If we want to do snorkel at CC, should we book now or wait until we arrive?

[Disneyfun1]

I would love to do the snorkel rental so that i can find the mickey under the water. do you have to book that in advance on the web, or can you wait until you arrive at the island, or do you have to book on the boat??

Im just wondering if we book it, then find things to do on the boat and we dont want to get off, that we booked it and lose our money if we dont do it. Is this an excursion that can be done at any time since there is no time to it, just snorkel rental??

when you book any of the excursions, do they charge you immediately, or wait until you get on board and add it to you final bill?? is there a way i can say book the glass boat tour and pay for it now, or do i have to wait until we leave the ship and have it billed? would love to just get all these fees out of the way now if i can>

 

[mattmommy]

I see you're going in the summer. I would rent ahead of time. People say to do it first because the bottom gets all stirred up.

Last time we went in February and 2 out of 3 of us wouldn't get in the water past our ankles--FREEZING (although it was about 90 degrees out).

I'm sure they have enough if you decide to do it on the spur of the moment. Most people (on our first cruise) did the snorkel thing for I guess an hour and turned their equipment in. I didn't notice many people actually keeping it for the whole day.

We're on the fence with tubes and floats so we'll probably wait until we're there to do it.

 

[we4blairs]

This is one port that I would NOT stay on the ship! Castaway Cay is BEAUTIFUL and is like your own private island.

In fact, I was taping DS 6 this past April on the beach and asked him who's island this was (thinking he'd say Mickey's) and he said "MINE!"

Anyway, we purchased the family pack that included snorkeling, biking and float rental. I will say we probably could have saved doing it individually because neither son (6 and 11) could do snorkling and hated it.

We were the first ones in off the ship and DH and I loved it. We spent a couple hours out there and as the day progressed, it became more crowded. If you really like to snorkel, I would say order early and get out there first.

have fun!

 

[GeorgiaVol]

Definitely go snorkeling early. During the summer, water temp won't be a problem. For those going in the winter months, give the kids a dark shirt to wear to stay warmer. The water can be chilly, even in March.

The bike riding is boring, but its something to do when the kids get restless.

 

[disp4so]

I went in May and there was plenty of snorkel gear to go around.. I also pre reserved floats for everyone and ended up never using them. (again there were more floats out of the water not being used then in)

If you know for absolute sure your going to use them, then I would pre book them online. If you have any doubts, I would just wait.

Have a great time
Sherri

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

we4Blairs- I was thinking the same thing! I was reading the OP of this thread and all I could think is ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You might want to stay on the ship at Castaway Cay? What? Huh? Me no comprehende.

I don't think I'd even be thinking about possibly maybe planning on staying on the ship at CC. Heck we went on the double dip cruise (2 stops at CC) and still didn't get to do all we wanted and didn't even get to SEE serenity bay/etc. Stay on the ship at CC? Yeah right.... not in this lifetime. LOL (but now you have me wondering exactly HOW empty the ship is at CC LOL I'm betting most everyone gets off there!)

As for your question about excursions- we booked them well in advance (months ahead- online) and they didn't charge our onboard account until after we actually did the excursion. I'm sure they do that because Disney excursions are refundable for some reasons- one of which is if they are unable to stop at CC. They probably don't want to charge ahead of time and then have to do refunds if they don't stop at CC- so they'd rather just wait and see if they are able to go there due to weather/etc. then charge you that day for the excursions. It's not done once you leave the ship though- it's done that day. The charges showed on my online credit card statement the evening of each excursion. Most excursions you can't pay ahead of time though- even the ones we did (like in Costa Maya) that weren't thru Disney... most are cash at that time even. So I just set aside a seperate account to save for the trip and for excursions- I used that account to pay off the credit card once I was charged on that cc during the cruise.

 

[rtphokie]

I wouldn't bother signing up ahead of time. There is plenty of snorkel gear there. I brought my own mask and snorkel and rented fins there at Castaway Cay. Had it been too cold I wouldn't have bothered.

The advice to go early is good though, even in April when there weren't as many folks out snorkeling, it got pretty stirred up.

 

[anne930]

I wouldn't bother signing up ahead of time. There is plenty of snorkel gear there. I brought my own mask and snorkel and rented fins there at Castaway Cay. Had it been too cold I wouldn't have bothered.

The advice to go early is good though, even in April when there weren't as many folks out snorkeling, it got pretty stirred up.

We are planning on doing the same thing - bring our mask and snorkel - do you by any chance remember how much it cost to rent the fins?