Bahamas Cruise 2026 - Day 7 - Perfect Day at Coco Cay

Our final day of the cruise we ported in Coco Cay Bahamas which is Royal Caribbeans private island.  We woke up & had breakfast at the buffet together, then got off the boat at 8am.

Look at this fabulous view of Coco Cay from the boat.

We got off & scoped out the most central location we could find to plant a "home base" for our day in Coco Cay.

We ended up picking some beach umbrellas/chairs on the front row of the central lagoon of the island.  It was a perfect middle spot for everyone so we could go in any direction to explore, but have a place to keep our things & come back.  It had a beautiful clear water lagoon to play in, & amazing sand to build sand castles.  It was near all the food places, & not that far from the snorkeling areas.

Everybody wanted to do snorkeling first thing, so they all left while I stayed & watched all our stuff at the chairs at the lagoon.  I was perfectly content there.

Videos: Snorkeling at Coco Cay

The kids kept snorkeling, but Trek came back to hang out with me for a bit while the kids used the snorkeling equipment.  We decided to explore the island by foot so we took off & walked around the entire thing.  We found a lot of cute hammocks, lizards, crabs, chickens, & beautiful nature trail right in the middle of the island.  I think that was my favorite part of the day.  I love to explore.

When we got back, the kids were in the lagoon swimming.  Lorien & Elijah built a sandcastle, & Trek & I took naps.  It was glorious.

For lunch, we ate tacos, sandwiches, pizza, & more at the Chill Grill by the lagoon.  We made sure to get plenty of ice cream while we were there too.  Tuhk showed us the huge conch shell he found snorkeling.  There was still a giant mussel inside so we convinced him to put it back in the ocean so the mussel wouldn't die.  It was beautiful though.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the sand, swimming, & more.  We got some virgin mai tai drinks that were heavenly & just enjoyed the family time.

Eventually, we all got tired & sticky from the sea water & headed back to the boat for showers.

We loved our perfect day at Coco Cay.  It was beautiful.

I love this picture of Bladen.  His electric shaver slipped through the crack in the bathroom door & this is him trying to grab it.  Silly boy.

The kids found an archery area on the ship (on day 7) & had a blast shooting bows & arrows, & then they wandered the ship & had fun exploring things they still hadn't seen yet.

Video: Elijah Archery

At dinner, we all sat together.  

One of Talon's kids mentioned loving the mozzarella sticks on the island & Lorien about died.  MOZZARELLA STICKS?  WHERE?  I guess there was a little snack shack we had missed that served mozzarella sticks.  Lorien's favorite thing in the world is mozzarella sticks.

When the waiter came to our table, she asked him if they had mozzarella sticks anywhere on the ship in any of the restaurants.  Our waiter told us no, that it was not anything they had on the ship.  They only served them on the island.  Lorien was kind of bummed about that, but dinner was still fabulous.

Halfway through dinner, Bruno (the manager) comes over with a huge plate with a fancy cover on it.  He placed it in front of Lorien, & said "Voila!"  He lifted the cover & there was a huge bowl of mozzarella sticks & marinara sauce just for her.  We asked him how he had done it & he said the waiter told him about the mozzarella stick conversation, so he sent someone onto the island (we hadn't left port yet) to grab some from the freezers there, bring it aboard, had them fry them, & then brought them just for her.  How amazing is that?  I love Royal Caribbean.

After dinner we went to the Elemental Ice show at the ice skating rink (yes the ship has an ice skating rink).  It was a great show too.  This was was geared more for little kids, but we still enjoyed it.  They do such a wonderful job with their shows.

After the show, we packed up our luggage & put it outside our doors, then headed out for final crepes, ice cream cones, games, & family time.

This was the end of our wonderful vacation.  Our final day was a travel day flying from Miami, to Chicago, to Salt Lake.  By the time we got home we were exhausted, but it was such a wonderful vacation.  I'm so glad we went.

Bahamas Cruise 2026 - Day 6 - Day at Sea

After 2 very full days at ports, I think everyone was VERY happy to sleep in & have a day at sea before porting in the Bahamas.  We all slept in, got ready, then joined the family in the main dining room for a yummy breakfast.

After breakfast, everyone split up & kind of did their own thing.  I went on a tour of "Central Park" (the park in the center of the ship) with Opa, Oma, & Tuhk.  There are over 30,000 plants on the Icon of the Seas Ship.  Isn't that insane?  Every single morning at 5am, the gardeners pray every single one of them & wipe off their leaves to remove the salt from the sea air so they don't dry out & remain beautiful.  Isn't that incredible.  They have 3 wall gardens on the ship where they grow herbs & other greens used on the ship.  We got to learn details about each of the plants & all the work that goes into maintaining them so they remain beautiful for the guests.

We stopped to look at the art museum on our way back to everyone else.  They had a lot of Star Wars art this time around.

I met up with Taya while the boys went boogie boarding & water sliding.  She insisted on eating 3 more crepes & I grabbed a delicious greek bowl.

The boys spent their morning doing all the water things & they loved every minute of it.

Videos: Trek & Canyon mastering boogie boarding

After relaxing for a bit, Taya & I came across the buffet where they were setting up a HUGE display of cakes, puddings, desserts, & 2 chocolate fountains with fruit to dip inside.

We for sure couldn't resist that so we texted everyone the good news & all met up in the line for the chocolate fountain.  We ate so many chocolate dipped marshmallows, strawberries, pineapple, melon, & cakes that we all made ourselves sick, but it was SO SO SO good.

After that, we met up with Elijah & Lorien at the Mexican food place & made our way towards the 80's trivia & the Classic Rock trivia games.  They were doing a Veterans Day celebration in the mall area which was really cute.

We did terrible at both trivia games which is surprising.  Trek is the king of classic rock, but they picked the most obscure songs that nobody was getting them right.  It was kind of hilarious.  My kids love those trivia games.

Video: Classic Rock Trivia

Dinner was awesome as always.  This particular night, we sat alone with Talon & Carolyn & her parents which was nice.  Opa, Oma, & Tuhk sat with all the kiddos.  The food was great.  We loved our 2 waiters & then the manager of that floor.  His name was Bruno & he always sat & visited with us each night.  Carolyn's dad teased him "You guys need to add cheese fries to the menu," & 5 minutes later Bruno showed up with 3 big plates full of cheese fries for the 6 of us.  I swear they treat you like royalty on these ships.

After dinner, we all made our way to the Family Game Show.  We figured we had a LARGE family & had a good chance of winning something right?  I think my kids had a blast at this one.  They made us split up so our family of 8 was one team, Opa/Oma/Tuhk were one team, & Talon & his family were one team.  The MC would ask a question, & each team would write down their answer & run it to the front of the room.  Whatever answer came up the most, those teams that answered that got a point.  Here were some of my favorite questions:

What is the best food in the world?

Pizza won

What thing is most forgotten when packing for a trip?

Toothbrush won

What is the worst thing to say at a funeral?

Congratulations won

What do girls do better than boys?

Everything was the winning answer which cracked me up

What do boys do better than girls?

Nothing was the winning answer

What is the best vacation place?

Hawaii won

We did pretty good & only got 2 answers wrong.  Talon & Carolyn's family got every single question correct & so they won 1st place which was super exciting.

After the game show, some people went to the hot tub, some went swimming, & others just relaxed.

Lorien, Elijah, & I went to the "What's the next Lyric" gameshow.  They picked several audience members as the contestants & Lorien was one of the people picked to play.  She was nervous & excited at the same time.

Videos: Lorien on the gameshow

She actually did awesome.  She made it to the top 3 & only lost in the very last round.  I was so proud of her.  It was a blast.

After the game show, we met up with everyone at the hot tub.  They were playing "Name that Tune" (while in the hot tub).  Someone would pick a song & hum the first 2-3 notes in the song & everybody had to guess what it was.  That would continue adding a note each time until someone guessed it & then everybody would sing it together really loud.  We were having a great time.  There was a sweet lady who got into the hot tub & realized very quickly that we were a bunch of weirdos, but she joined in & played with us which made it even more fun.  We played until almost 10pm, then got out so we could go watch the aquadome show at 10:30.

This show was INCREDIBLE.  The amount of skill & talent these guys had just amazed me.  I couldn't recommend this more.  Every show on this boat is just crazy good.

After the show, we went to bed.  Day 7 was Coco Cay.  Yay!

Bahamas Cruise 2026 - Day 5 - Back on the Ship

When we arrived back on the ship, we said goodbye to Puerto Rico & went back to our rooms for showers.

I absolutely love the towel animals our stateroom attendant always did for us.  They were always adorable.

Once everyone was showered, we all got into white clothing for Latin Night on the boat.  We grabbed some snacks from the Mexican restaurant & more ice cream. . . then headed to the Star Wars Trivia game.

Of course Elijah won!  He's the biggest Star Wars fan I know & he made our team proud.  He was very excited about his Royal Caribbean pen he earned.

For dinner we had the most amazing latino food for Latin night & they even brought Trek & I a slice of cake for our 25th anniversary.  It was so sweet.

Video: Anniversary Dinner

After dinner, we all went to the Price is Right game show & had fun guessing the prices of everything, then we went hot tubbing again.  The kids got MORE crepes & ice cream to top the evening off.

We played some Exploding Kittens & Quarantine King with the family, then headed to bed.  The kids stayed up until midnight so they could watch the workers change the day in the elevators at midnight.  They crack me up.

Video: Changing the day in the elevators