crusingchicks

Can't wait for the next post

I tried to write my review on the Carnival website; however, despite following every guideline provided, they refused to publish my review. I only wished I had save a copy but nonetheless, I will try my best to remember what I wrote and express it here.

 

My husband and I sailed on the Carnival Glory in April of this year (2014). Isla Roatan was our last stop and we wanted to do something relaxing. Carnival offered a shore excursion called "Beach Cabana Rental". It's $225.99 for a maximum of 4 guests per cabana. It was a little pricey but it was appealing because of the description, which said the cabana was located on a semi-private stretch of beach. We were anxious to leave the crowded beach behind so we splurged and booked it.

 

When we arrived, we took the "magical chair lift" over to the beach (the cost was included in our cabana rental). It was a slow ride but nice as you got a bird's eye view of the island. We were the first to arrive of those who had rented the cabanas and they put us in the first cabana next to the fence that separated our section of "semi-private" beach from the public beach (more on that in a bit). Upon arriving, we thought we had landed in paradise. The area was just beautiful!!

 

The cabana was also nice; small but we weren't planning on hanging out inside all day. It was fully air-conditioned and provided a nice reprieve from the hot day. It had two small sofas (more like loveseats), a chair, table and safe. There are no washrooms in the actual cabanas but public washrooms were located just behind the cabanas and they were very clean. There was a outdoor shower between our cabana and the one next to ours, which was great for rinsing off sand and salt! The cabana came with loungers on it's small deck, loungers on the beach, a hammock and regular chairs, so there were many options for basking in the sun. In addition, we also got two kinds of water floats to use in the ocean. The stretch of beach was GORGEOUS and the water was perfect!

 

There was a waiter who would take our order for drinks and food, both of which were great but a bit pricey. Service was quick but more often than not, we had to go looking for the waiter. There was one security guard when we arrived. Mid-way through the day he left for what I assume was his break and another guy arrived. The second guy was not very effective in his job but I will get to that shortly.

 

What you should know if you're booking this shore excursion is that the advertised "semi-private beach", while not crowded, is not really "semi-private" either. There are fences on either side to act as a separator from the public beach but the fences do not extend into the water so they did not stop anyone from walking onto the semi-private stretch of beach. There were signs posted on the fences but they were barely visible and people ignored them. We thought that there would be a security guard posted on each side by the fence to act as a deterrent but they didn't do this, in fact, there was only one guard there for the majority of the day and he sat on the deck of one of the cabanas looking at things on his phone.

 

There were only two other cabanas rented that day so our section of the beach was definitely quieter and you had a lot of space with your hammock and loungers but you did have people walking by constantly. We learned upon arriving that the area directly in front of our cabana (20ft or so) was private (i.e. no one was allowed to set up for the day there on a towel or anything like that); however, the distance between where that boundary ended and the ocean's edge, was fair game for anyone. People could walk along, think this was a nice stretch and set up shop for the day in front of the area of our cabana. It seemed odd to us and definitely not what we were expecting. I mean, obviously we understood that they couldn't tell someone not to swim in the section of ocean directly in front of our cabana but I did think the section of beach would have been roped off somehow... given it was supposed to be "semi-private".

 

Now, we would have been fine if it had just been foot traffic all day. However, what we were not fine with, was people coming up onto the area of our cabana (that was supposed to be "private") and using the things that were provided for us in our rental rate. What compounded the issue was that the security guard did nothing about it!

 

When the second security guard came on shift, he sat on the patio of the cabana furthest away from ours. He seemed more interested in playing with his cell phone than he did in doing his job. My husband and I went swimming and while we were out in the water, we noticed this couple walking towards our cabana. They proceeded to take pictures of themselves sitting on our chairs, hanging out in our hammock (on my towel) and then they basically planted themselves directly in front of our cabana for about 20-30 minutes. They even stayed when we got out of the ocean and went into our cabana to check on our stuff. The security guard saw this but did nothing until finally I went down and asked him if he would ask them to leave. I was so annoyed that I had to ask him to do his job. I'm not sure if he was lazy or afraid to tell people they couldn't hang out. Either way, it was not satisfactory.

 

If that had been the only incident, we could have overlooked it, but it wasn't. For the rest of the day, we had to deal with people coming from the public beach onto the "semi-private" stretch then up to our cabana, trying to use our chairs and our floats. At one point, a man took one of our chairs and brought it down to the water's edge to sit on. My husband had to go down and tell him that the chair was part of our rental and that he had to give it back. It was uncomfortable and not something we should have had to do after paying $225.99.

 

At another point during the day, a woman walking by picked up and walked away with one of the floats belonging to another family who had a cabana rented. The father from that family had to chase her down to get the float back. It was just ridiculous. And my annoyance was not just with the security guards, it was with the people who were doing this. I know you could say that they did not know any better but even when they were told the difference, they seemed annoyed that they weren't getting to hang out there or use the items for free. I heard someone say "What? Are they special or something?" I had to do everything in my power to say "No, we're not special but we did cough up over $200 to get these extra perks so bugger off!" If the security guards had been posted on either end of the semi-private stretch of beach, I think all these incidents could have been avoided or at least lessened.

 

The first security guard finally came back from break and he was slightly more effective but not to the point where we felt comfortable leaving our belongings unattended, which was one of the main draws of purchasing this rental in the first place.

 

So, to summarize, the cabanas are a great idea for a family with kids, they are great to store your belongings and to get changed during the day. The air conditioning in our cabana was really cold so that allowed us a break from the heat when we needed it. The food and drinks were good but somewhat pricey. We obviously had some issues with the security and didn't really like leaving our stuff unattended. That said, the stretch of beach we were on was quieter than the public beach. The beach loungers were placed within the 20 ft or so of "private" space and they were a nice distance from one another, meaning you were NOT on top of your neighbor. The hammock was divine! The whole beach (semi-private and public) calmed down later in the afternoon and when it did, we got to enjoy some of the quiet beach time that we had been expecting.

 

Would I rent again? I'm not sure. If the security was better and we had kids with us, then we would definitely consider it but it was pricey and we did have issues so I cannot say for sure if we would. What I would advise for sure is that if you do have a cabana rented, get there early and request (demand) one of the middle cabanas (or at least one that was not right next to the fence) and I would probably request one furthest from the busiest stretch of public beach (i.e. furthest from the cruise ships).

 

Despite the issues we had, Mahogany Bay Beach was beautiful and we really did not want to leave the area. Thankfully the afternoon panned out better than the morning and we did get to relax and enjoy it.

Thank you so much for the review. I know the Carnival website soft soaps most reviews. They put in a few negatives just to make it look good. We rented 2 cabana's for our cruise in Oct. We are a party of 6. So thanks for the heads up about the guards. I would think they would have gotten the picture after you had to speak to them once. So it's your opinion that we should get 2 cabanas (next to each other) in the middle of the pack?

Thanks for the info.

Hi everyone,

Love this thread. I started (again :rolleyes:) 3/13 and I have lost 14 pounds so far. The more the better before my 5/19/12 cruise on Dream