Family Cabana vs Serenity Bay Cabana?

[andeesings]

Hello! I’m sailing concierge for the first time in February and am sailing within a party of 5 adults. We’d like to request a cabana, and I was wondering if you all could explain your preferences for a Serenity Bay Cabana vs a Family Beach cabana. I know there’s a price difference but we’re not terribly concerned about that. The cabanas themselves are the same, right? Is the cabana beach nicer?

The Serenity bay cabana doesn’t come with snorkel equipment right?
What would you choose?

 

[HiStitch626]

The biggest difference is that the SB cabanas do not have a private beach like the family cabanas do. The SB cabanas sit behind the adult beach and you would walk though that area to get into the water.

 

[Marc D]

Serenity Bay cabanas do not come with sand toys (obviously) or snorkel equipment, but all the other amenities are the same. You feel much less secluded from the "regular guests" on Serenity Bay since the area is not roped off, but there are much less guests on the beach on that side, so it almost evens out. The beach itself is nicer on the family side and less at risk of having seaweed, since it is protected from the open ocean.

We much prefer a cabana on the Family side, but we are not bothered by the presence of children. You get easier access to the bike rental, you can snorkel in the dedicated area, and the way there from the ship and back is much faster...

 

[andeesings]

The biggest difference is that the SB cabanas do not have a private beach like the family cabanas do. The SB cabanas sit behind the adult beach and you would walk though that area to get into the water.

Yeah, I guess my question would be is the private beach worth it?

 

[lorimay]

We love the private beach, but will only choose it when the family is with us.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Hello! I’m sailing concierge for the first time in February and am sailing within a party of 5 adults. We’d like to request a cabana, and I was wondering if you all could explain your preferences for a Serenity Bay Cabana vs a Family Beach cabana. I know there’s a price difference but we’re not terribly concerned about that. The cabanas themselves are the same, right? Is the cabana beach nicer?

The Serenity bay cabana doesn’t come with snorkel equipment right?
What would you choose?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Serenity Bay cabanas for 4 and the family ones are for 6 so if you did a Serenity bay one you would have to pay for the 5th person also?

 

[Pixie Dust Believer]

We were on B2B in August and did one day at the serenity bay cabana and two days at family beach cabanas (the other day we spent getting cabana massages)

It was just my mother and I so the larger included capacity with the family cabana did not come into play. We also did not utilize the snorkeling equipment or sand toys so that did not play into our decision.

We agreed moving forward we will stick to the family beach if possible. We loved the ability to play music, having a private beach with reserved chairs in the sand, and having the amazing concierge crew/hosts take care of us on the island. It felt like a bit of an extension of the lounge since the bar tenders already knew our preferences on drinks and made them the way we liked them. Also we appreciated the fact that we did not have to be concerned about getting a beach chair/lounger on the family beach. At serenity bay all the loungers closest to our cabana were taken early, so there wasn’t really an opportunity to lay out on the beach that day.

 

[andeesings]

We were on B2B in August and did one day at the serenity bay cabana and two days at family beach cabanas (the other day we spent getting cabana massages)

It was just my mother and I so the larger included capacity with the family cabana did not come into play. We also did not utilize the snorkeling equipment or sand toys so that did not play into our decision.

We agreed moving forward we will stick to the family beach if possible. We loved the ability to play music, having a private beach with reserved chairs in the sand, and having the amazing concierge crew/hosts take care of us on the island. It felt like a bit of an extension of the lounge since the bar tenders already knew our preferences on drinks and made them the way we liked them. Also we appreciated the fact that we did not have to be concerned about getting a beach chair/lounger on the family beach. At serenity bay all the loungers closest to our cabana were taken early, so there wasn’t really an opportunity to lay out on the beach that day.

Thank you, this was EXTREMELY helpful!!

 

[mevelandry]

IMO, Serenity Beach is better. More quiet. Open water (better snorkeling). Close to the best BBQ (IMO). The beach near the cabanas is not private but most of the time there are almost nobody else there. I thought the water was cloudy at the family beach but clear at Serenity Bay.

I would definitely pick a Serenity cabana.

 

[SnowWhite2]

Sometimes the water in front of the family cabanas is sparse. Once we had almost no water in front of our cabana. It was more like little lakes that you could wade in.

 

[andeesings]

Sometimes the water in front of the family cabanas is sparse. Once we had almost no water in front of our cabana. It was more like little lakes that you could wade in.

Interesting, is this due to the time of year you think?

 

[WiscMomof2]

Interesting, is this due to the time of year you think?

It depends on the tide level on the day you’re there. There’s a website that estimates high and low tide for the island by date and time, but it’s been a few years since we’ve gone and I can’t remember what it is offhand. Maybe someone else knows.

We’ve been in a family cabana 3x and it was only kind of shallow on one occasion. Each time it was adults with no kids and we much preferred the privacy and beach itself on the family side. Everyone is different though. Serenity Bay is also very nice.

 

[MomOTwins]

Interesting, is this due to the time of year you think?

I wonder if it may have been cabana number/location. Cabanas numbered 14 and up are actually on a little lagoon with a sandbar rather than facing out to sea like the family beach. Lower number cabanas are often higher in demand for that reason.

 

[andeesings]

I wonder if it may have been cabana number/location. Cabanas numbered 14 and up are actually on a little lagoon with a sandbar rather than facing out to sea like the family beach. Lower number cabanas are often higher in demand for that reason.

Yes, we requested and got cabana 9 booked, so we were hoping for full beach! We wanted to be on the private beach but full beach, not lagoon, and not too close to the regular family beach. Here’s hoping it works out!

 

[Cheburashka]

I have only had a Serenity Beach cabana, not a Family Beach cabana, and it was last month during my Magic cruise. I loved the cabana and would book one again on either beach in an instant. Given a choice between the two, I would choose Serenity Bay. It was so peaceful and comfortable. I liked that it was an 18+ beach just because that meant there wouldn't be any screaming babies or tantruming kids (I love children, but in my cabana I want peace) at any time. I also liked being close to the Serenity Bay barbeque, which was better imo than the barbeque on the family side of the island. I had lunch in my cabana, and it was very easy to just walk with my food from the barbeque back to my cabana. My cabana was also an easy walk to the adult bike rental. And of course, the price is hundreds less on Serenity Bay, so that is a big bonus, as well.

For me personally, the only drawback of the Serenity Beach cabana is that the adult beach is an unprotected beach, unlike the Family Beach. That makes it prettier to look at, which is nice while you're lounging around, but I am afraid of swimming in beach waves (had a close call once), so I won't do more than wade on an unprotected beach. I'm not a huge beach swimmer at all, though, because of that experience, so it isn't a huge factor for me. I noticed there were a lot of sea shells on the Serenity Bay beach, which was a positive, too.

 

[donnaV]

I would check with Disney about the time line of the sand renovation in front of the Serenity Cabanas. Just returned from the 3 night Fantasy. The beach in front of all the Serenity cabanas had piles of sand in front of them (not leveled yet) and was roped off in front of the sand. It looked like it made it difficult for the cabana guests to walk down to the beach directly in front of their cabana, especially since it was a 4-6 foot drop from the sand piles to the rest of the beach. Currently, all chairs and umbrellas for all other the non-cabana guests at Serenity Beach are now located at the far end of the last cabana. It was a long walk. Especially if you need to go the restroom or a senior adult. There were not enough chairs or umbrellas. Hoping this is just because of the reconstruction, but I have a gut feeling that Disney may be making the beach in front of the cabanas private. But where does that leave the rest of us? My suggestion on the comment card was to have the tram go down the road next to the cabanas and have another drop off point closer to the adult beach. we enjoyed Serenity Beach on our previous cruises, but this time many of us went back to the family beach to find chairs and umbrellas.

 

[Cheburashka]

I would check with Disney about the time line of the sand renovation in front of the Serenity Cabanas. Just returned from the 3 night Fantasy. The beach in front of all the Serenity cabanas had piles of sand in front of them (not leveled yet) and was roped off in front of the sand. It looked like it made it difficult for the cabana guests to walk down to the beach directly in front of their cabana, especially since it was a 4-6 foot drop from the sand piles to the rest of the beach. Currently, all chairs and umbrellas for all other the non-cabana guests at Serenity Beach are now located at the far end of the last cabana. It was a long walk. Especially if you need to go the restroom or a senior adult. There were not enough chairs or umbrellas. Hoping this is just because of the reconstruction, but I have a gut feeling that Disney may be making the beach in front of the cabanas private. But where does that leave the rest of us? My suggestion on the comment card was to have the tram go down the road next to the cabanas and have another drop off point closer to the adult beach. we enjoyed Serenity Beach on our previous cruises, but this time many of us went back to the family beach to find chairs and umbrellas.

Wow. That's a new development, because it wasn't like that during my cruise a few weeks ago. The public chairs and umbrellas were spread out across the beach as usual, nothing was roped off, and there were no huge piles of sand. I would assume that this is temporary and that it will be leveled out and returned to normal soon.

 

[donnaV]

Wow. That's a new development, because it wasn't like that during my cruise a few weeks ago. The public chairs and umbrellas were spread out across the beach as usual, nothing was roped off, and there were no huge piles of sand. I would assume that this is temporary and that it will be leveled out and returned to normal soon.

I sure hope it is a temporary situation! It would have been nice though to have advance notification of the beach renovation and the longer walk to the chairs. I didn't see it posted anywhere on the ship tv or app.

 

[marcij]

I haven't been able to find a thread that talks about the Cabanas by number. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks