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Coco Cay Cabana Assignments?


WesKinetic

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Are the Coco Cay cabanas assigned ahead of time? Or do they give them to you once you check in when you get to the island? 

We have two South Beach cabanas booked for our large group, and we'd obviously like to have the two together. So I didn't know if that was something we should request on board or if we need to make sure we're off the ship early at Coco Cay to help make that happen. 

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They are pre-assigned now. Did you book them at the same time? If so, chances are they will be together because, as I understand it, the cabanas are assigned in order based on time of booking. You can check with the shore excursion desk upon boarding to ask them what numbers you have just so you are prepared. But either way, you will find out the night before you dock in Coco Cay because your room steward will deliver the tickets and instructions on where to go to check in. 

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  • 2 months later...

Glad to know I'm not the only one who did this.  When I tried calling to book, I was told I couldn't do this (she then charged me for 2 cabanas...? And then had to refund me the second Cabana).  I went online and did exactly what you did.  

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On 2/17/2020 at 12:23 PM, WesKinetic said:

I'll check at the excursion desk when we get on board.

They will not know the cabana number on board, at least they did not know when we did it last yr.  We were told that because they can have 2 ships at 1 time at Coco Cay, but  departing ports on different days thus, they no longer allow you to select the cabana, and corporate just sends the list to Coco Cay directly.  Makes sense if you think about it.  IE Anthem leaves on Sat., but will not get to Coco Cay until Tues.  Mariner leaves on Sunday, and will get there Tues. also.  If they allowed you to select on embarkation day, Anthem cruisers would get the 1st pick and Mariner passengers would get what is left over.  

What will occur is they will leave a letter in your cabin the night before.  You than make your way to the cabana area.  There will be a hostess/host to greet you.  That is when you will tell them the names of your guests for each cabana.  You don't have to all show up at 1x, only the people that purchase the cabana need to be there 1st because that is when they take the names of everyone allowed in the cabana.  At the welcome station they will also give you the wrist band.  It is a waterproof paper type.  You basically would have to cut it off to take it off....no ability to switch it on and off so you can get other people in.  They will than get your specific cabana attendant to walk you to your exact cabana. They have little chalk boards on the cabana that says your last name.

We did Chill,  it is 2 rows.  I suggest you look at the South Beach layout.  At chill only cabana 10 and 11 would be an issue for you.  10 is front row and 11 is 2nd row right behind 10.  

I would also say if you cancel and rebook due to a price decrease BEWARE.  On our cruise we met a very angry passenger at the Solarium pool.  He purchased a cabana on line, but when the price dropped, he canceled and TRIED to rebook at the lower price. However, between the time he canceled and tried to re-book it sold out.   If you do re-pricing my suggestion would be purchase two new ones, and than go back and cancel.  However, I am not sure since both you and your wife both purchase them that you can do that.  My advice would be for you to call RCL directly and explain the situation.  It would be horrible for you if you were able to get 1 and while booking the 2nd somebody popped up online in front of you and took the last cabana

Rebooking will also move your cabana placement because it is tied to your purchase date.  IE you are the 1st to purchase when it is released on the planner.  You will be cabana #1 front row.  6 months later the price drops.  You cancel and rebook.  Now you are cabana # 18 2nd row.  The reason why is they see it as a new purchase.  See above about the angry passenger.

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@WesKinetic@Pima1988 Great advice! I had a water park cabana FOREVER for my sailing, I was happy and told the others that were sailing with us (another family) they didn't have to buy water park tickets because I had the six with the cabana. Well the price dropped and wow, I jumped on it BUT I indeed cancelled before re-booking and then the cabana was sold out. Oh boy, did I feel like a big dope, I had to call and explain now everyone had to purchase the passes because I LOST the cabana. I felt so bad. The sailing is in June and the others cancelled the entire thing with the cruise with confidence promotion and I am waiting for RCCL to cancel 28 June 20 so it worked out for them BUT who would ever want to plan with me again? Gees! I felt so bad. 

To add to the entire thing now cabana availability is there again, but I'm not biting. I have almost $1,000.00 of cruise planner refunds I am waiting for (due to my re-pricing) and honestly expecting that sailing to be cancelled....UNLESS the Big 3 can convince the biased CDC that we can sail safely and cancel the no sail order sooner, (I volunteer to argue on their behalf,)  I feel very safe sailing again.  Can't wait actually! 

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@Neesa I will never forget that passenger, we were on Adventure.  It occurred in the hot tub in the Solarium.  He may have had 1 too many drinks, but man oh man he was ticked.  I kept my mouth shut as he ranted.

Everybody was talking about how excited they were about going to the new Perfect Day.  That was when he went loose.  To him RCL screwed him big time.  He felt rightly or wrongly, that he purchased the cabana, and now it was all about getting it re-priced.  RCL sees it as you returned the item, it was placed back in stock and someone picked it up faster than you did.  

What made matters worse for him was by that time there were no bungalows, beach beds or clamshells available.  

Cabanas are the best impo.  My brother 1st said to me, you are crazy to pay 400 for a cabana, just get a lounger.  He is a finance advisor for millionaires. Than he stopped for a second, and said, ok, you are there for 8 hrs.  It holds 8 people, basically 50 bucks per person.  They give you guaranteed shade, sofas, loungers next to the beach and deliver food/drinks to you all day.  That is 1 cheap excursion since it actually turns out to be $6 an hr for a higher level of service.

We will not take a cabana on our next cruise since it is just hubby and I. We picked up the Coco Beach Club day pass instead.  Got it really cheap. (79 pp).  The fact is, like the cabanas, it is limited in numbers which we like.  The lunch menu to me is also worth it since it feels like buying a specialty restaurant.  I am a pool person.  Husband is a beach guy.  This is the best of both worlds for us as a couple.

My only hope is that the seagulls have not found out that Coco Cay Beach club exists.

@WesKinetic tieing into the seagulls.  If you want to get glares, feed the gulls.  We actually saw teenagers in the water at Chill throwing veggie straws in the air.  People were leaving the water and telling them to knock it off. They just kept laughing at how funny it was with more and more gulls coming.

Again, I don't know about south beach, but on Chill the attendants were amazing.  Remember to tip them.  Little known fact your bartenders on the shp will also be there at the bars on Coco Cay.  The attendants are contracted for only 4 weeks at a time. 

My favorite memories of our cabana are:

  •  I ordered a drink and told her that I was going to the bathroom (2-3 min walk) I thought nothing of it.  I just thought she would leave it in the cabana. Walk out of the bathroom and there she was with drink on the tray.  What, huh?  You actually stood outside of the bathroom waiting for me?  This is ridiculous.
  •  Mat floats come with the cabanas.  Chill beach has a roped off area in the water for only cabana guests. Hanging with people on the mats that were in another cabana.  The attendant is ankle high in water delivering drinks to those guests.  They never left the float.
  •  They brought us fruit trays of sliced melons in the a.m.  Fruit kebabs in the afternoon.  
  •  We had an amazing attendant.  The cabanas come with towels, don't check any out from the ship for the cabana. While we were in the water, she would take our old wet towels and swap them out so we had nice new dry towels as soon as we came out of the water.
  •  You will get a special menu.  You can order anything and everything on it.  I got the portabello mushroom sandwich and a salad. I told my hubby of the off the menu chicken parm sandwich,  not on our menu, but they got it for him!  My BIL ordered so much food I was full just listening to his order.  He got a Portabello sandwich, grilled chicken breast, greek salad, funnel cake and salted caramel brownie (he weighs 160 lbs and is 5'9)  You also can go their version of the WJ on Coco Cay
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I am guessing here....but I suspect that there is a waiting list for cabanas, and that if you cancel yours, the system will immediately pick up the first name on the wait list.  If you want to reprice your cabana I would recommend calling to do that so that the rep can make sure your cabana doesn't get snagged by someone.  If there are cabanas available, then purchasing the new one and cancelling the old one afterwards should also work.

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11 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

I just reserved our Beach Club Beach Cabana for Dec 2021. There was no option to choose which cabana we wanted (fine, since I have no clue which one I would want).

You're going to love it no matter where it is.

 

From what i saw there was only 1 beach cabana in a poor spot, there is a smoking section directly behind it. I know this because i was having a cigar there and i could hear the people complaining about me from the bench i was sitting at. I extinguished it ( after a couple more puffs.. it was an expressive cigar!!)  Walked over and apologized, they were embarrassed but then they told me they had been smelling cigarettes  all day and they were just frustrated. I would have been too. I supplied feedback on the poor location of the smoking area in the survey, there were better spots for one.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Both times we booked cabanas the cabana number was on the ticket we received in our stateroom we did not have to wait till on the island to find out which one we had even with two ships in port. 

If we purchased one and the price goes down we purchase under another name before we cancel the first one.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/8/2020 at 7:51 AM, Pima1988 said:

@Neesa I will never forget that passenger, we were on Adventure.  It occurred in the hot tub in the Solarium.  He may have had 1 too many drinks, but man oh man he was ticked.  I kept my mouth shut as he ranted.

Everybody was talking about how excited they were about going to the new Perfect Day.  That was when he went loose.  To him RCL screwed him big time.  He felt rightly or wrongly, that he purchased the cabana, and now it was all about getting it re-priced.  RCL sees it as you returned the item, it was placed back in stock and someone picked it up faster than you did.  

What made matters worse for him was by that time there were no bungalows, beach beds or clamshells available.  

Cabanas are the best impo.  My brother 1st said to me, you are crazy to pay 400 for a cabana, just get a lounger.  He is a finance advisor for millionaires. Than he stopped for a second, and said, ok, you are there for 8 hrs.  It holds 8 people, basically 50 bucks per person.  They give you guaranteed shade, sofas, loungers next to the beach and deliver food/drinks to you all day.  That is 1 cheap excursion since it actually turns out to be $6 an hr for a higher level of service.

We will not take a cabana on our next cruise since it is just hubby and I. We picked up the Coco Beach Club day pass instead.  Got it really cheap. (79 pp).  The fact is, like the cabanas, it is limited in numbers which we like.  The lunch menu to me is also worth it since it feels like buying a specialty restaurant.  I am a pool person.  Husband is a beach guy.  This is the best of both worlds for us as a couple.

My only hope is that the seagulls have not found out that Coco Cay Beach club exists.

@WesKinetic tieing into the seagulls.  If you want to get glares, feed the gulls.  We actually saw teenagers in the water at Chill throwing veggie straws in the air.  People were leaving the water and telling them to knock it off. They just kept laughing at how funny it was with more and more gulls coming.

Again, I don't know about south beach, but on Chill the attendants were amazing.  Remember to tip them.  Little known fact your bartenders on the shp will also be there at the bars on Coco Cay.  The attendants are contracted for only 4 weeks at a time. 

My favorite memories of our cabana are:

  •  I ordered a drink and told her that I was going to the bathroom (2-3 min walk) I thought nothing of it.  I just thought she would leave it in the cabana. Walk out of the bathroom and there she was with drink on the tray.  What, huh?  You actually stood outside of the bathroom waiting for me?  This is ridiculous.
  •  Mat floats come with the cabanas.  Chill beach has a roped off area in the water for only cabana guests. Hanging with people on the mats that were in another cabana.  The attendant is ankle high in water delivering drinks to those guests.  They never left the float.
  •  They brought us fruit trays of sliced melons in the a.m.  Fruit kebabs in the afternoon.  
  •  We had an amazing attendant.  The cabanas come with towels, don't check any out from the ship for the cabana. While we were in the water, she would take our old wet towels and swap them out so we had nice new dry towels as soon as we came out of the water.
  •  You will get a special menu.  You can order anything and everything on it.  I got the portabello mushroom sandwich and a salad. I told my hubby of the off the menu chicken parm sandwich,  not on our menu, but they got it for him!  My BIL ordered so much food I was full just listening to his order.  He got a Portabello sandwich, grilled chicken breast, greek salad, funnel cake and salted caramel brownie (he weighs 160 lbs and is 5'9)  You also can go their version of the WJ on Coco Cay

Nice run down.  We're visiting Nov '21.  Just 2 of us, so don't need the Cabana, so were going to get the Club Pass.  Are chairs kept available, or is like what happens on the sun deck?  Are there also umbrellas available/

 

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