Cabana/Tent needed on beach?

[AgVball]

This March will be my first cruise with 10.5 month twins.

I think we will try to hit at least one beach (Cozumel and/or Cayman).

I've seen people mention bringing a tent or cabana for the kids.

I'm trying to figure out if this is a must or a nice to have.

We aren't able to go to the beach hardly at all (maybe this could give us an excuse ;) )

Some tents I have seen you have to put it together yourself, but I have also seen a couple of "pop up" tents that cost a little more. If I got one, I'm leaning to the pop up because if its just the two of us and we have two little ones, I'm afraid it would cause frustration to start off with.

 

I don't know if renting an umbrella would be enough if I didn't take a tent? The girls would probably nap at some point - I don't know if it would work just to lay them on a sheet/towel under the umbrella. ??

 

Thanks for listening.

I would appreciate your feedback on the "necessity" of a cabana/tent when taking infants to the beach.

[NYreadytogo]

When my son was 9 months old we took a tent (the kind that needs some set up) to the beach with us on our cruise, but he really didn't like it, and wouldn't stay in. Before and after we just took umbrella strollers to the beach (the kind that fold up, and can be easily carried on a strap). He always falls asleep on the beach (twice in the water), and we just transfer him to his stroller. Although the stroller doesn't roll that well on the sand itself, it's great for getting him to the beach. The stroller also has a good sun shade. Otherwise, we just slather him with sunscreen, put on protective clothing and hat, and he's fine wherever. One warning is that children that age often HATE sand- so it's important to bring a large blanket/towel for them to sit on.

[rebeccalouise]

I have been to Grand Cayman twice now and both times I went to the Westin Hotel, which is about a $ 15 taxi ride (two miles) from the port. It is a great stretch of beach. You will see your ship off in the distance from there. There are all sorts of things to do there. A lovely pool, that allows children in swim diapers with a swim up bar. The beach is calm there and you can see that bottom, which I like with babies. Something about having an infant in dark, murky water just doesn't work for me! 10.5 month olds are a bit of a difficult age. They are busy bees and but can't yet walk. This makes for a sandy mess. You can rent beach chairs there and some are under palm trees- so there is shade. I doubt you need more than that. I wouldn't drag too much. They charge $ 25 per chair. One nice feature is that they have people waiting on you at the beach. You can get drinks and sandwiches brought to you. Its almost like being on the ship.

 

So, while I don't think it will be that much fun on the beach- they usually don't like the sand and its really hard to keep them from rubbing sand in their eyes. But you will love the pool there- so it is worth going, especially since you won't be able to swim with them on the boat.

[cb at sea]

All of the public beaches rent umbrellas, chairs, etc... so I wouldn't bother lugging that onto the ship! Just rent an umbrella for the day! On GC, I think we paid about $24 for 2 loungers and an umbrella....They also have restrooms handy and food/drink places. You don't have to book at a hotel to utilize these things.

[rebeccalouise]

I don't want to confuse anyone..

 

When I suggested going to the Westin Hotel, I WASN'T implying that you have to book a room there. That's the beauty of it- you can use their pool and beach without being a hotel guest. They do require you to pay $ 25 for your beach chair. They won't charge for the babies- so it costs you $ 50 period. Now, if you are like me you'll order up a pina colada and a club sandwich, which they bring to you as you sit in the shade on your padded beach chair at the nicest resort on the island.

[AgVball]

Thanks for the input. I just got my "rayshade" stroller covers today so we can keep them sun out of their umbrella strollers - we'll have to think about putting a strap on them for carrying.

 

The Westin sounds really nice too - we had a similar setup in Miami where the staff kept you happy out on the beach - that was pretty awesome.

 

For now, I think I'll hold off on the cabana. DH is not really a beach/pool kind of person - so I don't know if we'll even make it :(

 

Thanks again - if anyone has anything to add - I'm still all ears.

[Kerry's Girls]

I'm a fanatic about keeping my twins out of the sun, and I love our pop-up cabana, but the truth is I've never ended up using it on any of our beach excursions while on a cruise. At the age of your twins, my girls slept in their strollers (the Ray Shade is fantastic) on the beach. I also used the towels from the ship over the stroller if I needed extra coverage. I always bring some $1 and $5 bills to tip the guys working on the beach to set us up under umbrellas or palapas. That plus lots of sunscreen, sunsafe clothes and hats have kept them from getting any color at all on the beach.

 

Best,

Mia