Castaway Cay missed port

[mjr0483]

We are on our first Disney Cruise starting this Saturday and we are scheduled for Castaway Cay for Sunday. The weather for Sunday is showing Wind.
How often does this port get missed for wind and how strong does it have to be for the ship to be unable to dock? Do they ever reschedule where possible to go back later in the itinerayr.

I do follow the Royal Caribbean private island CoCoCay group on Facebook and they do miss the island a decent percentage. And they do alter the itinerayr when possible to make up for a miss.

 

[lanejudy]

It is not uncommon for DCL to miss the Castaway Cay port stop. I believe it's mostly due to currents moreso than winds, but of course the two can work hand-in-hand. They may try again on a different day, but it all depends on the schedule -- not only your itinerary but also the other ships. I think right now DCL has 3 ships making at least 4-5 CC stops per week and only 1 ship can be there at a time, so there isn't a lot of extra time in the schedule.

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

We are on our first Disney Cruise starting this Saturday and we are scheduled for Castaway Cay for Sunday. The weather for Sunday is showing Wind.
How often does this port get missed for wind and how strong does it have to be for the ship to be unable to dock? Do they ever reschedule where possible to go back later in the itinerayr.

I do follow the Royal Caribbean private island CoCoCay group on Facebook and they do miss the island a decent percentage. And they do alter the itinerayr when possible to make up for a miss.

I hope you have a great time! My ship is scheduled to be at castaway on Saturday I looked and the wind is a bit higher that day so hopefully it will still be able to dock as well. We went on a double dip trip in December on the magic and we didn’t have any issues I remember those days being windy but not sure what the wind gust were those days.

 

[mjr0483]

I hope you have a great time! My ship is scheduled to be at castaway on Saturday I looked and the wind is a bit higher that day so hopefully it will still be able to dock as well. We went on a double dip trip in December on the magic and we didn’t have any issues I remember those days being windy but not sure what the wind gust were those days.

We are scheduled for Sunday and the wind looks rough for Saturday and Sunday. It seems significant enough to mention

 

[mocodis]

Wish you the best, we have been on many cruises and have missed castaway a couple times due to wind and rough weather. The captain tries his best to get in there. If he does not get it on the first try, he will try a few more times. good luck

 

[Capt_BJ]

wind direction is at least as important as speed .... a stiff breeze out of the east or west makes for a difficult cross wind trying to get to the pier which has a very narrow area to work with. I've tried to show the dredged area ....


under MOST conditions the ship will back in and the ship is much less maneuverable when backing. In short: the full use of thrusters can be not enuf to stop the wind from pushing the ship sideways while backing. So why do they back in? because in the very early days of CC they once pulled in front first and the wind picked up and they could not back out to go home ....... cruise extended stuck to the pier .... not good! It was the last day soo they were late getting to Canaveral and next cruise messed up too . . . . They back in because if they get in they are virtually assured they can drive out front first as the ship is MUCH more controllable going forward. It 'digs in' better to fight cross currents/wind effects.

On one of our early Disney cruises the master tried to back in for well over an hour before finally giving up ..... they know it is a big deal and will generate MANY complaints. I had the opportunity to sit with the the Master for over an hour that evening and discuss the ship handling aspects . . . <I cheated by wearing my uniform ... Captain USCG ..... he came over to us to talk ships>

On one of our cruises where the next day was a sea day they were able to 'swap' and pulled in the following day when the weather was agreeable.

p.s. if the wind is so bad that they can't get in it wasn't gonna be much of a beach day anyway and often they can sail to a place with better weather . . .

 

[Kwami]

Don't worry too much about weather forecasts for Castaway Cay, though. On my last cruise, the forecast all week was calling for heavy rain all day and winds well over 20 mph. That was true even when I checked the day before Castaway day. When we go there, we docked on time and had a wonderful, sunny day until about 2pm, when the rain finally came.

So... you never know!

 

[CamColt]

In 26 attempts we have only missed CC once. We have however had to switch days at least twice that I can remember, once due to hurricane clean up, and once due to poor conditions so we stayed docked at Nassau longer than scheduled. Sadly missing CC, or any port really, is always an option. I hope you make it and have a wonderful day!

 

[onesam319]

It was raining at Nassau in the afternoon and evening and our next day was Castaway Cay. One of the bartenders told another guest that chances were slim that we would be able to dock at CC. At breakfast I felt the ship turning and went up on deck 12 to watch. The wind was howling, but once we got our stern past a couple of the outer tie-downs, I knew we were in! It turned out to be a beautiful day.

 

[Cheburashka]

When I was there this past October, it was so windy that Pelican Plunge was closed, which I'd never seen happen before. We still docked and disembarked at Castaway Cay without incident.

 

[DVC Doc]

FWIW I was on the Magic a few years ago on a VERY windy day and we managed to dock at Castaway on the second try. While we made it ashore, the wind made for a very unpleasant experience with sand blowing everywhere. Very few people stayed on the island past lunchtime.