Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas to CocoCay, Bahamas

By alantvuong on December 5, 2024

Last month, a friend and I boarded the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas for a 4 night roundtrip cruise from Fort Lauderdale. There were 2 stops on this cruise: Nassau, Bahamas and CocoCay, Bahamas. I already wrote about my experience in Nassau and will now only focus on CocoCay.

Getting Off The Ship

This port was also a docked port. This is better than using tender boats to get off the ship since it is easier and faster to just wheel off the gangway ramp.

CocoCay is a docked port

We had a sit down breakfast at Rembrandt before heading out to CocoCay. We didn’t want to go too early as the gangway would be too crowded. We did not have any excursions or activities booked at CocoCay anyways.

CocoCay

CocoCay is one of the Berry Islands, which is a collection of small Bahamian cays and small islands just 89KM north of Nassau. Royal Caribbean acquired the lease of the island in 1998 and completely renovated it in 2019 at a cost of $250 million.

long pathway from ship to island

A pier is constructed on the north side of the island which allows cruise ships to dock instead of using boat tenders. Thrill Waterpark was constructed on the “thrill” side of the island complete which has North America’s tallest waterslide Daredevil’s Peak. The “chill” side of the island is the beach and cabanas.

island map

Accessibility

Accessibility at this private island is was only average. Royal Caribbean staff asks people with mobility issues if they needed to be shuttled on a tram from the ship to any part of CocoCay. The distance is about a 6 minute walk/stroll from the ship to Arrivals Plaza.

accessible tram takes you to the ship and several stops on the island

There are also free beach wheelchairs and beach strollers to use. Getting around the main areas of CocoCay was also easy to do in my regular wheelchair. There wasn’t any accessible beach mats or blue mats on any of the beaches.

free beach wheelchairs and beach strollers to use

There were accessible bathrooms throughout the island and wheelchair pool lifts at the main pools. Getting to The Straw Market was also difficult since there were no pathways to it. It was surrounded by thick sand. My friend had to go look at the shops for us.

The Straw Market was hard to get to since there was no pathway or accessible mats

Thrill Waterpark was not wheelchair friendly either. There was a pool lift for the wave pool but that was it. There weren’t any accessible excursions either so we just had a relaxing day. This is how our day went….

Thrill Waterpark costs extra and was not wheelchair accessible

Our Day

We never took the tram to Arrivals Plaza since we wanted pics of the pier. We then went to Chill island and relaxed a bit while waiting for the island barbecue that was included. There were 2 locations and 2 snack shops throughout the island that has free food for guests.

island bbq lunch is included

It did get a bit busy as soon as lunch opened for service. They didn’t have any special area for accessible seating so I just parked my wheelchair on the side of one of the picnic tables. Food choice includes burgers, hot dogs, chicken, corn on the cob, salads, fruit, cookies and more. I really enjoyed the chicken and the corn.

I started with the bbq chicken and corn on the cob

After lunch, we decided to take the accessible tram to South Beach so we could check out another part of the island. I just stayed near the edge of the beach since there were no accessible mats. My friend explored the area for a short time before we took the accessible tram to where the ship docked.

no accessible mats or pathways on the beach

Final Thoughts

Even though CocoCay didn’t have the best accessibility, my friend and I still had a great 4.5 hour visit. We enjoyed the included barbecue and snacks throughout the island. It was fun to just relax and chill at Chill island and was worth getting off the ship to visit. I would go again.