CocoCay

Cruise Planner pricing typically runs $50–$140 per person depending on the sailing, with flash sales occasionally dipping to the high $30s and peak weeks pushing past $150. Booking before you sail is almost always cheaper than buying onboard. Daredevil's Peak — the 135-foot drop slide, the tallest in North America — has a 48-inch minimum height and a 300-pound maximum weight.

It depends on how badly you want quiet. The adults-leaning club has its own infinity pool, an over-the-water bar, table-service food (included with the day pass), and a beach that doesn't feel like a theme-park midway. Day passes carry an MSRP of $149–$274 but go on sale roughly 87% of the time; the median paid price is around $131. If your priority is calm and a real lunch, yes. If you came for slides, no.

No. CocoCay has a real pier that can simultaneously berth two of the largest cruise ships in the world. You walk off the gangway directly onto the island. This is unusual for a Bahamian private island — Half Moon Cay and Princess Cays still tender — and it's the single biggest reason CocoCay days don't feel rushed.

Plenty: Chill Island and South Beach have free loungers, the freshwater Oasis Pool is free, the buffet-style Skipper's Grill and Snack Shack are free, kayaks and paddleboards on certain beaches are free, and your drink package from the ship works at every CocoCay bar. Free loungers do disappear by mid-morning on full-ship days, so this is the rare cruise stop where getting off early actually matters.

The island was engineered for 11,000-plus guests at peak — roughly the combined capacity of two Oasis-class ships — and on a two-ship day it can feel like that. The crowd spreads, though: the waterpark absorbs a few thousand, Chill Island and South Beach absorb thousands more, and Coco Beach Club siphons off the rest. The bottleneck is loungers, not space.

Beach cabanas start around $749 and routinely run into the low thousands; overwater cabanas at Coco Beach Club start near $1,024 and can clear $5,000 on peak sailings. Each cabana includes Coco Beach Club access for up to eight guests, which is the main reason groups book them — it's cheaper per head than buying eight separate day passes plus the privacy.