Cabana Pricing at Coco Cay?

[chadcf]

I've noticed some serious variation in cabana pricing for our cruise, I'm wondering if this is normal or if they're still trying to figure out demand... Our cruise is still almost a year away, sailing the end of august 2020. When I first booked months ago I noticed a south beach cabana was pretty reasonable at like $599. But then a bit later I noticed it was $999. The cheapest cabana at that point was I think $899 for a cabana at thrill waterpark with 6 waterpark passes. But today I logged in and a cabana at thrill waterpark was only $499. 

I actually went ahead and booked that as I figured it can always cancel, but $499 for a cabana with 6 $79 passes seems like an insanely great deal so I don't think I'll find a better option. 

But I'm curious if this is "normal" or what. I'd probably rather have a beach cabana if the price were to drop again but I'm not sure how much attention I should pay. And I find it kind of shocking that  cabana prices can very like +/- $400! It especially seems way to early for such low prices like $499 given there's almost a year left to sell out cabanas.

[Pima1988]

It is not unusual impo.  On our cruise we booked ours @10 months out, and it was the lowest price we saw for our cruise the entire time between when we booked it to when we sailed.  We got our Chill cabana for 400.  During the months between we saw it go anywhere from 499 to 1199.  It would pop up to 1200 than the next day drop to 699 a few days later it would be 899.  All of the cabanas were like that, iows, all over the place. 

The one thing about the cabana system now is that they assign your cabana location, you can no longer select which one.  They assigned it by first come.  We had cabana number 10.   They have 20 cabanas total.  I state this to illustrate how early they sell.    They were sold out by at least 5 or 6 mos prior to our cruise....that was the 1st time I saw the red banner where it says check on board.  A few days later the banner was no longer there, but since there are only 20 cabanas at Chill, you talk to a lot of people while you are hanging out on your float mats in the water.  I met the people in cabana #19, they booked just shy of 6 mos out.   

•  They also used a TA.  They paid 649.  They saw it drop a few weeks later to 499.  They called their TA to ask them to cancel and rebook it at the lower price.  The TA said to them to remember there is a risk in doing so, IE if between the time they cancel and rebooked at the lower price someone like you goes on line and grabs one, (theirs they canceled) and their cabana was the last one, than they would be out of luck.  They felt it made sense, but also felt they maybe being fed a line.  However, they decided to not rebook.
•  Their TA was not feeding them a line and were thankful they didn't cancel and rebook.  We ran into them in the Solarium the next day by accident.  As we were hanging in the pool discussing the cabana, a guy we had not met overheard our conversation and he was bitter.  We also used a TA, but this guy did not.  He purchased at 599, when it dropped to 499, he cancelled and TRIED to rebook.  By the time he went through the system, he got the notification at the purchase time, that they could not do it at this time and to check on board.  He got on the phone, not understanding what that meant, afterall he only cancelled his cabana 2-3 minutes before starting the rebooking.  5 mins total from start to finish and the RCL rep said, sorry they are all booked.  At the same time he decided okay how about a bungalow?  NOPE.  How about Lagoon?  Nope.  He didn't want Thrill.  By that time even all of the clamshell loungers were sold out.  Needless to say he was upset, while the other couple that thought they were being fed a line by their TA was happy knowing that didn't happen to them.

I don't know which ship you will be sailing on, or what date you will be at Coco Cay, but impo consider yourself lucky for those prices, and don't think about rebooking, just figure out which one you want and cancel the other.  We were on Adventure (4300 passengers) and the only ship there that day.  If 2 ships are there that day, you will also be competing against those passengers too for that lower gotcha price.  As I stated earlier, I got #10, 10 months out.  I bet if for example, Anthem and Grandeur were both there the same day, bringing the number up to 7500 passengers for the day, that our cabana number would have been higher.

 

[GregD]

We had a Chill Island cabana last week. We had #8. In our cruise planner we saw prices all over the place as well. A suggestion for the people who do find a cabana at a lower price than their original booking, I had the same thing. FIRST attempt to book the new cabana, but use a different member of your party to book it. Our chill island cabana was first booked in my name at $425, then I saw the price drop to $325, so I snagged one with my wife as the guest using it, then went and cancelled mine. This way you dont lose out on one!

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

We had a Chill Island cabana last week. We had #8. In our cruise planner we saw prices all over the place as well. A suggestion for the people who do find a cabana at a lower price than their original booking, I had the same thing. FIRST attempt to book the new cabana, but use a different member of your party to book it. Our chill island cabana was first booked in my name at $425, then I saw the price drop to $325, so I snagged one with my wife as the guest using it, then went and cancelled mine. This way you dont lose out on one!

 

So SMAAAAAT

[GregD]

Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:

So SMAAAAAT

[WesKinetic]

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to the pricing. We're going over next spring break. When the excursions first became available, Chill Island and Oasis Lagoon were both showing $999. But for some reason, South Beach was showing $399 so I booked it. 

I'm really glad I did because, within a couple of hours, it was showing sold out. That is until a couple weeks ago when it suddenly showed up as available again--for $999.

[Hoski]

We have canceled and rebooked twice for price reductions.  We have several people on the reservation so it is easy to secure the lower priced one before canceling the original one.  Final price we paid for our January 4th Thrill Island Cabana was $299.  We only have 5 people but think it is a good deal for water park and cabana.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Slightly off topic but while perusing the excursions site for my upcoming Oasis cruise (going to Labadee, not Coco Cay), I saw this

 

It's the first time I've ever seen a "sold out" banner on any excursion.  I think this is GREAT (assuming it's true).  At least you don't have to guess about whether there's a cabana available or not.  They're still showing over-the-water cabanas available to apparently all of the beach cabanas are gone.  I hope this is something they will continue to do when an excursion is actually, truly sold out.  

[Pima1988]

@WAAAYTOOO  For our cruise this past July they did that, or under the name of the excursion it said in red  Check on board.  So I am guessing that this is the future, and I agree it is an asset.  If so, than I think it is going to bring in a lot of everyday check the planner cruisers for availability.

The thing I noticed is those banners go up and down frequently.  One day it was up and when I checked the next day it was down, however as I was purchasing another excursion that same day by the time I selected between the 2 I wanted and booked it, I came back to the planner page it was back up again.  Maybe it was 20 mins.

This kind of ties back into why I believe it can be a risk if you cancel and re-book at a lower price on things like the cabanas, bungalows, beach beds, clamshells.  My guess was somebody had cancelled, maybe for a re-booking price, and bc it is online RCCL automatically drops the banner when 1 goes empty.   Had I been on the look out for that item and got to the check out prior to the person wanting to re-book I would have had the cabana and the original passenger would have been SOL

As others have stated before you cancel yours for the lower price, book it under a different person's name to grab it and than cancel your original booking

[Pima1988]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:08 PM, Hoski said:

Thrill Island Cabana was $299.  We only have 5 people but think it is a good deal for water park and cabana.

That is an amazing price.  We had 5 people in ours.  I would say that although they state it holds 8, I wouldn't do it with more than 6, especially in the summer heat.  We were comfortable eating in the covered portion, but if we had 3 more people trying to do that, they would have had to stand.  Additionally that coffee table gets filled up pretty fast with bevs and boxes of food, even more so if you have people in it like my in-laws.  BIL ordered for himself, Salad, Portobello sandwich, grilled chicken breast and a funnel cake.  My SIL ordered cheese sticks, salad, sandwich, and the salted caramel brownie.  The rest of us ordered a salad and a dessert. That was 14 to go boxes they delivered.  Now add the 5 drinks.  Plus, everybody's crap (towels, kindles, sun block, sunglasses, beach hats etc) we were trying to find places to put the stuff.  

•  Our attendant was amazing, cleaning and straightening up during the day, but still there was nothing she could do to make more room for us to eat lunch.

Some people think it is insane to pay that price.  We got ours under 400.  I still find it as a cheap splurge.  My brother at 1st thought I was insane, he is a finance guy.  However, when he said....well there are 5 of you, and when you divide that up between all of you, and you are there for 9 hrs., that is a really cheap excursion for a cruise with great amenities.  We have cruised with them before and they cruise a lot, but they are the get the outdoor balcony and that is about it, no specialty, and only the refreshment package, carry on wine, and buy drinks on ship (he only drinks beer).  He is not a cheap wad, just the best bang for his buck kind of guy.  His wife was thrilled when he said next time we are going to do the cabana because in the end at the right price it is cheap