Protecting stuff in cabana on HMC

[Firefighters Mom]

I posed this question while on another thread and can't find it. We have booked the purple cabana for our January cruise. It's just DH and myself. What do you do with your stuff if you want to go horseback riding, stingray cove, etc.? What is to stop someone from just walking up, helping themselves to a coke and some of your food and sitting down for awhile; or "borrowing" the snorkeling equip in the cabana that is provided for you. I am usually not one to be cynical, but I am amazed at how forward some people are. I have read on these boards that some people just walk up and start using your shower, etc. This is the one big thing we are spending money on and I don't want to return from somewhere and find all of our drinks for the day gone. Any suggestions?

[debjo]

For Firefighter's Mom...

We had a cabana a couple over from yours & further down the beach. We had always planned to book the Butler Upgrade (and did), and when I became concerned, as you are, about our "stuff" when we would be off on the Horseback Riding Excursion or swimming in the water; I was glad that we had our plans in place to have the Butler. We were also sharing the cabana with my cousins, so it was never really left unattended.

 

We didn't have any problems with "interlopers", but my sister had problems with one irrate lady trying to take over my sister's prebooked clamshell when she wasn't there to "defend" it. Fortunately, my cousin's husband was handy to "stand guard".

 

Here's a few thoughts and suggestions:

1. You might want to check your cruise's Roll Call Board to see if there would be any compatible couple that would like to share your cabana (and of course the expense of it).

 

2. Will your ship be the only one at HMC? (On our cruise, some of the problems might have been because we were sharing that slice of paradise with another HAL ship and it was a bit crowded.)

 

3. There are cupboards at the rear of the cabana...one is to house the refrigerator, the middle one has shelves that you can stick your "stuff" onto, and the end one houses the trash can. There aren't any locks on these cupboards, but it can keep your "stuff" out of sight.

 

4. There is less "beach" traffic the further you go down the beach, so I felt that the further down the beach your cabana is, the less problems you might have with people trying to infringe upon your piece of HMC real estate.

 

5. If you can swing it, you might seriously want to consider the Butler Upgrade. We found it VERY worthwhile, but then there were four of us that split the cost.

 

6. There is a tarp affixed to the front face of the cabana that is rolled up. I've seen some people roll it down to keep the cool air-conditioned air "inside". If you are away from your cabana, you might want to roll the tarp down...it might help keep nosey people out. Unfortunately, it is hard to keep people away from using your shower or beach toys when the cabana is unattended. HAL really needs to address this. I think they should put up signs on the fronts of the cabanas that clearly state that they have been rented out. Our cabana had a sign saying that the cabanas were "available" for rental.

 

7. It is easy to assume that the "cabana stewards" might be the ones that "should" moniter the comings & goings of the cabana occupants and therefore "police" the situations. Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case, as I've read many "reviews" stating that some passengers that have booked the cabanas have had VERY LITTLE service from their cabana steward...usually it happens with the cabanas located further down the beach.

 

It is unfortunately that there are many passengers that don't avidly research their trips like we do...therefore they are unaware of what the cabana situation is all about...and they certainly aren't knowledgeable about "cabana etiquette".

 

I personally feel that MOST passengers are considerate & courteous of others and hopefully you won't have a problem with your cabana at HMC, especially if you are the only ship there...but it never hurts to be prepared for problems that might ensue.

 

Good luck to you and I know you'll have a wonderful cruise & enjoyable time at HMC...especially with the cabana!

 

Debjo

[Firefighters Mom]

Thanks so much for your reply. It has given me a lot of food for thought. Like I said, I'm usually not cynical. I've found 95% of the people are usually pretty courteous - it's the other 5% I worry about. With that siad, I know we'll have a great time.

[Randyk47]

There was just the two of us and we had a cabana last February off the Volendam and didn't have any problems. We did have a couple of folks ask if they could take the floats but we politely pointed out that the floats belonged to the cabana and only one of them got a bit huffy but no real problem. Maybe I'm wrong but I kind of feel accountable for the cabana equipment in the sense I rented the cabana and if anything comes up missing then I might be considered at fault. Now, if we left the cabana we did put the snacks, etc., in the cupboard or refrigerator out of sight and I don't recall missing anything. Toward the end of the stay Mrs. K and I went out in the water for one last dip and noticed, looking back at the cabana, that a couple was "helping" themselves to the shower on the cabana. Guess that doesn't hurt but always strikes me as a bit strange as the cabanas are labeled at "private". Oh well...no harm, no foul.

[ekerr19]

We've had people take the snorkel equipment and the mats too. I really think that some folks don't realize you are paying for things on HMC, even though it's HAL's private island... I have to figure they must assume it's available for anyone's use.

 

I remember one visit to HMC, we decided to walk as far down the beach as we could to avoid the crowds, we found a really nice spot - rounded up a couple of lounge chairs, and pulled one hammock out from under the tree line - it was nice, no one was even close by. Imagine our surprise when we came back from a swim and found a guy fast asleep in the hammock laying on DH's t-shirt and towel. :eek:

 

There was endless beach space available and he just plunked right down in our space and on our stuff... that's when we decided the cabana was worth the extra money - but as I said, we've had the snorkel gear and mats taken if we weren't around.