Castaway Cay / Seahorse Catamaran Snorkel / Glass Bottom boat ?'s

[Momof2MSgirls]

We will be on a double dip on the Dream in May. My excursion booking window just opened and two Castaway Cay excursions peaked my interest.

Does anyone have recent experiences with either the Catamaran Snorkel or the Glass bottom boat excursions on Castaway Cay and what did you like / not like about them? We have a 9 year old that may not get in the open ocean on the snorkel so that is the only thing that may steer us away from that.

Thanks for any input!

 

[tigmickey]

If you are not sure if your 9 year old will like getting in open ocean, I would suggest snorkeling from the beach. I have been on 4 cruises with Disney and wouldn't do ANYTHING to take time away from Castaway Cay beach. IMHO it is the closest thing to a desert paradise!

 

[Momof2MSgirls]

Does anyone have any pictures from your Glass Bottom boat excursion on Castaway Cay?

 

[Joel0917]

i did the glass bottom boat and was very disappointed. First i felt i missed out on what CC has to offer. Plus, this is the type of excursion you can do at much better reefs.

And the glass bottom boat is small and we really didn't see a lot of fish. Mostly feeding fish so they came around the boat....

We've seen much more snorkeling! at least for CC...enjoy the island! don't leave it on a boat tour!

 

[Momof2MSgirls]

Thanks for the replies! Looks like we may just pass on both of these.

 

[Anal Annie]

We did the Seahorse thing a few years ago. We have snorkeled in a lot of places in the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii (and always bring our own equip.) so we have done a lot of these kinds of tours. As far as the crew & the catamaran goes it was a large commercial size vessel that holds a LOT of people. There was very little interaction from the crew. Very impersonal and we did not tip them (unusual for us to not tip a crew at all). They did nothing to earn anything extra IMHO. I guess we just prefer a smaller excursion with a more intimate size crew & passengers. That said, the little reef they took us to that particular day was really nice. SAVED the day for us. We spent the entire time in the water and took about 200 digital underwater pics. One of the best snorkeling trips we've done actually as far as the snorkeling went. That doesn't mean the reef is always that full of fish but when we were there the sea was calm & clear and there was lots to see. The glass bottom boat excursion came to the same reef (we could see it) so I'm assuming they got a nice view too (wouldn't be as exciting to me though to not be IN the water). It might be nice if you're going in a colder time when the water would be cold. If your 9 yr old needs instructions I wouldn't expect it from this crew. If YOU can teach her then it would be OK. You might get along just as well for her first time trying to go in the lagoon.

We also spent about an hour snorkeling in the lagoon and enjoyed that as well - we saw a wild stingray & a starfish along with some of the planted items they have there.