Cabana or no cabana?

[wajones2]

Is it a long walk from the boat? We never ventured down that far, we have always stayed at the family beach closest to the ship since at least one of our little ones was really little each time we cruised. Thanks folks

Family Beach Cabanas are the second tram stop - I would think u would want to take the tram. Once you are there just short walk to cookies too, bathrooms, she sells sea shells.

 

[wajones2]

Considering a cabana for our first cruise. I know they are hard to come by. If your not concierge do you even have a chance. Also how do you handle lunch? Do you get it and bring it back? Do the hosts help?

We walked over and got ourselves, but hosts were helping others carry trays back as needed. We ate in cabana and the came and cleared the trays at some pointl

 

[ilovebassets]

We cruised in November with 2 and 4 year old boys and enjoyed Castaway Cay immensely without a cabana. The weather was a bit rough that day--windy and very overcast. I would have felt like I completely wasted my money if we had a cabana. We had no problems finding chairs and an umbrella on the family beach and no problems finding a place to sit and eat lunch at Cookies BBQ. And we were nowhere near the first ones off the ship.

It shocks me that people spend so much on cabanas to be honest. That is A LOT of money. Most excursions for a family of four would be way less expensive than that and would actually take you somewhere to do or see something.

 

[Vidia2]

I thought of a couple of other reasons that we loved having a cabana. Others may have mentioned them as well.

We were able to take our good camera and keep it in the safe while we weren't using it. We take our waterproof camera in the water but my husband set up and left the tripod up all day on the "deck" of the cabana and got some really good shots of the family on the beach, the ship, etc. Otherwise we would have done what we did in the past which was to leave the nice camera on the ship so that no one had to always stay with the stuff.

Also, we had someplace to put all our other things without worrying about it. We take our own snorkel gear and tend to buy many of our Disney related souvenirs on CC. It was really nice to not lug any of that around while we went wherever.

 

[crystalk]

For what we have done and what we plan to do at CC i see no need for a cabana. I am sure if we had one we would find it nice.

While at CC we got a few chairs near Pelican Plunge which was ideal for us as the kids loved the water slide and my husband spent almost his whole time on the island in the snorkel lagoon (which he got a very lovely sunburn on his back for). We were close to washrooms and cookies too as well as sandy beach and tram stop. It was a great day and we hardly left that area. Next time I hope to explore the island a bit more (bike ride, take the tram to serenity bay to check it out, maybe stingray adventure, etc) and don't have any thoughts of leaving before last call!

For myself I don't particularly see the value in a cabana when most of those amenities are available for the price of your cruise already, just a few steps farther away. I don't need the privacy and quiet or a private shower, if thats what i wanted I'd go to Hawaii instead. Now if DCL would install some lockers for valuables, life on CC would be absolutely perfect.

 

[Vidia2]

Now if DCL would install some lockers for valuables, life on CC would be absolutely perfect.

Why oh why can they not install lockers???

 

[ebloom]

For what we have done and what we plan to do at CC i see no need for a cabana. I am sure if we had one we would find it nice.

While at CC we got a few chairs near Pelican Plunge which was ideal for us as the kids loved the water slide and my husband spent almost his whole time on the island in the snorkel lagoon (which he got a very lovely sunburn on his back for). We were close to washrooms and cookies too as well as sandy beach and tram stop. It was a great day and we hardly left that area. Next time I hope to explore the island a bit more (bike ride, take the tram to serenity bay to check it out, maybe stingray adventure, etc) and don't have any thoughts of leaving before last call!

For myself I don't particularly see the value in a cabana when most of those amenities are available for the price of your cruise already, just a few steps farther away. I don't need the privacy and quiet or a private shower, if thats what i wanted I'd go to Hawaii instead. Now if DCL would install some lockers for valuables, life on CC would be absolutely perfect.

I think this is exactly it, for some the Cabana is a great choice, others not so much. We have only been on one cruise and booked a cabana, we are going back again and have booked another cabana. We loved the quiet peace of it. My boys had the beach almost totally to themselves. We had all the floats, snorkeling equipment, etc there we would need and we had a quiet, comfortable place to sit in the shade, but still watch them. As others have said it was a nice choice for us after the crazy, hustle-bustle of some parts of the ship and Disney Parks. Both my boys and husband wanted one again versus trying some shore excursions. The photographer did come down and take several shots of my boys and our family, this was awesome as it wasn't rushed at all and turned out to be some of our favorite photos. Also, on our cruise the Character meet and greet for Concierge was a different day, so we got to do that too. It just comes down to personal preference. We had heard rave reviews of the illumination cruise at Epcot, so I was beyond psyched to get one. It was fine, but for us not something to repeat. Honestly, I feel like if you think a cabana would be valuable to your family, book it. I don't think you will be disappointed. But if you would rather spend your money on something else, I think you will be happy with that decision too. Only you know your family best and either way you will have a great time at Castaway Cay.

 

[Elangen]

Just echoing everyone else, it really depends on your own family and what you think you would get out of it. We have been to CC once with and once without.

Pros: we loved the privacy and as others noted, the feeling that you could leave your things out without worrying about them being taken, moved, etc. We loved having a hammock and access to the inner tubes and mats and things. The sunscreen, snacks, etc. made us feel very special (we dont usually do first class or concierge). we loved having the shallow water for the kids, and it was not crowded obviously, which made us feel better about having the kids in the water.

That being said, we found we were far away from some of the activities. We spent almost the whole afternoon away from the cabana at the slides, the snorkeling, and the hobie cat. We didnt do some of the other activities because we felt like we were wasting the cabana. We also didn't put our kids in the kids club on the island because it was far away from the cabana. Note, at the time, it was only $450.

So, in sum, we loved it, but, I think we will forego it on our next one in September. Our kids are older (will be 7 and 10), more active and more able to do some of the activities, so, I don't want to tie us to the cabana for that amount of $$. When they get to be 14 and 17 and can basically take care of themselves all day, we will go back to getting a cabana and just relaxing while they run around the island....

 

[Really_Goofy_Daddy]

They are expensive, however we would love to book one, the Bride and my DD are both VERY fair skinned, and instead of hiding under an umbrella or a palm tree avoiding "bursting into flames", the cabana seems like a really nice option for them.

We are NOT traveling concierge, do we stand a chance? What about sharing with another family? Is that frowned upon?

 

[oklamomof4boys]

We have cruised 8 times and I've never thought it would be worth the money to us until recently. My 19 year old is fair skinned and doesn't really care for the beach. On our last cruise he started the day with us at Castaway Cay but after lunch wanted to go back to the ship. I really enjoynthe family time we have together on vacation but I couldn't tell him he had to stay out there when he was 18 years old. But later he told me if we had a cabana he would be perfectly happy napping off and on all day in it. With 6 of us, it is cheaper (or not much more) than a lot of excursions. So Santa bought them a cabana for Christmas- well he gave them the promise of trying his hardest to get one for one of their upcoming cruises. We sail March 15th and I've been trying to snag one ever since gold was able to do online check in. I check more than 10x a day so I'm trying to be optimistic. We cruise again on May 30th so I will try for one on that cruise once I can check in. If I don't get one for either then we will just "have" to book another cruise and we will be platinum then so we would have a better shot!

 

[Heard02]

Even being platinum, they are hard to get....
Concierge snags them real quick! (and rightfully so)
Good luck!

 

[lorimay]

We have had a cabana on 4 different occasions since 2012. We love them its a relaxing wonderful experience.
Last year on The Fantasy we were not able to get one and the crowds on the beach were awful. I did not find CC as wonderful as it is with a cabana.
Thats just my personal experience. Our first 2 cruises they did not exist and we had a good time. We only spent half a day on CC without the cabana all those times.
When we have the cabana, we stay until the last possible moment because its just a totally different experience.

We have a cruise coming up in Feb. I can't wait to relax in our cabana and take our grandkids to a much quieter beach then what we had last year.

 

[goofyintoronto]

This is just my opinion....

I think its a waste of money. $600 is a lot. Im perfectly happy with a lounge chair and umbrella, lord knows there's a ton of those on the beach! we're up and about doing different things/different excursions/swimming in the ocean.... I just cant justify spending all that money. Thats just me.

 

[jcjen519]

We had one in dec and loved it. It made the day and despite the price we will do it every time we can get one. It was a really nice day.

 

[savage1117]

We had one in dec and loved it. It made the day and despite the price we will do it every time we can get one. It was a really nice day.

I agree we will always get a cabana. It was our favorite day on our cruise.

 

[ocspartan]

This is just my opinion....

I think its a waste of money. $600 is a lot. Im perfectly happy with a lounge chair and umbrella, lord knows there's a ton of those on the beach! we're up and about doing different things/different excursions/swimming in the ocean.... I just cant justify spending all that money. Thats just me.

Let me start Nothing wrong with your opinion... just wanted to use your post b/c these are the same reasons we think it's worth it.

We also want to be up and about on castaway the cabana gives you more flexibility to do these things, b/c you can bring your nice SLR and water cam, perhaps a nook or ipad for reading by the beach, have a change of clothes or for what ever else you want to bring off the ship... the cabana gives you a home base to only take what you need so that you're not carting everything back and forth as you're doing things.

Also as far as the price it is expensive, but when looking at it compared to other "beach days" if you have 6 people it's about $100 a piece, that's less then most other beach excursions found along the cruise and for a lot more time. Also includes the floats, bikes, sunblock, etc... little touches

 

[emilyann415]

I remember you asking this same question last year as well. The only thing that has really changed that I can tell is the price since then. I would go back to the original post (as I recall it was quite lengthy) and it has all the same answers as this one. Only you can decide if those amenities are worth the increase in cost. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck....I struggle with this question every cruise we go on.....horrible problem to have I know!!!!!

I have attached the link to the discussion. I refer to it from time to time as well. Good luck!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3236176

 

[FJS961]

I am an admitted cabana addict. I know its pricey. My ex wife is very frugal and always had an issue with my spending but I can say in all honesty that the cabana on castaway cay is the ONE thing she thought was worth it. Not sure why she felt that way but I for one love the privacy and significantly reduced beach crowd. Its staffed by the ships concierge hosts and it feels like an extension of concierge on the ship IMO


Its nice to have if one of those brief nasty weather spells hits