Cruise Line to Offer Louisiana Guests ‘Ultimate Beach Day’

Fans of cruise ship vacations in Louisiana usually spend a lot of time in the sun. Most itineraries that people from Monroe, Shreveport, Alexandria, Lake Charles, Leesville, and Lafayette book usually include a "beach" component. However, some beach destinations popular with Louisiana cruise guests are under a lot of scrutiny because of crime and other illegal activities.

The United States Department of State has even issued travel advisories for ports in Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, and the Bahamas. But one cruise line has an answer for Louisiana guests who love the beach but don't want to be robbed, raped, or killed. I know avoiding those things when I travel is a priority for me and my family.

Oddly enough the place that we're sending you to is on the Department of State advisory list. That place is Nassau in the Bahamas. Which, if I may editorialize just a moment, is an awful port. The merchants are pushy. The drug dealers are pushy. The security people are often not seen, and it's just not, or at least in the past few times I've been in that port, it was not pleasant.  Certainly not pleasant enough for me to suggest you go there. 

But, you knew the "but" was coming and we can thank Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines for the addendum in this case. If you do a lot of cruising you know many cruise lines have "private islands" or "private getaways" that are maintained just for cruise guests. Royal Caribbean has announced they are going to begin offering what is billed as the "Ultimate Beach Day Experience" for guests who cruise with them to Nassau.

The Royal Beach Club Paradise Island will be an added-fee private resort destination.

The video does a nice job of explaining what the principles at Royal Caribbean were hoping to accomplish. They wanted to bring back the beauty of a Bahamas beach experience without the dirty and disgusting behavior that you find in town.

The Royal Beach Club Paradise Island will feature three different "zones" for different kinds of beachgoing fun. There will be a Family Beach, as you might imagine this is where families with children can splash in the waves, build in the sand, and enjoy family-friendly beach activities.

The Chill Beach zone will offer all-day relaxation at The Deep End poolside and on the white sugary sands of Chill Beach. There will be arts and crafts huts, and different kiosks selling food and drinks, and the whole vibe will be laidback.

And for those who aren't bound by family or smitten with a desire to chill there is Party Cove. This will be where the DJs will keep the tunes thumping. The bartenders will keep the drinks flowing. The Royal Caribbean staff will tend to your every need in the midst of the Bahamas best scenery.

The company plans to make the Royal Beach Club Paradise Island available to guests in sailings later this year. The target date is December 2025. And the cruise line is already looking at expanding the concept via its "Perfect Day" program to the Costa Maya Port in Mexico. 

Once the Costa Maya Perfect Day program is completed in 2027 it will join other Royal Caribbean "private" destinations such as Perfect Day on Coco Cay and Labadee which is a private resort operated by the cruise line in Haiti.

Unfortunately, the "private" resort concept appears to be the only way cruise lines can keep cruise guests safe in some ports. Which is a shame for someone like me who enjoys experiencing other cultures when I travel. I don't want the "cruise line version" of a destination, I want to know the real thing. But then again I don't want to be robbed, raped, or killed either. So I understand the need to privatize.

You'd think the governments of Mexico, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Honduras would see the problem and fix it before we all stop going to those places. I sure hope they do.