Disney Cruise Line’s private island, Castaway Cay, is a small slice of paradise in the Caribbean! On this slice of paradise, Disney added a private getaway where you can escape the crowds of people that you’ve been traveling with on your cruise ship. These private getaways are called Cabanas and they are small cabins placed on a private sections of the family beach and the adult beach. There are twenty regular and one large sized Cabanas on the family beach. We will only be talking about the Cabanas on the family beach as we have never experienced the ones on the adult beach.
Reservation
The Cabanas are available via Disney Cruise Line’s reservation system. That means Concierge guests get the first opportunity to book them at 125 days from sailing. The next group will be the Platinum level Castaway Club cruisers at 120 days, followed by Gold members at 105, then Silver members at 90. If there are any left at that point, first time passengers can reserve them at 75 days from sailing.
We have heard many tales about all the Cabanas being rented by Concierge members and it being a miracle for Platinum members to get them, with little to no hope for Gold or Silver castaway club members to receive them. I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. We have sailed a total of eleven times and have reserved four Cabanas, once as a Silver Castaway Club member, twice as Gold members and once as Platinum. One of the eleven cruises was to Alaska, so reserving a Cabana wasn’t a possibility. So, we’ve had an almost 50% success rate of reserving a Cabana. Our secret is to stay up until midnight of our booking date and attempt to grab one right away. The other technique is to keep checking back multiple times if you aren’t able to get one.
Amenities
The Cabanas at Castaway Cay are open air cabins that are available to rent during the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM. The Cabanas have a private beach that only Cabana guests can access. They also come with unlimited drinks and snacks; the use of snorkel equipment, floats, bike rentals, and beach toys; and a supply of sunscreen. All this, including the first six guests, can be yours for the low price of $599 (or higher during certain parts of the year). Yes, I know that is expensive, if not outrageous. However, it tends to be the only excursion we do on some of our cruises. The adult cabanas include the first four guests and are less expensive at $399.
In addition to the amenities described above, the Cabana rental provides you with other services. The first is a Cabana host. They will transport you via a golf cart around the island (mainly to get lunch or to a tram stop). There are a ton of towels in the Cabana for your party to use that day, including cold washcloths in the mini-fridge for you to use when you want to cool off. The snacks include chips and granola bars, fresh fruits, sodas, and water. I’ve heard you can request certain sodas beforehand, but we’ve never done that. The supply of sunscreen includes spray and lotion, and you can take it with you when you leave for the day. The Cabanas also have sand toys you can use, as well as a huge number of rafts and floats. Cabana guests can take advantage of one hour bicycle rental and also have use of snorkel equipment for the day.
We decided one time to use the snorkel equipment (the girls and I), since we figured it would be a safe learning environment for us. Well, I don’t have any pictures of the experience. My youngest daughter and I didn’t like snorkeling at all. We either weren’t doing it correctly, or just don’t like it. She couldn’t get her mask on quite right and I spent a lot of time helping her with it, while sucking in way too much water. We tried it, but probably won’t repeat it.
The Cabanas are enclosed on three sides and open to the beach and water on the fourth side. Each Cabana includes a loveseat and cushioned chairs which are inside in the shade; a ceiling fan keeps the area cool even in the heat of the summer. There are also cushioned lounge chairs on the Cabana deck overlooking the beach, and each Cabana has its own hammock, sun umbrella, and several beach/lounge chairs on the beach. The Cabana is outfitted with tissues, a safe for valuables ,and power outlets. There are travel magazines in protective covers if you forgot your own reading material. Finally, each Cabana includes a curtained changing area and outdoor showers (which include a foot washing faucet). These feature made it very convenient when running the Castaway Cay 5K so we could change from running clothes into our bathing suits!
Usage
For two of our four Cabana rentals, we have had a Cabana setup waiting in our stateroom the night before before Castaway Cay day. This included a letter telling us all the benefits of the Cabana rental as well as a paper model of the Cabana. The wristbands we would use that indicated we were Cabana guests were included in an envelope. The last Cabana we rented while on a Dream cruise just included the wrist bands.
Getting to the Cabana
The first thing you will encounter when leaving the ship is the Bahamian Inspection Station (I think that’s what its called). I believe they want to make sure you aren’t bringing alcohol onto the island and they check your ID when you get back onto the ship. I don’t quite understand it, since the 99% of the people on the island are the people that just got off the boat (there are only a handful of people that stay on the island overnight).
Once you clear the inspection station, you will see a post office (yes you can mail items back to the US) and the excursion shack (known as Marge’s Barges and Sea Charters Dock). You can check in here if you have boat related excursions.
The first stop is the tram stop. Yes, Disney runs a tram just like at the theme parks. There are three tram stops for the family beaches. You can also get a tram to the adult beach, but you have to transfer at the last family beach stop. To get to the cabanas, you will want to head to the last family beach stop, known as Pelican Point Tram Stop.
Checking In
The Cabana check-in shack is located right next to the last tram stop, Pelican Point. Simply tell the staff which Cabana you have, and show them your wrist bands. They will check your names against the list. They have always offered to drive us in a golf cart down to whichever Cabana we had for the day.
Locations
We have had Cabanas 6, 19, 20 and 23. Cabana 6 is close to the regular family beach, near the rope barrier that separates the family beach from the reserved beach that is limited to Cabana guests. Cabana 19 and 20 are farther from the family beach. However, the lower number Cabanas (which I believe are the original Cabanas) are spaced farther apart than the higher number Cabanas. We felt like we were much more on top of our neighbors in Cabanas 19 and 20 than we were in Cabana 6, especially when we were sitting in the hammock or beach chairs. The other big difference between these Cabanas is the beach experience; the beach near Cabana 19 and 20 is narrow and the lagoon is not as wide or deep as other parts of the beach. Cabana 23 is located on the adult beach.
Pictures of all the cabanas we’ve rented are included below. We have also included pictures of Cabana 21, which is the grand family Cabana. While the regular Cabanas can accommodate up to 10 people (6 are included with the rental price), Cabana 21 can hold up to 16 guests.
Cabana 6
Cabana 19
Here is a time lapse I took of the beach that afternoon:
Cabana 20
Cabana 21
Additional Pictures Courtesy of our friends Doug (from Rope Drop Radio) and Michelle McKnight (our favorite travel agent)!
Cabana 23 (Adult Beach)
Unlike the family cabanas, there is no separate section of the beach for cabanas guests. The cabanas are set back off the beach.
The cabana was very similar to the cabanas on the family beach.
It has all the amenities of the family cabana, including sun screen and fruit tray.
The fridge was stocked with sodas and waters.
There is a safe and the cabanas has plenty of towels.
There is a lot of seating (more than three adults could actually use at one time).
There is a hammock as well. Near the hammock is the fresh water shower and a stack of floats for use by the cabanas guests.
Here is the view of the beach from the adult cabana.
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