New Nassau Shore Excursions

[tlrotzoll]

We are going on the Oct 31 cruise and just received our shore excursion fact sheet from DCL. We were planning on doing the Stingray City and Blue Lagoon Combination tour, however, there is a new one called Blackbeard's Cay Beach & Stingray Adventure. The reason I am looking at the second is that it will allow kids 3 yrs and older to do it, however, the first starts at age 5 (my niece is 3 and would not have been able to do the first one). BB Cay Beach and SR Adv is also cheaper and only 4.5 - 5 hours as opposed to 5-7 hours, thus leaving us more time to check out the straw market and maybe the casino. Has anyone done this new excursion? Or for that matter the other one? Thanks for any help that you can give me.

 

[PattiPB]

Bumping! I'd like to hear about this one, too!

 

[Waltoncru]

Bump

this sounds like fun, especially for the younger cruisers.

 

[inkkognito]

We did Blackbeard Cay on another cruise line and really enjoyed it! Glad to see that Disney is offering it now. It was a really pleasant beach day.
Barb

 

[Pammy jo]

Haven't done the excursions, as this is our first cruise, but maybe we'll meet up. We're going the the 31st cruise too!
Pammyjo

 

[RJake1]

We did Blackbeard last month via Disney Cruise. It was a great excursion. The cay itself is like a mini-Castaway Cay. Beautiful sand and clear water.

Located across from Cable Beach, Blackbeard is a private island with lounge chairs, a bar, a luncheon cookout (chicken, hot dogs, burgers), float rentals, etc.

Best of all, though, were the stingrays. The kids (all ages) loved it. The water is shallow and clear so the 'rays can be easily seen. Its not dangerous as the 'rays have had teeth and sharp edges removed. Petting is encouraged. A feeding demostration and photos are also done.

Note: While the island is a mini-CC, it is NOT a Disney island. There are no Disney characters, drawings, symbols, etc. Also, the island is used by other visitors from the hotels and other cruise ships. During my stay it appeared that the island was reserved exclusively for the DCL group, but as we departed I noticed some other shuttles arriving.

My only criticism - the excursion was too short. I felt rushed. By the time you see the 'rays, have lunch, travel to/from ship, you don't have much (if any) time to kick back and enjoy the beach.

Nonetheless, I recommend it highly. Its the best way to spend family time at Nassau that I've found.

 

[tlrotzoll]

Thanks for the info! I can hardly wait. I was wondering about being a little rushed, but we were wanting to do a few other things on our own and thought this would be the best way. Thanks again. Pammy Jo - you are the first person on the boards that I have "spoken" to that is going on the same cruise! This is so cool!

 

[pediatric-rnp]

We did the Stingray City/Blue Lagoon in April, and it was not an enjoyable experience for us (myself, DH, DS - 18 & DS-16), altho it was one of the excursions we were most looking forward to.

It was VERY crowded that day - everyone in our group was from the Wonder, but it seems like it was a popular choice for our particular cruise - maybe because it was less expensive than the Dolphin encounter. The platform you stand on before entering the water was very crowded, and trying to enter the water was difficult and time consuming. There is one staircase to enter the water and it was getting bogged down by younger children who were obviously afraid and crying. Their parents were "strongly" encouraging them to enter the water - some were even pushing their kids forward, which made things worse as you can imagine! The workers there tried to encourage these families to go back on the platform to calm their kids and retry entering later, thus allowing everyone else room to enter the water. Some families agreed, some did not budge. Once in the water, it was difficult to move about until you swam out (where it is deeper) , as most families were hovering near the dock platform, and it made for a lot of bumping into each other.

We stayed there for only a very short time - and believe me I always try to get the most out of my $$, but it was just not enjoyable. A lot of others left when we did, for the same reasons.

Blue Lagoon itself is beautiful - we enjoyed walking around, and relaxing in the hammocks there, but the stingrays excursion was a dissappointing excursion for us. (I knew it was bad when my older DS, who is entering college this fall to study marine biology, wanted to leave - he is obsessed with any ocean creature and it had to be a bad situation for him to want to leave!)

 

[Pammy jo]

tlrotzl: Go to the top of the Disney CRuise forum, under cruise meets and find the 10/31 thread. WE had a group of people from these boards that are planning a trick or treat night for the kids.
We also have a dis meet night on the cruise. Hope you can join us!

 

[amymouse]

Is it possible to bypass the stingrays and just go straight to a comfy chair on the beach?

This might be a an excursion that would give everyone in my group what they want out of a day at the beach, but only if we don't ALL have to experience the stingrays.

 

[Bella2000]

bump

 

[Suzanne033]

I am also interested to see if you can bypass the stingrays, especially if DD gets scared and doesn't want to participate in the encounter.