Blue Lagoon vs Castaway Cay

[Huey duck]

Several trips to Disney and around the country but this will be our first cruise ever! 4 day disney Dream in Dec with 10 and 6 yr ds dd. We live on the gulf coast and have beautiful sugar white sands and emerald green water and we are often out on our boat. Only 23ft though so nothing like the dream obviously. What I am debating about is getting off in Nassau to enjoy the beach at blue lagoon or staying on the ship since we get to do castaway for free. Would 2 beach days be too much for beach bums that have never enjoyed the luxury of the ship? Is it silly to stay on ship when there are beautiful sites to see? We definitely are not going to try any of the dolphin or stingray adventures this trip. We see a lot of those animals up close where we live and thought we could save that money since it will be right around christmas time. I think we have ruled out atlantis too, I just cant imagine they have a better waterpark than Wdw and I hear there are water slides at castaway for free? Which beach blue lagoon or castaway is most exotic looking, feels less populated and not as much like Florida? Does getting off ship at port take forever and a day? Thanks for the help.

 

[chateau]

Your point was my very thought process and why I cancelled excursions. I'm eager to hear others points on this topic.

 

[Adnera]

I have cancelled our blue lagoon beach day, it is pricey and the forecast does not look to good, so i rather not take the risk.
thinking about going to the ardastra zoo by ourselfs (15 a person+ cab/bus)
or
going over to the hilton, i believe this is walking distance from port and getting a daypass for their beach & pools (i read its $50 (5and under FREE) but includes $30 food voucher!) i emailed hilton because i am not sure if i can just show up or need to reserve through a TA.

I guess it all depends on our mood and the weather!

 

[noahsmom]

I have not been to Blue Lagoon so I can't compare the beaches. I have been to Castaway Cay 10 times and I can't wait to go 2 more times in July! It is my happy place.

You ask about getting off the ship at port. It's easy and challenging in Nassau. The ship docks and you walk the pier to and go through a building. This is the easy part. Once out of the building the challenge begins. You will be asked if you want your hair braided, a buggy ride, and now there are scooter rentals to be asked about. We call it the gauntlet. It's not horrible, just annoying. Then to get to Blue Lagoon you have to take a boat.

To get to the beach at Castaway Cay you get off the ship, grab towels from the CM's handing them out. Maybe get a picture with a character at the post office, walk about 50 yards to the tram stop. Take the tram to the 2nd stop and find a spot on the beach. If you go to the 2nd stop you are on the far end of the main beach area and close to the small beach where the water slide is located. Cookies Too for lunch is close also.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bear3412]

If you plan on NOT reserving a swim or encounter at Blue Lagoon do not go as you are from the panhandle beaches. Since it's a four day I would stay onboard in Nassau and enjoy all the ship has to offer. My only reason to get off would be to visit the beaches or an encounter at BL.

 

[Tolson70]

Personally, I despise Nassau, so I would stay on board. Having a huge ship like the Dream at your disposal and fairly empty would be a great way to get your ship fix. CC is an awesome location and a great way to spend a day on shore without the hassle of the Nassau shore experience and hassling.

 

[sue]

Personally, I despise Nassau, so I would stay on board. Having a huge ship like the Dream at your disposal and fairly empty would be a great way to get your ship fix. CC is an awesome location and a great way to spend a day on shore without the hassle of the Nassau shore experience and hassling.

I couldn't agree more. I really wish Disney would give up Nassau as a stop. I would rather have a sea day than stop there. I have been to Blue Lagoon Island. It used to be Disney's private island back in the Big Red Boat days. It was the filming location for the movie Splash. It is a nice island and they have dolphin encounter excursions there, but like the other person posted, you do have to take a fairy boat to get there which takes about 1/2 hr each way. Would I get off the ship to do so, when you will be going to CC? Heck no.

 

[eyesing4u]

Nassau crime has increased in the last few years. Tourist groups have been robbed at gunpoint and they have the highest incident of rape in the Caribbean. Even before this increase, I was never thrilled with the Nassau experience. I would most certainly stay on the ship. If you do venture out, please be careful!

 

[scrapbookjulie]

I'd go to Blue Lagoon...but I like to pack as much into a trip as possible. Being on the ship all day for sea day was enough for my family. I wouldn't have wanted to spend a second full day on board when there were other options. Blue Lagoon is very pretty. I only spent an hour on the beach there after doing the dolphin swim, but my family enjoyed it. There are several inflatable raft things for the kids to play on in the water. Not crowded, especially I hear if you go farther down the beach. We had friends that did the full beach day there and liked it. If you decide to go, you'll meet up somewhere on the ship (we met in the movie theater) with everyone else going to Blue Lagoon for their different excursions. We met at 9:30. We all walked as a group off the ship to the boats that take you to Blue Lagoon. It took probably 10 minutes to walk there. Then you take about a 25 minute boat ride to Blue Lagoon. We wound up getting to the beach around 11. You have a few return time options. I think they were 1, 2 and 4. We came back at 2 since we were eating on the ship. If you do the beach day, I think your lunch is included, and it would be easy to stay until 4.

Castaway and Blue Lagoon had a totally different feel to me. At Castaway, we LOVED our cabana, but I wished I'd had more time to enjoy it! We spent so much time biking and snorkeling and taking pics with characters and eating, etc. etc. that we didn't just lay on the beach and play in the water nearly as much as we would have at Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon seems more like a lazy, lay on the beach kind of day to me.

 

[bmahokie]

I agree with the previous poster. The allure of Blue Lagoon to our family is that it is pretty quiet. They have some inflatables in the water, acceptable food (included in the price of the beach day), adult drinks if that's your thing. But we really like the fact that there aren't that many people there. There are hammocks that are actually open. Places to walk to "get away". We find that getting off the craziness of the ship (which we also enjoy by the way) for a few hours helps all of us. Nothing beats CC, but Blue Lagoon is definitely more peaceful. But if you like to stay "busy" then I would stay on the ship.

 

[jd99]

Blue Lagoon for us was "just okay" and since it was our first time on the Dream I wish we would have just stayed on the ship. IMO there is no comparison between Blue Lagoon and Castaway. CC is so much nicer. I can't even compare because there is no comparison.

 

[mcd2745]

We went to Blue Lagoon for the dolphin encounter just about a month ago, while aboard a 5-night (double-dip) Dream cruise. It does take 30-40 minutes each way by ferry boat to get there.

Unfortunately, the rest of the island/beach was closed for the day so we couldn't enjoy it after the dolphin encounter. (They claimed it was because it was the day after TS Isaac hit and they had a lot of cleanup to do. I didn't buy that. I think they just closed it because there weren't enough tourists around since we were the only ship in Nassau that day. We were originally supposed to be in Nassau the day before, but DCL flip-flopped the sea day and Nassau day about 10 days before the cruise, supposedly in response to guests' complaints/concerns that since there were supposed to be 5 large ships in Nassau on our original day - including Oasis of the Seas - that it would be too crowded in town and since it was also a Sunday, many of the shops would be closing early. Well since we were the only ship the next day, many shops didn't even open . They may not have even known that we switched and were coming that day. We also weren't happy with the change as it screwed up our Palo plans as we wanted to go there on the sea day. But I digress...)

Anyway, the beach at Blue Lagoon did look really nice and I think my kids (DS 10 & DD 7) would have had a blast had it been open with all the inflatables and other stuff. I also thought the water there was actually much nicer than at CC - but they are both plenty "exotic looking". You mentioned the slides at CC - Pelican Plunge. It was a cool idea for them to put that out in the water, but just a warning...unfortunately, the area where they put it is heavily infested with sea lice. Otherwise, the rest of CC is great. Afterall, the two stops there is why we chose the 5-nighter in the first place. I'm not a big fan of staying on the ship wile in port. Otherwise, IMO just book a hotel somewhere.

 

[JOANNEL]

We went the last week end in August. It was a very nice beach. We too live in the panhandle. The ship is just too hot when it's docked to enjoy the deck. If you can stay inside or in the pool the whole time. I do agree one sea day is not enough!!! The ride to Blue lagoon was very nice. The beach was empty. We snorkled and just sat in the water. We took the 2pm ferry back so we were able to enjoy "Mixology" at 4!!! Our friends stayed on the ship and had a very relaxing day. They did the detective agency while it was empty. Lunch was ok and it included two soda's. I don't know if I would do it again but not a bad day. We didn't walk around the port, just got back on the ship.

 

[boogabuzz]

I would stay on the ship. Nassau is a hole!! There's really nothing there worth seeing. There will be minimal crowds and you will have a lot of space to yourselves. Castaway is fabulous. Get off the ship early and enjoy as much of it as you can(coming from an east coast Floridian) it really is a beautiful place!!

 

[sunshineNJ]

We are taking a 3 night cruise in April on the Dream and we have always wanted to visit The Atlantis. Blue Lagoon Island sounds great too though. I figure the Atlantis is safe during the day right? Any opinions of the Aquaventure excursion there? thanks

 

[glassslipper2004]

Atlantis water park is very nice, but not nearly as nice as a WDW water park. They have spoiled me for any other water park. We went over but left by 1:00 and made it back to the ship in time for lunch at 1:45. On our previous trip we did a day pass at the Hilton - not the most scenic beach. If I ever go to Nassau again I'll stay on the ship!

 

[Huey duck]

Thanks to all who replied!!! I think i have made a decision. Blue Lagoon beach trip for me and kids is $200, we live near beach at home, we have never been on a cruise ship, castaway cay is free........so we are going to stay on ship the nassau day. If we are absolutely stir crazy we can hit a free nassau beach I guess. My only concern now is if we have bad weather on castaway cay day and dont get to do that.....we would not have gone to either blue lagoon or castaway. Our nassau day is 1st on dec 21st and castaway on Dec 22nd. 4 night dream dec 19

 

[caribear]

I think you made the right decision!! The last 2 times we were in Nassau we just got off the ship for an hour or so to visit the straw market to pick up some trinkets for the kids. The beaches are not that great.....love Siesta Key 100% more!! Stay on the ship and enjoy all it has to offer!!!