Just back..some observations

[tawasdave]

Couple of observations:

1)On Castaway Cay, if your kids want to play on the jungle gym in the water make sure they do it early in the morning. The tide goes out about noon and they close it for the rest of the day.

2)The "Till we meet again" party at 10 pm in the atrium to say farwell is NOT to be missed...stay until the end...the ending is shall we say "magical".

3)Disney has gone from one extreme to the other. When we were on on 1999 all you hear on the top decks was Disney music...now they don't play any Disney music at all...they need to mix in some Disney toons.

4)A free souvenir for those of you who are thrifty (like me)...the first day as everyone is partying as you pull out of port...they sell drinks in colored plastic glasses and you get to keep the glass...well either some people did not care or did not know they could keep the glass...so I gathered up a set of four ..took them to the room and cleaned them and have a dandy souvenir...I planned on getting another set the last day on the boat, but they were not around...so if you decide to do this do it as you leave port.

5)Of course they take pictures all over the ship and they want you to buy them. I bought a couple and asked at Shutters, what if I want to copy them for my parents and they said that you cannot, they are copyrighted. Course you could use a scanner and make copies or if you go to www.castawayclub.com they have a release that should work.

6)We had an unusual situation two nights on for dinner. Rather than taking our desert order, our server just brought samples of everything to our table and you picked what you want..or try them all...this was good and bad...tried lots...but ended up not getting the desert I really wanted.

7)The day at sea at the BeachBlanket Buffet they have four serving lines...three are mainly for adults and is mostly seafood. One line however, has kid food..chicken fingers, mac and cheese, etc. My 12 DD was disapointed with the seafood until we hear about the serving line on the other side of the room had kids food, we had no idea.

8)Captain announced during the Castaway Club party that the Wonder was going into dry dock in October to be refurbished the same as the Magic was earlier. That means the elimination of the ESPN Club, which will become the new teen hangout. He also hinted that there were some new routes coming to be announced soon...would not specify, but I think it probably will be the California routes everyone is suspecting.

9)My two kids and I spent quite a bit of time in the water at Castaway Cay and had no problem with rashes. Also, I would recommend wearing water shoes there...lots of sharp stones, shells and I kicked a piece of cement in the water..wish I had them on...also after you get a littel ways out in the water, lots of seaweed which feel funny on your feet.

10)If you are planning on bringing some booze back from your trip..I found it was cheaper on the ship than in Nassau.

11)We did the dolphin encounter at Blue Lagoon and it was great...but plan on buying the video as it is hard to get pics unless you have someone take pics who does not do the encounter at the same time as the rest of your group. Also I know I saw a question about lockers at the encounter, and yes they do have lockers.

12)The internet service on the ship is very slow...anyone used to high speed internet service better be ready, and if you pay by minute (75 cents per minute) unless you only intend on using it a couple times, better to pay the $40 for unlimited usage.

13)I was traveling with my two kids and was looking forward to the singles meet the first night...I was the only one to show up...so if you intend to meet singles on the ship.....GOOD LUCK...one thought though...if you go to Shutters and look at the formal pics..you may at least figure out who are traveling as singles...just a thought.

Well hope this helps some people out...best part is...It was great..have a ball!!!

 

[Hygiene99]

The link mentioned in #5 did not work and i think u ment www.castawayclub.com


Sounds like a great trip.....

 

[reses4]

Thanks for the update. I went to CC last year and never nor did I know about the game area or the Jungle Gym.

Glad to see that you enjoyed the cruise.

 

[KEH]

Thanks for these. Your comment about the kids line on the buffet made me smile. When we were on the Magic last year, my DH went down what he thought was the ordinary buffet line and came back with a plate of food. He was amazed that I had a completely different selection of, shall we say, more adult food. Needless to say he ahd gone down the kids line by mistake.

 

[JJsmama]

We'll be on the first or second after the WOnder comes out of dry dock. Bummer about the ESPN club. All the men in our group would have really enjoyed it. Will there be another place like it where they can hang out casually and see some sports together?

 

[professorandmom]

Just a quick note: the tide issue and the jungle gym at CC changes daily (high and low tide times change every day). I don't think they list the tide times in the navigator but I am sure you can find out on the island. When we were there, high tide seemed to be in the afternoon, so the jungle gym (a huge hit with my twin DS9) was open all day.

Thanks for the great memories (and the tip about the glasses, I kept mine and it is now in my dining room with the china)

Barbara

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by tawasdave
Couple of observations:


4)A free souvenir for those of you who are thrifty (like me)...the first day as everyone is partying as you pull out of port...they sell drinks in colored plastic glasses and you get to keep the glass...well either some people did not care or did not know they could keep the glass...so I gathered up a set of four ..took them to the room and cleaned them and have a dandy souvenir...I planned on getting another set the last day on the boat, but they were not around...so if you decide to do this do it as you leave port.

Thanks for sharing...and GREAT TIP!!!

 

[tawasdave]

I do not believe that they are going to have a sports bar...but they do have TV's in the Promenade lounge so you could watch there..

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by tawasdave
I do not believe that they are going to have a sports bar...but they do have TV's in the Promenade lounge so you could watch there..

On the Disney Magic, the new club, Diversions, in the night club area on Deck 3, is essentially a sports bar (although it also has a few other pub events).

 

[Zandy595]

The Magic has a sports club/bar called Diversions. I'm assuming they will do that on the Wonder also.


I never saw the jungle gym on our first cruise (11/01). Is this something new? Where is it located? Does anyone have any pictures they could post? Could I ask any more questions???

 

[tkd lisa]

The "jungle gym" is out in the water, about 2/3 of the way down the family beach. It's heavily featured in the cruise video (or at least it was in the old one). The kids swing out over the water, etc.

 

[jrabbit]

The "jungle gym" has been on CC since the beginning. It's a big wooden structure out in the water with climbing ans swinging ropes. and platforms for jumping in the water from.

It's most of the way down the family beach. It's not to far from where the adults catch the shuttle to Serenity Bay.

 

[CRB#33]

So that glass is free now at the sail-away party?

I know we paid for ours a few years ago on the Wonder.

Also on our trip the Jungle Gym in the water was open all day.

 

[mobetsy]

They should tell you at Shutters that you can download free copyright permission letters at www.image.com (look for the link about cruise ships). You can then use this to make copies of pictures at any store. However, the quality/color is probably not going to be quite as good (I discovered this!), so if you want the copies as a special gift, you might want to pay the premium price on board to have original quality.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

On Castaway Cay, if your kids want to play on the jungle gym in the water make sure they do it early in the morning. The tide goes out about noon and they close it for the rest of the day.

I don't think this is always the case. If the jungle gym is closed based on the height of the tide, well the timing of the tide is based on the phase of the moon. For example, during a Full moon or a New moon, the high tide will reach its peak when the sun is high in the sky. But during a First Quarter Moon or a Last Quarter Moon, the high tide will reach its peak around sunrise and sunset.

So if the gym is closed at times based on the tides, then sometimes the exact opposite should happen, the gym should sometimes be closed when you first get to the island and be openned later in the day.

tawasdave still has a very good point that I never realized, that the jungle gym does closed at times. If you plan on using it, you might need to find someone to ask what times it's expected to be open during your day at CC.

Anyone else with additional insites into this issue? Perhaps a good subject for a new thread.

 

[Aquagirl]

You still pay for the glass. They do not tell you that you are paying an extra $2 or $3 for the drink in the glass. You can buy the same drink at the bar in a paper cup for less.

 

[CAMICKEY]

And because many people do not know that the glass is theirs, they just set it down and whoever claims it, claims it. Right??? - Mike

 

[tawasdave]

Thats right..and so I did...nice item for summer drinks in Michigan...

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

these drinks are for the adults? Do they make Kid versions too? Otherwise, I guess I'll be looking for abandoned glasses too! Do they only have them on Deck 9 at the sailaway? Do they offer them all evening?

 

[Zandy595]

I'm pretty sure they make non-alcoholic versions of all the tropical drinks. DS got the same drink I had at the Sail Away Party, but without the alcohol.