Amenities changed for Nellie's Beach Cabanas Labadee

[nbsjcruiser]

Received the same email as others have posted here, also assuring me that since I booked and paid before October 4th, we will still get the enhanced buffet. I have printed out that email and will take it with me along with my proof of purchase, which has the date I booked (July) on it.

 

I also had one additional line on our email that I had not seen before:

 

"...Additionally, we have no current plans to lower the price of our cabanas..."

 

That was in response to my mentioning I thought if the amenities were being reduced, that the price should be as well.

 

I received the same one also. I also asked if they were lowering the prices and got the same response as you did. The only other question I asked was that we are sharing our cabana with another cabin and I would like the bracelets for them as well. The response was that there would be a letter in our cabin with the bracelets for us and instructions on how to get bracelets for the other cabin but no more than 6 would be given out.

[Toddcan]

They are building more and more cabanas on both beaches. With this, it was inevitable that "too many"(by RCI standards) people would be on the BB buffet. So, they had to do something.

 

1. Change the description, on or about Oct 4 - anyone booking a Nellies cabana after Oct 4 would no longer have the upgraded buffet in their excursion description.

 

2. Offer the upgraded buffet to those who paid for a Nellies cabana before the change (OCt 4). Now, how well/poorly they manage this - who knows. It sounds like they have it under control, but let's see how it actually plays out.

 

So, all bases are covered.

 

If your excursion description had an upgraded buffet - you will get it.

 

If your excursion description does not have an upgraded buffet - how can you claim it? If you try and argue that they "used to get it", then good luck with that. If enough people do not book the cabanas now , and they sit empty - RCI will have to do something. However, I suspect that there is more demand than supply, and all the cabanas will be full/near full every day there are ship(s) in port.

 

Yes, I will miss the upgraded buffet when I book a Nellies Cabana. But, if I don't think it's worth the price, I can choose not to rent one in the future.

[whitshel]

They are building more and more cabanas on both beaches. With this, it was inevitable that "too many"(by RCI standards) people would be on the BB buffet. So, they had to do something.

 

1. Change the description, on or about Oct 4 - anyone booking a Nellies cabana after Oct 4 would no longer have the upgraded buffet in their excursion description.

 

2. Offer the upgraded buffet to those who paid for a Nellies cabana before the change (OCt 4). Now, how well/poorly they manage this - who knows. It sounds like they have it under control, but let's see how it actually plays out.

 

So, all bases are covered.

 

If your excursion description had an upgraded buffet - you will get it.

 

If your excursion description does not have an upgraded buffet - how can you claim it? If you try and argue that they "used to get it", then good luck with that. If enough people do not book the cabanas now , and they sit empty - RCI will have to do something. However, I suspect that there is more demand than supply, and all the cabanas will be full/near full every day there are ship(s) in port.

 

Yes, I will miss the upgraded buffet when I book a Nellies Cabana. But, if I don't think it's worth the price, I can choose not to rent one in the future.

 

Completely Agree......

[sand and water]

Does anyone have a map showing the location of the cabanas?

[CleveRocks]

I sail three days from now. I never contacted Royal Caribbean about anything regarding the changes in amenities. Not a peep from me.

 

So totally unsolicited, I received this e-mail today (I added the bold and color for emphasis):

 

We are looking forward to welcoming you onboard Allure of the Seas® for your upcoming cruise vacation!

 

We want to confirm that your private cabana at Nellie's Beach awaits you upon arrival to Labadee®. Your cabana rental includes 2 floating beach mats, water cooler with 6 bottles of water, the use of beach towels and the service of a cabana attendant. Also, because you reserved your cabana prior to October 4th, 2013 you will also have access to an upgraded lunch buffet at Barefoot Beach. You will receive additional information along with wristbands in your stateroom.

While in Labadee, you will be able to enjoy any of the destination's many features, including a Haitian artisan market, an extensive array of watersports options, as well as exciting attractions such as the 2,600-foot Dragon's Breath Flight Line, the world's longest zip line over water, the 300-foot Dragon's Splash Waterslide, and the Dragon's Tail Alpine Coaster.

 

These activities are very popular, so in order to ensure you make the most of your day at Labadee, visit Royalcaribbean.com/shoreexcursions today!

 

We can't wait to welcome you onboard.

 

Your Royal Caribbean Team

[phabric]

I received the same email today. Our cruise is not until March 8, 2015. I have printed out this email since our cruise is so far in the future.

[itching2cruiseagain]

I received this today too:

 

Dear Rochelle,

 

We are looking forward to welcoming you onboard Liberty of the Seas® for your upcoming cruise vacation!

 

We want to confirm that your private cabana at Nellie's Beach awaits you upon arrival to Labadee®. Your cabana rental includes 2 floating beach mats, water cooler with 6 bottles of water, the use of beach towels and the service of a cabana attendant. Also, because you reserved your cabana prior to October 4th, 2013 you will also have access to an upgraded lunch buffet at Barefoot Beach. You will receive additional information along with wristbands in your stateroom.

 

While in Labadee, you will be able to enjoy any of the destination's many features, including a Haitian artisan market, an extensive array of watersports options, as well as exciting attractions such as the 2,600-foot Dragon's Breath Flight Line, the world's longest zip line over water, the 300-foot Dragon's Splash Waterslide, and the Dragon's Tail Alpine Coaster.

 

These activities are very popular, so in order to ensure you make the most of your day at Labadee, visit Royalcaribbean.com/shoreexcursions today!

 

We can't wait to welcome you onboard.

 

Your Royal Caribbean Team

[Brandonclan]

I received this today too:

 

Dear Rochelle,

 

We are looking forward to welcoming you onboard Liberty of the Seas® for your upcoming cruise vacation!

 

We want to confirm that your private cabana at Nellie's Beach awaits you upon arrival to Labadee®. Your cabana rental includes 2 floating beach mats, water cooler with 6 bottles of water, the use of beach towels and the service of a cabana attendant. Also, because you reserved your cabana prior to October 4th, 2013 you will also have access to an upgraded lunch buffet at Barefoot Beach. You will receive additional information along with wristbands in your stateroom.

 

While in Labadee, you will be able to enjoy any of the destination's many features, including a Haitian artisan market, an extensive array of watersports options, as well as exciting attractions such as the 2,600-foot Dragon's Breath Flight Line, the world's longest zip line over water, the 300-foot Dragon's Splash Waterslide, and the Dragon's Tail Alpine Coaster.

 

These activities are very popular, so in order to ensure you make the most of your day at Labadee, visit Royalcaribbean.com/shoreexcursions today!

 

We can't wait to welcome you onboard.

 

Your Royal Caribbean Team

 

 

Received the same e-mail today. Saved and printed. We don't sail until may 4th hope to hear some actual expriences before then.

[MS52]

I received the email and noted that the wristbands would be in the cabin. We are sharing 2 cabanas with 12 people.

 

I called to check how they would distribute the wristbands since the reservation is only under one person's name. After checking, the representative came back and told me that they would distribute six wristbands to the person who made the reservation then you would give them to the other people - I just wanted to make sure that they wouldn't just deliver two wristbands and that would be it.

 

So hopefully it will all work out.

[FreddyT]

I booked my cabana on Aug.9th for my upcoming cruise of Dec.15th on Independence of the Seas. I never received an email. I am starting to panic, so I sent an email to shore excursions this morning. I hope I will here something soon.

 

I am so thankful to all of you who shared this info. I would have never known. I will feel much better when I get the email.

 

How long does the shore excursion team usually take to get back with you?

 

Thanks

[CleveRocks]

In a different thread, I posted the following a couple of weeks ago (Nov. 10, 2013):

 

 

I'm sitting on Allure of the Seas now ... Deck 5, Adagio dining room, awaiting disembarkation. I rented a Nellie's Beach over the water cabana this past Tuesday.

 

I got EVERYTHING I was entitled to as someone who booked prior to October 4, 2013: the six 1-liter bottles of Evian on ice in a Coleman cooler; two floating mats; ship's blue pool towels for use while there; and yes, access to the buffet at Barefoot Beach (you each get a wristband placed on you that says "CABANAS VIP" which is what the security guard needs to see to allow you into Barefoot Beach).

 

So all's well that ends well.

 

But I didn't think it was going to work out that way.

 

I received an email (as posted earlier) stating that since I booked before October 4 blah blah blah .... One of the statements in the email said we would receive the wristbands in our stateroom. We received the ticket/voucher but no wristbands. I didn't realize this until early Monday (first full day at sea, dat before arrival at Labadee). I asked at Guest Services but they told me I need to take it up with Shore Excursions.

 

The line at the Shore Excursions desk was prohibitively huge, and I didn't like the idea of having to wait in line because of the cruise line's error. So I phoned Guest Services and they eventually transferred my call to ShoreEx.

 

They had trouble understanding my situation and they got me to Tiana, Allure's ShoreEx manager. She assured me we would get the wristbands at Labadee itself (and she was correct).

 

She was eager to see that email because she was concerned I was the first of many to receive that inaccurate information about the wristbands being left for me in my stateroom. She tried to get me a short amount of wi-fi so I could show her the email, but when that didn't work (I got it, but I was unable to forward the email to her) she came to my cabin to take a photo of the email on my iPad screen.

[disneybabe]

Hello all,

Just returned Saturday from 9 night Explorer. Great trip!! We reserved a hillside Nellie's beach cabana on Sept. 2 for Nov. 21st. I read with great interest all of the posts regarding the new cabana rules. (thanks cruise critic). I never received an e-mail regarding the changes even though I booked before the changes. I printed a copy of my excursion confirmation showing the date and meant to check with excursions but before I knew it were headed to Labadee. (having fun with friends and enjoying the ship). The excursion ticket for our cabana was waiting in our cabin on day 1. When we arrived at Labadee we saw 2 golf carts waiting just past the entrance gates and inquired about a ride to the cabanas. He asked to see our excursion ticket and we loaded 4 people into the cart. (very nice since it was unusually warm today - 93 degrees) The driver took us to the cabana check-in area, showed our ticket and returned with 4 wristbands - no questions asked. I was very happy. I never questioned or asked about the buffet, everything was taken care of automatically - very nice!

The cabana was great especially since it was so hot. Hope this helps. Thanks to everyone who posted earlier.

[Brandonclan]

Hello all,

Just returned Saturday from 9 night Explorer. Great trip!! We reserved a hillside Nellie's beach cabana on Sept. 2 for Nov. 21st. I read with great interest all of the posts regarding the new cabana rules. (thanks cruise critic). I never received an e-mail regarding the changes even though I booked before the changes. I printed a copy of my excursion confirmation showing the date and meant to check with excursions but before I knew it were headed to Labadee. (having fun with friends and enjoying the ship). The excursion ticket for our cabana was waiting in our cabin on day 1. When we arrived at Labadee we saw 2 golf carts waiting just past the entrance gates and inquired about a ride to the cabanas. He asked to see our excursion ticket and we loaded 4 people into the cart. (very nice since it was unusually warm today - 93 degrees) The driver took us to the cabana check-in area, showed our ticket and returned with 4 wristbands - no questions asked. I was very happy. I never questioned or asked about the buffet, everything was taken care of automatically - very nice!

The cabana was great especially since it was so hot. Hope this helps. Thanks to everyone who posted earlier.

 

Thanks for letting us know your experience Disneybabe, much appreciated. Hoping for the same results in May.