Small Cabana on GSC?

[cloudsail]

Has anyone reserved a small cabana on GSC before and what did you think? Was it convenient? Would you do it again? Nice private place to relax? No different from sitting on the free loungers and total waste of money?

 

For context, we will be cruising with two young children and plan to spend the stops at GSC mostly playing on the beach with a little snorkeling. We'll be stopping at GSC twice and we have a $50 shore excursion credit, so thinking about maybe using it toward a cabana on one of those days (or both?).

[tallnthensome]

We felt it was worth it.... and that depends on what you pay as the price varies. We sailed there in late August on the Sun. I paid $249 for the small cabana. I had my family of four. It was nice to have a clean comfy place to relax and some shade from the elements. We had a couple of brief few minute long showers so we were protected. The cabanas come with bottled-water and a server to get you drinks. We also had a place to eat lunch and there is a clean rinse shower on the back side to clean off. The cabanas come with four floatIng mats. Many people asked where where got them as you had to rent them if you didn’t buy a cabana. Some turds attempted to take my kids to no avail ...... you get priority tendering as its an excursion from the ship as well. They drive you to and from the cabanas. Yes, it was great ....for $249. I’ve seen prices around $549 on spring break .....YMMV. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by tallnthensome

[droundtheworld]

Pay 299.00 for the Villa's.  Much nicer than the Cabanas.  The villas are air conditioned, have bathrooms/showers, and a nice buffet.  They also come with mat and private swimming area.  

[cloudsail]

Thanks, I didn't know that the price actually varies. For our sailing, the small cabana is $199, so after the $50 credit it would be $149. I'm not sure that I'm willing to pay $100 more for a villa though. It seems kind of silly to stop at a private island and basically buy a hotel room to stay in for the day.

 

Since we are stopping at GSC twice, my thinking is that maybe we should reserve the cabana for our second stop, since the first time we might want to spend our time exploring the island and snorkeling. Also since the first stop will be the second day of the cruise, I have doubts about how early we'll actually be able to get off the boat, what with jetlag and red-eye flight and all. (Kids sleep schedules get thrown off even by an hour of daylight savings adjustment twice a year.)

[ashleyriley]

Villa pricing I saw recently was $699 for cruises I was looking at. As another poster stated,  prices vary with each cruise.  Small cabana was $349. I would have loved to book a villa at $299. 

[cloudsail]

Wow, that's quite the price fluctuation. Maybe it's like how they price the cruises, based on supply and demand? I guess since it's their island, NCL can do whatever they want.

[Mikkar]

How do you find out how much the cabana is on your cruise. I searched on "Explore and Plan" and couldn't find that option.

[brookie848]

We did a small cabana a few years ago. We found the water nearest the cabanas very difficult to get  in and out of because of rocks. We were grateful for the cabana because GSC was extremely crowded that day (two ships, including the Escape).

 

We also were not fans of the long walk to get to the cabanas. It was not paved for part of it, so it made walking especially difficult for my husband who is color blind and has a hard time identifying ruts/holes in sand. This meant we didn't explore the island as much as we may have.

 

If the price works for you, it is something to take into consideration.

[PTC DAWG]

Had a small cabana in August...was nice, we had a few showers....good drink service.  I would do it again.  Had a fan, wasn't far to the restrooms, there was an outdoor shower on the back for rinsing off.  Came with floats on hangers on the back of the cabana.  Cabana #11 I believe.  

Edited October 18, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, Mikkar said:

How do you find out how much the cabana is on your cruise. I searched on "Explore and Plan" and couldn't find that option.

Did you look under shore excursions? If your cruise date is way out they may not even be listed yet ..... or if you booked late and sail soon they could already be sold out as there are only a handful on GSC.

Edited October 18, 2019 by tallnthensome

[cloudsail]

2 hours ago, Mikkar said:

How do you find out how much the cabana is on your cruise. I searched on "Explore and Plan" and couldn't find that option.

Mine is listed under shore excursions.

[Greenpea2]

The villas are $599 for the 2/23/20 cruise. The cabanas are not listed yet. I'm betting they want to try and unload the Villas first!

[mking8288]

Small cabanas for the upcoming, non-holiday Gem sailing is $299, look under Shorex ... listed there, still available. Mega ship prices & demand are higher. As always, YMMV.

Edited October 18, 2019 by mking8288

[GA Dave]

Our pool cabana on Harvest Caye was definitely worth the money.  The service was excellent, had a nice picnic table to eat lunch at, was steps from the outer bar and restrooms, etc.  Definitely better than sitting with the masses!

Edited October 18, 2019 by GA Dave

[cloudsail]

5 hours ago, brookie848 said:

We did a small cabana a few years ago. We found the water nearest the cabanas very difficult to get  in and out of because of rocks. We were grateful for the cabana because GSC was extremely crowded that day (two ships, including the Escape).

 

We also were not fans of the long walk to get to the cabanas. It was not paved for part of it, so it made walking especially difficult for my husband who is color blind and has a hard time identifying ruts/holes in sand. This meant we didn't explore the island as much as we may have.

 

If the price works for you, it is something to take into consideration.

Thanks very much for this. You've helped me decide to just do the cabana on the second stop, instead of both stops.

[jhawknj]

For the Dec 13 cruise to the Bahamas I got a small cabana for $399  3 of us went in on it so it was only $133 each person. The dumb thing I did was I charged and paid for it I forgot about my $50 credit so I hope after we have our GSC day they add $50 of OBC to my account I will find something to spend it on.