Any non-fans of Castaway Cay?

[JARNJ3]

I'm not a beach person - I burn.

What happens on the ship that day? Is there stuff to do, if you don't want to venture out on the beach?

 

[Jess_S]

Take a look at posted navigators. There are definitely activities on the ship if you don't want to do a beach day. Most people beeline off the ship, so it is a great day to do things on board with fewer crowds. There are also covered areas on the island if you want to get off the ship, but don't want to sit on the beach.

 

[AquaDame]

We think its fine, but not real big beach day people either. They have bikes you can rent, and you can check out the old airfield. Have lunch at the BBQ place, partake in some water sports if you want to sign up for jet skis or parasail. We generally find enough to do that isn't just laying on the beach that we're entertained off the ship, but not so long that we burn. They do have things onboard as well - movies, character meets, etc but I feel like there is less than say a sea day as most people do go to the beach.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

It is a perfect beach, but if you don't much care for beaches, then it is a WONDERFUL day to be on the ship since most everyone gets off. On the Dream earlier this year, we stayed on the ship. Had our choice of seats at the pools, I had the Rainforest Room to myself, not a crazy crowd in Cabanas for lunch, etc.

 

[Marc D]

I still think you can have a nice half day on the island without ”going to the beach”. You can bike or walk to the observation tower or the adult section, do an excursion - the sandbar is quite a place to visit, enjoy sitting at one of the bars with island music, grab some BBQ... We rarely stay put on the beach at CC. Between all those things and snorkeling, we are at our chairs for no more than an hour.

 

[JPTexan82]

I could care less about Castaway Cay. you can’t relax on the beach, there is no way. Even Serenity Bay is crowded, and to get a drink at the bar Forget it. We sleep in. Get off the boat to have lunch at cookies. Then back to the ship for a movie in the pool, without kids screaming.
There was one time I was able to watch ALL of Goofy Movie in the Mickey pool. For a guy who grew up in the 90’s that was magical. Also when the Aquaduck opens at 2 or so. I get my feel of that, without the wait.

 

[JARNJ3]

Thanks everyone for the replies & suggestions.

 

[SG131]

I know there were movies playing the whole day. Also, cabanas for lunch is like a ghost town so it’s very relaxing for a change. I did the 5k then came back to the ship to change and decided to eat lunch there because I heard the lines for food on the island could get crazy.

 

[sethschroeder]

It was very much okay but nothing incredible. I had a feeling going in I wouldn't be wowed. Not a big beach person and honestly wasn't in on the water sports. Something like a JetSki I would rather do on the lake where I have free rein (not to mention less expensive option for the time).

 

[Karin1984]

I did the 5k, met some characters and spent the rest of the day in a very empty rainforest room.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We get off the ship for lunch, then go back. If you're on one of the classic ships Castaway Cay isn't nearly as crowded.

 

[KennesawNemo]

Beach hater here. On our last month cruise, I didn't even take my cover up off once and only dipped my feet in the water twice maybe.

I was happy just sitting in the shade watching my family play. I could tolerate the sand for that.

I really don't think the beach is that awesome either. I mean it quite good and it's big plus that I don't need to carry my own chairs/umbrellas, but I think the beaches at Destine where we occasionally go are just as good.

 

[cgolf]

I never understood the love CC gets. For me I just don't understand the beach thing. We snorkeled a few times, but outside of that there really isn't much to do. The 5K was fun and we did rent the bikes once or twice, but I guess we were there enough that it was just a stop. Also being gluten free, it was always a pain to get the premade lunch so I just ate the gluten free sides on the buffet.

If you like beaches, it is a nice place to relax because the only people on the island are from the ship vs the public beaches on other stops.

 

[kathi]

We are beach lovers, but honestly it's so crowded and shallow that unless we manage to book a cabana, it's not that awesome. Serenity Bay used to be nice, but now that the beach has eroded, I'm afraid that is going to be too crowded for me as well. We are going over Christmas on a double dip. WE are going to do the walking/kayak excursion and then probably go back to the ship. On the second day our daughter is doing the teen excursion and we might go to Serenity Bay for the morning during high tide. Hopefully the next time we visit (in July) they will have done some beach repairs.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

We like beaches, but don't like just sitting there. We do the 5k, swim, do Pelican Plunge, eat lunch and get ice cream, and then rent some kind of water sports equipment. (We did kayaks last time. DD wants to do something like that again.) We are pretty active people, and find enough exploring, swimming, and kayaking/biking/snorkeling to keep ourselves busy.

This year DH and DD are doing the Castaway Ray's activity at 11 AM, so we'll have that between the 5K and lunch to keep busy.

There's plenty to do on a relatively quiet ship, too, so don't hesitate to hang on the ship and check that out! Look at the Navigator the night before and make some choices.

 

[parkbr]

We're not beach people either!
We woke up sort of late, ordered room service and watched people off the ship.
Character meet-ups had very short lines, so that was great!

Got off the ship and took some pictures - there are some very good spots for pics!
Took the tram and just roamed around. Wanted to go to the watch tower, but didn't have the chance.
Got bbq food and ice cream.

And just because we didn't want to miss out port of call, we just made small sand snowmans, wrote the date and took a picture and went back to the ship and enjoyed the pool.

 

[RamblingMad]

It’s underwhelming, and it’s probably the worse food we ate during the entire cruise. All of our planned activities were canceled too.

We ended up renting bikes and riding around the island. This is much better at Mackinac Island.

We tried the adult beach. But we prefer the beaches in Maui.

I’d explore again for a little bit to just get off the ship.

 

[smiths02]

We are not beach people at all either. I'm really white and fat, so swimsuits and sun aren't my friends.

Anyhow, we had a double dip cruise at CC. It was just the dates that worked for us. We enjoyed the Stingray excursion and my DH, FIL, and older son really enjoyed the fishing excursion. They also enjoyed just walking around and checking out the entire island. We enjoyed lunch both days, the character meet and greets and character dance parties were neat. We enjoyed it, and we had 7 people and went to CC twice, but aside from the Stingray excursion (just two of us), the only people who spent any time on the beach in the water were me and my younger children and it was maybe 30 minutes.

 

[msmama]

I'm not much of a beach person either. I burn and have had several minor skin cancers. The sun is not my friend. But I easily found a spot in the shade (we were on the Magic, so a smaller ship) everywhere I wanted to be. If you're walking from the ship to the part of the island where things are, there's not much shade, but you could wait for the tram.

We did a family whale dig. That was fun and different and it was very uncrowded when we were there. Paleontologist Mickey showed up as did a "Scientist" from the kids club. We also stumbled upon a character dance party (again, rather uncrowded) so that was fun (until Minnie almost passed out). There are other things to do than just hang out at the beach and, in my experience, they're less crowded, which always makes things more fun to me.

 

[MouseinMelbourne]

I live 5 minutes from the beach just south of PC. To us, CC is meh unless I have a cabana. In August we were on the Fantasy and never got off for CC. Instead we brought games and played in Cabanas (the restaurant not the coveted mini-house on the island). It was awesome! Beautiful view while we played. Inside. Lol