All ashore at castaway cay

[marlinrj]

Just did my first Disney cruise on the fantasy last week. Getting off the ship at Castaway Cay was a mess in the morning. I figured it would be busy, but it was way worse than I thought. It probably took 45 minutes to get off. At 9:45 the people doing the 5k were still trying to get off. Is it always this way at Castaway Cay?

 

[Bishoparc]

Did it take you guys a while to dock? We were there last Sunday and the 5K folks got off right at 8:30 and they were out of the way shortly there after.

 

[bumbershoot]

No it isn't always like that, but it CAN be like that.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Agree with bumbershoot- sometimes very easy, other times, packed like sardines what seems like hours...

 

[JCinMN]

It was like that when we were there and trying to do the 5k. Half the ship was off before the 5k folks were allowed to disembark. Not sure why.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Just be thankful you got off , we couldn't dock in Jan!!!!!!
A year and a half of waiting & reading everything about it and all I have is a photo off in the distance.

 

[RedSox68]

Just be thankful you got off , we couldn't dock in Jan!!!!!!
A year and a half of waiting & reading everything about it and all I have is a photo off in the distance.

Oh, that would be a bummer. So sorry. We were disappointed one year we had to skip the Key West stop, but missing CC is much worse.

 

[The Sasquatch]

definitely hot or miss. We were on the Dream in April and got off around 9:30am and walked right off, there wasnt anyone there.

 

[RedSox68]

Wonder what happens if you have paid all that money for a cabana and lose an hour because of a situation like this! That would stink.

 

[WanderLit]

I'm not much of a beach person so I plan to dawdle my way off the ship on CC day.

I booked a BBB appointment for my granddaughter to get the "under the sea" make over with bathing suit, fish-tail cover up, and nail polish that changes in the sunshine. We'll enjoy a quiet breakfast, visit the BBB and stroll off the ship around 11 or so. hopefully, the crush will be over by then and I'll get a lighter dose of itchy sand, sweaty heat, elbow-to-elbow "lounging" on the beach and sunburn. It will be nice to watch my granddaughter pretend to be a mermaid in the ocean but other than that, I haven't read about anything we can do on Castaway Cay that sounds even half as good than anything we can find on the ship. I know I'm unusual in my lack of enthusiasm for beach time and I understand the general appeal. It's just so over-rated in my book.

I did try for a cabana and if I get lucky on the wait-list, my tune will change A LOT! That appointment will be canceled and we'll get off the boat as fast as we can! Shade, a fan, a hammock, lounge chairs, all the sunblock I can use, my kindle, privacy... ahhhh.... now THAT is my idea of a nice beach break.

 

[MnMzMoMi4LiFe]

Just be thankful you got off , we couldn't dock in Jan!!!!!!
A year and a half of waiting & reading everything about it and all I have is a photo off in the distance.

Did they say why you couldn't dock? Was it the weather?

 

[bumbershoot]

I'll get a lighter dose of itchy sand, sweaty heat, elbow-to-elbow "lounging" on the beach

Itchy sand? Elbow to elbow?

Huh. That's not the Cc I've experienced.

If it's crowded where you are, move further down the beach. People tend to plunk down quickly so if you're willing to keep going you'll find more room.

I have enjoyed our normal cc visits FAR more than I enjoyed our one time in a cabana. And I've used my kindle just fine on the normal beach.

Cc is the place that made me realize that maybe I am, after all, a beach person.


Op while I've never had a ship take that long for disembarkation there, as a free 5k participant I'll mention that I've never been the first to disembark. (I've also done the paid challenge and with that one we docked at midnight and runners were off before dawn)

 

[emnems34]

Strange. Both of our cruises (Magic and Wonder) we never had any trouble. Then again on the Magic I was getting married and they took me off privately, so maybe it was worse, I'm not sure. I've often heard from people that the crowding issues on the Dream and Fantasy are really noticeable at disembark and at the pools. Maybe for your next cruise try to Wonder or the Magic, they tend to be less crowded. : D

 

[Hundredacre]

Never experience d this before

 

[marlinrj]

My husband did the 5k. The meet time was 9:15 but he said they were still getting off at 9:45. He said they waited a long time before getting off because they were still waiting for people who were late (which I don't think is fair to the people that were on time). He sent me a message through the app to not try getting off yet, but by then it was already too late. We were already down on deck 1 just stuck trying to get off. It was probably about 20 minutes before people actually started moving. We took the elevator down and as soon as the doors opened it was just a sea of people. There was a lady that was supposed to be doing the 5k that got on the elevator we just got off. She decided to just skip the 5k and was heading up. Had some of the kids not jumped out of the elevator and made their way ahead of us we would've done the same.

It sucked, because people were just being so rude and pushing each other. I could hear other people fighting and getting mad at each other. We wanted to just go back up and wait, but it would've been too hard.

 

[marlinrj]

Did it take you guys a while to dock? We were there last Sunday and the 5K folks got off right at 8:30 and they were out of the way shortly there after.

I don't think it took us awhile to dock. I think I heard the captain announce that we actually got in a little early.

 

[michellekcm]

I booked a BBB appointment for my granddaughter to get the "under the sea" make over with bathing suit, fish-tail cover up, and nail polish that changes in the sunshine. We'll enjoy a quiet breakfast, visit the BBB and stroll off the ship around 11 or so. hopefully, the crush will be over by then and I'll get a lighter dose of itchy sand, sweaty heat, elbow-to-elbow "lounging" on the beach and sunburn. It will be nice to watch my granddaughter pretend to be a mermaid in the ocean but other than that, I haven't read about anything we can do on Castaway Cay that sounds even half as good than anything we can find on the ship. I know I'm unusual in my lack of enthusiasm for beach time and I understand the general appeal. It's just so over-rated in my book.

Not sure how old your granddaughter is, but my kids absolutely loved Scuttles Cove. I think it might have almost been their favourite kids club experience of the whole cruise. I'm not a beach person either, so I booked DH and I into a couples massage in a cabana for part of the time .

 

[CamColt]

In 17 visits to Castaway Cay we had 1 experience that sounds like yours, and I agree it was awful. We had a later arrival time than previous cruises however so my thought was everyone was ready and waiting to get off by the time we could where as when we get there earlier its a more steady flow of people(or at least I had never tried getting off first thing when we arrive early).

 

[darnheather]

I'm not much of a beach person so I plan to dawdle my way off the ship on CC day.

hopefully, the crush will be over by then and I'll get a lighter dose of itchy sand, sweaty heat, elbow-to-elbow "lounging" on the beach and sunburn. It will be nice to watch my granddaughter pretend to be a mermaid in the ocean but other than that, I haven't read about anything we can do on Castaway Cay that sounds even half as good than anything we can find on the ship. I know I'm unusual in my lack of enthusiasm for beach time and I understand the general appeal. It's just so over-rated in my book.

The sand is not itchy at all. Usually I have to shower off right after leaving the beach but I had no issue eating lunch wet and at least partially covered in sand and sea water. Also, how crowded it is depends entirely on which ship you are on. We sailed on the Magic and there were times when I was nearly the only person in the water in our area and there were tons of empty chairs. It is a beautiful place and lounging in my float (that I brought along) with a drink was magnificent.

 

[LLB430]

I was on that cruise. We hung out by the pool, watching a movie until about 20 mins or so after they started letting people off and we strolled right off the boat.