jeffmarshall911

I've scoured various sources and cannot seem to find any pictures, or qualify if any work was done in 8530 (Roy O Suite) at the recent upfit.

Any recent trip reports?

TIA,

/Jeff

@marley, cabanas are available for any passenger party based upon availability at your booking window. In fact, we had booked the cabana before we upgraded to the suite.

@karin5, best of luck!

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I agree with above, good logistical moves there.

One note, day of cruise rental returns can be hectic. I'm corporate so I pull in and walk away from the rental direct to the bus (no waiting for car check in). If FIL wants to meet you at Alamo on the way back to the hotel then you avoid the whole potential bus fiasco there and no one is solo in transition.

/Jeff

3 more shots.

This is standing on the beach at the umbrella looking up the path to the cabana. While you can see my wife standing there, you can tell that it's rather secluded from the beach area.

The corral of mats and floats which were at every other cabana. No shortage at all. You can also see that you cannot view the neighbor's cabana areas.

We had to walk over to get snorkeling equipment and we simply showed our wristbands. Same with the bikes (after signing the waiver).

Here is the welcome sign starting to get washed away with our tears when we had to leave.

Just kidding. There was a short rain shower that passed through just before lunch which brings me to the pros/cons of the cabana.

PROS:

- it's your place and just for you; sit in the sun, sit in the shade, sleep on the couch, do whatever.

- a place to put your stuff, change in/out of swim clothes.

- shower to rinse any time/many times.

- included towels (but bring some from ship to wrap any wet stuff back), they want the cabana towels to stay on the island.

- easily 200 yards of beach occupied by, at most, 216 guests and a lifeguard. (Our last visit to CC on the Fantasy, I think I could have swung a dead cat and hit that many people at mid-day on the family beach.)

- Too hot, too cold, too windy, too whatever - just go back to the cabana

- no rushing to get off the boat for an umbrella or key spot on the beach first thing in the AM.

- very short walk to bathrooms and cookies 2

- short walk to bike rental, tram stop and snorkel rental

- Pelican Plunge is right there as well.

CONS:

- longer walk to snorkeling area

- Very very difficult to leave at the end of the day.

- we saw the photographer and then he was gone never to come back. Get (or request) your pictures get done ASAP from the photogs or set a reservation with them.

In all seriousness, this was our first time at CC where we stayed to the very end of the day (our 6th trip). We weren't the last but we were darn near close to the last people back on the boat. The cabana was our own little haven away from the noise & crowd and will reserve one every trip from this point on - it was *that* relaxing and carefree. Even with 9 people.

Since our DD and our friend's DD had made friends, here is the answer to the inevitable question of, "what if they have friends that they want to bring to the cabana?".

Are they going to be there all day, drinking soda, using towels, pressing the attendant button, etc.???? Then spend the $50 for the wrist band for them and be done with it (or have their parents pay).

For a quick visit or chill on the beach for an hour? In my opinion, it's no big deal to have them come in via the back gate with one of the kids. My DD wandered the whole time to the hideaway and different places anyhow and she brought a friend back after lunch and they chilled on the beach for a bit.

Wave phones worked for calls and texts but did get noticeably worse service inside the cabana (ostensibly due to metal roof).

355 days away from the Fantasy...

That's all,

/Jeff

Continuing...

And another lounger. Note the steps to the path to the beach. Also the shower is mounted on the outside of the tall post with a foot wash as well.

This is a shot from inside the cabana to down the beach path. You can clearly see the shower head in the upper right off the tall post and the small table with the complimentary sunscreen; spray and lotion, both SPF50. There is the sail cloth providing shade over the deck.

Hammock off the left of the stairs, teenage boy not for sale.

Plenty of seating for the 10 as allowed by DCL.

/Jeff

Continuing....

Looking inside from the back door this was the initial view. Immediately on the right is a small closet, a table that made an excellent bar, the fridge that has a top to it with the basket of snacks and fruit tray. There is a US power outlet under the table. The small box with the hole on it on the wall above the fridge is the attendant call button if you need more of anything.

(sorry about the angle of the pic, dunno what I was doing)

Stepping in the door immediately on the left is the couch. Of note in this picture is the curtain in the corner - this is the changing area. There is a curved shower rod-like pipe that allows this corner to be used as a changing area. Its enough room and unless there is hurricane winds, private enough.

Looking back at the closet with it's safe and plenty of storage for bags.

Another shot of the fridge and it's contents. Water, soda, ice, and chilled washclothes. If you have good eyes, you'll see club soda, pineapple juice cans and other stuff; we brought all that. There is more towels in the basket under the table. (Since the sun was coming in on the fridge we ended up hanging a towel in front of it until it passed)

Another picture.

This was the lounge on the deck, it's actually two pushed together. You can also see the bi-fold doors behind the lounge. These close off the cabana entirely for ultimate privacy as so desired.

/Jeff

We did the cabana this trip as we were sailing with another family, bringing our total to 9. In this itinerary CC was our last cruising day and we wanted it to be the capstone to our trip.

Every so often we see on this forum questions like, "is it worth it?" and other similar thoughts. Without question, a full day on CC with the cabana makes for a very special day in your own little world with none of busyness of the family beaches.

We had cabana #6. I've taken some pictures and will make appropriate comments along the way.

The evening before, we received our wristbands in this envelop on our fish. The wristbands are plastic with the snap closure and not the paper (like tyvek) with adhesive so they last easily all day and weren't in the way or uncomfortable.

We also received this brochure letting us know what was expected of our cabana visit (note the different cabana numbers between the envelop and brochure).

We followed the directions and hopped on the tram to the second stop. There is a cabana check-in right there but we had our wristbands already on so one of the drivers immediately grabbed us and taxied us to the cabana in a golf cart skipping the check-in. The check-in seemed redundant to me if you already know where to rent things and where to get lunch and drinks.

We're taxied down a short path that runs behind the cabanas (assume the beach-side is the front) and were dropped off our doorstep, greeted by this sign.

The back path is the shortest distance from the cabana to the shore-side services such as bathrooms, cookies 2, bike and water rentals. While there is a gate and signs warning "cabana guests only" there is no guard per se. We didn't see many wanderers but there was a few that walked down the paths. There was enough cast-members around so I don't imagine that this is a big issue. The beach-side is roped/fenced off and there was a guard there so that people didn't wash over into the cabana beach area.

This is not a formal survey but Cabanas 1-12 generally faced the main lagoon where the other ones more generally faced the sea wall. They are all positioned in slightly different manners so that if you are sitting on your porch you generally cannot see your neighbors on each side further obscured by plants, trees and shrubbery. #6 was entirely private to each side as were most of the others.

The newest cabanas(#18+), most especially the grand family are wide open on the sand (no trees/shrubbery to speak of) facing the sea wall with it's own beach and very shallow water at low tide. I suspect that they will get the full shrubbery treatment soon enough (although the grand family one is pretty high off the ground).

This is the back door entrance to the cabana. There is a rope tie to keep the door open. It's otherwise on a spring to stay closed normally. I had it open as the dominate breeze that day was coming from the rear.

2 very sturdy steps up.

/Jeff

That's very good news, my wife wasn't too concerned about pre-trip notice (being sensitive over autoimmune) but clearly calling DCL in advance is the best mechanism to making sure you have a fulfilling trip. I'm glad to hear from DaliaRW that this was available.

Always check the latest from the carrier before you travel. Excluding phone calls, St. Thomas is considered domestic text and data for Verizon as of this week, I was there on Tuesday and no surprises. Use http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/tripplanner/tripplannercontroller to find the latest.

The phone shows as roaming so you must turn on roaming data to use the data - it was only basic data speeds (1x) so grabbing any of the numerous wifi locations was the way to success if you want to really use data services on your phone. Phone calls are $1.99 minute in or out.

I've not been to Puerto Rico but Verizon shows this area as full domestic. This doesn't mean the phone won't show "roaming" on the screen as above.

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http://www.ziplinestthomas.com/ is what we just did on Tuesday. We booked through the cruise line and the prices were comparable to booking direct. I *think* that this is the only zipline operation in St Thomas. Very professional operation and worth the price. The wife is not a fan of heights but the 6 lines get progressively more extreme (and fun!) - she had a blast.

We met about 100 meters from the ship at 'de lime in da coconut' bar, signed releases and they put us in a van/taxi. Exciting ride up the hill to their operation, briefing, harnessed up, and another exciting ride further up the hill off-road in an all-wheel drive military vehicle and away we went. Probably the best views on the island.

They put us in a taxi back to the bar and $2 off coupons for the bar for a drink and plenty of time to walk to town for shopping. Perfect excursion for the family and we will do it again our next time there. It was $124 per each from the cruise line.

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We saw a family carry on their own luggage. I have no idea what the process was at security - the bags were very large, if they went through the scanner then they must have barely fit. I suspect that this is not encouraged by DCL but there was clearly a process that handled families carrying "everything" on.

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Just got off the Fantasy and my wife is gluten sensitive. They were very accommodating at dinners for her (make note on the first night or call in advance of the trip) and there were plenty of options, including taking meals like a seafood pasta and putting the entree over rice instead.

What we did find is that they had no GF pasta, breads, cookies, pizza or cakes. While plenty of other options at Cabanas, late night dining was interesting as outside of room service, it was limited. There was a very good grilled chicken sandwich at Flo's - marinated Chix and no breading. Obviously no bun, but the condiment bar had plenty of lettuce, etc. to make a solid snack/meal.

We were a bit surprised that Disney wasn't as in front of GF dietary needs as much as we're finding the US mainland restaurants are. There are many options, but nothing indicating a focus or intent towards real solutions.

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Going on 5th disney cruise in 45 days. In prior cruises we go to the local grocery store at Cocoa Beach on morning of departure and buy a case of water for $8ish, we bring clear packing tape and tape the luggage tag to it and make a convenient carrying handle with the tape as well.

Shows up at our room each time.

We did one cruise with RCI on FOS did the same thing with warnings against it from frequent RCI cruisers that we were with and also no issue.

I have no fear of the water on board and we save the bottles and refill the whole time. It's just nice to have screw-top/sports bottles to stuff in the bag during the day and no worry of loss/misplacement from the kids. Tervis cups are reserved for alcohol.

The way I look at it is that I'm only out $8 and some tape if it doesn't work. I think the handles go a long way towards success as well.

/Jeff