10/1 Double Dippers...Were you also amazed at SB???

[sweetpee_1993]

I've been waiting to see if anyone else brought this up! If you were there, you know why!

I was on the 9/21 Dream 4-night with friends then did the 9/26 & 10/1 Wonder double dips back to back. These were cruises 8, 9, & 10 for me. I didn't go out to SB on the Dream Castaway day because my friends and I had a cabana on the family beach. On the 9/26 Wonder my family was with me. My "baby" is 16 so we didn't camp out at SB. We did go out there for a quick swim out to the sandbar on one of the days while the 16 yro slept in 'til lunchtime. We noted then that we'd never seen so many people out on SB. The chairs were full more than halfway down the beach. THEN, there was the 10/1 Wonder Castaway days. WOW! We sent our boys home with my brother while DH & I remained for this sailing. Since we were sans kids we wanted to go out to SB. The 1st Castaway day DH & I snorkeled around a bit in the waves before lunch. We noted that the beach seemed to be even more full than on the previous sailing. We heard the next day in chatting with various other couples that many food items actually ran out at the Serenity Bay BBQ spot. We didn't notice because we returned to the ship for lunch (before the rain). The 2nd Castaway day we were in lazy mode and didn't make it out to SB until just after 10:00. If our new cruise friends hadn't saved us a couple loungers we'd have had NOWHERE to sit! I've never seen SB so full of people! It was crazy! We sat on the beach chatting with our friends until noon then took off to find some grub before our 1:00 jet ski tour. At noon the food service line at the SB location was backed up to the tram stop area. We marveled at this as we passed. We hopped a tram back to Pelican Point then hit Cookies II. Not only was there NO line at Cookies II, there wasn't even anyone else in the food service lines at all. We literally walked up, got a tray, filled our plates, and found a table to eat. There were lots of people sitting at tables eating. Just no line.

It was such a different vibe! There must not have been many kids onboard! LOL! Totally different from any other experience we've had on Castaway Cay. It wasn't unusual to find as many people in the adult pool as was in the family pool or the Mickey pool. Mid-day. We're used to seeing those family pools so packed you couldn't get another kid in with a can of Crisco and a shoehorn! LOL!

Both double dip sailings were sold out. We asked in the port prior to sailing on both.

So interesting!

 

[fairfax]

We were on that cruise too--and yes we remarked how deserted the family beach was! I've never seen it that empty, especially on the second day there. We had nobody sitting near us, there were a ton of servers wandering around--I even asked one "where is everybody?" Lol. It was great! Like our own private beach. No lines for food.

Lines for characters were pretty short, and the Lab was never full either.

 

[fairfax]

I have to add we never went to SB. 18 cruises and I've never been there once lol. I did walk through the adult pool area a few times on my way elsewhere and every chair was reserved.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

DH and I sailed the Fantasy 9/20, and we couldn't BELIEVE how packed SB was. We were lucky to find two loungers, but no umbrella. It was also close to the very end of the beach. It was the first time (since we first went to SB, in 2009) we'd ever seen a crowd. However, every other time we sailed had been peak times (summer, spring-break week.) On this cruise, there were more grandparents (it seems) then parents. Guess they were looking for a break from the grand-kids. I'm just now remembering, we've sailed in early February too, and SB was pretty much dead, but the water pretty cold (for our liking.) I'm guessing warm water in September/October and better cruise fares are peak times for SB.

 

[time4dis]

We also were on 10/1 and went to SB in the afternoon on the second CC day. I was surprised with the amount of people still there at 2:30 pm. we tried snorkeling but the waves were pretty strong for us. Family beach was much easier both CC days for snorkeling. we brought our 18 month son and noticed not that many kids. one day even our 3 1/2 year old was swimming in the Mickey pool all alone at 4:30 pm.

 

[NoleFan]

The 10/1 Wonder looked like a great itinerary. Double dip CC & Key West.

 

[fairfax]

The 10/1 Wonder looked like a great itinerary. Double dip CC & Key West.

It was! It's so rare that Disney ships go to Key West anymore. Also a sea day for Halloween celebrations. It was fantastic!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The 10/1 Wonder looked like a great itinerary. Double dip CC & Key West.

Oh yeah! It was! The rhythm was better to us than the 9/26. A little time between Castaway days was fantastic.

 

[tallygirl]

We were also on the 10/1 cruise and noticed how crowded SB was. I was curious about how full the ship was so asked at guest services, they said all staterooms were booked and there were not many children. That was obvious just by looking around! Our server told us there were 2300+ passengers and that the next sailing had 2600+.

We stuck it out at the beach thinking the rain would stop. I think there were about a dozen of us still left when the CM came and made everyone leave. The good thing was that when we came back we got great chairs because so many left. We had been almost at the end. Of course it filled back up and the rest of the day was beautiful.

 

[sennister]

So soon after school going back in session I would imagine impacts how many families are traveling. There will always be some kids pulled out of school for trips like this but there will probably be more later in the school year. We are going on the 23 Oct DD on the Dream with the kids. While we are in FL for 2 weeks, they only miss a week of school because of a MEA break that the teachers have.

 

[PortMickey]

We were on the Oct 1 Wonder Double Dip, and I have never seen the family beach so empty

Everyone must have been at Serenity Bay

 

[marciemouse]

We were on the 9/26 Double Dip. We didn't make it out to SB the first day, but the family beach was crowded that day. We made it to SB the next day for a bit in the afternoon, and we got chairs just fine. The water wasn't crowded either. Makes me glad we actually got to experience the serenity there!

 

[madbaby]

We were on the 10/1 DD and the family beaches were great. We had a whole section of beach to ourselves and had a great time. I too heard that there were half the usual number of kids on the cruise. Isn't it weird that they picked this cruise to drain and close Quiet Cove pool on the last day of the cruise?! Maybe that added to the numbers at SB. For us, with kids, it was great- my DD8 spent a lot of time in the pools when you couldn't get near them on our last cruise.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

We were told only 400 kids on the 10/1 DD. That worked out fine for us, as we had a wonderful spot on the family beach right next to the Cabanas. The only problem was when DH and I wanted some adult time at Quiet Cove...not so quiet...lol

 

[fairfax]

Our kids have been back at school since August 11, so we were able to get those three days off with no problem. I sure enjoyed the shorter lines for the characters! And the family beach was like our own private beach lol, nobody else within shouting distance. We could have had all the hammocks we wanted.

 

[RedSox68]

I have commented on this before on a previous thread -- once the new ships came out, the crowds at SB are unmanageable. The one time we went there off the Dream, we COULD NOT find a single chair. We had to beg a family to give up a chair just so one of us could have something to sit on other than the sand. In 7 previous trips to CC, we had NEVER seen SB that mobbed. That's why I am soooo glad we nabbed a cabana this year. No trudging around looking for a place to sit.

 

[clten]

We were b2b on the 9/26 and 10/1 Wonder cruises as well. We were told that both cruises were sold out but the 10/1 had 500 less passengers. We figured it was less kids on board (and you could see a difference in the number of school age kids on the two cruises). So we figured that the adult areas were going to be crowded (we usually skip Serenity Bay on repositioning cruises like the Transatlantic for the same reason). Seems like we made the right choice. The Family Beach (we were right across from Cookies) wasn't that bad. Chairs and umbrellas available all day, both days.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I have commented on this before on a previous thread -- once the new ships came out, the crowds at SB are unmanageable.

Not necessarily.

We've done two summer Fantasy cruises (July 2012, July 2013,) one double-dip on the Dream (summer 2011,) and one Fantasy last February. Every time, SB was more than half-empty. We even wondered "why would anyone get a cabana on SB? There's hardly anyone here."

However, I'm glad you got a cabana this time. We're going to probably do the same next time.

 

[devonsmommy]

We were on the Oct 1 Wonder Double Dip, and I have never seen the family beach so empty

Everyone must have been at Serenity Bay

You must have been sitting right next to me! I was near those ladies sitting down in the water...

 

[RedSox68]

Not necessarily.

We've done two summer Fantasy cruises (July 2012, July 2013,) one double-dip on the Dream (summer 2011,) and one Fantasy last February. Every time, SB was more than half-empty. We even wondered "why would anyone get a cabana on SB? There's hardly anyone here."

However, I'm glad you got a cabana this time. We're going to probably do the same next time.

As previous posters mentioned, I do think it has to do with how many kids are on board. We were on a Wonder cruise one year in September where it was almost all adults, but we weren't doing SB yet as my daughter was too young.

I've only got the Dream experience we had in May 2011, but in all our cruises we had never seen SB like that where we could not find a chair. Guess it was one of those "more adults than kids" cruises

I'm thrilled with the cabana because (1) it's a lot cheaper than the family beach one; (2) after 7 visits to CC, we've earned it and (3) with my newly developed foot problems, I am so happy I won't have to trudge through the sand to find a place to sit

I know we can't afford a cabana every cruise, but this year it was our anniversary treat to each other. Hope you get one next time -- everyone should experience it at least once