Thanks for paying it forward! Also on this itinerary next week. What was port arrival time like for you (any details on that experience in general is helpful).
Additionally, given the capacity was a little bit higher (but certainly not pre-covid), were any spaces busy? Especially thinking that the adult pool area may be crowded again but hoping not!
You'll love this itinerary!
Our port arrival time was 12:15. We had joined a private Facebook group for our cruise (always a good idea), and we could see posts that morning from others who had earlier PATs that we should not rush to the port. The Coast Guard was doing some sort of inspection and there was a delay in sending guests aboard. We grabbed an Uber just before 12 and according to my receipt he dropped us off at 12:13PM. We arrived to a long line outside the terminal (in the shade, with water jugs spread around.) and we settled in for a long wait. However, shortly after that staff were walking the line calling out for anyone with a 12PM PAT or earlier to come out of the line and move ahead. About 5 minutes after they called for 12:15PATs and we moved out and up to a short line to enter the terminal. The people ahead of us at the back of the line had a 1:30PAT, no idea why they came so early. Took maybe 5 minutes to move into the Terminal, through security and get handed our test kits, then we got assigned to an open test booth very quickly. Did our supervised tests and then moved upstairs to the waiting area. Told ourselves we shouldn't obsessively check Safe Passage for results as rapid tests need to sit for 15 minutes. At the 16 minute mark our son spotted our reservation number on the TV and we were clear. Wished those around us well, moved ahead to get our Welcome Aboard photo (which we ended up buying because...that was a memorable moment), and then walked on board with family introduction and Mickey waving from the stairs. Total time - Uber dropped us at 12:13PM and my video of us walking on the ship is time stamped 1:23PM.
The adult pool area was never crowded that I saw (usually while hitting up happy hour at Signals! watch for those, good deals!). The largest crowd we encountered the entire trip was at the shops outside the Walt Disney Theatre between the first and second performances of Tangled on Night 1. We were second seating for dinner, so early show, and we were shocked how jammed the shops were when we came out. We bailed on browsing, and of course the shops were mainly empty the rest of the trip.
Castaway Cay Day 2 was shockingly empty. We took pictures at 10AM of the miles of empty chairs around us on Family Beach 1. I've got pictures of our kids in the water with no one else within 40 feet of them. Our best guess was that maybe 1,000 of our total 1,753 got off the ship that day, and honestly that fells high. My daughter declared, "It's like we are all the Cabana people!". Castaway Day 1 was a bit busier but we went to Family Beach 2 that day which is smaller. Also, on Day 1 some excursions were cancelled due to the winds, so more people may have been doing those on Day 2. It felt like the parasail was up in the air the entire day.
We stayed on board in Nassau (kids called it Sea Day 2), and that was a near empty experience too. Kids were just running laps on the yellow water slide until about 2:30/3PM when you could start to tell people were coming back from shore.
Send any and all questions! It's fun to remember!
