Cabana or Canopy at Coco Cay?

[eburgmama]

I am traveling with my family of five (including three kids aged 11,9 and 4) and my 71 year old Mom who has slight mobility issues due to arthritis. I'm worried about the amount of walking she'll need to do to keep up with us on the island so was considering booking a cabana to have a meeting spot/place for her to lounge that is in the shade. At $466 it is pretty pricey though, especially when I have a feeling the kids will want to be at the pool most of the time anyways! We are going in August though so it will be HOT. Would love to hear your opinion and any advice you may have.

TIA!

[AshleyDillo]

I just was at Coco Cay and it's really hard to say since the completion status of the island changes day-by-day.  I would definitely reserve the cabana so you are guaranteed some shade and can lock in the current rate.  You can cancel on your Cruise Planner and rebook if you see the rate go down as your cruise date gets closer.

It will be VERY hot in August.  I just went over the weekend and while it was in the 80s and comfortable with a breeze, it was still rather hot and sticky in the sun.  There isn't much shade available on the island right now outside of hanging out immediately at the pool bar in the buffet's dining area unless you have a cabana or bungalow.

As far as mobility issues are concerned, the situation currently is that guests have to walk from the ship down the concrete pier.  They then have to walk through sand, over the wooden pedestrian bridge, through sand some more until they can get to a brick, paved path that will take them to the pool area.  To get to the beach, it's all sand.  The cabanas offer cart service that will ride you to the cabana area and pick you up, but to get there you have to walk in sand.  The dive shop has a porch with a few benches that serves as the shaded area to wait for the cart to the cabana if it isn't immediately there.  We used the cart service to our bungalow and they were willing to drive us to the pool area when we asked.  

Since May is when they're stating the waterpark is going to be ready, there may be more paved areas and less sand to walk through once that is complete and the construction fencing is down.  Currently the brick, paved pathway to the pool is cut off by this fencing.

Also, they did have wheelchairs on the pier with the big sand wheels on them, so I think assistance would be available to be pushed if needed.

[Pima1988]

We took the cabana.  There are limited numbers of cabanas.  Chill only has 14 cabanas.

Some things to think about are:  it is shaded due to it being a cabana, and it is on a secluded part of the beach.  The cabana comes with a cooler full of water and towels for the day.  It has a  personal cabana attendant.  It also includes beach mats.

If you are saying Oasis Lagoon (pool area) is running at 466 I would jump on it, as in yesterday.  We paid 449 for Chill and I thought that was a bargain.  I have never seen Oasis drop below 600 on our cruise for July.