Beach Cabana

Even though it had been a late night the night before, we wanted to get up early to make the most of our time on CocoCay, RCL's private island. We had breakfast in Windjammer and were on one of the first tender boats to the island. We had hoped the new dock would be ready so we didn't have to tender, but as we approached the island, we could see it was a long way from being completed.

J. R. had surprised the family by upgrading from three two-person beach loungers to one of RCL's Beach Bungalows. So we took a tram to South Beach and our bungalow, which was located right on the beach, facing the ocean. The bungalow had a sectional sofa, two lounge chairs and two floating mats for use in the water. Janie and Thomas settled into the sofa while J. R. got some sun in a lounger. Becca and Alex headed out to play in the ocean on one of the floating mats.

The kids tried to get drinks at the swim-out bar but they were still waiting for supplies and apparently didn't know when they would arrive. J. R. had no such problem at the beach bar and enjoyed his first Coco Loco of the day. Janie soon joined him with a rum and Diet Coke. When the kids got back, they went to the bar for drinks of their own, including a virgin Pina Coloda for Becca.

We basked in the sun for most of the morning until lunch was delivered, which was one of the perks of the bungalow. J. R. had slightly over ordered, not sure what everyone would want. So we had grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers, ceviche, fish tacos and greek salads along with two boxes of cookies and rum cakes along with chips and salsa. But we did manage to eat most of the food, when we weren't chasing away the island chickens trying to lay claim to it.

After lunch, J. R. and Thomas took a walk to the main part of the island and reconfirmed the bungalow was a good decision as there were no umbrellas and little shade in the main area. The sun was getting hotter and there were no clouds, so we improvised tying the curtains on the bungalow to get some shade. Thomas and Rebecca headed back to the ship around 1 and Janie, Alex and J. R. followed them about an hour later.

Early Arrival in Nassau

Shortly before five, the ship started moving, which surprised us as the last tender was supposed to leave the island at five. The captain came on the intercom and announced that due to a medical emergency, we would be heading straight to Nassau and docking there overnight. We were told it was not a serious issue. So while the ship made its way to Nassau, we made our way back to the bar for some more drinks. There was a very talented singer in the Centrum with a three piece band and it would be a common routine the rest of the week for us to sit there and listen to her sing.

New Year's Night

We decided to attend the general knowledge trivia at 5PM and surprisingly did fairly well, only missing a win by one question. After that, we sat and talked until showtime. The nightly show was "Stage to Screen" with the RCL singers and dancers performing songs from musicals that had been made into movies. We knew a few of these like West Side Story, Little Shop of Horrors, Hairspray and Chicago but were stumped by the hippie 60's musical. J. R. thought it might have been Hair, but we later determined it might have been Sweet Charity, which none of us had heard of.

Dinner service improved on the second night. Our drink orders were taken promptly and delivered correctly, which was nice to see. Jorge still had issues delivering the right food to the right people, however, and was very late delivering J. R. his soup. We chatted with our tablemates about plans for Nassau and Becca was jealous the girls were going off to play with dolphins. She would be spending her day with her brothers at Atlantis, though, so she wasn't too heartbroken.

After a late night and a long day in the sun, we all decided to turn in early tonight with Nassau coming for us tomorrow.

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