How do the other cruise line's private islands compare to Castaway Cay?

[TigerLaw]

Just curious to see if some of those who have taken cruises on non disney cruise lines would be willing to discuss how castaway cay compares to other cruise line's private islands.... Which they liked better, why, etc.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I went to RCI's Coco Cay in March. That's the only other private island I've been to. Compared to Castaway it's rather primitive. I wasn't so wow'ed by it. There's not as many paved walkways. There's lots of pine trees and stuff so walking through the sand to a spot to sit we got stickers in our feet. Beach wasn't quite as pretty. The "tram" was a tractor pulling the people cars. No pier so we had to tender. That was not fun. I've tendered to lots of ports with Disney without a tender ticket and never had such an insane long wait. Coco Cay isn't very big compared to other private islands. Now NCL's Harvest Cay is one I'd love to see!

 

[Prose]

We have only been to RCL's Labadee, so can only speak to that compared to Castaway....

- Food at the free buffets were similar on both. Chicken, burgers, salads, cookies, etc.
- No "adult beach" on Labadee. All beaches open to all age groups
- Labadee had a beach that was for suite guests only
- Labadee was more spread out than Castaway. There were more beaches and the beach areas varied in offerings and type. Columbus Cove was sandy and water was fairly calm. Adrenaline includes more activities, but is rocky with more waves.
- More variety of rentals on Labadee, including cabanas, bungalows, beach beds and clamshells.
- Loungers and umbrellas are not pre-set as they are on Castaway. Island workers will set them up for you, and they expect a tip.
- The day we were there, there was live music on the beach, and the musicians were selling their CDs.
- There are more vendors on Labadee selling crafts, hairbraiding, etc. Some are quite aggressive, others more laid-back.
- More 'thrilling' activities on Labadee - zip line, mountain coaster, inflatables in the water, etc.
- More of an atmosphere thing, but Labadee is fenced and gated. You won't see any guards, but they are there somewhere.
- Labadee does have a pier, so you can walk to the ship like at Castaway.

Those are the main things I can think of off the top of my head....

 

[Tractortom]

I have been to a couple of the private islands and to say that Disney's is better is an understatement. Disney has the only private island that I have ever been to that you don't need to tender to and from. This sounds like a small thing but waiting for a tender, on both ends, sometimes 20 minutes or so is a pain. Also, I like the way that Disney has set aside a single beach area, with it's own bars and restaurant for adults. You can get on the tram and ride down there and find what you want, away from the noise. And finally, there is little bits of Disney magic everywhere....

Tom in Okeechobee, FL

 

[bumbershoot]

I love coco cay. All it needs is a 5k and it would be perfect. I love that you can walk around and see lizards and see chickens and hear roosters. I love that it's several smaller beaches so you feel isolated instead of seeing ehe vast sea of humanity on the first family beach you get to when you get to castaway.

And they seem to be building a dock!


(eta: why do I even bother to post on my cell? so many typos)

 

[cscream13]

Its been a while, but we've been to RCL's Coco Cay and NCL's Half Moon Cay. A loooong time ago, also went to the Princess Cay. DCL is head and shoulders better than all of them. On CoCo Cay, we actually walked the whole island once and could not find a single free lounge chair. That's never a problem at Castaway Cay, even with the larger ships.

I have not been to the RCL destination in Labadee, but I've heard that's probably the next best to Disney -- possibly better if your family is the right age for some of the adventure activities like ziplining, etc.

 

[Sanchez]

I liked Labadee better than Castaway Cay though not a significant difference. No tender for either but the Labadee beaches are better. Further, we generally cruise during the winter months and the water (and sometimes weather) is too cold at Castaway. Labadee does not have this problem.

Princess Cays is nice and the tender is fine. Like Castaway, water and air temperature can be a problem during winter months.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I love coco cay. All it needs is a 5k and it would be perfect. I love that you can walk among and see lizards and see chickens and hear roosters. I love that it's several smaller beaches so yiu feel isolated instead of seeing he vast sea of humanity on the first family beach you get to when you get to castaway.

And they seem to be building a dock!

I heard they were going to build a pier! That's excellent!

 

[bumbershoot]

I heard they were going to build a pier! That's excellent!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/04/27/royal-caribbean-officially-breaks-ground-cococay-pier




Though I hope that article really means the ships will dock there; not just that more people can get onto the island at once.

 

[soniam]

I don't think they do compare. However, we haven't been to Coco Cay or Labadee in a while. It sounds like Labadee has improved. When we went, you could still see the armed guards. I suspect the other private islands are having to keep up with Castaway Cay. I will say that the snorkeling on Coco Cay is really good, and we have snorkeled in Caymen, Cozumel, and Hawaii.

 

[NS8VN]

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/04/27/royal-caribbean-officially-breaks-ground-cococay-pier




Though I hope that article really means the ships will dock there; not just that more people can get onto the island at once.

I'm going to assume the line "Once complete, the new pier will be able to handle even Oasis Class ships" means it is a dock for the ships. Nice, hadn't heard of this and we have our first RCL cruise and visit to Coco Cay in Nov 2018! Gives it time to get finished even if there are delays.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If you ask me, a lot of other cruise lines islands tend to focus on beaches, shopping, and making you pay for food. They have little excursions.

Your experience?

 

[Bsmitty]

Princess's didn't compare at all, for me. Not the food, not the comforts, not the beach or ease of swimming or the cleanliness. I by far like CC better.

 

[cadien]

If you ask me, a lot of other cruise lines islands tend to focus on beaches, shopping, and making you pay for food. They have little excursions.

You're still talking about the private island?

 

[deanimal]

We've only been to one other private island, NCL's Great Stirrup Cay. We loved NCL overall but the private island was one of the few areas where we felt Disney was better by far. The tendering process was a huge pain. On the way back we were lucky that we grabbed seats on the lower level because we had to wait for about 20 minutes for another tender to unload a group in wheelchairs and the people on the top deck were stuck sitting in the blazing sun with no cover at all. My kids enjoyed the island a lot, especially the hermit crabs in the sort of secluded area we were able to find, but it was a LOOONG walk to the buffet if you wanted to be away from the noisy, crowded part of the beach. We're not huge beach people so the quality of the private island isn't make or break for us but it Castaway Cay is the highlight of your trip you may be disappointed with NCL's island.

 

[remlap]

We stopped at Princess Cay when did the Eastern on the new Royal Princess.
It's not a true island. Well, I guess it is, but Princess Cay is connected by road to a bigger island. Chairs available, but less so then CC. Lunch was on par with Cookies, perhaps not as nice as the lunch at the cc adult beach.
You do have to tender. Going there was easy, coming back was a a bit of a pain, but nothing too terrible.
Is castaway better? Yep. Is Disney at least double the price of Princess for an Eastern Caribbean cruise Yep.

If I was to go back, I'll probably bring my passport and see what's to see on the rest of the island.

 

[kaseyC]

I thought Labadee was comparable to CC. No tendering. What I loved about Labadee was the concierge only Barefoot Beach Club area. It was a gated area for concierge guests only with plenty of beach chairs, beach cabanas, hilltop cabanas and over the water cabanas. It also offered a upgraded buffet for suite guests. A member of the concierge team as well as cabana staff and bar servers were available. We were there on very full spring break cruise on the Harmony and it was so nice to have access to that exclusive area. We had a hilltop cabana but even without the cabana we would have had access to plenty of chairs.

 

[ludari]

Last year while on my first RCI cruise on Anthem of the Seas the ship stopped at Coco Cay. I was traveling with friends who stayed in a concierge level suite so when we arrived at Coco Cay we stayed in one of those concierge club beach bungalows. The bungalows where very nice, the beach was better than at Serenity Bay and they where very few guest in that area which made the beach feel secluded. The service for the concierge bungalows was decent but the food the prepared was not up to par compared to any of the food you receive at Castaway Cay. There where other activities on the island like a zip line but I didn't explore any of the other areas at Coco Cay since I wanted to take full advantage of the bungalows and the secluded beach.

 

[wl1117]

Tacking on to OP...anyone have experience with NCL's new Harvest Caye?

 

[pjacobi]

RCL seems to uses the word "Labadee" to hide the fact that is is located on the island of Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world.

-Paul