wifi in CC Cabana?

[3beauties1beast]

Is there wifi available in the Cabanas? We will have a package through Disney, just wondering if we can use it in our Cabana.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

No it isn't as yet.

Wifi is not available, and its too far from the ship.

 

[tvguy]

I'm sorry, just strikes me funny that you would want wifi. No offense, but the idea of Castaway Cay is to get away from it all.

 

[Subi WRX]

I'm sorry, just strikes me funny that you would want wifi. No offense, but the idea of Castaway Cay is to get away from it all.

Consider yourself lucky then that you don't have a job where you have to be available 24/7. As much as I would love "get away from it all" I wouldn't be enjoying a cabana at all without my job.

 

[3beauties1beast]

TVguy, yep...I totally agree with you on the wifi! LOL Grandpap is joining the family. Unfortunately, the cabana is as close as he can get to being on the beach (no sand for him anymore due to some medical issues). So, was hoping he could read his news sites and such while there. Oh well, he'll just have to kick back and totally relax!

 

[tvguy]

Consider yourself lucky then that you don't have a job where you have to be available 24/7. As much as I would love "get away from it all" I wouldn't be enjoying a cabana at all without my job.

Well, my wife and I do have jobs that I have to be available 24/7, however, the corporate lawyers at both our companies are of the opinion that it is against U.S. Labor law to require someone to be available 24/7 when they are on vacation. We are not allowed to contact co-workers on vacation because of that. I am no lawyer, but trust me, our local managers would LOVE to be able to contact us during vacation if it weren't for that corporate mandate. At my place, Our webmail is blocked and company cell phones have to be left at work when you are on vacation. However, I am assuming you are talking about someone who works for a U.S. employer in the U.S..

Having said that, a Goggle search seems to indicate that they can require you to check in no more that one time per vacation day, by phone and e-mail. But you can do that on the ship before you go on the Island, or after you get back.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I'm sorry, just strikes me funny that you would want wifi. No offense, but the idea of Castaway Cay is to get away from it all.

A lot of people like to post on social media to show where they are and 'converse' with family, its not strange.

Also often CC is the last cruise day and people undertake online check in for airlines.

 

[SuperDry]

There is no WiFi on CC, but there is 3G cellular service throughout the island, supporting voice, SMS, and data. Usage is charged based on whatever your home carrier's roaming rates to the Bahamas is (it's run by the regular cellular carrier in the Bahamas, not Disney). There's a cell site right on CC, so the signal is always "5 bars." Most US-based carriers will sell you a package that allows you to use data outside the country for a short period of time at a reasonable price, but you need to check into it before you leave because the "a la carte" pricing is ridiculous. Assuming that at least one in your party has a smart phone that can use the 3G data to turn itself into a WiFi hotspot, you can get the roaming data package for that phone and then have your own WiFi in CC that all your devices can share.

 

[perditax]

You can use an app like Evernote or Instapaper to grab a lot of content and store it "locally" on most devices to read later. These apps can be used for free from basically any device/platform, you just "capture" or clip the articles you want to read later, while you have wifi.

Edit:I quoted the wrong person, this was in reference to grandpa reading his news articles in the cabana.

 

[TinkRose]

Well, my wife and I do have jobs that I have to be available 24/7, however, the corporate lawyers at both our companies are of the opinion that it is against U.S. Labor law to require someone to be available 24/7 when they are on vacation. We are not allowed to contact co-workers on vacation because of that. I am no lawyer, but trust me, our local managers would LOVE to be able to contact us during vacation if it weren't for that corporate mandate. At my place, Our webmail is blocked and company cell phones have to be left at work when you are on vacation. However, I am assuming you are talking about someone who works for a U.S. employer in the U.S..

Having said that, a Goggle search seems to indicate that they can require you to check in no more that one time per vacation day, by phone and e-mail. But you can do that on the ship before you go on the Island, or after you get back.

None of this applies if you are the owner of a business. A crisis averted is better than a situation that needs to be fixed later.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

None of this applies if you are the owner of a business. A crisis averted is better than a situation that needs to be fixed later.

So true.......

I even saw Mickey using the Wifi..to browse the Web, he was on an iPad Minnie!

 

[tvguy]

None of this applies if you are the owner of a business. A crisis averted is better than a situation that needs to be fixed later.

Well, you are only steps from the ship, where there is WIfi.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Well, you are only steps from the ship, where there is WIfi.

The signal doesn't travel far, a Cabana wouldn't get it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Am I the only one thinking for the price of the cabanas they really should have wifi available same as onboard the ships? I don't have a dog in the fight but that was my initial thought....

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Am I the only one thinking for the price of the cabanas they really should have wifi available same as onboard the ships? I don't have a dog in the fight but that was my initial thought....

Agree.

 

[bumbershoot]

the corporate lawyers at both our companies are of the opinion that it is against U.S. Labor law to require someone to be available 24/7 when they are on vacation.

If only my SIL worked there! My brother, too, for that matter. Alas my SIL being aparter at a top 10 law firm doesn't work for a place whose lawyers (they're all lawyers) have the same feeling. Not even when she was a lowly associate. And my brother, who works for Cisco, who brings the technology to allow us to be in constant contact, can do it. He was once *thisclose* to having to entirely abandon a vacation to head halfway across the world for a work issue. Thankfully the delay caused by having to figure out how he was going to obtain a passport (involving friends, his safe combo, overnighting a birth cert, same-day passport in Hawaii) helped his coworkers figure out how to help remotely. Whew!

Also often CC is the last cruise day and people undertake online check in for airlines.

Great point.


I personally have never logged in to wifi during a cruise or spent any cell minutes. I don't want to rub friends' noses in the fact that I'm on Castaway and they aren't (nor do I care to have them know the money they think we're spending). Though doing a live trip report would be fun.

But to some people a cruise/castaway is a place to get away from it all, and others have a different idea of what a cruise/castaway is all about. It's not a place to get away from it all for everyone. To some, it's just a beach.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

If only my SIL worked there! My brother, too, for that matter. Alas my SIL being aparter at a top 10 law firm doesn't work for a place whose lawyers (they're all lawyers) have the same feeling. Not even when she was a lowly associate. And my brother, who works for Cisco, who brings the technology to allow us to be in constant contact, can do it. He was once *thisclose* to having to entirely abandon a vacation to head halfway across the world for a work issue. Thankfully the delay caused by having to figure out how he was going to obtain a passport (involving friends, his safe combo, overnighting a birth cert, same-day passport in Hawaii) helped his coworkers figure out how to help remotely. Whew!



Great point.


I personally have never logged in to wifi during a cruise or spent any cell minutes. I don't want to rub friends' noses in the fact that I'm on Castaway and they aren't (nor do I care to have them know the money they think we're spending). Though doing a live trip report would be fun.

But to some people a cruise/castaway is a place to get away from it all, and others have a different idea of what a cruise/castaway is all about. It's not a place to get away from it all for everyone. To some, it's just a beach.

Thanks, yes as CC is often last day, (ie 7 night cruises) online check in say 24 hours in advance, the window will open whilst your there on the beach.

 

[phinz]

I would love greatly to have wifi available in the cabanas. As much as one is paying for the cabana, a small amount of included wifi would be great, but even if it wasn't included, having the accessibility would be awesome, even if it's to pull another Kindle book down after I finish the one I started the day before or to do check-ins, etc.

 

[SuperDry]

There is no WiFi on CC, but there is 3G cellular service throughout the island, supporting voice, SMS, and data.

Late breaking news: I was on CC last Friday, and they've extended the ship's WiFi to the island. At least in Serenity Bay, near the bar and buffet, there were 5 bars of WiFi signal, with the standard list of the various SSID's that you see on the ship (including DCL-GUEST). I don't know when they installed this, but it wasn't there the last time I was there. I also don't know where else on the island they have hotspots, but I would guess it's not just at Serenity Bay. I also noticed that they had a waiter with a mobile device and printer to pay for drinks, rather than have to bring the card back to the bar to use at the register. I would guess that this operates off of the ship's WiFi and may be one reason they installed hotspots on the island.

So, with this addition, this means the following on CC:

- DCL smartphone app can get updates
- DCL smartphone app chat will work
- If you have signed up for Internet access on the ship, your account will also work on CC

The signal would almost certainly reach the first cabana on Serenity Bay - I don't know about the furthest one. Perhaps others can report their experiences in the cabanas, and/or the other main areas.

 

[RebelHawk]

Late breaking news: I was on CC last Friday, and they've extended the ship's WiFi to the island.

We just missed that. We were there 2 weeks ago in a cabana and they didn't have wifi turned on. That would have been great as we used the DCL app to message back and forth with friends. We had a couple of times we went in separate directions it would have been nice to message each other rather than standing around waiting.

I have used the cellular network at Castaway Cay to check in on work on a few trips now. As much as I love vacationing and getting away from it all as has been said it is easier to catch up on an issue before it becomes a real problem. Just an email here or there can make a big difference. Not to mention making everyone insanely jealous on social media by posting these pictures from the cabana.