Cabanas at Castaway Cay

Hi Everyone! Today I put a deposit down on our families first Disney cruise. We have done Carnival and Royal Caribbean many times but this will be our first trip on Disney. We are doing the 7 days Western Caribbean cruise next March. Since we have 2 children coming with us we are very interested in getting a cabana while we are at Castaway Cay. Since we are first time cruisers with Disney I know we receive last dibs on renting cabanas. Are the chances high that we will be able to reserve one or are they usually all taken by silver/platinum cruisers? If they are sold out by the time we can book them, does Castaway Cay offer umbrella rentals? TIA!

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Unless you are cruising Concierge, the odds - especially for a family beach one - are slim to none. There are always exceptions, but I would NOT count on it.

Castaway has PLENTY of umbrellas and chairs. No need to rent them.

Hi Everyone! Today I put a deposit down on our families first Disney cruise. We have done Carnival and Royal Caribbean many times but this will be our first trip on Disney. We are doing the 7 days Western Caribbean cruise next March. Since we have 2 children coming with us we are very interested in getting a cabana while we are at Castaway Cay. Since we are first time cruisers with Disney I know we receive last dibs on renting cabanas. Are the chances high that we will be able to reserve one or are they usually all taken by silver/platinum cruisers? If they are sold out by the time we can book them, does Castaway Cay offer umbrella rentals? TIA!

 

 

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umbrellas and chairs are free and there are zillons of both...

there is no need for a cabana...but if you really want one, you should keep checking right up to the last possible day..

people cancel..

and when you board the ship you should check again as people even cancel on board...

.

We have been able to book the Cabana on Castaway Cay as Platinum members, on the first day available for booking. But, it’s not something we have done since. There are plenty of places available at the beaches, and lots of things to do on Castaway Cay. we did not think the value was there on renting the Cabana. That is of course subjective.

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i was able to book one because we were concierge...

the only reason i took one was for my mom and sister, both with cancer, so all they did was hang around in the cabana..

but when i've been there with my husband and kids, there is no way we would make use of it for more than a short time, if at all..

so a total waste of money for us...

We booked one on our last cruise as Silver. Just the luck of the draw... I went online one day and it was available so I booked it. It was nice but not necessary.

We took that same cruise last month, and we're silver, and they were sold out before the first day we could book. But as others said, there are lots of chairs and shade, and you can leave stuff on the chairs to claim them for the whole day.

We took that same cruise last month, and we're silver, and they were sold out before the first day we could book. But as others said, there are lots of chairs and shade, and you can leave stuff on the chairs to claim them for the whole day.

They are often sold out before platinum CCs can book (pre-ordered by concierge guests). However, people do book them and then release them. All you can do is to keep checking on line, and then ask at "Port Adventures" after boarding. There are people who sometimes want to release one even after boarding, and are happy to have it re-sold to you.

However, you can have a great day at Castaway Cay without a cabana.

A few years ago, we were able to book a Cabana at Castaway Cay as Platinum level guests. We booked on the first day available for Platinum, and my sense was they were not sold old before the Platinum level guests were allowed to book. They did sell out thereafter.

As for the experience, we used it for about an hour, after which it rained heavily, with lots of lightening, at Castaway Cay. We had to shelter-in-place until the island was evacuated to the ship. This is a longer story, and DCL treated us very well, but do keep in mind the Cabana’s are non-refundable.

We had seen and wanted to try the Cabana’s, and had a larger group than normal on this cruise. But, we did decide after that experience that the Cabana was not worth the roughly $600 cost and there are so many ways to enjoy Castaway without renting the Cabana.

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What happens is that concierge guests essentially pre-book cabanas thru the shoreside concierge. They aren't booked in advance, but the order is ready to go and entered into the computer as soon as their window opens. So they can go within a minute or two of the window opening. And since the number of cabanas is fixed but there are more concierge cabins on the larger ships, you have a better shot when cruising on the Magic or Wonder.

There is really no way to predict when they will sell out of if they will become available later.

Not sure what you mean by cabanas being non-refundable. Unless the policy has changed, you can cancel one on line up to three days before embarkation. After that, if you decide that you don't want one you have booked, go to Port Adventures ASAP after boarding. They will note that you want to give up your cabana and if another guest wants to take over your reservation, they will "resell" it for you, leaving you off the hook. If no one wants to book it (or at least lets the Port Adventures desk know that they want it), you are stuck paying.

I need to clarify what I mean by “non-refundable”. Everything Moki’smommy notes is correct in post #10. What I was referring to is the specific situation where weather prevents guests from using the Cabana once you are at Castaway Cay. In the case I mentioned in my previous post, we had the Cabana for no longer than an hour before the island was rained out, and it was seriously bad weather with thunder and lightening. Not the usual afternoon tropical rain shower. Thus, our $600 per day Cabana was effectively a $600 per hour Cabana! We had barely settled in before the the shelter-in-place order came through, and subsequently the island was closed up and everyone returned to the ship before noon. There were other factors involved - we were at Serenity Bay, the communications were poor, and the shelter-in-place could have been handled much better. You can use your imagination to understand what I mean when I say DCL did the right thing, and my experience with DCL is that they almost always do. But the official policy is that the Cabana rental is non-refundable if weather later becomes inclement.

Incidentally, this was on a cruise on the Fantasy, so I guess we were lucky to book the Cabana. For us, personally, I don’t see the value of $600 for the Cabana rental. It gets down to where we chose to allocate vacation capital!

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I need to clarify what I mean by “non-refundable”. Everything Moki’smommy notes is correct in post #10. What I was referring to is the specific situation where weather prevents guests from using the Cabana once you are at Castaway Cay. In the case I mentioned in my previous post, we had the Cabana for no longer than an hour before the island was rained out, and it was seriously bad weather with thunder and lightening. Not the usual afternoon tropical rain shower. Thus, our $600 per day Cabana was effectively a $600 per hour Cabana! We had barely settled in before the the shelter-in-place order came through, and subsequently the island was closed up and everyone returned to the ship before noon. There were other factors involved - we were at Serenity Bay, the communications were poor, and the shelter-in-place could have been handled much better. You can use your imagination to understand what I mean when I say DCL did the right thing, and my experience with DCL is that they almost always do. But the official policy is that the Cabana rental is non-refundable if weather later becomes inclement.

 

Incidentally, this was on a cruise on the Fantasy, so I guess we were lucky to book the Cabana. For us, personally, I don’t see the value of $600 for the Cabana rental. It gets down to where we chose to allocate vacation capital!

 

 

 

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This makes a lot more sense, and my guess is that DCL took the position that you'd gotten some use out of the cabana (even though I don't agree with not refunding it for the day). We encountered something similar when a morning excursion was "postponed" to see what the weather did and ultimately changed to an afternoon excursion. We had other plans for the afternoon and were able to effectively "discuss" with the powers that be that a 9 am excursion that doesn't at least start during the morning should result in OUR decision to either move to an afternoon time or get a refund. They actually saw it our way and gave us a refund....but we hadn't "used" any part of the experience.

Of course if an excursion is canceled, it is not billed to the guest....

I'd still be unhappy about $600 to use a cabana for an hour.

A few years ago, we were able to book a Cabana at Castaway Cay as Platinum level guests. We booked on the first day available for Platinum, and my sense was they were not sold old before the Platinum level guests were allowed to book. They did sell out thereafter.

 

As for the experience, we used it for about an hour, after which it rained heavily, with lots of lightening, at Castaway Cay. We had to shelter-in-place until the island was evacuated to the ship. This is a longer story, and DCL treated us very well, but do keep in mind the Cabana’s are non-refundable.

 

We had seen and wanted to try the Cabana’s, and had a larger group than normal on this cruise. But, we did decide after that experience that the Cabana was not worth the roughly $600 cost and there are so many ways to enjoy Castaway without renting the Cabana.

 

 

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We had a similar experience where the cabana actually worked for us. We got rain early afternoon, for about 30 minutes to an hour. we pulled everything isde and closed the door. By the time it stopped, a lot of guests had returned to the ship and we had the beach (we were on Serenity Bay) pretty much to ourselves)

We used one a few days ago while on the 4-21 fantasy cruise. It was well worth it for the 8 of us. great service was provided . Of course the good weather helped

We used one a few days ago while on the 4-21 fantasy cruise. It was well worth it for the 8 of us. great service was provided . Of course the good weather helped

We were on the same cruise and were in Cabana 6. For us it was absolutely worth it. We had a set of grandparents and a 2 year old. The grandparents could hang out in the shade and when it was nap time the 2 year old used a pack n play in the cabana. And yes the weather was wonderful that day.