Cactus527

Last thoughts about Hideaway Beach: 1. The music they have pumping throughout the area is all from the DJ. It's even pumping at the little bars that they have set up. I made the mistake of sitting at a picnic table for second lunch beside one of these bars, and I was almost deaf by the time I left. If you're away from those, the sound is much more manageable. If you're looking for quiet, though, I would say that the quietest it was was for the first 2 hours of the day, and then it got progressively louder. 2. It seems like a lot of people are setting up in the very center of the beach area so that way they can go back and forth from their stuff easily. The areas closest to On The Rocks (entrance) and the far side of the bay were the least populated. 3. The lifeguards will not allow you to be beyond the area of the furthest chairs on the other side of the bay. They will blow their whistle at you and tell you to come back. You also cannot get up on the rocks at all where they are standing. 4. Even though the Hideaway cabanas are set away from the pool area and on their own with their own infinity pool, I was surprised how noisy it was over there. The sound comes from the fact that each cabana has its own sound system that you can play music through. It felt like some of the cabanas next to each other were competing to see who could get their music louder, and then there was the pool DJ's tunes being pumped in to the area (or maybe somebody had selected that channel in their cabana, I'm not sure). If you decide to hang out on the far side of the bay, that's a consideration for when the cabanas begin to be filled. 5. I highly recommend the island guava BBQ chicken pizza. While the pizza itself is Sorrento's quality, the flavor is awesome. 6. The restrooms are cute! I don't think people give restrooms the credit they deserve when they are clean and nice looking. 7. It definitely started to fill up after about 10:30 a.m. Both Oasis and Freedom were in port today, but I imagine it would look similar for any ships being there together because of the cap on the amount of people that can be there. 8. The ocean water temperature was a touch cool but definitely comfortable. I wouldn't have wanted to go in first thing in the morning, but by afternoon it was fine. 9. You can enter and exit as much as you want, just take your Seapass card with you. 10. The age range I saw skewed young; however, I'm also on a cruise that has a large contingency of college students. They were all mostly over at oasis lagoon. I did not see a large amount of retiree-aged people, but I definitely saw more than 10 50+ couples/people. My favorite was the married couple who had the exact same pattern on swim trunks (male) and bikini (female).

Oh gosh, now I'm thinking of the story of the lady crossing over the seats in a short dress at the ice show. I'm so glad I didn't actually see the offending nipple. I'm only going to pay attention to mine this trip.

It actually is bigger than I expected. The restaurants/bars and restroom areas were on par with what I thought the size would be; however, the beach area was much much larger than I thought it was going to be. Rows upon rows of chairs, plenty of aisle space, and I was pleasantly surprised by the feeling of having space. Since I went to South Beach after, Hideaway felt so much bigger because everything is so jam-packed over there.

I think I'm going to have to do that on board! It made me laugh a lot because it reminded me so much of college. All the weird things that happened, all the great stories you can tell later on, these girls were definitely getting that.

YES!

I've been thinking the same thing.- maybe trying one of Carnival's newer ships would be the way to go. I definitely think of them as competitive with RC.

I wandered over to Chill Island to shop and then South Beach. Successfully procured a Coco Cay shirt, something I forgot to do when I was here in September. Best conversation overheard: Drunk College Girl: *stands up* College Girl 1: You're out! You're out! What are you doing???? Drunk College Girl: What? College Girl 2: Oh my gosh, [name], your nipple is totally hanging out! Drunk College Girl: Where? College Girl 1: Do something about it! You're totally out! College Girl 2: Fix it! Drunk College Girl: *laughing* what? She's lucky her friends were able to help her out. Or in, whatever. She's covered now, folks, we're all good.

Hideaway Beach at 12pm. It was getting louder...

I think that's an awesome plan.

Hey, look, in the sky!

2nd lunch: crispy island fish sandwich, fries, and caramel brownie. The fish was good, the fries were fries, but the brownie was amazing.

I paid $20. To me, worth it. Anything more and I probably wouldn't. He said the problem comes from all of the construction as well as traffic in the port area, so many of the drivers don't find it worth their time.

I can see your back right now.

1st lunch. Island guava pizza and beef empanada. The pizza really is the same quality as Sorrento's on board, but it has a really nice flavor with a bit of some spice/kick. The empanada was good, it just wasn't what I really wanted. I actually went back and got more pizza because it was that nice. The last photo is the inside of my beef empanada.

I'm just doing my part.

Palapa update: 75% of the little tables that are underneath the palapas are now underwater. It's comical to me cuz all the videos I have seen of this location show them stranded out of the water by a lot. Hammock update: I have seen so many people try to climb into the hammocks over the water and then promptly fall into the water. Not surprisingly, this has been one of my favorite things to watch thus far.

WOW! I'm super impressed!!!!!

I know one of the things I was concerned about regarding Hideaway Beach was the sound level from the pool. Here's a 10-second video from the far side of the beach. They've cranked it up since I arrived but it's still not horrible. It also feels like there's suddenly a ton more people here. Full disclosure: I fell asleep for about 20 minutes. PXL_20240312_135407565.TS.mp4

I'm a morning person, and I also like to be early for things. It's a benefit on vacation because then it means I get to choose exactly where I want to be before crowds descend.

See? Swings are fun (but creaky). They really got them going high.

First observations about Hideaway Beach 1. The shoreline around the horseshoe shaped bay looks like it would be perfect to walk on. Don't be fooled! That is some tough sand to walk through and there are even rocks. 2. There are no physical tickets that you need for this location. They have scanners at the entrance for your Seapass card. 3. I can confirm that the PDCC song is not coming from the Hideaway Beach pool area. I can definitely hear a little bit of music but it's not annoying at all on the far side of the bay. 4. The swings in the water are really fun! 5. 8:30 in the morning, the sun is perfect for sunbathing on that far side of the bay. As a day progresses, the sun will be more direct for the people that are closest to the entrance. 6. Regarding the walkover- I think I read something about 3 to 5 minutes to walk it. I'm a pretty average speed walking person, and it took me a solid 5 minutes. Another 5 minutes to the other side of the bay. Definitely take the tram if you have any issues walking, as the sand path has not been compacted enough yet to be easy to walk on.

Ugh, that doesn't sound pleasant. I waved hi to you!

Well, I can tell you so far at 8:30 in the morning, it's super peaceful except for the damn piped in PDCC tune they keep playing over and over and over and over and over. I know the pool area is pumping out tunes, but I really can't hear anything beyond the base right now. Unless they're the ones pumping in the PDCC song!

Shellfish allergy here. I don't think I'm going to try the seafood pizza because I forgot my epi pen at home, but I can definitely try everything else!

I'm going to Hideaway's food places for sure! Any specific requests, @OCSC Mike?