shade and beach chairs at CSA

[belfar3]

What time do you really have to get up to get a beach chair under an umbrella or in the shade? It sounds like this is an issue at CSA, Not enough beach chairs? and why is it allowed to save chairs all day? or is this really not a big problem. We are heading to CSA at the end of the month, first time to Negril.

[Ruthjfj]

In 3 trips I have never failed to get a shady spot on the beach whether I turn up at 10 am, 2 pm or any other time. What I have never achieved ( not that it bothers me much) is a place under the low fixed palapa umbrellas which some weirdos must occupy at dawn. Given there are glorious hammocks and spaces under fantastic palm trees always available, it seems a bit strange to me to arrange well-earned holiday time around a palapa-stake-out but chacun a son gout!


Ruth ( arriving on Saturday for 2 weeks hurray hurray)

[Caznsi]

Be warned ! I was up at 7:30 this morning and there were no shady places left on the beach. There is a shortage of sun loungers and one day last week we could not find a single lounger when we finished snorkelling. Sadly we have started to do what we think is the wrong thing ie grab loungers well ahead of breakfast! Management are aware of the shortage of loungers and told us there are more on order...

[LifeLoveEnergy]

Yah, we noticed that people would "save" their chairs and especially the hammocks in the shade. We never wanted to play that game since it's just plain rude. We are very early risers and like to swim before everyone else gets up and way before breakfast. There were times we would be out there very early am and notice people out there "reserving" their space and then leaving and going back to their rooms. Sometimes, these same people wouldn't even come back and "claim" their hammocks until well after noon. We would just shake our heads.
We are pretty active and don't tend to stay in one place for very long so it didn't affect us too much, but I know it did other people. Especially, when they would come down looking for a place to lay out and find a bunch of saved chairs without any people in them.

I didn't notice it so much at CN, but very much at CSA.

[softail19]

It's not a problem. There is plenty of shade if that's what you want.

[redinthehead]

Getting a chair and some shade from a tree is no problem. Getting a chair under a palapa ...not so much. Not sure why people feel theneed to claim one and not use it all day and i think they are saving them the night before. The only time we got one was when it started to rain and everyone left the beach. Rain only lasted 20 minutes.

[smroot]

They have plenty of chairs.

[lvgal]

It's not really a big problem to get a lounger in the shade of the trees. You just need to move them around and continue to adjust as the sun moves but I've never had a problem finding a shady spot at any time of the day. You will need to get up early (5ish) if you want the permanent, complete shade of a palapa, though.

[MiGreg]

We've been to both CN and CSA. I'm an early riser and if I wanted to, I could always get a shaded spot prior 8 -9 am or so. We always take a sunny spot on the beach and go to the shaded bars or pool to get out of the sun for a while. We never seemed to have an issue, but we don't mind the sun too much.

[gonegril]

We go to CSA over Thanksgiving when the resort is at capacity. This past year the beach was significantly smaller because of erosion, so we found we needed to get our chair markers out there by about 8AM. We actually had one couple throw our stuff on the sand and proceed to take our chairs when we were in the water -we saw them, and came flying out - they denied having done it....definitely rude!! Other than that one time, we didn't have problems with getting chairs or floaties.

[schdyny]

Be warned ! I was up at 7:30 this morning and there were no shady places left on the beach. There is a shortage of sun loungers and one day last week we could not find a single lounger when we finished snorkelling. Sadly we have started to do what we think is the wrong thing ie grab loungers well ahead of breakfast! Management are aware of the shortage of loungers and told us there are more on order...

Hope they arrive by April - even though we never had a problem finding loungers, shade was a problem for us. I burn easily now (never used to in my earlier years) so shade is necessary these days!

[belfar3]

Thanks for all the info. If management is aware of the shortage of loungers, I would think they would get new ones within a few days. Although I have been seeing quite a few complaints about this over the last couple months at CSA . I really hope this is not an issue for us at the end of Feb as we are sooo excited about this trip celebrating our 25 anniversary. We definately want to spend time in the lounger on the beach.

[Beach-bum]

Gonegril,

Rude, Rude, Rude. My wife would have taken after them like a pitbull. Some people?

Life is good

[mickeyminnie]

We just got back from CSA Feb 6th and the chairs were a BIG issue. The resort was full and it is their busy season we were told. I had to go out every morning at 6:30 to get a chair or there was none to be had. I hate the chair saving game also but it was the only way. We inquired about the chairs and were told it happens in busy season. Same with the boat and snorkel tours all were booked up. Some days we could not go out on the tours we wanted to and then the ones we did get to go on were so packed! The Patios restaurant had 40 minutes wait times to get a table. The swim up bar was impossible to get a drink at so i went to the others. It was disappointing after spending so much money on our once in a lifetime trip. But we still had a wonderful time

[belfar3]

This concerns me. I sent an email to couples questioning all of the CSA complaints regarding the shortage of lounge chairs and if it was true thatmanagement was aware and more were on order. I have read these complaints on many different travel forums. The response I received "There is an adequate amount of loungers". It would be nice if someone from Couples would pipe in here. I am going in a couple weeks to CSA and am not going to spend another minute worrying about this. I am sooo excited to go so I will keep my fingers crossed that CSA management will take care of the problem.

[brennie]

belfar3 Enjoy the excitment of looking forward to your vacation at Swept Away. The issue of chair saving etc has risen on this message board for years and especially at certain times of the year. We always travel in Feb/early Mar and have never encoutered a problem getting a chair. That being said we don't arrive on the beach at 10.00 or do we take more than a chair each. We usually hit the beach by 7.30 and to tell the truth some days there has been a palapala but not often. The resort is always at capacity and since there can not be any more guests I can only think that perhaps the problem lately maybe due to replacing broken chairs. As for excursions again never had a problem but lately don't do snorkeling just cat cruise and no problem. With regard to restaraunts have never had problem with reserving although may not get time we want. may have to be a little flexible. As for non reservation never had to wait more than 5 min. we go in 2 weeks and am not worrying too much as i'm sure things will be much the same as we have encountered before.