Eastern Caribbean, Here We Come Again…This Time on the Treasure (with photos) - May 2025

[Erica1016]

Table of Contents
Day 1: Traveling to Orlando
Day 2: Embarkation Day Part 1 | Part 2
Day 3: Sea Day #1
Day 4: Sea Day #2
Day 5: Tortola
Day 6: St. Thomas
Day 7: Sea Day #3
Day 8: Castaway
Day 9: Disembarkation Day

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We’re Erica and Todd (mid-40’s) and we love Disney Cruise Line. We are also big park fans with many trips to WDW and two trips to Disneyland in the record books, but DCL has been where it’s at for us in the last few years. We have no children, but we do have a little dog (Emmett) that runs the house!

Welcome to our second official trip report! Our first was last year when we did what we termed a “double cruise”, going on the Magic followed by the Fantasy. Before we get to the current trip report, here’s a mini-report of our most recent sailing in December (that didn’t get its own spotlight).

Cruise #10, for us, was 5 nights aboard the Disney Dream in December 2024. We brought along Todd’s parents for their first Disney cruise! They’ve traveled a lot and cruised before, but never on Disney, so we were looking forward to sharing something that means so much to us.

The traveling party Ted and Sue (Todd’s parents) and us (Todd and Erica)​

This was a Very Merrytime cruise, which we thought would especially appeal to Sue, since we were asking her to travel during peak Christmas preparation time. The decor was lovely and we enjoyed the atmosphere. On a previous Merrytime cruise, we missed hearing Disney music all the time. On this cruise, we didn’t seem to notice missing it as much. Either there was less Christmas music, or we were preoccupied.

Ted and Sue with a little Merrytime decor​

Ted and Sue enjoyed all the food, as we always do. We enjoyed sharing the experience of rotational dining and having the same servers every night. This is something we really love about DCL! We were a bit unsure if Ted would be able to appreciate the Broadway-style shows, because he is a self-proclaimed hater of musicals. We just asked him to give it a try. Surprise…he loved them! Weeks after the trip, he was still talking about how much he enjoyed them, so this was a win in our book.

Deck Snacks! Enjoying the addition of Ramone’s Cantina​

We love Castaway Cay, even though we’re not huge beach people. There’s just something about that place! Our itinerary also included our first time stopping at Lookout Cay. We were looking forward to checking out the new location.

We weren’t sure if Ted would have the stamina for the long pier walk in addition to the long day on the island, so we stopped at the Buena Vista Theater to drop him off to get a ride on a golf cart. This was easy-peasy and no problem. The other three of us walked and it wasn’t that bad. This is coming from someone (me), who is not a huge walker!

A photo break along the pier at Lookout Cay​

Overall, Lookout was great, but we prefer Castaway. The beach is lovely, but we just don’t feel it has the same character as Castaway. This could change as we visit more; we have a cruise planned with a stop at Lookout next May. We enjoyed the food and were glad that the flies were not as bad as initial reports, but the large fans placed around the food area certainly detracted from the ambiance. Ted and Sue found some loungers in the adult area and relaxed there for a while while Todd and I did some exploring. We watched the Junkanoo parade and really enjoyed watching everyone having fun with the characters at the Fun in the Sun Beach Bash. After lunch, Ted and I returned to the ship while Todd and Sue walked the nature trail to the lighthouse.

The view from the lighthouse along the Discovery Nature Trail​

Two other notes from this trip:

• We originally booked ourselves as the lead person in each room in order to use our gold status for both. Before the cruise, we were unsure about how we would go about adjusting the sleeping arrangements and our Magic Bands and KTTW cards. This was all super easy with a quick stop at Guest Services. We lucked out and were able to stop by when no one was in line as soon as we boarded.
• Ted had a mishap with his lounge chair on Lookout and ended up with quite a scrape on his elbow. They had a bandage on the island, but it wasn’t doing the job well. When we returned to the ship, Todd took him to the Health Center and they fixed him up with a better bandage and told him to come back the next day to get it checked. All was fine and they were very helpful!

Ted and Sue had an excellent trip and I’m sure they’d go with us again if they didn’t have so many of their own travels planned.

BACK TO THE ACTUAL TRIP REPORT…
At the conclusion of our December cruise, we became Platinum Castaway Club members! We sailed on the Disney Treasure for the first time on a 7-night Eastern Caribbean Itinerary. We’ve sailed this exact same cruise in the same week for the past two years on the Fantasy. We love the EC itinerary mostly because we love sea days and there are three!

I (Erica) was very active with the Facebook group and was looking forward to meeting new friends in person. We also had some friends that we’d met on the Fantasy in 2023 and others from the Fantasy in 2024 that would be on this same sailing!

We were excited to add the Treasure to our collection and once again hold the honor of sailing on every Disney ship.

We look forward to sharing our experience in upcoming posts, detailing each day of our cruise, and sharing many photos (some of Todd’s may be a little blurry…sorry!). It’s always fun to know people are reading and we love talking DCL, so feel free to ask any questions or add to the conversation.

Ready to set sail on the Treasure!​

Table of Contents
Day 1: Traveling to Orlando
Day 2: Embarkation Day Part 1 | Part 2
Day 3: Sea Day #1
Day 4: Sea Day #2
Day 5: Tortola
Day 6: St. Thomas
Day 7: Sea Day #3
Day 8: Castaway
Day 9: Disembarkation Day

 

[buteraa]

Following!

 

[Erica1016]

Following!

Welcome!

 

[Erica1016]

May 9, 2025

While we live in Pennsylvania, we first traveled to Rochester to leave Emmett (our dog) with Todd’s parents. So, we’d be flying out of the Rochester airport (which is what we did last year as well). I headed up a couple days ahead of time and Todd arrived after work on Thursday. Our flight on Friday was later in the day than we typically choose. We like to leave for vacations early in the morning to help avoid flight delays and to get the trip started as soon as possible!

On our way to the airport, we got notified that our flight was slightly delayed. This was due to weather in the Orlando area. Our original departure time of 2:40 pm ultimately became 3:25 pm. So, only a minor delay. While we waited, we played some of the games available in the terminal as part of the exhibit from the Strong Museum of Play. This is one of my favorite things about the Rochester airport. We played some of the video games – including Pac-Man, Pong and Donkey Kong – and a few rounds of trivia. Todd won most of them.

Todd in front of some of the games…a giant Pong!

Erica with Space Invaders​

The airport was very quiet and uncrowded, which was nice. We walked around a bit and I decided to get some Subway to take with us to have for dinner once we got to the hotel. On another trip, I picked up Chipotle at MCO while Todd retrieved our luggage. With our later arrival, I thought having the food already might be helpful. Todd went back to the gate while I ordered the sandwiches through the mobile app and waited. When I first started, there was hardly a line, but when I finished submitting the order and turned around, the line was huge! It was getting close to boarding time, so I was getting nervous. I got the subs and hustled over to the gate. Todd was already in his boarding position talking to someone with a DCL sling bag and I was there for about 30 seconds when we started getting on.

Our flight was uneventful, we had plenty of space as it was just the two of us in our row. We were very spoiled on a recent flight that had only 60 passengers and each of us got our own row. But, it was still nice to just have the two of us. I watched a movie, Anyone But You, which helped the time pass quickly. Before we knew it, we were landing. Todd walked ahead to get the luggage (I’m a slow walker) and we met up near where the shuttle from the hotel was coming.

Plenty of space on our flight​

While we were waiting for the shuttle, it was pouring rain! We were very happy to be under the overhang. Later, I read on the Facebook group page that many people had delayed and/or canceled flights, so we were happy to have had only a slight delay.

The shuttle arrived promptly and we were on our way to the Country Inn and Suites. This is the third time we stayed at a hotel near Semoran Road north of the airport and all have been adequate. We have also stayed at Fairfield Inn and La Quinta Inn and Suites Orlando Airport North. Each time, we’ve taken a free shuttle from the airport and then gotten transportation to the port separately (either Cortrans or GoPort - more on those later). We really like staying in this area, Todd particularly likes it because he’s a runner. There are lots of good sidewalks and it’s flat, so he always enjoys a nice, long run before I wake up. It’s his favorite way to start vacation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t running on this trip due to an injury. It was his biggest disappointment of the trip.

We got cookies when we checked in and they went well with our subs. The subs mostly survived in my backpack during the flight. They were a little messy (maybe next time I’d skip the sauce), but still tasty. Todd did a little bit of work before he’d be offline for the week while I scrolled the Facebook group and absorbed all the excitement of everyone arriving and anticipating embarkation day. There were still crazy thunderstorms, so I kept the curtains open while going to sleep to watch!

Todd’s slightly messy, but still tasty, sandwich

Our room at the Country Inn and Suites​

In our previous trip report, we tracked our sleep and steps for each night, so we're going to do that again. Todd wants to remind all of you that he won’t be running, so his step count will be lower than normal (even though it will still be a lot)! Sleep will be from the night before and steps will be for that day.

Erica’s Sleep: No data - watch charging
Erica’s Steps: 5,907

Todd’s Sleep: 6:09
Todd’s Steps: 6,070 **Todd wants me to add that, as I noted above, he is not running this trip due to injury, which will impact his step count

Question of the Post: If you travel the day before the cruise, where do you like to stay?

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[JM_97]

Question of the Post: If you travel the day before the cruise, where do you like to stay?

As close to the port as I can. I'm fortunate enough to where I don't need to fly in and Canaveral has lots of good options. (even when I've flown into NYC and sailed from there, I stayed very close to the port)

One day I do want to try doing Epcot/Disney Springs the day before and then driving to PC in the morning.

But looking forward to reading your future posts!

 

[graviela]

We use points to stay at the Hampton Inn near the airport. We also use the free airport shuttle. We take it back to the airport to use Disney Transportation.

 

[Erica1016]

One day I do want to try doing Epcot/Disney Springs the day before and then driving to PC in the morning.

But looking forward to reading your future posts!

If we lived within driving distance of the ports, I think we'd be in trouble.
Someday, I want to go from the parks as well. So far, we haven't been able to "justify" the added costs of going to WDW beforehand. Someday...

We take it back to the airport to use Disney Transportation.

I've heard of a lot of people that do that, another good option. We're pretty happy with Cortrans (which I'll mention more in the next post). Thanks for sharing!

 

[princesserin1350]

Love seeing a Cortrans shout-out as we love them too! So affordable and friendly.

 

[Erica1016]

May 10, 2025

We woke up pretty early and were both fairly awake at 4:45 am. Todd is an early riser, but even this was early for him. It was probably due to the combination of excitement and the early bedtime the previous night. Todd spent some time browsing international Disney park maps to brush up and prepare for trivia. I read through posts on the Facebook group. At some point, Todd completed the health questionnaire before heading out for a walk. He ended up walking about two hours (6+ miles) while I went back to sleep until about 8 am. Once he got back, he did some stretching while I showered and got ready. We headed down to eat a little breakfast and then packed up to wait for our transportation.

From 575 days when we booked the cruise to 0!

Not quite DCL food just yet.​

As I mentioned in the previous post, we used Cortrans for our transportation. They’re a small, family-owned business and we’ve used them several times. The price was $25 per person each way, so $100 total for our transportation to the port and back to the airport. The shuttle arrived promptly at 10:00 and we made a stop at another hotel and then we were on our way to the port. We started chatting with another passenger that was going to the Treasure and it turned out that it was someone (Renee) that I had chatted with through the Facebook group and I had recommended Cortrans to her as well. We had a nice conversation and eventually figured out that we had sailed on the same Wish cruise in August 2022!
Interestingly, even after our fun conversation, we didn’t run into Renee or her daughter for the entire cruise.

Our PAT was 11:30 am; we arrived at the port at 11:34. The shuttle made stops at two other ships before the Treasure, so with the traffic, it took a bit longer than normal. The cast members directed us to the line for the 11:45 PAT, which had a lot of people in it! Once we were let in, we headed to the Platinum Castaway Club check-in for the first time, YAY! Check-in was quick and easy and we were headed through security in short order. This is where things started to go awry.

We’ve always had a good experience at Port Canaveral and I feel like we have hardly ever waited inside the port, we just end up boarding fairly soon after getting upstairs. That was not the case on this trip! It turns out that the U.S. Coast Guard was doing a semi-annual inspection, which severely delayed everything. We waited in the terminal until about 1:00 pm before anyone started boarding, and it got VERY crowded.

The crowded terminal before boarding started​

Our problem with this was not so much the wait, but the complete lack of communication about the delay. The only reason we knew what was happening was chatter on the Facebook group from some concierge guests that were getting updates. Once they started calling groups to queue up, they weren’t announcing it over the loudspeaker, they just had two ladies yelling out the boarding group numbers. Another slight annoyance was that the Navigator App was also not up and running, yet, so we couldn’t even check out what would be available or dining rotations while we waited. We made friends with a couple sitting next to us (Hi, Sharon and Skip) and that helped the time move faster. Sharon mentioned that they’d spend most of their time in the Rainforest Room, which we don’t go to, so we figured we wouldn’t bump into them too often. We said our goodbyes and went to board.

I was also texting with our friends, Robert and Marrianne. We’d met them on the Fantasy in May 2024 and had kept in touch. Not intentionally, we were sailing on the same cruise this year! It probably helped that it was the same week and the same itinerary. They had just made their way over to say hello when Todd got the go-ahead from a cast member to enter the queue a little early (our boarding group was 9, but she let us in the line with boarding group 7). I gave Robert a quick hug as Todd was pulling me in the other direction to board. We’d catch up with them later, though!

As we boarded, we were excited to see which cast members would be there to do introductions. We absolutely love the Entertainment Staff and are so excited when we see people we’ve met on other cruises. We were happy to have Taylor (from Ohio) be the one to introduce us as we’d met her on two other cruises. As soon as I said hi, she gave me a big hug. We just love the friendliness of the cast members and it is definitely something that keeps us coming back. We were also happy to see Danny, who had been our night-time host on the Magic last year!

Excitement after boarding the ship

Exploring the Grand Hall​

Once we were on board, I was in awe of the Grand Hall. I knew I was going to love the colors and aesthetic of the Treasure and I was not disappointed. You’ll see lots of pictures of the carpets and light fixtures throughout the trip!

The chandelier in the Grand Hall

I loved the carpets throughout the whole ship​

After a bit of exploring, we were off to Marceline Market to brave the crowds for lunch.

To be continued…

Erica’s Sleep: 9:43
Erica’s Steps: 9,841

Todd’s Sleep: 6:32
Todd’s Steps: 23,138

Question of the Post: What’s your preference for lunch on embarkation day (buffet, sit-down or deck snacks)?

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