We woke up this morning as we were pulling up to the dock at
Castaway Cay. We got dressed and hurried up to Deck 10 to get a look at the island. It was so neat to be able to see the different parts of the island from the boat. It was really neat to see the Flying Dutchman anchored in the bay next to the Magic.
We had our breakfast at Topsiders again and then went back to our room to get all of our stuff to take to the beach. I bought some sand toys a few days ago that they were selling near the pool. My DD was really excited about playing in the sand and the ocean. We made our way off of the boat and headed to the post office to get some stamps to mail our postcards.
Then we headed down the walkway to find a spot on the beach. While we were walking, I noticed a lot of picture spots from the
DCL ads.
Make sure you bring your camera! We got some great pics especially of the Flying Dutchman and the Magic.
We stayed at the Family Beach and didnt venture too far away. There are lots of umbrellas, chairs, and hammocks around to put your stuff on. We also rented rafts and inner tubes for us. We went down to the beach and both our DD and DS played for a long time in the sand and water, although the water was a little bit cold.
There was a play set also set up in the water that my DS played on for a while. Our kids didnt participate in any of the kids clubs while we were on Castaway Cay and we didnt take any character pictures either.
My DH and DS rode on the banana boat and they had fun on that.
I had reserved bikes for us but we never used them. We had lunch on the island at Cookies BBQ. My DH and DS also went snorkeling. There are things below the water farther out from the beach that you can look at while youre snorkeling which my DS thought was really neat. There was a brief rain shower in the afternoon, which was the first rain we had seen during the cruise. Everyone just went under their umbrellas and waited for it to pass then went back to the beach when it was over.
We headed back to the boat and up to our room to watch the boat pull away from the dock. The workers had on their white Mickey gloves waving goodbye to us as we headed back to Florida and the end of our cruise.
While we were sad that it was our last night on this wonderful vacation, we knew there was a lot to do before we got off of the boat.
They give you information to read and they have a program on the TV that tells all about the debarkation process and how to prepare for it. They also leave your tip envelopes for your servers and room attendants. We just charged the tips to our room account and they give you a paper that you put into the tip envelope to give to the staff. I filled out the custom forms for our family that we would have to turn in tomorrow when we left the boat. My DH returned our kids club pager since we werent going to use them anymore. I also went to the Promenade Lounge to use the computer to check-in for our return flight and I printed out our boarding passes. So now that all of these administrative items were taken care of, I had to get all of our luggage packed up. They want your luggage outside your room before you go to bed tonight. Luckily, all of our clothes and especially our souvenirs, fit into our suitcases. And you have to keep your clothes for tomorrow and any other items that you need in your carry-on bags.
After all of the packing was done, we headed to Parrot Cay for dinner. My DD ended up falling asleep at dinner (again) so we just ordered our desserts to go and we headed up to our room, ate our desserts, and then went to sleep. One thing we missed was the gathering of all the characters in the Lobby and Atrium. They were all on the stairs and you could get some great pictures. We were too tired to go and really I forgot all about it. We talked to our tablemates the next day about it and I wished we would have gone.
Next: April 12 Port Canaveral (Debarkation)
in january! first time cruise for us both. thansk for all the interesting tips both good and bad. they are helping me prepare... i will be sure not to forget the pirate gear! can't wait to hear the rest!!
