Castaway Cay Private Cabanas

[poohj80]

I believe it is at the Pelican Point Tram Stop, it is a small hut to the left of the covered area where people were waiting for the Tram.

We saw the hut and waited about 5 minutes with everyone else, but there was no one there so we just walked to our cabana.

 

[andersonfamily]

Logistically it would be hard to have snorkel gear at the cabana - you have to give them your shoe size for the fins.

 

[tsouth]

We saw the hut and waited about 5 minutes with everyone else, but there was no one there so we just walked to our cabana.

We've had a cabana twice now. Both times there was less than a minute wait for the gear. I think it works out well because the hut is located close to where you want to snorkel. You don't have to lug everything back and forth.

T.

 

[dizzi]

Hi all
We're looking into renting a Cabana for our Eastern Caribbean Cruise in January and I have a few questions. I'm sure some (or all) of these questions have already been answered in this thread, but with over 1100 posts I'd go crazy if I had to look through all of these pages! Any help is greatly appreciated.

1. I saw somewhere online that a cabana on the family beach that holds 6 people is $500. That price seems very steep to me and would mean that we would not be able to do any other excursions on the cruise. Would those of you who have rented before say that it's worth the price?We got a cabana in January, we split it with another group of 3 so thankfully we didnt have to pay the whole price. IT WAS COLD and i dont think i would have sat on the beach if we didnt have the cabana, it was nice and there were plenty of places to sit. BUT we also had 2 other excursions that day as we were celebrating an 18th bday, i think had it been warmer we would have enjoyed it more glad i wasn't stuck to it all day

2. What are the top 3 Cabanas to rent on the family beach? I am looking for closest to restrooms and food if possible. as said before #1 is closest, which is what we had...BUT at that time it was also a handicap accessible so we had to wait til a certain time to rent it AND NO HAMMOCK for this particular unit


5. Since we are going in January, do you think spending $500 for a cabana is too big of a risk considering the weather could be really cold? I guess it depends on where u are from and what i consider cold, we lived in fot lauderdale at the time and to me it was cold on the beach most of the day although there were plenty of people in the water. WE did 2 water sport activities and thankfully it was the warmest part of the day for them. if money was not an issue i would do it again, but since it always is for us, i probally wont do it again unless sharing the expense and making it a lazy dazy day and in the middle of summer. If i have to go again in January i most likely wont get off the boat except to take walk in the heat of the day.

Thanks so much everyone!!

OF COURSE and as i always say.....everything is what you make it on a vacation!!! if you think it is gonna be cold take some extra towels and blankets and enjoy the view covered up and bring some great books and some extra things for the kids to do.

NOT MUCH OF A BETTER VIEW ANYWHERE!!!!

 

[poohj80]

We've had a cabana twice now. Both times there was less than a minute wait for the gear. I think it works out well because the hut is located close to where you want to snorkel. You don't have to lug everything back and forth.

T.

My comment was about the cabana check-in hut at the tram stop, not picking up snorkel gear.

 

[dizzi]

we had a bit of a problem checking int to our hut not much direction etc...but you can read about it way back in this thread....hopefully they have it fixed by now.

 

[MouseinMelbourne]

We sail in 4 days and after 86 days of checking twice a day....A CABANA FINALLY OPENED!! Of course, I snagged it immediately.

Can anyone give me a review of Cabana #5? The good, the bad, and the ugly?

 

[ppiew]

We had Cabana #5 last spring. It is close to the middle of the cabanas or actually closer to the gate to Cookies Too and the restrooms. All Cabanas are alike with the exception of one which has an Electrical Outlet. The cabanas are really nice and they had a pull around curtain for privacy while changing (nice touch). They gave us suntan lotion, stocked the fridge, etc. My only regret was that our group was at the cabana so seldom they hardly enjoyed it. Besides adults we had children ages 7 & 8 and the older ones were 13 & 14. It seemed to me everyone was gone either to eat, to the restroom, on an excursion, never around ,etc. Oh well, as grandparents we loved the solitude. it is a great location but most of the cabanas are.

 

[MouseinMelbourne]

Does anyone know if you can walk from the private cabana beach to the beach at Pelican Plunge via the beach? I saw that there is a wooden fence separating the two beaches. Is there a gate there? I'd rather my DD stay in sight while going back and forth. How about swimming over?

 

[MouseinMelbourne]

We had Cabana #5 last spring. It is close to the middle of the cabanas or actually closer to the gate to Cookies Too and the restrooms. All Cabanas are alike with the exception of one which has an Electrical Outlet. The cabanas are really nice and they had a pull around curtain for privacy while changing (nice touch). They gave us suntan lotion, stocked the fridge, etc. My only regret was that our group was at the cabana so seldom they hardly enjoyed it. Besides adults we had children ages 7 & 8 and the older ones were 13 & 14. It seemed to me everyone was gone either to eat, to the restroom, on an excursion, never around ,etc. Oh well, as grandparents we loved the solitude. it is a great location but most of the cabanas are.

Thanks for the review! My in-laws were supposed to go on this cruise with us, so that was what first got me looking at a cabana. They ended up backing out, but I was determined to get the cabana still! LOL! I think we'll enjoy it. We're not watersports people and usually like to just hang out anyway. Thanks for taking care of #5 for us.

 

[quickcat]

I seen a picture in this thread many pages back that shows the difference between the family beach crowd and the private cabana beach with very few people. I am thinking that is from the Dream and when the Magic docks there the family beach will not be as crowded, did anyone find if this is true? We have a cabana for our cruise in January but I am wondering if the crowds on the family beach wont be as bad now that they expanded for the Dream? Thanks!

 

[Iceman93]

Does anyone know if you can walk from the private cabana beach to the beach at Pelican Plunge via the beach? I saw that there is a wooden fence separating the two beaches. Is there a gate there? I'd rather my DD stay in sight while going back and forth. How about swimming over?

Yes, there is a gate that is manned by a CM who checks for cabana wristbands when you cross back into the private beach area. Technically it is possible to swim over, but there are buoys marking off the private beach and I heard the lifeguard yell at one person who swam over them. Probably best to use the beach and gate.

 

[poohj80]

We sail in 4 days and after 86 days of checking twice a day....A CABANA FINALLY OPENED!! Of course, I snagged it immediately.

Can anyone give me a review of Cabana #5? The good, the bad, and the ugly?

Here's Cabana #5 from the beach...

 

[MouseinMelbourne]

Yes, there is a gate that is manned by a CM who checks for cabana wristbands when you cross back into the private beach area. Technically it is possible to swim over, but there are buoys marking off the private beach and I heard the lifeguard yell at one person who swam over them. Probably best to use the beach and gate.

YIPPEE!! Thanks for the info!

 

[wink13]

Great information. We have cabana #6 booked for our Feb, 2012 stop. Looking forward to checking everything out.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Just got back from the Dream and we had cabana #2 for a party of 10 (three generations) and it was the best vacation money I ever spent (well, becides the actual cruise!). Perfect day for the two of us great aunts who aren't so mobil and not sun worshipers. The kids loved it and we used the floats, sand toys, bikes but didn't have time to snorkel. The cabana was well stocked but we did ask for the snack basket to be supplentmted (there were like three bags of chips and a couple of 'bars'. Not enough for this salty-cruncy crowd. Quick walk over to Pelican Plunge (where the most reticient of the kids rode it and loved it).

Location was great...the walk from the cabin to the restrooms was shorter than most of the restaurant to restroom walks on the ship! We had about a 15 minute rain drizzel around two o'clock, other than that the weather was perfect.

 

[gometros]

A friend of mine was on the Dream in October and her opinion was that if you were going to Serenity Bay, the cabanas weren't as necessary as if you were on the family beach. I'd love to hear opinions of people that used the cabanas on Serenity Bay.

 

[poohj80]

A friend of mine was on the Dream in October and her opinion was that if you were going to Serenity Bay, the cabanas weren't as necessary as if you were on the family beach. I'd love to hear opinions of people that used the cabanas on Serenity Bay.

I can definitely see this especially if you are just one couple. The one adult only cruise we did, there was hardly anyone on Serenity beach at all.

 

[Brandis]

I have been on Castaway Cay twice, first time on the Wonder and recently on the Dream, both times I went to Serenity Bay and both times the beach was almost deserted, plenty of beach chairs available.

Now, on the last visit with the Dream, the weather wasn't that good, most of the morning it was raining, but the air was still warm and the water was great. That time I had rented a cabana, as my uncle and aunt were with us and they didn't want to swim, so especially for them I think it was great we had the cabana, it was dry and the lounge chairs were much more comfortable than the plastic chairs on the beach.

So I think, if you want to spoil yourself, try to get a cabana, if the price is OK for your. They are quite expensive, after all. But I wouldn't say they are neccessary if you just want to stay away from other people, Serenity Bay should be big enough.

By the way, while I was able to grab the last cabana online on day 90 before the cruise, ours was the only one occupied on the day we were there, the other renters probably had cancelled because of the weather.

In March, we are doing another cruise on the Dream, then it will stop on Castaway Cay twice. Then, it will also be just my partner and me. Not sure yet if we should treat ourselves to a cabana for one of the 2 visits.

 

[Brandis]

Here are a couple of pictures from our Sept. 25 visit to Castaway Cay:

Also, the Lunch Buffet at Serenity Bay wasn't very busy: