Just got two cabanas for 3/27 cruise!

[Disnyfan83]

I just got off the phone with Shore Excursions, and got the last two cabanas for the 3/37 Westerdam sailing!! Eleven of the us are sailing together ages 8-83, and we figured two cabanas would work best (with three extra person charges). Boy, I'm glad I called today!! Everything was just about booked except the last two , and they are right next to each other - Yeah! We got the Green and Yellow cabanas. I know they are the farthest away from everthing, but can anyone tell me any thing else about them? My mother-in-law is 83, will there be a way to get her there, or will she have to walk? How far away is the nearest bathrooms? Will cabana attendants come get our drink orders?
I'm soooo excited!!:)

[crusing plantlady]

Hi Disnyfan83, we are also on this cruise with the, much loved, pink cabana. We are sailing with our 2 daughters 11 and 14. We are in our mid 40s. !st time on Hal but our 4th family cruise. I have to ask for my giris, any kids their age?

[Ziggy7]

Yes your cabana guy with do Bar runs and bring you all bar-b-q lunch. I dont know about the restrooms that way down the beach and I dont see any on the map in my pictures. I believe they will drive you to your cabana location. :)

[Disnyfan83]

Crusing Plantlady-
There are four kids in our party: two 16 year old boys, and two girls ages 8 and 14 (they are cousins). I'm sure our girls would love to meet your girls!! I'll send them by the pink cabana, or you all can venture down to the end of the beach to the green and yellow cabanas!:)

[lgt]

Hi

We are in the Orange cabana for the 3/27 trip with our daughter and 3 of her friends (all 17 y/o). We will be in HMC in early Jan. in the green cabana. I'll be happy to report back on the transportation, location & bathrooms. Counting the days until we are back again on HAL!

[Disnyfan83]

lgt-

It looks like we'll be cabana neighbors on the 3/27 trip as well! I'm sure the two sixteen year old boys in my group will now be walking by the orange cabana!! Thanks for checking out the green cabana for me. My biggest concern is how the walking will be for my 83 year old mother-in-law. have a great trip, and hope to see you on the Westerdam!:)

[CDRMark]

Was at HMC on 11/22. Your MIL should have no problem. There are 'shuttles', and sand wheelchairs as well (think BIG tires). It was glorious.

Cheers
MarkB

[CPRayVA]

We returned yesterday from our cruise on the Maasdam. We had the light blue cabana during our stay on Half Moon Cay. We had a basket of chips that was so small that we only used half of the guacamole dip, we never saw the cabana boy to get more chips. He got me one drink from the bar early in the day, I tipped him, and he was never seen again. My husband went to the buffet to and got me a plate of food, when it opened. He went back to get food for himself and they were out of hamburger buns, they were putting the meat directly on the plates. I went up a while later to see if I could get him some food and saw a few people with rolls (so they must have gotten more), but by the time I got there, they were out again. We bought 2 all you can drink cards (I think they are $19.95 plus 15%) and I had the one drink that the cabana boy brought me. I went to get another drink at 2 o'clock and they were closing the bar, told me I would half to walk to the front bar to get a drink. Although the cabana was nice, since my husband is alergic to sun, don't count on anything from the cabana boy, and don't anyone waste money on the all you can drink card!

[Ziggy7]

We returned yesterday from our cruise on the Maasdam. We had the light blue cabana during our stay on Half Moon Cay. We had a basket of chips that was so small that we only used half of the guacamole dip, we never saw the cabana boy to get more chips. He got me one drink from the bar early in the day, I tipped him, and he was never seen again. My husband went to the buffet to and got me a plate of food, when it opened. He went back to get food for himself and they were out of hamburger buns, they were putting the meat directly on the plates. I went up a while later to see if I could get him some food and saw a few people with rolls (so they must have gotten more), but by the time I got there, they were out again. We bought 2 all you can drink cards (I think they are $19.95 plus 15%) and I had the one drink that the cabana boy brought me. I went to get another drink at 2 o'clock and they were closing the bar, told me I would half to walk to the front bar to get a drink. Although the cabana was nice, since my husband is alergic to sun, don't count on anything from the cabana boy, and don't anyone waste money on the all you can drink card!Oh my, you should complain to HAL, you did not get what you paid for. We had great service as well as many others and it sounds like you need to let HAL know about your cabana boy not doing his job. I hope you complain and recieve some compinsation, I know I would.

[HeatherInFlorida]

CPRayVa, that makes no sense! Definitely complain. This was not our experience at all. The sodas were already in the fridge and they had an entire huge bag of taco chips for the salsa and guacamole. We almost couldn't get rid of our cabana boys! They were wonderful. They were back and forth with tons of food from the Pavillion. I can't say enough about them and we tipped them hugely for all their efforts.

There was something very wrong with CPR's experience.

Disnyfan, the cabanas you have are quite far out, but it will be wonderful for you because it's not nearly as crowded. I don't think they can drive you all the way there. Somewhere I read that's the only problem with the yellow one. But it will be worth it and they'll be able to get you pretty close. I'm not sure about the rest rooms.

Hopefully CPR's experience was an isolated one and you'll enjoy it as much as we did. There's another thread where I went into detail about it. Hopefully you saw it. Have fun an enjoy HMC!!!!:D

[CrabbyHarper]

I had a similar experience with the turquoise cabana Nov 11 from the Maasdam. When we arrived the cabana boy had a list with names on it - ours was not listed though I had reserved the cabana months in advance. Thank goodness I had the confirmation with me. There was a cooler with ice and water. Lots of salsa and guacamole and a very small basket of chips. The cabana boy and another person in a more formal uniform fawned all over us at first and asked if they could get us anything. We asked for more chips and that was the last we saw of any HAL personnel until someone arrived from Water Sports at 3:30 to take back the snorkel and other gear. Since these things: snorkel gear, floating mats, and binoculars had never appeared in our cabana, the boy couldn't take them back to water sports.

Because of a late arrival we had about 2.5 hours to use the cabana. We absolutely loved the cabana! IT was great to have a nice place with shade to hand out and leave our stuff.

But:the lack of service, chips, and gear was disappointing. When I got back to the ship I complained to Chantal Racine - the guest services person. She gave me a 40% reduction on the fee paid.

Call me stupid or crazy. I have reserved the turquoise cabana again for our April 21 cruise - we'll be there on April 23. Hope we are the only ship in HMC - last two times there was another ship.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Crabby, we had the turquoise one as well. Wasn't it the greatest location-wise? And the tree right there for shade? We loved it. As I said earlier our boys were great and couldn't help us enough. Food, chips, everything plentiful. They told us they were handling 3 cabanas, but one had gotten butler service so they only needed to help 2: the orange next door and us.

Also, it would depend on the ship, partially, since the cabana boys are from the ship you're on. We were on the Oosterdam and these guys were so excited because they were leaving the ship the next day and returning home. So maybe they were giving it one last shot! Who knows, but we couldn't have been happier.

[Cruzin4Vacation]

We were at HMC on 11/27/04. We had the taupe cabana, which is the 1st one. We were on the Oosterdam, and the Volendam was there that day too. If you can not get a cabana at HMC, I would definitly reserve a clam shell, as there is very little shade on the beach. We had 3 cabana boys that day, who were great!
Being the first cabana on the beach, we had more curiosity seekers that we cared for. One man and woman came up the steps, and tried to use our shower, thinking it was for everyone's use. Another woman came by, and tried to take our floating mats. Lastly, an elderly gentleman, just came up the steps, and proceeded to walk right in, to check and see if the a/c was really working. Some people are just clueless!
We really enjoyed our cabana, and would definatley reserve one again!