There are many ways to plus your visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay, such as renting a bed bed for the day.
Beach beds are an optional rental you can purchase to use while visiting Royal Caribbean's private island for the day.
RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com reader Shannon Ford tried one out on a recent Freedom of the Seas cruise, and shared her thoughts on what to expect if you get one.
Beach bed review
My family and I recently rented a Beach Bed at Chill Island at Perfect Day at CocoCay. This was a last minute decision that we booked 3 days before we set sail. The price is typically $199, however, about 2 weeks before our sailing, the price dropped to $149, which is the price we paid.
There are two areas with Beach Bed Rentals. The first are the Chill Island Day Beds, which is where we were. When looking at the map of CocoCay, these are at the bottom lefthand corner.
The second area are the Breezy Bay at Chill Island Day Beds. These are behind the Oasis Lagoon near the Floating Cabanas.
Upon arriving to the area, there was a stand where we checked in and received our wristbands. Each Day Bed receives 4 wristbands, and yes, children count.
We were given a quick lay of the land and were on our way. The Day Beds are pre-assigned and we were given Bed #12, which was a perfect location.
Of the 30 Day Beds in this area, 21 had been rented and they were accepting walk-ups for the remaining beds. With two ships in port, 15 beds were allocated per ship. Beds 1-5 were for Freedom of the Seas, Beds 6-10 were for Harmony of the Seas and so on and so forth.
The beds have a roof but no walls, however there are white curtains on two sides for privacy (and shade). They proved very helpful for our nap later in the day.
The rental also includes 2 loungers, 2 floating mats and a cooler filled with ice and 4 cans of spring water. Your name is also written on a chalkboard on your assigned day bed. I think this is done for two reasons. One, so you can easily find your bed and two, so crew know which beds are not rented.
We did see a couple lay out in the bed directly behind us (#29) which had not been rented. A crew member came over and politely inform them that the day beds needed to be rented in order for them to be used.
Bartenders typically walk the area and will serve you at your day bed. However, due to Covid, we were told upon check-in that they were extremely short-staffed and not to expect them. We never saw a bartender in the area. This was not an issue for us. If you do plan to drink, the closest bar is The Wacky Seagull and is fairly close.
Unlike the cabanas, the day beds do not have a safe to store any personal belongings. However, you can store any items you like in the lockers nearby, free of charge. We never felt the need to do this and just let down the curtains when we went to get food and left whatever we had on the bed. With that said, we didn’t leave anything of real value either.
That leads us to the food. Unlike the cabanas, no one is there to serve you lunch, you need to go and get it yourself. Again, this was not an issue for us. Our original plan was to bring our food back to the day bed to eat, but it’s a good walk, so we decided just to eat at the picnic tables at the Chill Grill. Considering what a messy eater my 6 year-old is, this was a wise choice.
And finally, the beach area for this section of Chill Island was perfect. Our son enjoyed building sand castles (more of a sand house), playing in the water and lounging on one of the floating mats.
It also seemed to be the area for snorkeling, as we saw many many snorkelers in the area. If you have young children, this is a great area as there are no waves. My son who absolutely loves the Splashaway Bay on CocoCay, never wanted to leave the beach, so we never made it over to that area.
We finished off our time at the Day Bed with a family nap. It was amazing! I had set my alarm to make sure we didn’t miss the ship, but there was also a crew member checking each of the beds to make sure everyone was awake.
We had to be back on board by 5pm and we left the area around 4:20pm. There are nearby showers and bathrooms which we all visited before heading back to the ship.
Final thoughts
So do you need to rent a Day Bed? Absolutely not. Loungers were plentiful all around the island. Will we rent a Day Bed again. Absolutely!
Having the day bed just made our day at CocoCay better and simply Perfect (pun intended). We currently have an Oasis Lagoon cabana booked for our March cruise that we booked on Black Friday, but we are considering switching to a Day Bed Rental if they become available. Currently, they are sold out.
We paid $149 which was an excellent value, but would I purchase it at $199? I think so. It just makes the day easier, especially with a child and I’ve spent $200 on stupider things.
When you also factor in, the dedicated loungers, the two floating mats and a cooler, it all adds up.
In my opinion, the Chill Island day beds are a great choice for smaller families that want a private, dedicated area with easy access to the beach.
Check out Shannon's YouTube channel for lots more travel information & tips.
