel Kline/TheStreet
Royal Caribbean Has Big Plans for CocoCay
Most short Royal Caribbean cruises in the Caribbean leaving from Florida ports stop at CocoCay. The private island can accommodate roughly 11,000 guests a day, meaning that two Oasis-class ships, which can dock at the island, push the island's capacity.
"This year, we'll take around 2.5 million of our guests to Perfect Day, and the pricing premiums continue to be really robust, and the spend on the island continues to be really robust as well," Royal Caribbean Group President Michael Bayley said during the call.
"So, we've seen -- as we've increased the volume, we've seen no decline in the power of the pricing. And in fact, it continues to accelerate."
When Icon of the Seas begins sailing in early 2024, CocoCay will need added capacity since the new ship will be visiting the island each week. The cruise line is building that out with the new adults-only Hideaway Beach section of the island.
"With Hideaway Beach, that will accommodate approximately 2,500 more guests," he shared.
Bayley also said that the cruise line planned to build out another private destination, the Royal Beach Club, on Nassau's Paradise Island. That will give it another option for its largest ships.
"Our intention is to have the Royal Beach Club open in -- towards the end of the spring-summer of '25.," he said. "And that new addition to the portfolio is also going to really produce an incredible experience for -- certainly for the short product and the short product is doing exceptionally well at the moment.
"We continue to increase our short product and put really great ships into that market. So, the combination of Perfect Day on one day and the Beach Club on the second day really is a winning combination."
Hideaway Beach will be an added-fee, half-day experience that will be all-inclusive. Royal Caribbean has not disclosed pricing details, but it will likely use dynamic pricing based on demand, as it does at the CocoCay Beach Club and waterpark.
Royal Caribbean Offers Hints on Utopia of the Seas
Royal Caribbean has not disclosed much about Utopia of the Seas, its next (and perhaps last) Oasis-class ship. The cruise line does not offer any details on the ship on its website, other than noting that it's coming.
Bayley did outline a key detail about Utopia of the Seas, which suggests that it's likely going to be calling Florida home, at least at first.
"We've also got Utopia coming online in June. We haven't announced the deployment, but Utopia will also be going to Perfect Day," he added.
"And the demand is just very strong. I mean we've seen -- there's a lot of demand for that particular product in any of our ships that have Perfect Day on their itinerary demanded, and there's strong pricing premium that we see there."
It's technically possible to regularly visit CocoCay from New Jersey or Galveston, Texas; both ports can accommodate an Oasis-class ship.
But Florida seems the most likely location. Wonder of the Seas first sailed part of the year from Miami before moving its U.S. homeport to Port Canaveral.
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