Being spoiled on Princess Cays

Despite having been on Princess Cruises the most, I had yet to experience Princess' private island known as Princess Cays. The water was a little rough on our visit and the sand definitely made us glad we invested in water shoes. While we made a few attempts to wade in and test the water, we made the most of a Sky Suite perk we couldn't take advantage of last time, the included Princess Cays bungalow. 

There are many other excursion options you can book for Princess Cays. Or you can simply grab a free lounger on the sand and enjoy a free and frugal day with the standard barbecue lunch buffet. 

Princess Cays' bungalows were built decades before Princess changed their terminology to the Sanctuary Collection. On the island, there are two areas where you can rent a bungalow. One is the regular side with relatively direct access to the water. The other area is called the Sanctuary Bungalows. This area is set aside further down the beach in favor of being quieter. However the trade off is that it is not easily accessible to the water. The Sanctuary Bungalows used to be considered only for suite guests to book and featured drink and food service making for a higher cost. Now, anyone can book either area and the only distinction making the Sanctuary Bungalow area more expensive is that it is adults only.

All bungalow rentals come with a motorized cart ride from the pier and two floating mats. You also get a cooler of drinks. Any beverage package you have onboard also works on Princess Cays. Roaming bar waiters will be happy to bring you whatever you like. The rentals are valid for the entire time the ship is in port so it's up to you whether you want to get off and spend all day on the beach or only spend a couple hours. Since Princess Cays is a tender port, you will get priority tender tickets when you book a bungalow. Each bungalow has a ceiling fan, a table, and four chairs inside with two lounge chairs on the porch space. There are two loungers set in the sand in front of the cabana with a drink table and umbrella that could be used if you had more than two people. The inside of the bungalow can be closed with glass doors so you can keep the cool air inside and have some shade when the sun gets to be too much. There is an outdoor shower adjacent to the porch but there is no privacy. More for rinsing sand off your body for the trek back to the ship. 

The Sanctuary Bungalow retails for around $300 and needs only to be booked by one person. That price includes use of the bungalow for up to four people. Two additional people can join at your bungalow for an extra cost of $25.95 per person but that can only be purchased onboard. For an extra $25 per person, you can get an upgraded picnic lunch served in your bungalow.

The Private Bungalow retails for around $240 and also needs only to be booked by one person. That price includes use of the bungalow for up to four people. Two additional people can join at your bungalow for an extra cost of $25.95 per person but that can only be purchased onboard. For an extra $25 per person, you can get an upgraded picnic lunch served in your bungalow.

When we had our pre-cruise call with Thor, he didn't know whether we would have a regular Private Bungalow or one of the Sanctuary Bungalows. I felt better having his assurance that we were still getting one since both versions shown as sold out on the excursions page for our cruise. We were able to specify what drinks we wanted in the cooler and were asked about allergies and/or dietary restrictions.

On the day of Princess Cays, Sanctuary Manager Ivan asked us to gather in the Sanctuary Lounge to be escorted down to the tender by his assistant Stella. Ivan had to go onto the island early to help set up all the bungalows to be ready for passengers. The majority of Sanctuary Collection guests decided to head over first thing so the lounge was pretty full while we waited for Stella to get word on her radio that they were ready. Stella used her priority elevator access to escort us all down to the tender gangway and we joined an almost full tender. 

The ride was fairly smooth and normally makes for a great opportunity to get pictures of the ship as you float away. We were packed in fairly tight so instead I spent the ride over chatting with two nearby ladies about our swimsuits and past cruises. Ivan met us at the tender pier and we only had a short wait before a cart was available. It turns out that they kept us Sky Suite passengers on the Private Bungalow side. I recognized our neighbors a couple bungalows down but they also had multiple generations in their group. Ivan made sure we were set up to our satisfaction and directed a couple of bungalow attendants over to introduce themselves. It turned out that the crew working as bungalow attendants on the island also worked in the Sanctuary Club poolside cabanas so they remembered us from our earlier cabana time. 

Just like during our Sanctuary Club cabana time, these hardworking crew attendants would repeatedly check on us and offer to bring anything we wanted. They also made a big point of introducing their replacement when they went on break. 

Our view of the ship from our bungalow:

I was feeling artsy and grabbed a few shots from the path leading between the Private Bungalows and the Sanctuary Bungalows.

Anyone else think that the meeting point of the two Princess logos in the center creates a big smiley face? Or a cat with blue whiskers? However since it's on the ocean would that make it a catfish or a tiger shark?

There were several rows of the free loungers between us and the waterfront but no one really came by to use them. We realized during the tram ride back that a lot of the crowds went the other direction to another part of the beach.

The two extra loungers in front of our bungalow. There were also lots of sorting trash receptacles positioned along the paths and between the bungalows. Our bungalow was #12 and named Avocado. 

There is a paved walkway to walk through the area as well as a paved walkway down to each bungalow. There is a small step up onto the porch but I was told that they have a portable ramp they can put down for anyone who needs the extra assistance. 

Hanging mats that come with each bungalow can be found on hooks on the left side of your bungalow.

The outdoor "private" shower. It's nice that there's still concrete to step on after you've rinsed off but I found the water to spray wildly and be ice cold! Perhaps that would be notably warmer when not visiting in mid November.

Though smaller on the inside than a Half Moon Cay cabana, it really was almost perfect for its purpose. You just may have to do some close dancing with your bungalow friends to move around the dining table inside. 

Looking to the right from the entrance: Shelving to stow all those beach bags and a cut out hatch that could be opened if you wanted extra air flow.

AC unit, dining table with four chairs. Small mirror on the wall so you can make sure that you look good enough to not scare the fish.

Looking left from the entrance shows more shelving, another hatch, and the cooler down on the floor. Unfortunately, some of the chairs looked a little threadbare so we only sat in these two pictured below.

The attendants started us off with cinnamon coated almonds, potato chips, and bags of popcorn from the ship.

Our cooler had our requested water bottles and sodas. They were offering to bring us any other drink as well. 

View from our bungalow doorway looking back toward the water. Note that you can lock the door if you want some extra security while off in the water. Depending on how you look at it, having the bungalow view that is blocked by the bar hut could be a downside or a positive when you think about how quick your drinks would arrive. 

To our right was one of the huts containing public bathrooms (lime green building). There are only a few stalls but it had a bank of sinks to wash up before eating. It never seemed to be busy.

When it was our requested time for lunch, our attendants brought another wonderful fruit bowl jokingly calling it our appetizer course.

Our next course was a cold tomato soup similar to gazpacho. Those are small square ice cubes floating in the bowl.

Next we had a seafood platter including shrimp cocktail and lobster tails. Kudos to Dad for trying lobster and the shrimp. In fact he ate more lobster than me!

Next came the meat platter - pork sausage, chicken sausage, ribs, and barbecue chicken

Dad was feeling a little "fancied" out and asked what was up at the regular buffet. Our attendant offered to bring back a classic cheeseburger and hot dog which Dad said was the best burger he's had on the cruise. Next time we had a Sanctuary Club cabana, the same attendant stopped by and offered to bring Dad another burger. 

We had two platter options brought for dessert - a fruit plate and a chocolate themed plate with brownies and cookies.

We also were brought another round of tiny Smize ice cream cups.

Ivan had been by a couple times during the day to check in. He asked us to let him know about 30 minutes before we really wanted to leave so he could make sure there was a cart available to escort us back to the pier. He rode the cart back with us and led us back through the security check before sending us on our way onto the latest tender. Ivan had to stay behind on the island while other Sanctuary Collection passengers were still off the ship but had arranged for Stella to meet us once off the tender to give us an escorted (aka keycard bypass) ride in the elevator back to our suite. 

Would I bother getting off on the next ship to visit Princess Cays? Probably if the weather and the water current was better as I love spending hours on those floating mats in the water at Half Moon Cay. Would I purchase a bungalow again? Yes, and I'd purchase a cabana again if I ever returned to Half Moon Cay. It really is a great way to have a beach day even if you aren't super into beach days.