Advanced rentals on Castaway Cay nonrefundable??

[Shelly3630]

Are they nonrefundable?? Should I book anything in advance?? Has anyone had a bad experience with this? ( Or even a good one.) It always makes me a little nervous to book something like this, then having the possibility of not using it.

 

[princess@heart]

Apparently, any excursion, including rentals, are non-refundable once on board. DH and I had booked parasailing at CC before our trip. Then once there, DH decided to chicken out. So we went to the Excursions Desk and were told it was non-refundable, but we could "exchange it". So, instead of paying the $150 for both of us to parasail seperately, we booked the Historic Tour of Nassau, and they only charged our account for the $46 total.

Anyways... all that being said, I seriously doubt you would even need to rent the stuff in advance. I am sure they have plenty, and on our cruise there were so few people using floats, tubes, or even the snorkel equipment that reserving them ahead of time is probabaly unneccessary.

Hope this helps!

 

[Shelly3630]

Thanks, that rollercoaster almost made me throw-up!! Never again!!!

 

[princess@heart]

Thanks, that rollercoaster almost made me throw-up!! Never again!!!

I love it overall, but the take-off makes me feel like I'm going to black-out!

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

We recently did a Back to Back so we stopped twice at CC....
I had prebooked the snorkling package for our whole family, but ended up not being able to pick up the equipment because we spent SUCH a long time doing the Pirate Scavenger hunt....I threw myself on the mercy of the Cast Members at the Snorkle pick up spot, and they generously re-issued the tickets for our stop there 4 days later.... Those cast members were on top of their game....

Even though we had a great experience, I would wait to book the equipment at CC...You never know what the weather may be that day....On our first visit, the water was freezing, but was much warmer on the do-over.

 

[princess@heart]

We recently did a Back to Back so we stopped twice at CC....

Really??? DH and I have been talking about doing this. Do you have to get off the ship and re-check in? Please tell me all about it...

We want to do a 7-night, but would much rather be on the Wonder.

 

[Lesley Mahler]

Apparently, any excursion, including rentals, are non-refundable once on board. DH and I had booked parasailing at CC before our trip. Then once there, DH decided to chicken out. So we went to the Excursions Desk and were told it was non-refundable, but we could "exchange it". So, instead of paying the $150 for both of us to parasail seperately, we booked the Historic Tour of Nassau, and they only charged our account for the $46 total.

Anyways... all that being said, I seriously doubt you would even need to rent the stuff in advance. I am sure they have plenty, and on our cruise there were so few people using floats, tubes, or even the snorkel equipment that reserving them ahead of time is probabaly unneccessary.

Hope this helps!

Can you tell me a little about the Historic Tour of Nassau?? It will be me, DH, DD, and my parents. Some say the vans are stuffy and miserable and to do the horse and carriage tour instead. But do you get to visit the same places with the horse and carriage? I am so confused about Nassau and I have to book excursions in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Lesley
Cruising May 6, 2007 Can't stand the wait

 

[princess@heart]

Can you tell me a little about the Historic Tour of Nassau?? It will be me, DH, DD, and my parents. Some say the vans are stuffy and miserable and to do the horse and carriage tour instead. But do you get to visit the same places with the horse and carriage? I am so confused about Nassau and I have to book excursions in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Lesley
Cruising May 6, 2007 Can't stand the wait

Yes, the vans are stuffy and uncomfortable. Had the tour guide not let me sit in the front seat, I'm sure I would have ended up with major leg cramps.

The horse and carriage ride couldn't possible go to all the places the van went. We drove many miles, I think. There were severla times we were in the "boonies" of Nassau. We got to see the poor areas, and the millions-of-dollars houses.

My advice would be take the carriage tour then hop in a cab to go see Cable Beach. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Our tour only stopped there for 15 minutes. One couple in our group decided to stay and take a cab back to the ship. Had we brought bathing suits and towels, we would have done the same.

 

[cpetro]

Hello, we are going on our first Disney cruise in May also..I am still trying to figure out if we want to book an excursion ahead of time in Nassau or wait until we are on the ship..we might just want to hang out on the ship since we are only doing the 3 night cruise and now that I have read that if you change your mind its non-refundable..so we might wait and maybe just get off the boat if we feel like it and walk around or maybe take a cab to Cable Beach..does anyone know how much that would be both ways and how far it is or if that's even a good idea or not??

Thanks need alot of help!!

 

[Corryn]

Apparently, any excursion, including rentals, are non-refundable once on board. DH and I had booked parasailing at CC before our trip. Then once there, DH decided to chicken out. So we went to the Excursions Desk and were told it was non-refundable, but we could "exchange it". Hope this helps!

Whew!!!
Thanks for letting us know!!!
We're going in a little over two months and booked the Jet-ski (eco-tour) for CC as well as XCaret in Mexico. Both together are going to be a little under $800, so we were thinking that we would just "hold on" to the Jet-ski tour, just in case, and cancel when we're on board.

Now I'll cancel it beforehand!
BTW, does anyone know how close to the actual trip you are allowed to cancel your excursion ressies before being charged for them - is it as long as you're not on the ship?

Also, when we were at CC, by 12:00 noon, there were bikes EVERYWHERE, Tubes EVERYWHERE, no one snorkeling and when we did the Jet-ski eco-tour at noon, there were still spots available.....Banana Boat ride? There were spots open all day.
I guess by noon, everyone had been there, done that and I noticed that EVERYONE was basically just lying around on the beach or playing in the water with their kids.

Parasailing was cancelled that morning because of the wind.
But I would wait until I were on the island to reserve the bikes, snorkels, BBRide, stuff like that.
Thanks for the Heads Up

 

[Lesley Mahler]

Yes, the vans are stuffy and uncomfortable. Had the tour guide not let me sit in the front seat, I'm sure I would have ended up with major leg cramps.

The horse and carriage ride couldn't possible go to all the places the van went. We drove many miles, I think. There were severla times we were in the "boonies" of Nassau. We got to see the poor areas, and the millions-of-dollars houses.

My advice would be take the carriage tour then hop in a cab to go see Cable Beach. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Our tour only stopped there for 15 minutes. One couple in our group decided to stay and take a cab back to the ship. Had we brought bathing suits and towels, we would have done the same.

If the guys wouldn't be with us, we'd definately do that. The next day at Castaway Cay will be enough beach for them!! I'm just so confused about Nassau...the places that the van stops like the Forts and the Queens Staircase sound interesting, but yet I don't want to be miserable in the van!! How many people were there per van? Did you have enough time to shop after the tour?

 

[princess@heart]

How many people were there per van? Did you have enough time to shop after the tour?

We had 8 or 9 people including the driver. I think it's a 10 passenger van if you squeeze in tightly.

He let us off in a shopping district, but not Straw Market like we were told.

BTW, we only stopped to look out the window at the Queen's Staircase. We weren't let out to take pictures or climb the stairs.

 

[Lesley Mahler]

We had 8 or 9 people including the driver. I think it's a 10 passenger van if you squeeze in tightly.

He let us off in a shopping district, but not Straw Market like we were told.

BTW, we only stopped to look out the window at the Queen's Staircase. We weren't let out to take pictures or climb the stairs.[/QUOTE
Thanks for all the info...I think we will do our own tours!!!!!!!!!!
Lesley

 

[princess@heart]

Thanks for all the info...I think we will do our own tours!!!!!!!!!!
Lesley

Good idea! I think we will next time, too.

I wish we had rented mopeds or done the carriage ride.

 

[tvguy]

[/QUOTE
Thanks for all the info...I think we will do our own tours!!!!!!!!!!
Lesley[/QUOTE]


Did you book thru Disney, and complain to Disney afterwards? They guarantee the vendors they use. Just seems to me that the problems you had are the best arguements for NOT doing a tour on your own, unless I am missing something.

 

[princess@heart]

Did you book thru Disney, and complain to Disney afterwards? They guarantee the vendors they use. Just seems to me that the problems you had are the best arguements for NOT doing a tour on your own, unless I am missing something.

We did book through Disney, but didn't think to complain.

The problem with the van was that there was no leg room, the A/C didn't work too well, and the van wasn't very clean or in great shape.

Doing a tour on you own, you could rent mopeds, take a taxi, or walk (to some places) and do it all at your own pace. That way, you don't feel pressured to do the fort tours in 15 minutes, and you can skip all the driving in the more rural parts of Nassau.

The one great thing was our tour guide. He was very nice and gave us LOTS of info! I just don't know how they memorize it all.

Next time I think we will do a day at Cable Beach and shop at Straw Market.