Anyone booked for Lighthouse Point?

[kdonnel]

It will have been 10 years between Disney cruises for my family but we are booked for the preview cruise that visits Lighthouse Point.

There is a warning that not everything might be ready but I am excited to be one of the first few people to visit.

Maybe there will be several YouTube vloggers on the cruise and I can be immortalized in the background of a video or two?

I imagine some things have changed in 10 years?

 

[lklgoodman]

We are booked on the July 15 cruise that goes to CC and Lighthouse. We've been to CC 9 times and always enjoy it, so I'm excited to see how Lighthouse compares. Hopefully most things will be ready for your cruise.

 

[auntlynne]

Other than Lighthouse Point as a destination, you might be surprised how little has changed!

@Cheburashka gave this nice summary of changes in a recent thread about changes in DCL:

“Given that it's Disney, it shouldn't be a surprise that there have been some additions and subtractions in recent years.

I'll do the negative first. Here are some subtractions that I can recall:

• No onboard airline check-in sending your luggage to the airport (I believe it can still check you in, but you have to take your own luggage to the airport)
• No officer's pin trading (some guests put up pin boards on their stateroom doors, but naturally these only yield the cheap type of pins)
• No individual toiletries
• No paper navigators or paper reminders for adult reservations or for time changes or paper copy of your folio given to you automatically at the end of the cruise (now there's an app for everything)
• No buffet at the Pirate Night party
• No buffet at Palo brunch
• Palo dinner has the same food, but for the $45 standard charge (or comp, if you're Platinum), you have to order off of a prix fixe menu, or else order a la carte and pay for anything that costs over $45 (and a la carte has an 18% auto-gratuity)
• Platinum members no longer get to skip getting a PAT.
• No dinner at Cabanas.
• No onboard booking of specific cruises, not even a brochure to look at. You can only book a placeholder via the app.
• No free MBs of Internet available if you claim it the first day.
• You cannot bring hard liquor to drink onboard. Just beer, wine and non-alcoholic drinks

There have been additions, as well:

• There's a DCL Navigator app for scheduling, reserving a placeholder, checking your folio, etc.
• There are Internet packages available, with varying reports on how well the Internet works.
• The Magic and Wonder both have Disney on Demand programming now, just like the Dream and Fantasy.
• On Castaway Cay, a couple of the old massage cabanas were converted into additional Serenity Bay cabanas.
• On the Magic, several deck 8 verandah staterooms have been converted to concierge staterooms.
• Olaf now makes occasional appearances in certain circumstances.
• The Magic now has Rapunzel's Royal Table instead of Cariocas. It has a show with Rapunzel, Flynn & the gang, and the characters also come to your table.
• On the Magic there is a Soul Cat Lounge where the old promenade lounge used to be.
• The Magic now has an "Encanto Celebration" onboard.
• Now there is a Pearl Castaway Club tier of people who have cruised 25 times, and they're now the first ones to get to book new cruises, check in online, and book activities.
• DCL transfers from Disney resorts now pick guests up first thing in the morning, which gives them an early port arrival time.”

 

[kdonnel]

Other than Lighthouse Point as a destination, you might be surprised how little has changed!

Thanks for the comprehensive list!

I had seen that the buffet was not offered at dinner and couldn’t remember if that had been in place when I last sailed with DCL.

That might be the only one that affects me and my family. We enjoy either a first or second dinner at the buffet on other lines. If we have late seating we will drop by the buffet on RCCL when it opens for a preview of the dining room. Or if we have early seating we might drop by the buffet just before it closes to get one more of whatever was best that night in the dining room.

 

[shananigans]

We’re booked for Oct 31-Nov 5, 2024. Nassau, Castaway Cay & Lighthouse Point. It’s a HOTHS out of Fort Lauderdale. We are excited! It’s on the Magic.

 

[auntlynne]

Hope you have a great time! Let us know how you liked it. I am sure we will see a variety of reactions.

We are opting to wait - and have the Fantasy cruise in November 2024 (with a bunch of people, based on the rise in cabin prices since booking). We get a 6-night cruise, with 2 stops at CC and 1 at LP + Nassau. (I’m calling it a Triple Dip). The October sail date looks to be popular, too. We are fortunate to not have a school calendar to dictate our travel.

I was fascinated to realize how close Princess Cays beach is - just over 3 miles by car; a little shorter up the Western coast. The photos of the beaches on this section of Eleuthera are beautiful.

Just checking the plans - and realized the initial development is on the Eastern side. Boat docks on the Western side.

 

[kdonnel]

I was fascinated to realize how close Princess Cays beach is - just over 3 miles by car; a little shorter up the Western coast. The photos of the beaches on this section of Eleuthera are beautiful.

I knew it was very close to the Princess Cays and that is a concern.

The beaches at Princess Cays are very rocky.

I hope Disney is able to transform the Lighthouse Point beaches into sandy beaches.

These are not the only two private islands that are very close.

CoCo Cay (RCCL) and Great Stirrup Cay (NCL) are right next to each other.

 

[auntlynne]

I knew it was very close to the Princess Cays and that is a concern.

The beaches at Princess Cays are very rocky.

I hope Disney is able to transform the Lighthouse Point beaches into sandy beaches.

These are not the only two private islands that are very close.

CoCo Cay (RCCL) and Great Stirrup Cay (NCL) are right next to each other.

I was surprised when I looked up all the cruise line private beaches a few years ago. It makes sense - I was just unaware.

When you look at an aerial view, that outer stretch of Eleuthera does look rocky (reefs?) At least there appears to be a decent amount of shallow water.

I am sure some will miss the security of a breakwater, like at CC’s Family Beach. I am a Serenity Bay fan and am curious to see the wave action; I find the lack of wave pull a major plus to my enjoyment. It feels like a giant, somewhat too-shallow swimming pool.



You’ll be one of the first to make the assessment as a cruiser . As good a job as they did on Gorda Cay, I expect similar for Lighthouse Point.

We are already looking forward to our cruise over a year away.

 

[WxKristin]

Booked our very first DCL trip in Oct 2024 because it goes to both Castaway Cay and Lighthouse Point (as well as Nassau). Looking forward to seeing your report from the preview trip!

 

[JAM9842]

We are on the inaugural cruise to Lighthouse Point on the Fantasy and cannot wait. We will go to Lighthouse Point twice and Castaway.

 

[Garyjames220]

If you want a view of the island coming into Lighthouse point are u better booking port side or star side or is to to hard to tell at the moment

 

[Calantha]

We are booked for the last week in July next year. Didn't want to go too early and not have everything be available for those prices!

 

[ILoveMyKellen]

We are on the inaugural cruise to Lighthouse Point on the Fantasy and cannot wait. We will go to Lighthouse Point twice and Castaway.

We are on this one as well. I fully expect all of the bugs not being worked out but I’m still super excited for this cruise.

 

[JAM9842]

We are on this one as well. I fully expect all of the bugs not being worked out but I’m still super excited for this cruise.

At least we get two tries at the Island! Haha

See you on board!

 

[LambertLion]

We are booked for June 19 on the Magic and are super excited! Booked concierge to try to have best chances at a cabana, as we dont know what that situation will be like. We hope they will have plenty more than CC so that more people can have a shot than just concierge.

 

[dcassetta]

If you want a view of the island coming into Lighthouse point are u better booking port side or star side or is to to hard to tell at the moment

Most of the art that I have seen at this point seems to indicate that the ship will dock with its port side facing the island. What did that turns out to be true or not, I don’t know. At CC, the ships usually back in. But the art from LP seems to show that the ships can dock facing either direction.

 

[dcassetta]

It will have been 10 years between Disney cruises for my family but we are booked for the preview cruise that visits Lighthouse Point.

We were originally booked on the preview cruise on the Magic, but had to change to a July cruise just because of schedule issues. Really looking forward to hearing the first reports about the island. Eleuthera is one of my favorite places in the world.

 

[Love4Eeyore]

We are also on the inaugural Lighthouse Point sailing! Gonna be a long year. I want to plan!

And this is my first post. Hello everyone!

 

[Skippyboo]

Booked our very first DCL trip in Oct 2024 because it goes to both Castaway Cay and Lighthouse Point (as well as Nassau). Looking forward to seeing your report from the preview trip!

I booked that same cruise - Fantasy 2 CC, 1 Lighthouse Point and Nassau , 6 nights Halloween themed

 

[kdonnel]

I booked that same cruise - Fantasy 2 CC, 1 Lighthouse Point and Nassau , 6 nights Halloween themed

That sounds like an amazing list of ports for a cruise!

I know Nassau gets a lot of hate but my family loves Nassau. Charter a boat and captain and have them take you to Rose Island. It is expensive if just for one family but if you are traveling with another family and can split it the price is really not that bad.