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A private-island day removes the taxi negotiation and the race across town. Your ship arrives at a destination built around cruise passengers, usually with a beach, loungers and food close to the landing. The useful question is what your fare includes once you step ashore.
The answer changes by cruise line. Some islands include lunch and several beach areas. Others charge for most food, premium pools or waterparks. Pier access has also changed at several Bahamas stops, so old advice about tender tickets may already be wrong.
The schedule covers the sailings we track and undercounts some cruise lines. Use the winter line, ship and homeport details to identify the destination attached to your cruise, then check the current inclusions in your cruise planner.
Perfect Day at CocoCay is Royal Caribbean’s full resort day
Perfect Day at CocoCay is a docked stop. Royal Caribbean ships in the winter schedule include Icon, Utopia, Oasis and Wonder of the Seas, alongside ten other ships. Miami, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale are the main departure points shown, with individual sailings from Cape Liberty and Tampa.
The median scheduled call is 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, giving 10 hours across 216 timed calls. South Beach, Chill Island, Oasis Lagoon and Splashaway Bay are included, along with loungers, towels, the tram and food at Skipper’s Grill and Chill Grill. Thrill Waterpark, the adults-only Hideaway Beach, Coco Beach Club and cabanas cost extra. Prices vary by date, so check the cruise planner rather than relying on an old screenshot.
Half Moon Cay and Celebration Key now have piers
RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay serves Carnival and Holland America, with Princess plus occasional Costa and Cunard calls in the winter schedule. Its median call is 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, or 8 hours. The destination opened a 1,005-foot pier in June 2026, replacing the old tender routine for arriving guests, according to Seatrade Cruise News.
Celebration Key is Carnival’s destination on Grand Bahama. Its four-ship pier leads to Paradise Plaza in about five minutes, with a free tram available. Lagoons, loungers, umbrellas, a splash pad, sports courts, water stations and one Island Eats meal are included. Pearl Cove, the Sun Castle slides, cabanas, most sit-down dining and alcohol cost extra. Princess ships began calling on November 1, 2026, and Princess drink packages do not carry over to the destination.
The median scheduled call is 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Winter departures in the tracked schedule include Miami, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale, plus several Gulf and East Coast homeports. Check the operator and inclusions attached to your booking, since a Princess visit and a Carnival visit do not carry identical onboard packages ashore.
Great Stirrup Cay has a new two-berth pier
Great Stirrup Cay is Norwegian’s Bahamas destination. Norwegian ships in the winter schedule include Dawn, Epic, Escape, Gem, Getaway, Jewel, Joy, Pearl and Star, with two Oceania Marina calls also shown. Miami, Port Canaveral and Jacksonville appear most often among the tracked homeports.
The island’s two-berth pier and Great Tides Waterpark opened on September 4, 2026. The waterpark has 19 slides, cliff jumps and a lazy river, with a separate day-pass charge. Norwegian drink packages cover drinks on the island again. The median scheduled call is 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with a 9-hour-15-minute median duration. Norwegian’s opening announcement has the current project outline.
Disney splits its Bahamas days between two destinations
Castaway Cay is docked at Disney’s own pier. Disney Destiny, Dream, Fantasy, Magic, Treasure and Wish appear in the winter schedule, with departures from Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral and Galveston. Its median scheduled call runs from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, or 8.5 hours.
Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point is on Eleuthera and also uses a pier. The open-trestle walk from ship to shore takes about 10 to 15 minutes, with golf carts available for mobility needs. Most beaches and lunch are included at both Disney destinations. Alcohol, cabanas and some rentals cost extra. Lookout Cay has the same 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM median schedule.
Ocean Cay and Harvest Caye handle food differently
Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve is a docked MSC destination. MSC Meraviglia, Seashore and Seaside appear in the winter schedule from Miami and Port Canaveral. Its 11-hour median is the longest among these timed private-destination calls, with a median schedule of 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Harvest Caye is Norwegian’s private destination in southern Belize. Norwegian, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania ships appear there in the winter schedule. It has its own pier and a tram, with a median call of 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Food is mostly paid through locally run outlets, so check your line’s inclusions before leaving the ship.
Princess Cays and Labadee need a current-status check
Princess Cays remains open, though Princess Cruises removes it from itineraries from November 2026 and shifts Bahamas calls toward Half Moon Cay and Celebration Key. The winter schedule shows only a Carnival Freedom call from Port Canaveral, and there are too few timed calls for a useful median. Princess Cays is a tender stop, so the transfer process in the tender-port planner still applies.
Royal Caribbean cancelled all 2026 calls at Labadee while Haiti remains under a Level 4 US travel advisory. A few sailings in the tracked schedule still list Labadee between July and September 2027. Treat those calls as tentative and check the current itinerary before making plans. Cruise Critic reported Nassau, Grand Turk, Cozumel and San Juan among the substitutes used for cancelled visits.
Choose the homeport and island together
Many private-island sailings leave from Miami, Port Canaveral or Fort Lauderdale. The same island can appear on a short getaway or a longer cruise, so compare the full route rather than choosing from the beach name alone.
Most of these destinations sit in the Bahamas, while Harvest Caye and Labadee belong to wider Caribbean routes. A private stop can be the easy beach day in an itinerary that also includes a taxi-heavy or excursion-heavy port.
Pier access now covers CocoCay, Half Moon Cay, Celebration Key, Great Stirrup Cay, Castaway Cay, Lookout Cay, Ocean Cay and Harvest Caye. Princess Cays remains the tender exception in this group. That difference changes the first decision of the morning: a pier lets you walk ashore when the ship clears, while a tender day requires the boat process and an earlier return buffer. Check the current arrival method before reserving a timed extra.
Start with four checks: pier or tender, included food, included beach access and the current status of the call. Once those are settled, the day becomes much easier to price and much harder to overplan.