Need Brutally Honest Answer

[dogladyjw]

We are thinking of taking a Land N Sea Adventure. We have been to Nassau and seen about all there is to see there!! The highlight and only reason we would take the cruise portion would be for Castaway Cay. I understand they have a dock there so you don't have to tender in, but I'm also told that does not guarantee that each cruise docks at the private island . As this is the sole reason we are taking the cruise, please tell me what percentage of August cruises ACTUALLY dock at Castaway.

 

[glassslipper2004]

Hmm. Do you mean does the ship actually dock vs. tender in, or does it sometimes skip CC? I believe that they almost never skip CC - in some cases, if they have to skip it because of weather, they even return there the next day to give everyone a chance. I've never heard of them having to tender in (presumably also because of weather) - maybe someone else knows the answer.

FYI, CC is amazing!

 

[Takia]

It is VERY unlikely that you will not dock. The factors in that would be a major storm. Also, there is not a whole lot to do on CC if it is raining..... We have sailed 8 times (9th in a week) with a couple double dips in there and have never not gotten to the island. As far as August goes, not sure as we typically cruise in the first and the last quarter of the year (i.e Jan and Sept).....

 

[cindalu]

By the way you will never have to tender in to CC.


HTH

 

[mott]

We took the 4 night in Oct. '05 and having been to Naussa and not finding it to be a very exciting place for us, we opted to stay on board. IT WAS A GREAT DAY. Pools were not very crowded since most people were in port. It's almost like having a sea day with only have the people.

While we enjoy CC a lot - DH favorite part of cruise - I also enjoy the ship.

Just something to think about.

Also, with a 4 night, it's more likely to go to CC since it has a 2nd chance to dock. When are you going - hurricane season would probably be the most likely time to miss CC. But there could be high winds any day of the year...

 

[Buddy Bear]

Occasionally it happens that the captain makes an executive decision not to stop at CC, but these are rare. If you had the number of times the Wonder and Magic have been to CC since 1998 and the number of times they couldn't go because of weather or another reason my guess would be somewhere in the 1% or less of the time. It does happen, but I wouldn't base my decison on the off-chance it might happen.

 

[RedFamilyLuvDisney]

We are thinking of taking a Land N Sea Adventure. We have been to Nassau and seen about all there is to see there!! The highlight and only reason we would take the cruise portion would be for Castaway Cay. I understand they have a dock there so you don't have to tender in, but I'm also told that does not guarantee that each cruise docks at the private island . As this is the sole reason we are taking the cruise, please tell me what percentage of August cruises ACTUALLY dock at Castaway.

Just wanted to let you know that we sailed end of August 2006 and we didn't miss CC. We were only there for 4 hrs? due to rain but it was the best 4 hrs of our cruise. Sending pexie dust your way.

 

[lborne]

We were on the Wonder Nov 16-19, 2006 and made it to CC with no problem. However, I read that the cruise right after ours could not make it due to bad weather. It was too windy and they tried several times to dock, but could not.

Generally, the weather is better in August than the winter months, unless you get a tropical storm or hurricane, of course.

 

[Jestocost]

At one point someone on these boards actually compiled a database of most cruises for the year to track how often the ships were able to dock at CC. I don't remember who did this or when it was, but maybe someone else knows. To the best of my recollection, the overall success rate was something around 95 percent, with a number of the failures clustered in a few months.

 

[NYGiantsRule!]

I believe most of the time when they cannot dock is in the Fall and Winter months when there can be somewhat rougher seas. We have cruised 3 times in mid to late August and have never had a problem docking at CC. We have had mid-day thunderstorms which can sometimes cause problems for excursions that are booked (banana boat, parasailing, etc.).

 

[iloveokw]

I guess we aren't so lucky - we have done four 3 night DCL cruises and TWO times we did not get to go to CC - the only reason we took the crusie!

 

[PhotoLisa]

I've been on the boards for a while and it seems that the winter months are more troublesome for docking at CC than winter months. The cause of the difficulty is due to fronts going through the area creating rough seas and higher winds. In the summertime, the patterns of fronts is nonexistent. The only problem you would have is if by chance a hurricane/tropical storm goes through the area. Remember, CC is a dot on the map and a hurricane's chances of disrupting that particular area is slim.

I've seen October and February postings of misses at CC. I've been once in early August and a few times in February and we've been lucky every time.

 

[kimcross]

We went in Sept. 2005. Unfortunately, a hurricane was passing through and we didn't get to dock in the Bahamas or Castaway Cay. I had booked a room at Atlantis and was looking forward to Castaway Cay. The four night cruise was cut short to three nights. We did enjoy the ship, though. We are cruising Feb. 4th and hoping we don't have the same bad luck.

Goodluck
KIM

 

[Stinasmom]

I guess we aren't so lucky - we have done four 3 night DCL cruises and TWO times we did not get to go to CC - the only reason we took the crusie!

Perfect reason to bump up to the 4 night cruise! It gives the captain a second day to attempt to dock the ship or in our case, a second day to spend at CC!
Yes, since it rained from about 8am to 1pm on our CC day the captain decided to bring us back the next day---for the whole (sunny!) day!
Then we had to high-tail it back to PC that night.