CocoCay and Labadee - Is there any logic?

[HorrorFan]

How does RCI decide which itineraries visit which place? We've done the eastern and western Caribbean and both were Labadee. Now Panama coming up and its Labadee as well.

[cb at sea]

Eastern cruises almost always hit Coco Cay (being in the Bahamas, and all!) What ports in the East Carib. do you do that hit Labadee???? The western and southern itineraries usually go to Labadee....

[GMoney]

Eastern cruises almost always hit Coco Cay (being in the Bahamas, and all!) .

 

Not quite. Liberty, Explorer's and Independence's Eastern Carib itineraries go to Labadee, not Coco Cay...

[HorrorFan]

Eastern cruises almost always hit Coco Cay (being in the Bahamas, and all!) What ports in the East Carib. do you do that hit Labadee???? The western and southern itineraries usually go to Labadee....

We did the Eastern in 2005 on Voyager and stopped at Labadee, Nassau, San Juan and St Thomas...not quite in that order though, if I recall correctly.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Coco Cay is a regular stop for very short cruises that go to Nassau. Majesty stops in Coco Cay twice a week. Sovereign once or twice a week. I don't know when other ships get a shot at Coco Cay, because only three days a week are left for other cruise ships to stop there.

 

Coco Cay has the added complication that the ocean current is frequently too rough for ships to stop there. That problem is far less frequent at Labadee.

[TPKeller]

I'm not a cruise line executive, but the idea of itinerary management has long been intriguing to me. I do have some thoughts on this subject.

 

Especially when it comes to these two private port stops, there are two major factors to consider. First is probably availability. Labadee (at least for now) can only handle one ship per day. Not sure about Cococay, but even if it were two, still a major factor in the decision.

 

Second is geography. Load up the front page to my Cruise Maps web site. This will give you a decent overview of Florida, The Bahamas, the Western side to Mexico and the Eastern side to Saint Martin.

 

Cococay is in The Bahamas, Labadee is easier to spot on the north coast of Haiti.

 

For ships leaving from Florida, there are only two options for a "next day" stop, either Key West, or somewhere in the Bahamas. This option equally applies to the last day of a cruise returning to Florida. Anything farther away takes more than one overnight. Note: San Juan. Not only does it take a whole day at sea, but the better part of the next day as well, putting your arrival in the late afternoon.

 

Labadee is on the eastern edge of a Western itinerary, because the ship has to go around the east side of Cuba already to reach Jamaica. It's a comfortable one-day-at-sea reach to hit Labadee from Florida, then the remaining ports (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Mexico) are typically overnighters with the extra day at sea to get back up to Florida. Plus, if you were to skip Labadee and try to reach Jamaica, your one day at sea would run into a part of the next day, shortening your day in Jamaica. Or they would just take two.

 

For Eastern itineraries, Labadee is again, on the way, being a comfortable reach with one day at sea, either coming or going. I believe Cococay has more limited use since you don't really put much distance behind you. You can easily reach it the next morning out of Florida, but then you are still quite a long way from the next Eastern port, which would probably be San Juan. Unlike San Juan, Cococay is a daytime only port, no night options there, so to get there during the day on the way back, you'd have to leave your previous port quite a bit earlier than "normal". Or take two full days to get there.

 

Another factor is that with the recent high fuel prices, I suspect the cruise lines reset many of their itineraries for the next season to be very fuel friendly, which means slower sailing and less time in port. This has already been observed and discussed here during the past few months, and will certainly be a contributing factor.

 

As noted by HeavySurf, Cococay is well suited for the 3 and 4 day cruises, which can hit two or three stops in The Bahamas.

 

Anyway, just some thoughts...

 

Theron

[PH8]

Coco Cay is a regular stop for very short cruises that go to Nassau. Majesty stops in Coco Cay twice a week.

 

Sovereign once or twice a week. .

make that the Monarch since the Sovereign is gone:(

[BillOh]

Eastern cruises almost always hit Coco Cay (being in the Bahamas, and all!) What ports in the East Carib. do you do that hit Labadee???? The western and southern itineraries usually go to Labadee....

 

 

Do Voyager or Freedom class ships ever go to Cocoay? I notice the OP has been on two Voyager class.

[bhughey]

Do Voyager or Freedom class ships ever go to Cocoay? I notice the OP has been on two Voyager class.

 

The Mariner out of Port Canaveral used to call at Coco Cay... I assume the Freedom, which will take its place when the Mariner moves to the west coast, will also make periodic stops there.

[NanciRDH]

When we were looking at the brochure DH noticed that there was one ship @ Coco Cay every day of the week. Yes, he took the time to keep flipping pages until he figured that out!