Our First Disney Cruise!! Questions!!

[PrincessGal]

Hi! This is my first post on the boards but I've been enjoying reading your comments and posts and building my excitement for our first cruise ever! DH and I are taking the 4 day cruise and have a few questions.

1. On Castaway Cay, is there transportation around the island or is everything in walking distance?

2. For Castaway, we have booked these things:
10:00 Stingray Adventure
12:00 Parasailing
2:00 Couples Cabana massage
Will we be able to make all of these on time with there being only two hours between the start times of them?

3. What is the Palo brunch like and is it worth doing? The day it is offered is the same day we already scheduled dinner at Palo. Would going there twice in a day be overkill?

Thank you so much for your help and I know I'll have more questions soon!

Leanne

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

1. On Castaway Cay, is there transportation around the island or is everything in walking distance?

There is a little tram that takes you part of the walking distance- and I believe another one to get you to the adult beach (we didn't go to the adult beach so I'm not sure on that one of where it goes/etc.) but the rest is ofcourse all walking distance.

2. For Castaway, we have booked these things:
10:00 Stingray Adventure
12:00 Parasailing
2:00 Couples Cabana massage
Will we be able to make all of these on time with there being only two hours between the start times of them?

You should be able to do everything as long as nothing is delayed for any reason. Disney really won't let you book excursions without enough time in between..

3. What is the Palo brunch like and is it worth doing? The day it is offered is the same day we already scheduled dinner at Palo. Would going there twice in a day be overkill?

We didn't end up making our palo brunch but I have heard it is DEFINITELY worth doing.
I'm not sure about overkill for both on the same day- they are at such different times of the day and different food/etc. that I don't see how it would be overkill.

 

[woody73]

. . . 2. For Castaway, we have booked these things:
10:00 Stingray Adventure
12:00 Parasailing
2:00 Couples Cabana massage
Will we be able to make all of these on time with there being only two hours between the start times of them? . . .

What about lunch?

Woody

 

[aprilgail2]

2. For Castaway, we have booked these things:
10:00 Stingray Adventure
12:00 Parasailing
2:00 Couples Cabana massage
Will we be able to make all of these on time with there being only two hours between the start times of them?

3. What is the Palo brunch like and is it worth doing? The day it is offered is the same day we already scheduled dinner at Palo. Would going there twice in a day be overkill?

The question really isn't can you make all of them...it s why in the world wold you want to schedule so much to do in tha tshort time frame. What about relaxing on the beach with a cocktail and eating lunch!
As far as Palo, after we had brunch we couldn't even make it to our regular dinner that night, we didn't eat after brunch until the next day LOL..it was WAY to much food to want to eat again that night!

 

[MoSoccerMom]

I agree with the previous posters about maybe not trying to fit so much in on Castaway Cay. We did schedule an activity on our first cruise, but did not on the second and won't on the third. It is the most relaxing part of the cruise, and we like to hang out on the beach the whole time. We do take a walk after we eat lunch though. Make sure you walk up to the bar/overlook where you can get great pictures of the ship. It does not sound like you will have much time to eat. I think the food is out from something like 11 to 2. It is good and you won't want to miss it. Everyone is different, though, and you may be the type of people who like to stay busy. Just don't think you HAVE to book a lot to on Castaway Cay to have a good time! Have fun on your cruise.

 

[becka]

I agree with the others unless you really hate being at the beach I would pick maybe one of those activities and just enjoy relaxing the rest of the time.

Also, I would either try to book Palo dinner another evening (not the night before) from the brunch if you want to do both. It is a lot of food. If you can only pick one the brunch is better than dinner IMHO.

 

[SC Minnie]

We did the parasailing at CC a couple of years ago and it was soooo nice. I am afraid of heights but was not scared once I got up there and saw the beauty.

I agree with the others. You have a jammed packed day planned for CC. Doesn't really leave you time to just relax and enjoy the island.

 

[CatManDoo]

We did the parasailing at CC a couple of years ago and it was soooo nice. I am afraid of heights but was scared once I got up there and saw the beauty.

Sweet! I'm thinking about doing that as well! Sounds like it's worth it. How long does it take?

 

[SC Minnie]

I edited my previous post to include the NOT in front of scared!

I don't remember exactly how long it took for the whole excursion. DH and I did it and they took us up separatey. I believe we were up for about 10 min each. It takes time reeling people out and back in. There were 4 other people on our excursion. We got some great shots of the island from up there. We took them with a disposable and I don't have them on my computer. (we were afraid to take the digital up there and dropping it. )

 

[thomprod]

I highly recommend both the Palo brunch and dinner. If you have to choose only one, choose the brunch. I would not suggest doing both on the same day, because there will be so much food to eat. On our last Magic cruise, we had Palo brunch on Monday and dinner on Thursday and this worked out well. Eat a very light lunch if you are going to Palo dinner that night.

 

[dizzi]

Hey,,, even though i have never been on a cruise and so, obviously have not been on CC, i get the idea of planning like you have, I will probablly do the same thing. I am not one to sit and REST on vacation, if i want to REST on the beach i can do that at home.
I would say go ahead and do all the planning then if you decide you want to REST at the beach it will be there for the taking.

 

[tvguy]

If you are able bodied, everything is in walking distance, but there is the tram.
We walked from the ship, all the way to the end of the bike/hiking trail, which I believe is 1 mile total each way. There is a beautiful beach (that you can only look at) at the end of the trail.

 

[dahuffy]

Sweet! I'm thinking about doing that as well! Sounds like it's worth it. How long does it take?

It all depends on how many passengers are on the boat. I was able to go swim with the stingrays, while DH went parasailing and I was done waaay before he was.

 

[ReggieB]

Brunch is fantastic. I actually prefer it to dinner. There is so much more than just the buffet.....I am getting so hungry just thinking about it. You might want an early reservation for brunch, and a late Palo dinner. Yes it probably is a lot of food. I would kick myself for missing the brunch though. It probably wouldn't hurt to have all those activities lined up on Castaway Cay, just so you can burn some of that food off, running from one to another!

 

[daisy112878]

If you did an early brunch then a later dinner you would be okay. Just don't snack much in between. Both are amazing.

 

[PrincessGal]

Thank you all so much for these responses!

 

[LVSWL]

I have a question about the parasailing, do they pick you up and drop you off on the boat or in the water? Thanks!

 

[dahuffy]

Yes they pull you up from the boat. There's any where from 6 to 8 people on the boat.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Here's a CC parasailing picture....from all the way up!



And here's on after just lifting off the boat. You are sitting on the boat deck when you take off and you 'land' standing up on the boat deck. It's soooo smooth and peaceful!

 

[Colorado DISers]

PALO Brunch is a do not miss. Great food, great service and great atmosphere.