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Harvest Caye Cabanas

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Isla's Mom

Isla's Mom

Posted
Posted (edited)
Do we bring towels from the ship or are they supplied with? Is there water in the cabana or that is a purchase for as well...Thanks!

 

 

When we went last November the cabana was supplied with water and towels. There was no charge for these items.

 

 

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Edited by Isla's Mom
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Uniall

Uniall

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Posted
I guess we were fortunate! We also had a large plate of fruit' date=' cheese and bread.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

We didn't get bread or fruit but I did get to bring 10 guests.

That was a good trade off for me.

 

Seriously, I don't think people should bring towels, just in case.

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tmilak

tmilak

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Posted

I have booked a beach villa for April cruise on the Jade and are having second thoughts since we are only there from 7am - 1pm. By the time we get out to the cabana it will probably be 9am and we will probably be heading back by 12 noon. I am struggling with spending $475 for 3 hours of use. For those of you that have had the cabana do you really think it was that special???

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craig-n-carol

craig-n-carol

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Not sure if anyone is reporting back on the pool cabanas but we just had one. It's only $199 and if you're not going to be there for very long, it might do you good to book one. The service was great, it came with a sectional sofa, two loungers, water and towels. The butler service was prompt, although a little pricey the drinks and food were good. I think we had about four drinks each and two meals and it came to about $100. Mind you there are only two of us, but we saw people bring in chairs from the pool and 8 to 10 people were crowding into more than one. They also let us use our on board account, and charged it to our room. The Butler's bring food and drink from the land shark bar and Grill. Your wrist bands we're also good at the land shark bar and Grill if you chose to go there and the in pool bar. Any other shopping on the island was cash or credit card.

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TVLady3

TVLady3

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Posted
Not sure if anyone is reporting back on the pool cabanas but we just had one. It's only $199 and if you're not going to be there for very long, it might do you good to book one. The service was great, it came with a sectional sofa, two loungers, water and towels. The butler service was prompt, although a little pricey the drinks and food were good. I think we had about four drinks each and two meals and it came to about $100. Mind you there are only two of us, but we saw people bring in chairs from the pool and 8 to 10 people were crowding into more than one. They also let us use our on board account, and charged it to our room. The Butler's bring food and drink from the land shark bar and Grill. Your wrist bands we're also good at the land shark bar and Grill if you chose to go there and the in pool bar. Any other shopping on the island was cash or credit card.

 

Thanks for this info. How are you given your pool cabana assignment ? First come, first served or given a number beforehand and can you request a certain one? Which one do you think is the best?

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craig-n-carol

craig-n-carol

Posted
Posted
Thanks for this info. How are you given your pool cabana assignment ? First come, first served or given a number beforehand and can you request a certain one? Which one do you think is the best?

 

When you arrive there is an attendant that shows you to your pre-assigned cabana. They introduce your butler for the day, and other staff that will assist you in anything you need. They gave history of the island, Belize itself, and had a map and a booklet for the area that was placed on a small table in the cabana. The experience was quite nice. I would say we had a sizable crowd on the island that day, being that we were on the Getaway, and there were only about half of the cabanas in use that day. I suppose if you wanted a certain one that was not already assigned, they would accommodate you. But this is only speculation.

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pliskin

pliskin

Posted
Posted

Thanks to everyone for all the great responses. I have a few questions...

 

Do the ships dock or are there tenders? I'll be on one of the big ones, the getaway, if that makes a difference.

 

My folks are at the age where they are starting to have some mobility issues.

 

Are there any options to get to the cabana/villa check in? Like in some ports they have the 2 person bicycle rickshaw thingys. It sounds like they have a golf cart shuttle that takes you from check in to the villa but I'm not clear on how much walking is involved before you get to the check in.

 

I have heard rumors that you can take a shuttle from the villa to other parts of the island. Like if my folks wanted to do some shopping or go to the nature preserve. If that is true, do they pick you up and take you back too?

 

How does one get to the top of the zip line light house tower? Stairs?

 

Can you preorder food? Like have some beers and snacks in the villa before you arrive?

 

Can you book more than one villa per stateroom? Looks like I may need to book 3 villas. Yikes.

 

I assume one can go freely from villa to villa if you have a wrist band.

 

Is there cell signal on the island? Don't get me wrong, disconnecting is my favorite part of cruising but I have my folks on my plan with international roaming and we use it to keep in touch in ports of call. We used to use walkie-talkies in port which 3/4 of this message board hated...so its an improvement. :-)

 

Villas aside, did the pool and other non-villa areas seem crowded? It doesn't seem like it from what I've seen. I was recently in Amber Cove in the DR and the pool and area around it was packed to the gills, worse than on ship.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

EDIT: Damn, I just noticed all our signatures got nuked when they changed to the new forum software. Mildly annoying.

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EmeraldCoastCruisers

EmeraldCoastCruisers

Posted
Posted
Thanks to everyone for all the great responses. I have a few questions...

 

Do the ships dock or are there tenders? I'll be on one of the big ones, the getaway, if that makes a difference. We were on the first ship that went to the Island (NCL Dawn, November 2016) and there are no tenders as it's a large dock the ship pulls in to. I'm expecting the same for a larger ship too, but don't know for sure.

 

My folks are at the age where they are starting to have some mobility issues. The walk was quite LONG so mobility can be an issue if they aren't with wheel chairs. I didn't see a bike taxi like in other ports. I'm not sure if that's changed. It was SO NEW they were still ironing out the kinks in this port.

 

Are there any options to get to the cabana/villa check in? Like in some ports they have the 2 person bicycle rickshaw thingys. It sounds like they have a golf cart shuttle that takes you from check in to the villa but I'm not clear on how much walking is involved before you get to the check in. I can't answer anything related to the cabana. We live at the beach (on Emerald seas) so this was not important to us.

 

I have heard rumors that you can take a shuttle from the villa to other parts of the island. Like if my folks wanted to do some shopping or go to the nature preserve. If that is true, do they pick you up and take you back too? Not sure about this either as we just walked around.

 

How does one get to the top of the zip line light house tower? Stairs? Zip line wasn't working for us yet so can't answer this either.

 

Can you preorder food? Like have some beers and snacks in the villa before you arrive? Not sure!

 

Can you book more than one villa per stateroom? Looks like I may need to book 3 villas. Yikes. Not sure!

 

I assume one can go freely from villa to villa if you have a wrist band. ???

 

Is there cell signal on the island? Don't get me wrong, disconnecting is my favorite part of cruising but I have my folks on my plan with international roaming and we use it to keep in touch in ports of call. We used to use walkie-talkies in port which 3/4 of this message board hated...so its an improvement. :-) I believe there is, but not 100% certain. I can tell you many were walking around with their cell phones. I completely shut down on cruises myself.

 

Villas aside, did the pool and other non-villa areas seem crowded? It doesn't seem like it from what I've seen. I was recently in Amber Cove in the DR and the pool and area around it was packed to the gills, worse than on ship. The pool area was quite large with ample space for walking, sitting and relaxing and swimming! The beach to us was not the prettiest. But again, we live on the Emerald Coast with soft white sandy beaches.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

EDIT: Damn, I just noticed all our signatures got nuked when they changed to the new forum software. Mildly annoying.

 

I placed answers to as many questions as possible in RED. ;)

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pliskin

pliskin

Posted
Posted
It is NOT! Or wasn't when we were there. We were the FIRST Ship that was brought to HC and we had the beverage package on the ship. It was not offered on the Island.

 

It may have been mentioned earlier but the issue is that unlike Great Stirrup Caye, NCL does not own the island. As I understand it, Harvest Caye is a partnership between NCL and the government of Belize so offering free drinks (via UBP) or free food would cut into the government's part of the profits. I'll see if I can dig up any info on that.

 

To me its just like going to Chankanaab in Cozumel except I don't need to get a cab.

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pliskin

pliskin

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the answers you were able to provide.

 

The beach to us was not the prettiest. But again, we live on the Emerald Coast with soft white sandy beaches. ;)

 

I live in LA so I have Malibu, etc. So beaches aren't a big draw for me either but other members of my family don't live near one and cruising is about being with family.

 

For what its worth, I don't believe there was a single beach on Harvest Caye as it was a huge mangrove forest. The beaches there now are all sand that was dredged up from the lagoon and most likely, will erode and they'll need to dredge for more sand again. Just like Dubai.

 

Still, a private beach front Villa looks like an awesome way to spend the day. Count me in!

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Uniall

Uniall

Posted
Posted
Thanks to everyone for all the great responses. I have a few questions...

 

Do the ships dock or are there tenders? I'll be on one of the big ones, the getaway, if that makes a difference.

 

My folks are at the age where they are starting to have some mobility issues.

 

Are there any options to get to the cabana/villa check in? Like in some ports they have the 2 person bicycle rickshaw thingys. It sounds like they have a golf cart shuttle that takes you from check in to the villa but I'm not clear on how much walking is involved before you get to the check in.

 

I have heard rumors that you can take a shuttle from the villa to other parts of the island. Like if my folks wanted to do some shopping or go to the nature preserve. If that is true, do they pick you up and take you back too?

 

How does one get to the top of the zip line light house tower? Stairs?

 

Can you preorder food? Like have some beers and snacks in the villa before you arrive?

 

Can you book more than one villa per stateroom? Looks like I may need to book 3 villas. Yikes.

 

I assume one can go freely from villa to villa if you have a wrist band.

 

Is there cell signal on the island? Don't get me wrong, disconnecting is my favorite part of cruising but I have my folks on my plan with international roaming and we use it to keep in touch in ports of call. We used to use walkie-talkies in port which 3/4 of this message board hated...so its an improvement. :-)

 

Villas aside, did the pool and other non-villa areas seem crowded? It doesn't seem like it from what I've seen. I was recently in Amber Cove in the DR and the pool and area around it was packed to the gills, worse than on ship.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

EDIT: Damn, I just noticed all our signatures got nuked when they changed to the new forum software. Mildly annoying.

 

 

Mobility issues are not a problem with Villa. The crew will push wheel chairs the length of the pier to the Villa check in. Then you get on a 8 passenger golf cart and/or pushed "dune buggy" wheel chair with over sized wheels to take the gravel/sand path to the Villa. Or, you can be pushed on black top paths all the way.

 

The pool and "tent" cabanas area was NOT crowded.

 

No need to pre order food & drinks. Upon arrival your butler will meet you and go over the villa menu with you. He will fill and deliver your order from an adjacent "Villa Only" restaurant/bar.

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js

js

Posted
Posted
In November, we were taken by golf cart from the ship to the cabana check in, and then by another golf cart from there to our cabana.

 

 

 

Once at the cabana, a golf cart will take you to other places on the island as desired. :)

 

 

This was the same for us in February.

 

 

 

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Samstress

Samstress

Posted
Posted

Do the ships dock or are there tenders? I'll be on one of the big ones, the getaway, if that makes a difference.

I think you will definitely dock. But you should be able to get that info from your itinerary (hopefully).

 

My folks are at the age where they are starting to have some mobility issues.

My sister had broken her foot while on the cruise so mobility was a huge issue for us. There is a shuttle that runs from the boat to the main gate & then there is a very short walk to the large 'golf' cart that takes you directly to your Cabana.

 

Are there any options to get to the cabana/villa check in? Like in some ports they have the 2 person bicycle rickshaw thingys. It sounds like they have a golf cart shuttle that takes you from check in to the villa but I'm not clear on how much walking is involved before you get to the check in.

Very little walking required.

 

I have heard rumors that you can take a shuttle from the villa to other parts of the island. Like if my folks wanted to do some shopping or go to the nature preserve. If that is true, do they pick you up and take you back too?

This I'm not sure of because we didn't do it. But we did notice that the 'golf' carts and the drivers seemed to be waiting in an area at the end of the cabanas so I'm sure they would do that if you wanted.

 

How does one get to the top of the zip line light house tower? Stairs?

I'm pretty sure it was a climb to get to the top.

Can you preorder food? Like have some beers and snacks in the villa before you arrive?

We had bottles of water waiting for us when we arrived & our butler delivered a cheese tray. Other than that we just ordered drinks & food off the menu provided in the cabana & the wait time was minimal! As a matter of fact the service was so good that I felt like I had a magic pina colada glass (it was never empty;)).

 

Can you book more than one villa per stateroom? Looks like I may need to book 3 villas. Yikes.

You could probably book as many as you want.

 

I assume one can go freely from villa to villa if you have a wrist band.

The Cabanas are in a private beach front roped off area ...so you could definitely wander between them.

 

Is there cell signal on the island? Don't get me wrong, disconnecting is my favorite part of cruising but I have my folks only plan with international roaming and we use it to keep in touch in ports of call. We used to use walkie-talkies in port which 3/4 of this message board hated...so its an improvement. :-)

There was really good wifi signal in the Cabana. I'm not sure about the rest of the Island.

Villas aside, did the pool and other non-villa areas seem crowded? It doesn't seem like it from what I've seen. I was recently in Amber Cove in the DR and the pool and area around it was packed to the gills, worse than on ship.

The pools didn't seem crowded when we were there. But we didn't use the pool...we used the ocean in front of our Cabana:-)

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

EDIT: Damn, I just noticed all our signatures got nuked when they changed to the new forum software. Mildly annoying.

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Uniall

Uniall

Posted
Posted

You guys could do a stand up comedy routine. There hasn't been a comic trio since The Marx Brothers or the 3 stooges. The cabanas rent for the duration of your stay in port for a flat rate to be used by a maximum of up to 6 persons.

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