People that work on Castaway Cay, where do they live?

[gshoemate]

My DD was getting her hair braided on Castaway Cay and the I was talking to the young lady about us originally living in Michigan and now we live in Florida. She said that they have a couple that live on the Island part of the year and live in Michigan the other part. It didn't dawn on me to ask what island she was talking about living on. So does anyone know where people that work on CC live? I'm not sure if she was a CM or not, I don't think so because she didn't have the normal CM name badge on.

 

[Cruisin]

I believe they have housing for the cast members that stay there. It is somewhere behind the scenes where guests do not see it when they are on the island.
Anybody know more about this?

 

[lrmillen]

i just thought everyone there was a CM. It looks like they have the place down to a system. I imagined the CMs scurrying off hours before us and setting up their own spot whether it be the shop, cookie's, spa, rentals, whatever. Then a massive clean-up when we go back on board. But then after reading this question, my thinking is pretty naive. i don't doubt disney can do this, but i bet a least a few people have to stay on the island throughout the week for upkeep and the like. i can handle CC for a day, but to live there would be rough. (i can't believe i just said that), but honestly, no supermarkets, hospitals, schools, and stuff that i've come to depend on. but i could definately live with a lifetime supply of that fruit. yum.

 

[Cruisin]

There is a group of CastMembers that do stay on the island. I don't recall now how many people that involves.
It must be interesting to be on the island without the ship there. Probably gets boring real quick though.

 

[inkkognito]

Some of the workers on the island areday workers from the Bahamas and some are Disney CMs who live there. They stay there for a specific number of weeks...I can't remember exactly how many. Must be nice to be in paradise on the days when the ships are not there, even though I know they still have to work. But I hear that the bugs are wicked at night!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[MarkLem]

Some fun facts about Castaway Cay:

Cay pronounced "key," not "kay."

It is a 1,000 acre Disney owned three-mile long island in the Bahamas.

Formerly known as Gorda Cay, it was used chiefly as a stop for drug smugglers and still has an old runway, presumably used by drug runners. The crumbling airstrip now bears the Disney touch in the form of big white letters spelling out "Castaway Cay."

Castaway Cay is located at 26°04'608N 77°32'283"W

Castaway Cay has a character greeting area.

Castaway Cay has a separate beach for families and kids. At the half-mile family beach, you can rent bikes, volleyball, snorkels for the 15-acre, offshore snorkeling course, walking trails, sail boats, sea kayaks and cabanas for open-air massages.

Construction to make it look like a perfect deserted island took 18 months which included dredging 50,000 truckloads of sand from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

Imagineers created a few weathered-looking, tin-roofed buildings that house tiki bars, an open-air dining pavilion, bathrooms, a Disney gift shop, and a post office.

A Bahamian post office on the island will cancel mail with a Castaway Cay postmark.

Weather vanes on the roofs are flashy, cartoonish birds.

The island is largely undeveloped - only 55 acres are being used.
Out of view are a sewage treatment plant, two facilities that turn sea water into fresh water, and housing for about 40 employees who will live on the island.

The dock where Disney ships can berth cost more than $25 million. To create the mooring site for the ships, workers dredged sand from a 1,700-foot channel about 35 feet deep and 200-to-400 feet wide. The dredge material was used to build the landing island. The dock built to look like a natural peninsula off the craggy island.

Castaway Air Bar was built to resemble a tin hangar as a tribute to the nearby runway.

Disney has planted palms and flowers. There are signs identifying the flora, not something a true castaway would find. Included in the planting is the gumbo limbo, which natives call the tourist tree because its red, peeling bark resembles a sunburnt tourist.

Perched on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic, are two private cabanas where passengers can book open-air, 55 minute massages.

A sub from 20,000 Leagues has been partial sunk off the beach.

Crafts are sold at a shop by Bahamians who will commute via boat from the closest island -- some eight miles away. The store wiil be the only place you'll be able to purchase official Castaway Cay goods.

Most of the bikes on Castaway Cay were blown out to sea during Huricanne Floyd.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

A few folks commute to the island. Disney runs an employee ferry from Sandy Point in Great Abacos... about a 10-minute ride. Others live on the island in prefabricated dormitory-style housing.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Probably gets boring real quick though.

Hmmmmmm, to live on a tropical Island in Paradise, and only have to work 3 days a week. Ok, maybe they work more then 3 days a week, but to only have to deal with the public 3 days aweek....I'll take it!

I don't know how bored they would get. I believe the CM's living on Castaway Cay have the same contracts as the CM's on the boat. 6-months? I don't think they get bored.

 

[twhipple]

When we were at Castaway Cay in November we asked a CM about this. She said they work 6 days a week. They have Sundays off. There's more to do than just cleaning up after each cruise, there's general upkeep and improvements. The CM said that they pray for good weather on Sunday's so they can enjoy the island on their day off and that being in the sun every day is not all fun. They work very long days, working hours after we leave, which is especially difficult on Fridays because Wonder comes in on Saturday morning. And there's those bugs!

 

[Padre Disney]

Were can I apply?
Sounds great 2 me.

 

[MarkRG]

The Travel Channel (I think) had something on this that showed what happens when the ship isn't there. There are three days a week a ship is docked there, that leaves them 3 days to keep the island clean, upkeep on the plant life, rearrange the beaches and rake them, Cleanup the family beach lagoon and the snorkel trail, cleanup and maintain any of the rental gear, the list is quite long and sitting still is not going to happen.

 

[Kaelynsmom]

When my dd was getting her hair braided in Nov the girl braiding said that she lived 8 miles away on another island. The hair braiders commute by boat the 3 days a week that the Magic and the Wonder dock at CC. The hair braiders don't live on CC but some of the other staff does.

 

[DMOMof3]

And there's those bugs!

How big are these bugs??

I hate bugs !!!!!

 

[jrabbit]

And there's those bugs!
How big are these bugs??

And what do they eat when people are not around?

 

[@GoofyNut]

OK call me but if there are dorms / housing on the island, they are really good at hiding them cause if you "survey" the island while on the top deck of the ship you can't see them!

If the bugs are the only problem I'm sure I could find enough OFF to let me stay there for a few months out of the year.

 

[MrsPete]

Did anyone else see the Disney special on the Travel Channel?

It's been a while, but here's what I remember: About 14 full-time Castaway Cay employees LIVE on the island itself. They do maintenance/upkeep of the plantlife, etc. on days when the boat doesn't dock. They also straighten up all the beach chairs and "drag" the sand before the cruise ships arrive.

When the boat docks, many of the on-board crew DOES hurry off the boat early in the AM. They supplement the island staff by performing many of the same jobs they do onboard: cooking/serving, bartending, selling in shops, etc.

The Travel Channel special didn't mention any employees commuting by boat from nearby islands, but it does make sense that they'd bring in such people.

 

[PiperG]

Originally posted by jrabbit
And what do they eat when people are not around?

Well, you folks would not be able to live here in Minnesota. Did you know the mosquito is our state bird? They have been known to carry off small children. LOL

My point being. . . . I can handle the bugs. Where do I sign up?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

<font color=navy>The tour guides Ricky & Trevor, who did the nature walk/kayaking tour when I was there, told me that they live about 8 miles away on another island, I think it was Abacos, and come by boat to CC. Trevor said it was like any small town there, where everyone knows your business. Ricky said that he liked living there.

They also seemed to know a lot of the tour operators on Nassau, too.

 

[gometros]

Originally posted by Mary Jo
<font color=navy>The tour guides Ricky & Trevor, who did the nature walk/kayaking tour when I was there, told me that they live about 8 miles away on another island, I think it was Abacos, and come by boat to CC. Trevor said it was like any small town there, where everyone knows your business. Ricky said that he liked living there.

They also seemed to know a lot of the tour operators on Nassau, too.

I believe the women that do the hairbraiding also live on a nearby island. I recall asking when we were on the Wonder in 2000.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We were told that anywhere from 14 to 18 CM's stay on the island. The ladies doing the hair braiding did come from another island in the bahamas. The bugs ARE the reason for no overnight stay by the ships. I was told that Disney was working on a "natural debugger". Kind of like purple martins here in the midwest. A bird that preys on the "bugs" and will stay on the island. Then maybe there will be an overnighter at CC.