Princess Cays Cabana
On our cruise in April, we decided to rent a cabana while visiting Carnival’s “private” island, Princess Cays. We went back and forth since the cost was roughly $220 total (which I think is a great price when splitting between 4 people). But she did it in March and really liked it, plus I wanted a bit of privacy, a cool A/C spot, and a place guaranteed for us.
We rented the cabana online about three weeks or so before our cruise. I am most positive there were still some available on our cruise because someone rented one while on shore that day after asking us about them. Once on the boat on our departure day, we went to the shore excursion desk and picked out our cabin number. We opted for number 10 due to its ideal location (the Carnival employee actually recommended it to my mom on their previous cruise). They also asked us what sodas we preferred and our shoe size for the snorkel gear (we asked for none since we would not use it).
On our Princess Cays morning, we had priority tender since we rented the cabana. This meant we could be on the first tender over to the island vs. us having to pull a number at the coffee shop. Since we did not rent snorkel gear, we could bypass the desk on the island were others were signing a waiver to use the gear. Because of this, we were able to walk right over and hop on the tram that took us directly to our cabana. All of this was clearly labeled once you get onto the island.
Below are pictures of our cabana. We had number 10, Sea Grape. It was the bright pink one, ha. From the outside, we had a porch along with two lounge chairs on the porch. Once you open the doors, you will find a small air conditioned room. We had a table (full of food) and four chairs to sit in. There was four shelves to store thins on (although one had a painting on it). We also had a fridge, cooler full of drinks, and two floating mats. Food wise we had chips, dips, fruit, and veggies. As soon as we got there, we moved most of the food into the fridge. The air conditioner may have been adjustable, but we did not mess with it. But there was an overhead fan too that we turned on too. The air condition was nice when we ate lunch and near midday. I hate eating outside, so that was a great part of having it. Plus we were able to store all of our things not in clear sight.
Right outside our cabana were a ton of beach chairs. We were not directly ON the ocean, but you can see the view below. There was two chairs and an umbrella right outside our cabana we used a lot. We did walk down to the beach. The beachfront itself is very small. You also have to walk down some stairs to get to it. But it was fairly empty most of our time there. The water was clear but cold. The pictures below were taking at different times of the day. As you can see, the chairs never got too crowded near us at all.
Mom and I each got an island drink, and we grabbed lunch from the buffet. We brought it back to the cabana to eat along with our snacks and sodas.
Below are pictures of the cabana. Ours is the bright pink one. Looking at them, the left of our cabanas, the numbers got higher. There was a bar and bathroom located that was as well as the adult only cabanas. Going right, the numbers got smaller and took you back towards the ship along with other bars, buffet, and a pool. The last four pictures are the cabanas near the lower numbers. I wanted to show you some of the things around there. There is also a map of the island too.
We really enjoyed the cabana, but it is expensive for just two people. On our trip I don’t know that it was necessary because there were not hardly any crowds. But I really loved having the air conditioned area to eat and store our things. We didn’t get to really explore the island, although I plan to do a post later with some of the things we did see along our walk on the island. My mom went back on the same cruise more recently and opted to not get a cabana. They still enjoyed their time without it.
