Castaway Private Beach?

[katmigordon]

I know the Cabana's have a section of beach set aside, and I know that Serenity Bay is a seaweedy nightmare. Is the cabana section of the water over near the cabanna's any better?

 

[cvjw]

Who said that serenity bay is a seaweed nightmare? We were there October, 2019 and the beach and water were very clear. We have been to serenity bay many times and never noticed a seaweed problem.

 

[katmigordon]

I was watching a video from Dis Unplugged Merrytime Dream Cruise, and Serenity looked awful - they weren't even allowed to get in the water. And I had heard that the hurricanes tore it up...

Who said that serenity bay is a seaweed nightmare? We were there October, 2019 and the beach and water were very clear. We have been to serenity bay many times and never noticed a seaweed problem.

 

[Quellman]

Cabanas on the family beach are in a small lagoon area, but easily seen and the water isn't deep at all.
Cabanas at Serenity are not actually on the water. You first take a path through the bushes, then past the chairs and into the water. They are pretty private and shaded, but aren't on the water at all.

Also, I would suspect that Hurricane damage is well repaired. I hope they have completed the dredging projects as well. Any time we have been to Castaway, we haven't had any issues with seaweed, but I do remember the videos from this one instance. Storms do weird things.

 

[cvjw]

I was watching a video from Dis Unplugged Merrytime Dream Cruise, and Serenity looked awful - they weren't even allowed to get in the water. And I had heard that the hurricanes tore it up...

October 2019. No seaweed on serenity bay. A hurricane had just come thru and you can see the huge ledge of sand in the background. As a result, there were only 1 row of loungers instead of the normal double row. You can also see the water is crystal clear.

 

[katmigordon]

Good to know - thank you.
It broke my heart to think of Serenity Bay as being upended.
When I think of Castaway Cay that's what I think about.

Cabanas on the family beach are in a small lagoon area, but easily seen and the water isn't deep at all.
Cabanas at Serenity are not actually on the water. You first take a path through the bushes, then past the chairs and into the water. They are pretty private and shaded, but aren't on the water at all.

Also, I would suspect that Hurricane damage is well repaired. I hope they have completed the dredging projects as well. Any time we have been to Castaway, we haven't had any issues with seaweed, but I do remember the videos from this one instance. Storms do weird things.

 

[mevelandry]

I know the Cabana's have a section of beach set aside, and I know that Serenity Bay is a seaweedy nightmare. Is the cabana section of the water over near the cabanna's any better?

I've been to Castaway Cay/Serenity Bay in April (x2) and in December... Never seen any sea weed...Nor on the family beach, nor on Serenity Bay, nor on the beach in front of the cabanas.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

There was an area that was open at Serenity right when we cruised right before the shutdown (March 2020) that we were told used to be the Crew beach (when you are at the entrance to serenity you go left instead of right) that had quite a bit of Seaweed growing in the water, but not loose and floating around. It was actually interesting! It was very soft, almost like normal lawn grass under the water and was pleasant underfoot. We tried to avoid it so as to not disturb any marine life that might be living there.

The regular area was free of seaweed and normally is from every time we've been there.

I think the real "stand out" thing is in the pictures above where you see that roped off sand wall where the beach was eroded by the ocean levels rising due to the hurricane. That used to have the 2 rows of loungers/umbrellas but for the most part its down to just 1 row closest to the bathrooms/food/bar area.

I am hoping that they have been able to do a lot of work on the beaches and island to recover from Dorian while the shut down has been happening, but time will tell!

 

[TAK]

The first time we cruised in January 2014, there happened to be a lot of seaweed on Serenity Bay beach. It wasn't hideous, you could still go in the water and get past it, but it wasn't as pretty as it was the second time we cruised, and it was crystal clear and clean. I think seaweed happens, sometimes, and that's okay, but it's not an all the time occurance.

 

[n2mm]

The first time we cruised in January 2014, there happened to be a lot of seaweed on Serenity Bay beach. It wasn't hideous, you could still go in the water and get past it, but it wasn't as pretty as it was the second time we cruised, and it was crystal clear and clean. I think seaweed happens, sometimes, and that's okay, but it's not an all the time occurance.

that’s interesting because we were at serenity January 2020 and the seaweed was horrible. By noon, they shut serenity down for the day and we had to move to the family beach. No one was getting into the water because the seaweed was so thick.

 

[TAK]

that’s interesting because we were at serenity January 2020 and the seaweed was horrible. By noon, they shut serenity down for the day and we had to move to the family beach. No one was getting into the water because the seaweed was so thick.

Huh. I wonder if it's a January thing? The tides or something?

We did the same thing on that January trip. The water at Serenity wasn't unusable, but it wasn't pretty. We ended up at the family beach, too. My husband kept telling me how great Serenity Bay was (he'd cruised before) and I didn't believe him until our second cruise.

 

[n2mm]

Huh. I wonder if it's a January thing? The tides or something?

I know, as soon as I saw your post I wondered that too.

 

[BlueRibbon]

They probably just need to maintain it. I vividly remember in 2012 the first 50 feet of snorkeling in the family area was nothing but seaweed. But after many cruises since, I haven't seen it like that again.