Castaway Cay Activities

[KSR0330]

I'm getting ready to book activities for our upcoming (first) cruise. We're a family of 6 traveling. Will things like the floats, bikes and basic snorkeling be available to buy the day of or do I need to book them in advance? I hate to book them all ahead of time if some of us won't feel like doing some things the day of. Any other tips for a first timer would also be greatly appreciated. I've watched the videos and read the threads, but still feel the dark about a lot of it! Thanks!!!

 

[auntlynne]

Historically, those equipment rentals are available once on island.

(Watch and see if someone posts that this has changed.)

The swim to the underwater snorkeling trail on the family beach is a challenge for many.

Leave your beach towels at home. Plenty available as you leave the ship.

Shops close earlier than the island does.

Lunch is a fixed time. Don’t be late.

There are character photo opportunities.

Wear some walking shoes and just skip the tram. You have to walk to get to it, anyway.

The Castaway 5K still exists, but now DIY, not a group run. But you still get a fun rubbery medal.

?? Does the Coke machine (including water) stay open in the afternoon?

 

[shosh1530]

I second the recommendation to not be late to lunch. On our next visit we plan to eat early. For our first time at Castaway Cay we snorkeled first (taking way longer than I expected) and got to lunch on the late side. Many things were out including cookies, fruit, soft serve ice cream and the soda machines were done by the time we got to them after eating.

We also ended up missing all of the programming (Edge activities, characters) that my kid was interested in. The day goes fast! We didn't book anything in advance but they had snorkel equipment as a walk up (we brought our own masks and only got flippers). It was a very hot day so we didn't have the stamina to do much more than the snorkeling, lunch, and the water slide before heading back to the ship.

Spend sometime on the app before your Castaway day mapping out any must dos for your family. My son really wanted to see Jack Sparrow at 11:30 but I didn't realize the characters were near the ship and there was no way we were going to walk/tram all the way back for that.

 

[auntlynne]

If you want to see what a daily schedule looks like, go to Disney Cruise Line Blog website. Look for “Personal Navigators.” Any Bahamas cruise, doesn’t matter which ship, should have a day at Castaway Cay.

Here’s a link to a cruise from Sep 15. Includes restaurants with links to their menus, drinks of the day, and Personal Navigators.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/20...cruise-from-port-canaveral-september-13-2024/

I’ve clipped the schedule of scheduled Character appearances for CC (and later back on the ship) the day they visited:

 

[sponica]

We didn't do anything extra, just got off the boat and found some chairs.

I will say if you have young-ish kids and can bring some cheap sand toys with you, that's the way to go so you don't get bugged to buy the expensive ones on the island.