Table Of Content
- Thrill Waterpark on CocoCay: 20+ Tips, Secrets, and Things to Know
- Royal Caribbean Blog is your ultimate source for Royal Caribbean coverage.
- H2O Zone vs. Splashaway Bay: Bottom Line
- Minimum height and weight requirements for Royal Caribbean slides:
- Norwegian Cruise Line’s Aqua Park & Kids Aqua Park
- Hungry? You Don’t Have to Leave the Thrill Waterpark to Eat
Hurricane Hunter is a family raft slide that can seat four people per tube. That’s right; Royal Caribbean managed to pack a large-format waterslide on a cruise ship (technically two if you read below). Hurricane Hunter is a mostly enclosed tube and will send your family through 425 feet of twists and turns.
Thrill Waterpark on CocoCay: 20+ Tips, Secrets, and Things to Know
Unlike (most of) the rest of CocoCay, which is free for you to explore, there is a fee to enjoy the waterpark. Like many things on Royal Caribbean, the fee depends on your specific cruise and ship. While rates used to be in the $40-50 range per person just a few years ago, now it’s common to see admission in the $80-$100 range these days. Sometimes you don’t need anything fancy to make a slide exhilarating. Pressure Drop is a straight 108-foot drop, but what sets it apart is that it’s an open slide that has a 66-degree incline. Guests will have to push themselves into a near-vertical drop with an open tube.
Royal Caribbean Blog is your ultimate source for Royal Caribbean coverage.
This part of the island isn’t open to everyone; an entrance fee applies. The AquaLab, available on the Magic, Wonder and Fantasy, is an all-ages water playground with pouring paint cans, leaky pipes, geysers and jets, guaranteed to keep you cool on a hot day. On the Magic and Wonder, the Twist n’ Spout double-looping waterslide will slide and spin you down hundreds of feet. For the littlest cruisers, there are fun and safe areas just for them. Everything here is designed to be fun and active, with a focus on being outdoors for the entire family. Whether you have kids (or yourself) that want to take on the biggest waterslides at sea… or you’d rather find a spot on the deck to watch, Thrill Island looks to have you covered.
H2O Zone vs. Splashaway Bay: Bottom Line
The complex includes two four-deck-high racer slides called Cyclone and Typhoon, where you can do side-by-side speed tests with your travel partner. Big lines that have steered clear of the water-park-at-sea trend include Princess Cruises, Holland America and Celebrity Cruises. Geared more toward couples than families and typically drawing an older demographic, all three of these lines have stuck to a more subdued feel for the outdoor areas of their ships. The top decks of vessels operated by Princess, Holland America and Celebrity still mostly revolve around traditional swimming areas with pools, hot tubs and lounge chairs.
The Epic Plunge begins four stories above the pool deck and features a 200-feet long flume which you can choose to ride with or without a tube. At the end of the slide is a huge bowl which you’ll swirl round and round before exiting at the bottom. While the configuration of waterworks may vary, it is offered on the majority of its ships….and it’s not just for kids, either. On North America-based MSC Seaside, the Aqua Park has four waterslides and a children's play area with interactive water features. The waterslides include two massive, 525-foot-long dueling slides that extend over the sides of the ship. The top of the Aqua Park on MSC Seaside is also home to the liftoff point for a zip line that soars 344 feet across the top of the vessel.
The Twister Waterslide is one of the fastest you’ll find at sea, or indeed on land. Speedway Splash, meanwhile, is a racing slide featuring awesome lighting effects. Then there’s the DrainPipe, which swirls riders round in circles at the end. There’s no better way to cool off on a hot day than with the PowerDrencher – a huge bucket of water which tips down from above.
10 things to know about Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas - Business Insider
10 things to know about Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas.
Posted: Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Carnival Vista and Carnival Panorama, meanwhile, feature an enclosed water tube Kaleid-O-Slide, on which riders make their way around 455 feet of twists and turns on one- or two-person rafts. As if that weren't dizzying enough, the Kaleid-O-Slide actually looks like a kaleidoscope, with colorful rotating lights and trippy visual effects. There’s also a polar-themed water park for youngsters, with large sculptures of polar bears and whales as well as spray guns, water dunkers and a small slide. When it’s time to head back to the ship, you’ll simply take the towels back with you. Drop them off at the towel station back on board so that you don’t get charged. You can always bring beach towels from the ship (they are available by the pools onboard), but it’s inevitable that someone will forget to bring one.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Aqua Park & Kids Aqua Park
The easiest way to book your spot is to reserve online through your Royal Caribbean account in advance of your cruise. You can also book once you are onboard through the Royal Caribbean app or through the shore excursions desk. Chances are that if you are taking a cruise on Royal Caribbean from the East Coast, then your ship is going to have a stop at CocoCay. Randy Young is the founder and editor-in-chief at Cruise Spotlight. He has been in marketing for 19 years and has been cruising for just as long.
The experience takes place on the massive Royal Caribbean logo on the side of the ship — and 150 feet over the ocean. And at the end, the floor drops, sending you riding out over the ocean. A true sight to behold, The Blaster is so long because it's what's known as a water coaster. It features water jets that propel you up, down and forward — extending the ride — as you careen around the ship's basketball court and surfing simulator in an inner tube.
Royal Caribbean is a great option for families for a number of reasons, primarily because some ships feature splash areas and smaller water slides that are great for even the tiniest of tykes. Additionally, their newest ship debuting in January 2024 will feature the largest ever cruise water park with even more attractions that are sure to please family members of all ages. This new and improved park will feature Hurricane Hunter and Storm Surge, two newer raft water slides that the whole family can ride down together.
From an early age, children display an unmistakable fondness for splashing around in the water -- which is why cruise ship water parks have become fabulous features for the younger set. Royal Caribbean started adding water parks to select ships in 2006 with the H2O Zone, which first debuted on Freedom of the Seas. Ten years later, in 2016, the line changed up the design and launched Splashaway Bay on Harmony of the Seas; it's now been added to five more ships. While both interactive aquatic playgrounds share a few elements, they are more different than alike. The top-deck WaterWorks setup varies by ship, but includes a variety of sprayers, fountains, a giant dump bucket and water slides.
Cruise ship water parks are incredibly popular, so much so that almost every new family-focused cruise ship has one. With features such as swimming pools, splash areas, water slides, fountains and spray jets, there’s so much to keep kids of all ages busy. Splash zones are great because children in swimming nappies aren’t allowed in any pool or hot tub on any cruise ship for hygiene reasons. So, a toddler splash zone is an ideal way for little ones to cool off on a hot day. Read on to find out more about the best cruise ship water parks and slides.
Aside from choosing a great ship, it’s also important to think carefully about your itinerary and the time of year that you’re cruising. Whilst it is possible to ride the slides in the Mediterranean in January, it’s going to be pretty cold so your kids aren’t likely to have more than a couple of goes. The slides are also likely to be closed for much of the day if the weather is anything less than warm.
This thrill ride takes cruisers out over the edge of the ship on Disney Magic on a 20-foot curve after the floor falls away like a trap door and you begin your nearly 40-foot ascension to the top deck. A memorable splash finale occurs after you plummet 212 feet through a translucent tube. Put simply, you can think of Thrill Island as a full theme park aboard Icon of the Seas. Whereas on some cruise ships this area might house a pool or open space for lounge chairs, Royal Caribbean has turned it into a complete destination. Two MSC Cruises ships — MSC Seashore and MSC World Europa — even have virtual reality waterslides that involve riders wearing virtual reality headsets as part of the experience. You'll typically find the biggest Carnival water park complexes on the newest Carnival ships, such as Mardi Gras, Celebration and Carnival Venezia.
The waterslides on CocoCay don’t have age limits but have max weights of 300 pounds and typically have a 48″ minimum to ride. The raft rides of CocoCay have a 48″ minimum as well, unless with an adult and wearing a life vest. Lost DunesMini-golf has become a fixture on cruise ships, but we’ll be honest — most courses are pretty pedestrian. Royal Caribbean says Lost Dunes is mini-golf “on steroids.” The area is heavily themed with the “Thrill Island” idea, complete with wrecked ship, crashed planes and more. But without a doubt the most eye-catching and discussed feature of Royal Caribbean’s newest ship is the massive waterpark that dominates the back of the ship.
No comments:
Post a Comment