Docking at Castaway Cay -- or not

[jdb in AZ]

Has DCL ever kept track and/or announced how often the ships aren't able to dock at Castaway Cay?

We've sailed DCL in the caribbean twice, but weren't able to dock one of those times. The captain made four attempts but the waves were just too choppy and he didn't want to risk damage to the ship.

I would assume the percentage of successful docking is much higher than our 50% success rate, and just wondered if anybuddy knows the actual stats.

 

[clten]

I'm sure even if DCL tracked those stats, they wouldn't make them public. Don't want people thinking negative things when they use that as a big selling point for their cruises. There have been a couple of threads on the boards but can't really tell stats from that as people posting about missing the stop could be on the same cruise. I thought about starting a thread and tracking it through the whole year but didn't know if I could commit to keeping it current every week with work commitments.

But of my 24 scheduled calls on Castaway Cay, we've made 100% of them, so between us we bring your % all the way up to a 96% success rate.

 

[mesaboy2]

I've gotta think it's 90% or more. No actual facts to back it up though.

 

[quentina]

Well, we went once and did not make it in. We leave on Sunday....I will let you know if we make it!

 

[kcashner]

A couple of years ago there was a guy on these boards who tracked all the cruises and whether or not they were successful in docking. Over several years, the success was pretty consistent at 97-98%. I haven't seen him post or ask for updated info recently.....

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We were able to dock at CC 75% of the time for the four cruises we have taken. On the Wonder PC cruise we were not able to dock. Despite several attempts by the captain the wind was just too strong.

 

[stevenpensacola]

We're 4 for 4 DOCKING...but two of these times it rained...

 

[com_op_2000]

DW and I are seven for seven docking at CC. No rain issues on any of the CC stops. Water was too cold to swim twice, once in Feb and once in Mar.

 

[alikat99]

We are 8 for 8, for 100% docking. Heck, we've even had overall great weather (not counting the typical afternoon thundershower), until this past week when it actually rained the whole morning at CC.

 

[taswira]

I know that Captain Tom once said that 20% of the time the ship can not dock at Castaway Cay during January and February. I haven't heard any statistics for the rest of the year. Certainly no way to even guess during tropical storm/hurricane season.

 

[RedSox68]

We've docked all 8 of our 9 cruises (#9 being in the Med). However, once we had to abandon the beaches by 1 p.m. because of lightening and thunder. Another time we had to be back onboard by 2 p.m. to depart by 3 p.m. to outrun an impending storm. Otherwise, though, we have always felt we got enough time and enjoyed it.

 

[TDC Nala]

I have been on four cruises that included a stop at Castaway Cay, and it didn't happen on 2 of the 4 cruises (both in January, seven years apart).

 

[closetmickey]

We are two for two making it to CC but feel really fortunate as when we cruised February '10, both the cruise before and after us did not make it. Our other cruise was the first week in March '08.

 

[Cayley]

I'm curious if a certain time of the year is worse than other times as far as the odds of docking? We have an upcoming cruise in October and it didn't dawn on me this could be an issue (bar a hurricane) since on our cruise on October 2008 it was calm and sunny.

 

[maleficent esq.]

We have sailed five times with Disney. We have made it to Castaway Cay twice, and the second time we were there they evacuated us. So we have not had very good luck. Although in all fairness we tend to go in October (Hurricane season) because the rates are better.

Mal -

 

[collectoraholic]

We are 12 for 12 with being able to dock @ Castaway Cay & some of those sailings have been Double Dips to CC. & on the Double Dips, we've made it in for both stops every time as well.

These are the months we've sailed in, as some have asked:

01/26/11 - 01/30/11
12/18/10 - 12/29/10
07/25/10 - 07/30/10
04/18/10 - 04/22/10
09/12/09 - 09/19/09
07/26/09 - 07/30/09
12/27/08 - 01/03/09
12/11/08 - 12/14/08
05/10/08 - 05/25/08
07/02/06 - 07/06/06
05/27/06 - 06/03/06
03/06/05 - 03/10/05

We're sailing on the 11/12/11 7-Nighter and I can report back after that whether we make it in to CC or not. It's another Double Dip as well!