Assignment of cabanas on Ocean Caye

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, Bossa Nova said:

I can!

1. The International Space Station, another spectacular destination where all of the elite passengers share a single toilet,
2. Belmond British Pullman rail service on the Orient-Express, where first class passengers recline and dine in gorgeous restored 1920s and 1930s coaches that hosted kings and queens, but share a single toilet per car,
3. The no-shame era of wearing Depend pads.

😂

Give me a break.  How many are on the International Space Station.  With the YC you can be talking about 200 persons (depending on the ship) sharing a single stall (this is unisex).   Consider that if there are 100 females and each would need to spend 5 minutes in the bath room and 100 men needed 2 minutes in the bath room that would equal 700 minutes or over 10 hours!  But of course things do not work that way and some want more time.  And of course one would hope that staff would clean the single stall a few times a day which takes additional time.  

 

Bottom line is that MSC should now add free Depends as a perk for those in the YC :).

 

Hank

[researchfreak90]

Cabana assignment is random. I did go to the excursions desk when we boarded and asked for 2 cabanas together. They said they had no promises but would do their best. We ended up on north island next to the yatch club beach. We were on Bimini beach in #3 and #4 they had a full service bar between them

[CRAustin]

On 12/19/2019 at 3:35 PM, Hlitner said:

No, some are actually located behind several rows of sunbeds (used by those not in the cabanas).   There are also a few other YC cabanas located further from the beaches but in quieter areas with fantastic views.  The current set-up is interesting in that the YC beach area is on the eastern shoreline which is open to the sea.  Several other sun/swim areas on the island are on the lagoon which provides a more sheltered area for swimming.  Or course those in the YC area can walk a few hundred yards to one of those other swimming areas.

 

Another issue that caught our attention are the shark nets.  MSC has seen fit to protect most of the island's swim areas (including the entire interior lagoon) with large shark nets.  However, the swimming area directly off the YC beach has no nets!  Perhaps they are trying to tell the YC folks something :).  DW and I are avid snorkelers (and sometimes SCUBA divers) and  have never been concerned about sharks in the Bahamas....but do understand that many folks have a real phobia about sharks.  One of the beach staff folks told me that the lifeguard (the YC does have a lifeguard stand) would be watching for and give any necessary warnings if he saw sharks.   We did not notice any sharks in our swimming area (although somebody else posted some shark pictures) although a few large stingrays did catch our eye as they tried to see if they could fly :).  Speaking of shark nets, I did walk over to the marked "snorkel area" which is on the far side of Ocean Cay from the YC area.  That particular area (along a beach on the southern side of the island) was netted with a very long shark net located over 50 yards off shore.  The lifeguard told me that snorkelers and swimmers were not permitted to go beyond the netting.  We both had a good laugh when I mentioned that there were no nets at the YC area.  Perhaps this will be a future improvement.

 

Before anyone asks, DW and I did not do any snorkeling on Ocean Cay...even though we had our own equipment.  One reason was we were just too lazy and another was that we did not notice any reefs in the snorkel/swim areas.  The YC lifeguard suggested we explore some of the rocky areas adjacent to YC swim area, but a strong wind was blowing towards those rocks making snorkeling somewhat of a challenge.  We decided to save our snorkel habit for the next visit.

 

Hank

Ocean View is different than Ocean Front - OV is by the rock barriers not where swimming happens and OF are the ones you refer to on the YC beach where the loungers are in front of them.  I agree the cabanas are underwhelming if you are familiar with NCL Harvest Caye you will know what I am talking about.  Basically a mini villa with indoor plumbing, shower, bathroom, air, tv, music, fridge, etc.  I have one booked for next week and have already been to Ocean Cay, really considering backing out of my group as even $225 isn't worth is, it is a open bungalow in the sand with a fan.

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, CRAustin said:

Ocean View is different than Ocean Front - OV is by the rock barriers not where swimming happens and OF are the ones you refer to on the YC beach where the loungers are in front of them.  I agree the cabanas are underwhelming if you are familiar with NCL Harvest Caye you will know what I am talking about.  Basically a mini villa with indoor plumbing, shower, bathroom, air, tv, music, fridge, etc.  I have one booked for next week and have already been to Ocean Cay, really considering backing out of my group as even $225 isn't worth is, it is a open bungalow in the sand with a fan.

I don't get it with those MSC cabanas.  I think they will have to make a lot of major improvements (vis a vis NCL) or drastically lower the price.  I suspect that once word spreads around, those cabanas are going to be mostly unrented.  This might even be more true in the YC.   Consider that as soon as we arrived at the beach and chose a couple of loungers, one of the staffers was quickly over to our location installing and raising an umbrella.  Personally, we would not even pay $50 for a cabana as our beach location was perfect.

 

Hank

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I don't get it with those MSC cabanas.  I think they will have to make a lot of major improvements (vis a vis NCL) or drastically lower the price.  I suspect that once word spreads around, those cabanas are going to be mostly unrented.  This might even be more true in the YC.   Consider that as soon as we arrived at the beach and chose a couple of loungers, one of the staffers was quickly over to our location installing and raising an umbrella.  Personally, we would not even pay $50 for a cabana as our beach location was perfect.

 

Hank

 

I agree, Hank, I think they're vastly overpriced for what you get.  I'm surprised they're getting any takers.

[pollyhog]

i'm confused about umbrellas then: you can rent them on the excursions page, but Hank just said here that staffers came over to install umbrellas as soon as they were set up with loungers - so there are free ones?

[js]

Thank you for this thread.

 

Are there any pictures of the actual cabana and the number.

I have booked a water front cabana in the YC. I would like the cabana that is next to the rocks

on either side since it looks like there are less lounge chairs in front of them and would like to

request the number when I board next month.

Thank you.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

5 hours ago, pollyhog said:

i'm confused about umbrellas then: you can rent them on the excursions page, but Hank just said here that staffers came over to install umbrellas as soon as they were set up with loungers - so there are free ones?

 

Hank was referring to the Yacht Club area.  Umbrellas are free in the Yacht Club area.

[psmarkle]

Thought I'd revive this thread for our upcoming April 9th sailing on the Seashore.  On MSC's website, the "oceanfront" (which are behind several rows of chairs) cabanas are showing as "Sold Out", but there are still oceanview cabanas available.  This is a spring break cuise, so I expect there's a higher passenger count.  Went ahead and booked an oceanview cabana since DW and 2x DSs are pale people, but DD and I have that Italian skin that soaks up the rays!

 

From another thread, someone mentioned they asked at the YC Concierge on boarding day for a particular cabana and were told they would note the request, but could not guarantee.  They ended up getting their request, so I plan on stopping at the YC concierge on boarding and requesting cabana # 7 or 8 on the oceanview side. Those are the closest to the Ocean House and the actual YC beach from the oceanview side.

[morpheusofthesea]

Have not read through this thread. Scrolled and saw no photos. Thought these two might help from Feb 12,2022 sailing of Ocean Cay YC . This is cabana #7 just to the left facing Ocean House and closest to it. In front of cabana #7 are 4 lounge chairs and in the distance is cabana #8. Took these photos because we felt these #7-14 are the most secluded (romantic). The others #1-6 (6 being closest to Ocean House to its right facing it) have an abundance of beach chairs and umbrellas for all the other suite guests, thus absolutely no privacy (a people watcher delight).

Edited March 13, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[psmarkle]

Thank you for posting!!  It was from your pics that I jotted a note to ask for cabana #7. That's a perfect example of people helping people that I luv about CC!

[morpheusofthesea]

5 minutes ago, psmarkle said:

Thank you for posting!!  It was from your pics that I jotted a note to ask for cabana #7. That's a perfect example of people helping people that I luv about CC!

Will take more photos next week. Found only one being occupied on our Feb 12 sailing (1000 + passenger sailing). Read that Host Chris had one on her outing, but was not happy with the weather. Awful lot of money for bad weather.