10 people in Castaway Cabana? Or get two?

[Big Pro]

We're sailing concierge and I fully intend to be online at 12AM to book our cabana on Castaway Cay. There are 10 total in our party. My question is whether 10 is comfortable in a cabana or if we should just eat the extra $300 and get two? Can I even book two? Price isn't as important as making sure everyone is comfortable and feels like they get what they paid for and so I'd rather spend $1000 for everyone to be happy than $700 for people to feel scrunched for space/amenities.

 

[jlwhitney]

We're sailing concierge and I fully intend to be online at 12AM to book our cabana on Castaway Cay. There are 10 total in our party. My question is whether 10 is comfortable in a cabana or if we should just eat the extra $300 and get two? Can I even book two? Price isn't as important as making sure everyone is comfortable and feels like they get what they paid for and so I'd rather spend $1000 for everyone to be happy than $700 for people to feel scrunched for space/amenities.

I do not think all 10 people could sit at once, I would think it would be scrunched.

 

[Trekker]

Unless some folks will spend the time on the beach in lounger chairs 10 will be very crowded.

We had 6 in ours and brought lunch back to eat in the Cabana and it was crowded with 6 for eating lunch.....

 

[Big Pro]

Thanks for the replies. That's what I was afraid of. Can I book two cabanas at once or is there a limit of one cabana per room?

 

[jetskigrl]

We're sailing concierge and I fully intend to be online at 12AM to book our cabana on Castaway Cay. There are 10 total in our party. My question is whether 10 is comfortable in a cabana or if we should just eat the extra $300 and get two? Can I even book two? Price isn't as important as making sure everyone is comfortable and feels like they get what they paid for and so I'd rather spend $1000 for everyone to be happy than $700 for people to feel scrunched for space/amenities.

Does anyone in your group plan on doing other excursions? When we had ours, we found that we missed out on it too much because we left to go do excursions. If all 10 people in your group will be there the entire time, then probably 2 would be better. But if people will be coming and going, some sitting by the water, some doing excursions, etc, I think one would be fine (to use as a "home base" of sorts). And if you get one of the lower numbered ones, there are tons of chairs on the beach right in front of it.

 

[Big Pro]

And if you get one of the lower numbered ones, there are tons of chairs on the beach right in front of it.

Which number cabana would you recommend to have chairs in front? I was told #9 is the best one but that's just one person's opinion.

We are a fairly active group so I imagine many of us would be out swimming, snorkeling, biking etc. We certainly plan on doing the 5K.

Maybe the biggest issue then would just be eating, and hey, that's probably not worth $300.

Again, thanks all for the great advice.

 

[jetskigrl]

This is a picture of the private beach from the water. I don't know if I got them all, but the farthest right would be the lowest numbers. So I would think anything less that 9 would have the umbrellas and chairs right in front. At the farther left, there is a volleyball court instead of chairs but I don't recall which cabanas that was in front of.

We had number 16 so we were at the far left and around the corner a bit. We actually liked the privacy of that one, but we did have to walk a bit to get to the main beach area.

 

[CoolHandsGirl]

As soon as you try and book a second cabana, your first one gets released back into the online booking system. You might want to call shoreside concierge to find out if getting two is possible.

 

[mmouse37]

I thought the total people per cabana was 8? Is it 10?

Just want to have my info correct...thanks.

MJ

 

[jdb in AZ]

If you had two cabanas, your group would be divided, so you may as well just eat in shifts and save the shekels for an additional activity.

 

[jilljill]

I thought the total people per cabana was 8? Is it 10?

Just want to have my info correct...thanks.

MJ

6 people are included in the $499 charge for the family beach cabana and then you can add up to 4 people for an additional $50/person.

 

[Namsupak]

Don't worry yourself over trying to get one at 12am. I would recommend just letting the concierge know what you want and have them reserve it. That's why you are paying for concierge they take care of these things for you. Also are the other people in your group traveling concierge, if so then ask them to book one as I am not sure if you can book two cabanas with one stateroom.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

I had concierge ask me if I wanted two cabanas once.

 

[Southern Sailaway]

There are essentially four seating spots in the sun, two deluxe loungers, one kinda odd lounger and the hammock. You can seat five in the "inside" section, but it is somewhat crowded. Chairs by the beach are essentially unlimited. There were tons of them available yesterday. We had a group of 7, with three of them children and we were perfectly content because there were always at least 3 of us either in the water or at the beach or wandering around. Personally, I feel like a group of 10 would be a bit crowded, especially if more of you were adults.

You can get two cabanas by calling concierge. We accidentally got two at first when the concierge misunderstood our request. Lots of the cabanas share an access path and would be ideal for a group of connected folks.

 

[All American]

Don't worry yourself over trying to get one at 12am. I would recommend just letting the concierge know what you want and have them reserve it. That's why you are paying for concierge they take care of these things for you. Also are the other people in your group traveling concierge, if so then ask them to book one as I am not sure if you can book two cabanas with one stateroom.

I apologize in advance if this question seems dumb, but how does one go about doing this? We are traveling concierge next June for the extra help (total cruise beginners here). Do we call the concierge before the 120-day window and make the request or call the day of? And is it the shore concierge we contact? (What is a shore concierge anyways?.....) Oh, and is the 12 AM Eastern time?

Thanks for any help. Thank goodness I have over a year to learn some of these things!

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

If you really want a cabana, and you are concierge, I would STILL tell you to get up at midnight and book it (or them).

The reason I am saying that is Shoreside Concierge will not book them until the morning, and if people have gone online to book them, there might not be much left for concierge to book for you. True, they tend to hold back one or two, but those might not be what you want.

Concierge cannot book before everyone else. Of course if there ARE cabanas left they certainly can book one for you. Since they hold back a few, there is likely to be one, but then again, if other concierge guests have done the same...

 

[Big Pro]

Since it's only 10pm here, I figure that's what I'll do. Sounds like I'll need to coordinate with one of the other groups to do the same since it doesn't sound like I can book two at once and would want to try to get them side by side.

 

[jvelasco]

Since it's only 10pm here, I figure that's what I'll do. Sounds like I'll need to coordinate with one of the other groups to do the same since it doesn't sound like I can book two at once and would want to try to get them side by side.

Just an FYI if two of you are going to try to book something on line at the same time. I don't know if this applies to you or not, but we just went on our first DCL cruise last month with another family. Each family had 2 staterooms. My friend and I went together to AAA, chose the rooms, booked them, paid separately per family. We all had separate confirmation numbers as well. Somehow, DCL's computer system linked our reservation with theirs, so when I went to check in and book excursions at midnight 75 days out or whatever the date was, I got blocked because my friend was also on line booking, and she got on first. I kept getting a message saying someone in my party was already using the system so I couldn't get through. Again, not sure if this will happen in your case, but you may want to look into it if you are planning on having someone else in your "party" book a cabana at the same time you're attempting to. Hopefully it won't be a problem!

 

[All American]

If you really want a cabana, and you are concierge, I would STILL tell you to get up at midnight and book it (or them).

The reason I am saying that is Shoreside Concierge will not book them until the morning, and if people have gone online to book them, there might not be much left for concierge to book for you. True, they tend to hold back one or two, but those might not be what you want.

Concierge cannot book before everyone else. Of course if there ARE cabanas left they certainly can book one for you. Since they hold back a few, there is likely to be one, but then again, if other concierge guests have done the same...

That's very helpful information. It's worth staying up past my bedtime to try and snag one of the cabanas. Thanks!

 

[Calfan]

I apologize in advance if this question seems dumb, but how does one go about doing this? We are traveling concierge next June for the extra help (total cruise beginners here). Do we call the concierge before the 120-day window and make the request or call the day of? And is it the shore concierge we contact? (What is a shore concierge anyways?.....) Oh, and is the 12 AM Eastern time?

Thanks for any help. Thank goodness I have over a year to learn some of these things!

We just booked concierge for the first time for next April, and I have ALL the same questions you just asked. We've cruised DCL before, but never concierge. I do know that the times are Eastern time. We are in California and our window always opens at 9:00 p.m. PT the night before our current 90-day activity booking window opens.