Anthem of the Seas – The Perfect Day at CocoCay

The date is 11/28/2019. Yes, Thanksgiving Day! The Perfect Day at CocoCay! What a day this was! We woke up really early as The Anthem was scheduled to arrive at 7AM. I was constantly watching YouTube videos of CocoCay months before finally being able to step foot on the island! I could not wait to get out there. The gangway was scheduled to open 7:45AM. So we put on our swimsuits, grabbed our Seapass card, and made way for CocoCay. Before you exit the ship, you can check out as many towels you need with just your SeaPass card. Just remember to return them. You will be charged $25 for any towel not returned. There are several towel exchange stations on the island as well.

Exiting the ship

The port platform is quite long, so it is a bit of a walk from the ship to the fun. There are little tram carts that are available for everyone to ride to different parts of the island. You’re greeted by music and plenty of dancers as you make your way up the dock. It really sets the fun mood! Being the the big kid that I am, we went straight to the Thrill Waterpark!

Thrill Waterpark

The Thrill Waterpark is not included in the price of the cruise. This is extra. We bought the all day pass as I knew I wanted to enjoy the water slides. There are plenty of lockers on site if you need to stash some things like your phone before getting drenched. Once we got settled in, I ran straight to the Daredevil’s Peak! This happens to be the tallest water slide in North America! This slide being a popular attraction – there is quite a bit of a wait time. You’ll have to take a ticket and return to the slide at the noted time. I grabbed a ticket and then ran straight to the Dueling Demons. This slide is heart pumping! There is only a small line this early in the morning, but my heart was pumping with excitement and anxiousness. It was also pumping as it is quite a few flights of stairs to get to the slide (75ft)! You start the slide in a standing position on a platform that is set to drop you 75 feet. There is even a countdown to add to the suspense! I went on this slide back to back multiple times, climbing the 75ft hike every time. During this adrenaline fueled slide and hike – I over heard other adventurers talking about how intense the Daredevil’s Peak slide is! These conversations started to get into my head as my time to slide was closing in! 😳

I ran all the way up to the Daredevils’s Peak as it was almost time for my turn! At this point there is just a short line of people ahead of me. I am now getting nervous and having second thoughts as my Fitbit is reading 140 bpm 😂. I have ridden Six Flags’ roller coasters like Nitro, El Toro, and Kingda Ka! I know this is just a slide and I am now stuck in my own head! I know no amount of talking to myself or deep breaths will calm me down, I just have to do it. The slide operator gives me the green light and without hesitation – I grab the slide bar and pull myself through! It was a very awesome slide with quite a bit of ride time as it is 135ft. But I got to say it was fairly mild compared to the Dueling Demons!

What was all the fuss about! This was very light in my opinion as it wasn’t as steep! Why did I psych myself out? The mind is a powerful thing!

Wave Pool!

The wave pool was an amazing time! We spent a lot of time in the Caribbean’s largest wave pool! A lot of people were in this area enjoying themselves and catching the waves. There is a countdown right before the waves start kicking up. It is an awesome time and you can even watch the zip liners flying above you. It all makes for a Perfect Day! We would quickly kill some time at the Adventure Pool and Splash Summit before hunger started kicking in. After all of these adrenaline full thrills, it was lunch time!

Skipper’s Grill

We headed over to the Skipper’s Grill to grab a bite. Skipper’s Grill has complimentary BBQ, salads, and tacos – buffet style. There is also self serve beer at an additional price. This is a nice cozy area to eat and watch all that is going on around you. You can also find iguanas and chickens walking about in this area, eating whatever fallen leftovers they can. Some people were feeding the iguanas french fries, don’t do that! After a bite to eat we headed on over to Chill Island.

Chill Island

So clear!

A very popular spot at CocoCay! This area is huge and a lot is going on here. From swimming, relaxing, snorkeling, and other fun activities, this is a great spot to do it all. We would grab a set of beach chairs and head out into the clear ocean for a dip. You will be swimming with the fish and you can clearly see them as they swim around you, it’s great! With snorkeling you can see other marine life like sting rays as well. The beach area is very clear and shallow for quite a ways out, you can walk comfortably and still be far out from the sand and beach chairs! You can also rent snorkel gear and other beach toys in the area if you don’t have your own. The Chill Grill is also in the area. I was able to grab a few hot dogs and quickly relax in my beach chair! The Chill Grill has complimentary beachside bbq and salads, similar to Skipper’s Grill. The CocoCay Island Market is in this area as well, and you’ll be able to grab souvenirs for you and the family here.

Oasis Lagoon

We made a quick stop at the Oasis Lagoon, which is the Caribbean’s largest freshwater pool. This area has in water seats and bar! Its a party atmosphere in this area with music. We didn’t stay in this area too long as the day was quickly winding down and it was almost time to head back to the ship. I also spent some time trying to take a good picture of the chickens in the area, but they kept running from me!

**CocoCay Chickens in the Oasis Lagoon**

What an eventful day!

….and it’s not even over! As we headed back to the ship, other interesting ins and outs would catch our eye. Like free temporary tattoos on the way back to the ship! I felt like a little kid again. We came across this amazing sand made art piece.

Sad to see you go!

VOOM!

We purchased the VOOM internet streaming package for up to 2 devices. It worked beautifully everywhere on the island in my experience.

Back on The Anthem

With such a long day, we decided to enjoy our Thanksgiving night at the Windjammer! Royal Caribbean really made it feel like Thanksgiving!

We have a few more sea days left and it’ll be back to Bayonne! There are no more stops left, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. I’ll be combining the next few days and talk more about all The Anthem has to offer. There was the amazing “We Will Rock You” and some mind boggling magic shows! Coming up!