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Cost of Coco Cay Cabanas


Anguillandelight

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@JohnK6404, had you booked it at the $399?That's a great deal. We had the bungalow on sale at $219. For October we wanted it again but now South Beach is closed for the construction of the OW cabanas. No bungalows or beachbeds available at Chill Island or Oasis Lagoon and the cabanas there ate $699 and $799. Too pricey for us as we have no one fo share the cost with this time. 

If you didn't book it yet, and you and your sailing buddies can swing laying out that $699, you should probably get it reserved before they sell out and hopefully get it rebooked on Black Friday (but make sure to do that on the phone so you know before you cancel that it's available to rebook). If it doesn't come back down you can just cancel if so desired.

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As someone that has not been to CocaCay these prices make me think it is not worth it to go. After paying thousands to go on a cruise they want me to pay more to go to a beach. I can go to Cozumel and pay $110 at Nachi Cocom and have as much fun as it does for paying hundreds more to stay on a beach. It's just my wife and I travelling so those prices make no sense to me at all. I guess it is meant for larger parties and people with kids.

I have just started my cruising vacations but I swear they are going to price me out of the market quickly.

 

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I'm confused. My planner now shows $1299 for Oasis Lagoon and Chill Island. South Beach is $799. I did read on these boards that South Beach was closed for construction of the last phase. Is that where the over water cabanas are going? My cruise is Feb 2020. I'm booked in a star class suite. The over water cabanas are suppose to be done in December. I don't know where they will be located or how much. Will the butler or "Genie" help with this? Crown and Anchor club calls have provided little info, and my cruise planner keeps showing booking choices. These boards usually provide great help.

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17 minutes ago, Anguillandelight said:

I'm confused. My planner now shows $1299 for Oasis Lagoon and Chill Island. South Beach is $799. I did read on these boards that South Beach was closed for construction of the last phase. Is that where the over water cabanas are going? My cruise is Feb 2020. I'm booked in a star class suite. The over water cabanas are suppose to be done in December. I don't know where they will be located or how much. Will the butler or "Genie" help with this? Crown and Anchor club calls have provided little info, and my cruise planner keeps showing booking choices. These boards usually provide great help.

The South Beach area that is currently closed will be right beside the area with the overwater cabanas.  That area is called the Coco Beach Club.

At the top of this map grayed out are Coco Beach Club and South Beach.

KRzLMfO.jpg

Zooming in you can see they are two areas beside each other.  

cywfO06.jpg

If I recall correctly, Coco Beach Club will be an exclusive area with it's own infinity pool.  I believe South Beach isn't part of the exclusive Coco Beach Club.  It will have separate bars such as the Sandtrap Bar and the South Beach Bar and a Snack Shack.

83992404_PerfectDayopeningDec2019.jpeg.5918cb16fe07141ceb4c326cd0b3f14e.jpeg

 

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17 hours ago, Anguillandelight said:

I'm looking at a $1299 price for a South Beach cabana on the cruise planner for the Anthem in February 2020 on Coco Cay.  Is this a misprint????

As longs as they keep finding suckers to pay it they will keep charging it, me I’ll stick with the free lounger and pop for the rented umbrella at $15. 

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7 hours ago, Tim B. said:

As someone that has not been to CocaCay these prices make me think it is not worth it to go. After paying thousands to go on a cruise they want me to pay more to go to a beach. I can go to Cozumel and pay $110 at Nachi Cocom and have as much fun as it does for paying hundreds more to stay on a beach. It's just my wife and I travelling so those prices make no sense to me at all. I guess it is meant for larger parties and people with kids.

I have just started my cruising vacations but I swear they are going to price me out of the market quickly.

 

These prices are just for the cabanas. There are a ton of free things to do on CocoCay still Matt has a good article here with pricing: 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/04/12/perfect-day-cococay-prices-and-costs

 

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1 hour ago, Anguillandelight said:

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I'm sure this will help many people. How crazy does RC think we are to pre book something for that much money that may or may not be built!!??

Couple of things, if the cabanas are showing up in your cruise planner Royal is assuming they will be built and finished by the time of your cruise, if you reserved one and paid the fee and they were not done, Royal would refund your purchase.

Second thing is that I rented a cabana on Labadee when I was in Star class, it was either $399 or $499, I waited until my Genie contact me and I gave them a priority list of what cabana I wanted, I got the first one on my list.

At around this same time, the announcements were coming out about Coco Cay and the over water cabanas as well as the price, I have stated on the message boards multiple times that I think Royal is crazy for the price they are asking, I don't mind the $499 but I'm not going to pay $1299, it is only my wife and I, if we were a party of 8 maybe you could justify it, but not 2 people.

But as someone has said on here already, Royal will price it where they price it, if they sell, they will do nothing, if they don't sell, Royal will likely adjust the price to a more reasonable level. Only time will tell, IMO. Also let your wallet speak for you, don't rent one, wait for your Genie to contact you and set you up in something less expensive.

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53 minutes ago, Ogalthorpe Haywood said:

As longs as they keep finding suckers to pay it they will keep charging it, me I’ll stick with the free lounger and pop for the rented umbrella at $15. 

Umbrellas are free now.  They are all over the place.

2 hours ago, Anguillandelight said:

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I'm sure this will help many people. How crazy does RC think we are to pre book something for that much money that may or may not be built!!??

Royal is very motivated. 

When Royal has a bunch of money that has been put down for day after day, ship after ship visit, they are highly motivated not to lose that revenue.   

If a hurricane or tropical storm hits that may slow them down and they might have to refund some purchases.  That's out of their control.  Barring that, they opened Perfect Day on time in May and I doubt they'll slip on Coco Beach Club or South Beach.

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  • 3 weeks later...
49 minutes ago, adidassler said:

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask, but I've got a chill island cabana booked for october 20th, do they provide towels at the cabana, or should i take some from the ship?

 

Gracias!

You check them out at the ship and bring them with you.

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1 hour ago, adidassler said:

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask, but I've got a chill island cabana booked for october 20th, do they provide towels at the cabana, or should i take some from the ship?

 

Gracias!

I would advise you to check them out on the ship.  There are towel stations on CocoCay but they are there to exchange towels and generally do not check out towels to someone who forgot to get one on the ship.  

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On 8/5/2019 at 8:10 PM, Anguillandelight said:

I'm looking at a $1299 price for a South Beach cabana on the cruise planner for the Anthem in February 2020 on Coco Cay.  Is this a misprint????

Wow. I just bought mine for March 2020 at $399. After seeing this, I'm definitely glad I locked it in when I did. 

UPDATE: Really glad I did, now. The cabanas weren't even showing up when I looked this morning. Took another look this evening, found them for $399 and booked them. One of my fellow cruisers checked two hours later and they're already showing as sold out.  If you see them at a good price, definitely don't wait. 

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14 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

@adidassler We had the Chill island cabana in July.  There will be 8 towels in the cabana waiting for you, so there is no need to check them out on the ship.  Just like they will have the cooler filled with ice and water.

 

thanks @Pima1988 that's great news. first time cruiser so everything is totally new. I've read you get floating mats and snorkel stuff too, did you get these?

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You get 2 floating mats, but no snorkel gear.  The floating mats will be there at the cabana when you arrive.  

Your cabana number is assigned now.  It use to be that you would go to the shore excursion desk on day of debarkation to reserve a particular cabana, but when we were there they said that is no longer the policy.  Their reasoning is that sometimes they will have 2 ships in port on 1 day.  It would be too difficult to do this.  IE Anthem might leave on Friday, and Lady G leaves on Thursday, but both would be there the same day.  Thus, Lady G's passengers would get the 1st picks, and Anthem would get what was left over.  Instead, RCL will assign according to the date the cabana was purchased.  IOWS, you could have booked the cruise 2 yrs out, and the cabana only 5 mos. out,  it is when you booked the actual cabana.  

I am not sure, but I believe the same is true if you cancel and rebook at a lower price, because it is now considered a new booking.

The night prior they will leave in your cabin the map to get to the cabana station.  At the cabana, you just state your last name and they will give you a wrist band for entry.  They have melon and pineapple water to greet you when you check in.

We were cabana number 10.  It is the farthest out on the front row.  It is a great cabana because it gets a nice breeze due to its location.  On the tip of the lagoon area, by the rocks.  However, it is a bit of a walk to the restrooms, the over water bar, and going to the pool.  @5 mins.  The snorkel shack is also a little bit of a trek,.  The tram stop is right in front of the cabana area.  

Our attendant was amazing.  In the a.m. they will bring you a fruit tray, and the lunch menu.  Order as much or as little as you want.  Try the funnel cake.  I had the greek salad and it was very good.  In the mid afternoon they will bring you fruit kebabs.  The attendant, at least ours will track you down if you order a drink instead of leaving it in the cabana.  IE I ordered a drink and stated I was going to the bathroom so she could leave it in the cabana.  I walked out of the bathroom and there she was drink on a tray waiting for me.  My SIL ordered a drink and decided to go in the water while waiting, all of the sudden she heard Ms. Lisa with a drink on the tray.  

We paid for snorkel gear on the cruise planner and my husband loved snorkeling there.  I would say he was probably snorkeling 5 hrs out of the 8 hrs there.  

The safes are there for you to use, but honestly I don't see any reason to use them.  Your attendant really keeps an eye on the cabana, checking in every 15--20 mins.  

They have limited amount of blue tooth speakers, so that would be the only thing I would bring with you to the cabana.

If you have any mobility issues, such as needing a beach scooter, I would contact RCL and see if you can get cabana number 1. 

Finally, many people talk about the seagulls stealing food, and that is true when you are at the main dining area, however, in the cabana we had no issues at all.  A). The cabana is covered and that does not make it worth while to swoop in.  B). The beach area is the farthest out from the food areas and the bulk of the lounge chairs, so it is not worth it to them for the slim pickings.   However, that doesn't mean a jerk in another cabana will take a bag of chips into the water and find it funny to have them swoop in.

All in all, it was a perfect day in the cabana and have no regrets paying for it,

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We tipped 25 upon arrival, after she delivered our 1st drink.  We gave another 50  at the end of the day for a total of 75.  However, we only had 5 in our cabana, had we had 8, we would have tipped much more.   

The thing is we had an amazing cabana attendant.  I would say she was at our cabana every 10 mins. due to how it worked for us.  1 or 2 people would be in the cabana and order a drink while the others were in the water snorkeling or kayaking.  They would come back to the cabana as she was delivering a drink and ask for a drink for themselves.  See above that during the day you get fruit platters, food, and fruit kebabs.  She also cleaned up empty food containers (they come in biodegradeable  containers).  If not delivering drinks to us, she would re-fold all of the towels on our loungers, or re-fit our towel clips on the loungers, so sand was not an issue on our towels.

If you have a crappy attendant than tip accordingly.

Things we did learn during the day was,  1). You will feel for the food/bev people.  We docked @7:30 and you could see staff walking off the ship.  Late in the day, a RCL staff member brought over our drink order.  We looked at him, and said do you work in the Champagne bar (Adventure) he said yes.  He went onto say that the staff we saw walking off at 7:30, would be back in the bars on the ship that night.  2). Our cabana attendant stated it is not the same for them as the cruise ship.  They sign a 4 week contract.  3). The reason that right now according to our cabana attendant was that they cannot hire fast enough and they need the food/bev employees from the ship to meet the demand. 4). Most of them are from the Bahamas, and at night they have a boat that comes over at 6 p.m. so employees with family in that area can go home.  It comes back again at 11 pm and 6 a.m the next morning.   Our attendant said she goes home every Sunday for dinner, but lives on the island every night.

The question here impo is how this will impact the employees on the island when they expand the hours to 8 at night?  That is a much longer day.

 

 

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OBTW the float mats are great, but beware.  The location of the private beach for the cabanas, is close to where the kayaks are, and more often than not we found ourselves near the rope lines by the kayaks if we closed our eyes for 5 mins.  The rope line between the two is filled with seaweed.

If you do want to snorkel. it is great.  

The one thing I give a hands up to RCL is they have really invested in lifeguards.  There has to be at least 3 life guard stations/platforms in the water.  They have designed it in a way you can leap frog from 1 to the next without being tired.

Cabana area has a rock jeddy wall, and there are tiny lobsters that hang out in the rocks.  

The sand is superfine, so you do not need water shoes.  

We were there in July and didn't feel like the sand was too hot to walk on.  

@adidassler  we did Coco Cay once during the 1st week of November.  It is cool in the a.m. there, especially in a cabana since it is shaded.  The water temp will be fine, but I would take a cover up for the early a.m.    

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