The Royal Caribbean is the finest. The company already has the largest cruise ship in the world. Currently, Cruise Line is building a new private resort in Mexico, with several more titles being told.
Mexico is currently under construction at the Costa Maya Port, which was purchased by Cruise Line in 2024. The opening is planned for the fall of 2027, more than double the existing “perfect day” concept of Royal Caribbean in Cokacay, Private Bahamas.
The Costa Maya version is over 200 acres, with a larger water park, beach access, a larger pool and even the largest sombrero in the world.
“This is an engineering wonder at the end of the day, and it’s a lot of fun,” said Jay Schneider, chief product innovation officer at Royal Caribbean, in an interview at Miami headquarters last month.
The design of the sombrero in question remains in the flux, but it serves as the topper for the Fiesta Sombrero bar, which is the heart of the Fiesta Plaza Welcome Area. Schneider said he wanted the company to not approach design carefully, and he conducted extensive research in both the US and Mexico to assess its acceptance.
“We love the idea, but we have a lot of heartburn in it. One of the things we’re obsessed with is that the people who show up every day are happy, and the people who serve those people are happy,” he said. “We didn’t want Mexicans working on their fortune to be offended by the construction of the world’s largest sombrero.”
He said they didn’t move the concept forward until after they heard the feedback. “In fact, Mexican audiences loved this more than American audiences, but they won at both camps,” he said.
Schneider also has many design choices for the rest of the park, promoting a mix of credibility and products that customers expect.
“One of the things we’ve heard all over the world is to replicate culture and not amplify it,” Schneider said. “So you will see us amplifying our culture. You will never see us making Mayan doom.”
The Royal Caribbean bought real estate around the port. This includes existing water parks with water slides with Mayan abandoned in theme. The Royal Caribbean is destroying it.
“You’ll never see us exploiting that fake, created culture,” he said.
Instead, Mexico’s perfect day relies on the colorful and whimsical features of Mexican culture, such as folk animal sculptures throughout the park known as “alebriez” that are often found on dead celebrations. This includes the colorful Jaguar Heads located in the tallest towers of the resort’s water park.
The resort has other top-notch homes. Includes the longest lazy river in the world.
Because everything needs to be big, Loco Water Park has over 30 slides at the peak of the Jaguar, with 10, and is advertised on the line that rises to 170 feet tall and becomes the tallest water slide tower in North or South America. Its highest slide is the highest at a 164-foot ride height, named “Kilimanjaro” in Brazil.
It also features a roller coaster-style water ride. The company says it will be the longest in the world, offering rides to visitors that last for 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
The Waterpark is one of the seven regions of the site and, like the Bahamas version of Perfect Day, there is an additional cost, as well as the adult-only section called El Hideaway and the premium space called Costa Beach Club.
El Hideaway features a zero entry pool with a swim-up bar and a DJ and private cabana. The Costa Beach Club features a private cabana along with its own beachfront, a heated infinity pool and premium dining.
The rest of the perfect day, including the Welcome Area Fiesta Plaza and two areas called Chill Beach, which covers the two miles of beach, will be free to sail on the Royal Ship docking to the Costa Maya. The largest neighbourhood is Splash Cove, home to the 100,000 square feet freshwater pool, one of the resort’s 10 pools. Splash Cove is also a place where you can climb lazy rivers and visit large water play spaces for kids.
The resort also offers 12 dining options and 24 bars, including six swim-up bars.
The Royal Caribbean expects most visitors to arrive on the ship, but visitors from celebrities on the sister cruise line will also arrive, although the port is also available on other cruise lines. However, their passengers are not allowed to come to the resort, but they can explore the southern region of Quintana Lu, Mexico.
The port has four capacity, and Schneider said he expects Mexico to attract up to 21,000 guests on the first day.
“We’re going to open with a complete product,” he said. “We are not open on our mission to grow over time, in smaller chunks.”