Three is a magic number: Our 3rd cruise for 3 nights on the 3rd Disney ship built with the return of most activities (Final 7/3)

[missjackiemcg]

I'm so excited the pirate night buffet has returned!! My husband and I were too full and tired from our dinner on pirate night of our last cruise, so we never went to look. The last time I've seen those awesome carvings was back in 2006 on our Honeymoon on the Wonder!! I'm really looking forward to our anniversary cruise next month, and this is one of the things high on our priority list.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I’m so happy I found this trip report! Looks like a great time!

 

[greensombrero]

I apologize no updates to this TR this weekend. I'll get back to it later this week or next weekend. I was off having an adventure of another kind. When we landed in Florida for this very trip I'm writing this TR for I got a text from a coworker asking if I'd be willing to take his place on a Ragnar team because he wasn't recovered from an injury. Being in vacation mode I said sure without really thinking about what I was getting into. Really glad I did because it ended up being an incredible adventure.

Ran the Zion's Trail Ragnar this weekend which takes place just outside Zion's National Park. Had to travel down and then camped and ran. Not much sleep involved as it is a 24 hour relay race. Running up and down mountains in the middle of the night is quite the rush. Running a Ragnar was a bucket list item for me after really getting into running and this was the one to do. On my day time legs I was treated to views like this.



The leg I ran in the middle of the night was also beautiful I'm sure but no photos in the dark . I was really wondering what middle of the night trail running would be like and admittedly a little nervous. Don't know I'd do it outside an event like this where there were lots of people out on the trail from a safety perspective but it was definitely a highlight for me.

I know it isn't directly Disney Cruise Line related but the Castway Cay 5K on our first cruise is what started my journey as a runner so had to share. I've come a long way and I thought doing the Disney World Half was an incredible experience but this weekend probably surpassed it.

What was also cool to see was the diversity of runners and skill levels of runners. It was an intense event and the trails were not easy. However there were plenty of people walking the trails and taking it at their pace. Much like the Disney community it was a very supportive environment and we even got a bit of pixie dust/fish extender of sorts. A team left a little prize outside each of our tents before we broke camp (a fun little sign).

Anyhow I'll get back to the rest of the TR when I've caught back up on everything including sleep .

 

[missjackiemcg]

Congratulations on running Ragnar! My husband completed one in Wisconsin a couple summers ago, and really enjoyed the experience! Though, his team all slept in a van together, which sounds far less enjoyable than camping out!!!

 

[greensombrero]

4/24/2022 -- Castaway Cay Part I

We woke up excited for Castaway Cay. We weren't on the side of the ship to get the island view but we found it fun to watch the docking procedure.



Look at how blue that water is.



You'll see they actually send cast members out to those little pilings to help attach lines and dock the ship. It was really interesting to watch the whole process.

One thing I hate is that Castaway Cay is often the last day of your cruise. I love ending on a high note but it means all those practical things also have to happen this day. I realized I would need to go to guest services to adjust our gratuities. We had excellent service and I wanted to add some for our serving team and state room host. I wish you could just do it in the app. Anyhow I used my trick from before and pulled open the app intending to schedule an appointment for later in the evening hoping to avoid the usual last night lines. They actually had an opening first thing that morning so I just ran over to take care of that and then met my family in Cabanas for breakfast. We are rope droppers and wanted to rope drop Castaway.

I did stop for a couple pictures on the other side of the ship while I was about. Views of Castaway are always incredible.





There was no longer a virtual queue or anything to leave the ship so after breakfast and the announcement we could leave we headed right off the ship. We hadn't done nightly pictures with the kids like we usually do. We did however make them stop to get pictures as we left the ship. They had multiple stations set up and I think they are all unique settings.



My youngest really wanted a photo with the cannon.



I love this shot but the ones with our kids didn't turn out as well as the one with my DW and I, oh well.



This one though was super fun



We headed straight to find a spot on the beach. First priority for the kids was playing on the beach. I wanted to run the 5K. Originally the plan was for me to run it and then my wife and a couple of my kids said they wanted to. It ended up though that I was the only one who would.

I think I may have mentioned this previously but running the Castaway Cay 5K was a pretty big deal for me. On our first cruise back in early 2020 my wife and I thought the idea of running a 5K on a private island sounded super cool, enough to motivate both of us to train. My wife loves to exercise but running isn't her thing, she hates it. She is a hard core jazzerciser. I've never particularly disliked running but never really gotten into either. So we both did couch to 5K the end of 2019 before our cruise and had a great experience both with training and running the Castaway Cay 5K.

After our cruise I decided to sign up for a couple local 5Ks run by different city rec departments. I found I liked running and wanted to stay motivated. Well the first one I got to run and it was the last weekend in 2020 before the world shut down. The other turned into a run on your own event. With so much stress and things changing (including me getting laid off) running became my solace during the pandemic. I kept finding virtual or local run at your own time races to keep me motivated. Eventually I moved up to a 10K and then decided to train for a half marathon as some smaller races got to happen. Long story short the Castaway Cay 5K was the start of me really becoming a runner. Nine half marathons later including the WDW Half in January and I was really excited to go back and run where it all started for me.

Now the Castaway Cay 5K is no longer an organized event/race. I'm not sure when, if ever, they will actually bring it back in the same way. It wasn't a chip timed event before but they did gather everyone together for an official start. Now you just run it on your own. The course is marked and you can do it whenever you want. You can also still get a medal from the cast members at the bike rental spot. It was really important for me to run it to commemorate my journey as a runner. I figured I should be able to get a much better time this go around.



Now that I have more experience running and have done a number of races I have to say the Castaway Cay 5K is not that fun of a race. It is hot and humid in the Bahamas. They do have water jugs out on the course and you'll want it. I brought my Nathan hand held running water bottle I use at home and just filled it on the ship. It is molded to fit your hand and has a tight strap making it super comfortable for running. It was plenty of water for me, normally I wouldn't carry water for a 5K but the humidity and heat were enough for me to want it here.

The other thing I don't really like is the course is almost all inland on the island. You run on the hot black top of the runway and you do the same bike track loop twice. So you get the heat of the black top reflecting up on you and you are really just running through jungle. It is different from home but you don't get incredible ocean views or anything. I will continue to run it when we visit the island because it is unique, but in terms of great running courses it isn't at the top for me.



I loved running it though, got a new PR for Castaway, and got my medal. It was a different one from my first which was cool! The best part though was getting to run to the beach and get into the cool water afterwards! That was super refreshing and fun.

I'm at my photo limit and Castaway is a photo heavy day so I'll split it here.

 

[missjackiemcg]

I LOVE running the Castaway Cay 5K I did it with my son on our Very Merry TIme Cruise in 2019, and we had so much fun doing it together despite the heat and humidity, as you mentioned--that part is brutal!

Looking forward to doing it again in a few weeks when my DH and I cruise on the Fantasy for our rescheduled anniversary trip from 2021!

 

[greensombrero]

4/24/2022 -- Castaway Cay Part II

I intended to follow up with this sooner but life got in the way a bit.

After running the 5K I came over to our spot and cooled off in the water. I love this section of Castaway Cay



I like being right by the snorkel area because it also isn't a far walk to go do the Pelican Plunge or the shops etc. We had our pick of chairs because we were right off the boat and we did find this spot before I ran off to run the 5K. However it never got very crowded. We had a few neighbors but there were plenty of open chairs. One nice thing about this area and also cruising not at full capacity. The only con to being over here is it is a bit of a walk to Cookies for lunch.

When I got back my oldest DS was playing in the sand at the water's edge. My wife wanted to check out the shops so I stayed with him. The other 3 had donned the life jackets Disney has available and my oldest DD took them to do Pelican Plunge. I would have joined them but DS wasn't interested. I really like Disney has the life jackets on the beach you can just grab and use. Meant we felt comfortable with my oldest taking her siblings to do the slide.

I spent some time lounging on the chair and also out in the water. I love to float in the ocean. The water was colder than I expected getting in. I got spoiled by the water in Costa Rica and then Cabo the last two beach locations we'd visited both of which had very warm water. I got used to it pretty quickly and it was very refreshing after the run.

The rest of the kids came back and we took advantage of one of the roaming beach photographers.



After my wife returned I took a quick spin through the shops. I ended up finding a couple things to buy. They had different items from our first Castaway visit and now I keep thinking you never know when/if you'll be able to come back. Got me in a bit of trouble. I love to find useful items that I'll use but that will also remind me of my vacations.

Somewhere in all of this I made a quick dash over to ride Pelican Plunge. The lines weren't horrible but it took a bit so I only rode once. At one point one of the roaming waiters came by and I ordered everyone a tropical smoothie of one sort or another. We lounged and enjoyed the drinks. It was just nice and relaxing.

My wife and girls decided to head out snorkeling first. We brought our own snorkel gear, renting isn't that expensive but when I did the math if everyone went versus just paying to bring another suitcase brining a suitcase won. Plus we don't totally fill it with our gear so we can use the space for other stuff too.

The snorkeling at Castaway is different. We really enjoyed it on our first trip. We saw a fair amount of sea life, my wife even saw a turtle. Then Disney also has hidden things sunk in the water you can go see. They aren't really hidden though as they have markers floating on the surface to help you find them. The con to snorkeling at Castaway is you have to swim a fair ways out to find anything so it can be tiring and requires effort. They do have life vests available you can borrow. If you don't want one then you have to borrow a snorkel vest at least. You get them from the snorkel rental place but they are complimentary and required so they can see you.

Anyhow my wife and girls were out for a quite a while. I assumed they had found some cool things but when they came back they said there really wasn't too much to see. A few fish but mainly the things Disney had hidden. I won't spoil the surprises here. My boys didn't really care to go in the end so I headed out next just me. It meant I could push pretty fast. I did find a few fish but it was definitely less to see than our last time. It did feel like the roped off area had changed though it has been long enough who knows how good my memory is. I was starting to get rather hungry so eventually that won out and I decided to just head back.

I figured my family would have headed to lunch already but they waited for me and we headed over to Cookies together. It was back to the serve yourself style buffet. There were a couple different offerings than I remembered. They didn't have the spicy chicken sandwich my son remembered. Instead there was a brisket sandwich which wasn't real great. However the rest of the food was really good, better than I remembered. We really enjoyed the food and afterwards the ice cream

One fun thing though I love is running into your main dining room team at other locations. Our assistant server Monet was helping at Cookies so of course we went through her line. It is fun to say hi and they go out of the way to make sure you have a good experience. In our case I asked if she knew where we could get a paper napkin. They were giving us cloth ones but my DD had gotten a little scrap and we wanted to wipe off the blood. It wasn't anything big. Not only did she help us track down a paper napkin but one of the other cast members came over with bandaids too. Disney has great service and our dining teams have always taken great care of us in the dining room or at other locations where we run into them.

After our awesome lunch we headed over to the shops we hadn't seen that are by Cookies, then we headed back to our spot after another ice cream pit stop. We hung out on the beach for a bit longer. We were debating what we wanted to do next. Our first visit to Castaway we were some of the last back on the ship. I love Castaway but my DW and both DS hadn't yet rode the Aquaduck. Knowing how fun it is we decided to head back a bit early and hope we could ride it.

On the way back I grabbed a couple pictures.



I love the characters on the back.

I thought this was interesting that they had Bob Chapek's name up.



Back on board we found we weren't the only ones with the same idea. Didn't surprise me considering how long the Aquaduck had been down for. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes in line and did it twice. The Aquaduck is super fun and while it was less fun waiting in a long line everyone enjoyed it and I'm glad we all had the chance to ride it. I was also extra glad my DDs and I did it in the cold the night before when there was no wait.

One thing I learned is you can take your sandals on the Aquaduck. We found out because the deck was quite hot and it was burning people's feet in line. Some had gotten out towels to stand on. We had put our sandals in the little cubbys they have by the line and I was dealing with the hot deck. One of the cast members made a comment the second time we were in line you can wear your sandals on the Aquaduck. It was too late for us but I mention it hear for future reference. That top deck can get quite hot out in the sun.

All in all it was a super fun day. Great weather, Castaway Cay really is everything you envision in a private island in the Bahamas. Ending our water time with the Aquaduck was great finish. We then headed back to get cleaned up because tonight was another show we haven't seen, Disney's Believe.

Up next the last night onboard.

 

[greensombrero]

4/24/2022 -- Last Evening Onboard

Tonight was our first time seeing Disney's Believe. Like Disney Dreams it is a montage show but I liked it a lot more. The story line resonated more with me, the Genie was a riot and the performers all very talented. I really enjoyed it. Definitely a good show to end the cruise on.

We made the kids do all the photo ops tonight. I loved this one.



Of course there are a lot of last minute "errands" the last night of the cruise. We had to return the kids club bands, do packing etc. We did spend some fun time in the atrium though. There was an incredible violinist Anna Bachkalova playing.


I played the violin as a kid and my DDs play and we all enjoy music from Lindsey Stirling and other violinists so we really enjoyed her set. Not everyone stayed around but my oldest DD was present when Donald arrived and we grabbed a quick picture.



Dinner tonight was in Royal Palace. We rather enjoy this menu. On our last cruise my two boys dared to try escargot and decided they liked it. My 6 year old couldn't wait to order it as an appetizer. I wasn't sure he'd eat it all but next thing I knew it was gone and I didn't get to try one. I love the opportunity a cruise gives to discover new food! It was a good dinner. I did notice one thing I actually rather appreciated on this cruise. It felt the main courses were a bit smaller which is great if you can't decide and want to try more than one thing. You can still get all the food you like so I don't mind a smaller portion. The other weird thing I don't think I've commented on is I felt all the desserts seemed slightly less sweet than usual. Maybe it was just me but I especially noticed it with the soufflé in Royal Palace. It tasted good it just seemed like they cut the sugar back a bit and it wasn't as sweet as it should be. Could have just been me, maybe I needed to cleanse my palate between courses or something. Anyhow it was a fun last dinner. Our servers made sure to have a puzzle for us and we got great service. We also got our dinner photos.





After dinner it was time to get packed and everyone was pretty tired. It is always sad ending a cruise. This one only being 3 nights was a whirlwind. It was what worked out and we could do so I have no regrets. However I don't know that I'd book another 3 night cruise unless it was an unexpected opportunity like this one and was the only way to make it work. I'm glad it wasn't our first and we knew we had another booked. Three nights just goes by so quick.

I had to take a final walk around the deck at night. The ships are always so cool at night.



I'll post one final chapter to cover disembarkation, our final day and some thoughts about the Dream class vs Magic class ships now that we've done both.

 

[cforsythe]

I have REALLY enjoyed your report! Thank you so much for doing it!!! My husband and I get to go on our first cruise since the pandemic hit in September and we cannot wait! It is a double dip at Castaway Cay. The pictures you posted of the island makes me remember why we love it so much.

We also did the 5K at CC, and it was brutal in July. Whew that blacktop is killer.

 

[greensombrero]

I have REALLY enjoyed your report! Thank you so much for doing it!!! My husband and I get to go on our first cruise since the pandemic hit in September and we cannot wait! It is a double dip at Castaway Cay. The pictures you posted of the island makes me remember why we love it so much.

We also did the 5K at CC, and it was brutal in July. Whew that blacktop is killer.

I hope you have a great cruise, hard not to with two stops at CC!

It is fun to run on the island I just wish they put together a new course with more water views. Maybe Lighthouse point will.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Can't wait for the finale! Been reading aloud to my baby and we are both enjoying it

 

[greensombrero]

Disembarkation
I apologize for the long delay in getting this final section up. I actually had it almost written but my draft got lost and life has been crazy.

Our final morning we were woken by the sound/vibration of the thrusters as we pulled into Port Canaveral. Not a big deal but something to be aware of when you are in the aft of the ship. Generally we want to be up when pulling into port. If Port Canaveral was a more interesting sail in/out we probably would have woken early to watch us come in.

We got up and got ready to head to our final breakfast. We always like to do the final morning with our serving staff. While we didn't really get to know them super well given the short length of the cruise we still enjoyed our serving team. It was fun to have one last meal in Royal Court!



After breakfast I stopped by expecting to get our photo thumb drive like we've gotten on prior cruises. As we normally do we bought the unlimited photo package before the cruise to get the discounted price. I was informed that now you just get them online when you get home. You can also download them on the ship as well (which I would highly recommend). We had a bit of a fiasco getting our photos (more on that later).

Disembarkation went smoothly and before we knew it we were off the ship and getting in the van for the transfer I had arranged. Now this was one of the biggest things I'd change about this trip. First off the driver we had was not great and there were some issues with the van. I did email the company after because we had such a good experience with them previously and I thought they'd want to know which they did. I wouldn't be opposed to using them again as they assured me if this driver didn't work well for us they have others. It may have been just not a good fit or bad day or who knows.

The bigger issue though was that I hadn't really focused on anything when booking our flights but price and direct option. Our flight didn't leave until 5pm. That totally works but leaves you with a really big gap and what are you going to do? I didn't want to just hang out in the airport.

I looked into a day rate at the airport Hyatt and it was expensive and I wasn't sure that would be that much better. Ultimately we ended up paying for transfers to Disney Springs and a wait fee and then transfers back to the airport. I looked at getting a rental car for the day but it wasn't much better pricing. So we ended up spending more than I would have liked but it worked. Next time I would look at the return times more closely and planned better.

I didn't take many pictures but we did have a good afternoon at Disney Springs. We had a lunch reservation at Frontera Cocina which I'd describe as upscale Mexican style food. I thought it was super good but a bit pricey. The kids weren't huge fans, normally Mexican is a good option for them but the menu didn't super appeal.

We had a chance to walk around and look at things. We've done Disney Springs enough that it isn't super exciting anymore but I was excited to stop back by Salt and Straw for some more of their ice cream. I just love their fun flavors and you can't have too much ice cream on vacation can you?

It was hot though and my oldest was not feeling great, combination of car sick, land sick and not really liking lunch. We decided it was time to head to the airport and get into some air conditioning. This is where we weren't happy that the van's AC wasn't really working. It wasn't that long of a drive though.

The airport was definitely busier than when we did WDW in Dec of 2020. That trip it felt like a zombie movie or something when we went to the airport to fly home. The lights were all off and the terminal felt abandoned. This time there were too many people and I was just anxious to get home. Fortunately we had no flight delays or issues and arrived home safe and sound.

Final Thoughts

We had a wonderful trip and a lot of fun!



The upgrade to start us off was incredible and so fun. The cruise was short but got us on the Dream before it left its Port Canaveral home. Ultimately we hadn't planned on a cruise for spring break and this was a nice unexpected bonus from our fall cruise being shortened.

All that being said I thought I'd share some of my thoughts both good and bad in case it helps others:

1) 3 night cruises are short I don't want to say they aren't worth doing because if that is your only option they are still magical and we had a good time. I'm just glad it wasn't our first cruise. There were a lot of things we didn't feel a need to do and wouldn't have had time for.

We've now done a 5, 4 and 3 night cruise. We are planning on finally getting our 7 night in October. My kids commented that they felt the extra night on our 4 night really made a difference. So my recommendation for first time cruisers is go for a 4-5 night if you can. Having a sea day really makes a difference in giving you a chance to experience some of the onboard activities like trivia etc.

2) Dream class vs Magic class Ships
I've heard you always like the first ship you sail on first. That seems to be the case as my favorite ship so far is definitely the Magic where we sailed first.

I love how easy the classic ships (Magic/Wonder) are to navigate. Aside from the smaller size they are just easier to get around. There were a lot more times I found I couldn't get there from here on the Dream than on the others. Cutting through Cabanas to get to the aft stairwell always felt really weird.

I liked the theming of the restaurants on the classic ships more. Rapunzel's is my favorite restaurant by far. While we thought the Crush show was fun on the Dream and I'm glad we got to experience it, I like the classic Animator's Palate more. The pool deck food seemed better as well. Part of it may have been the shawarma station they have but I also thought the pizza was just better. That being said I noticed the Dream had a toppings bar for burgers etc that I don't recall the Magic having.

Midship Detective Agency on the Dream was really cool. It is definitely a plus to the Dream class ships. Also the mini golf was another fun activity lacking from the classic ships. We never found ourselves lacking activities on the classic ships but there are definitely more unplanned activity options on the newer ships.

The AquaDunk vs AquaDuck, they are both really fun. I'm glad we prioritized and finally got to ride the AquaDuck. It is something you can experience with younger kids and as more of a family with two riders per raft. That part was cool. However I think I like the AquaDunk more. It actually feels slightly more themed and is a real rush to ride. This is why the Wonder is currently in last place on my ship ranking. It doesn't have a really cool water ride. The yellow slide just isn't very exciting.

It is interesting to me how much more modern the older classic ships feel because they have more outlets and USB charging ports than the newer ships. I'm sure that sounds weird but I think it is because they have had more recent major renovations that added more plugs for all the devices we now have. The Dream definitely was lacking ports. That being said I really didn't have a preference for one ship over the other in terms of rooms otherwise. They felt pretty similar to me.

The kids clubs seemed to be a pretty even match up. There are differences but they aren't better or worse, just different theming and options. The Edge is much bigger on the Dream but my oldest had her best Edge experience on the Magic so bigger isn't always better. One challenge with the clubs for tweens/teens is the group of fellow cruisers seems to have a big impact at that age.

I will say I really liked the running track on the Magic/Wonder better than the Dream. I like the real wood deck feel they have versus the Dream. However the Magic and Wonder track goes through the equipment area where the docking/mooring equipment is which can be closed more making the full track on the Dream/Fantasy potentially more available. Honestly though I haven't yet run into the issue of having part of the track closed and having to loop back. I know it happens though.

In the end I don't think there is a bad Disney ship. I'm sure the Wish is really cool but I'm reminding myself I don't need to feel too bad we don't have a cruise on her booked yet. There is plenty of magic and fun on all of the ships. I'm super excited to complete our Grand Slam and be on the Fantasy in October.

3) Cast Members are Awesome

Regardless of the ship I've been impressed with how awesome the cast and crew are. The entertainers are talented, servers attentive and state room attendants cleaning ninjas. I won't say we've never had a negative cast member interaction but by and large they are positive and often downright magical.

I really hope Disney is able to maintain they high level of service they are known for. It really is awesome to experience and one of the best things about sailing with them! I'm sure some of it is your attitude. We go in expecting to have a great experience and have. I imagine if I wanted to nit pick things I could.

4) Cruising lets everyone have a vacation

I think one of the things I like best about cruising is I get a vacation too. I'm generally the planner when we travel as a family and have to coordinate everything. I love that on a cruise so much of that is taken care of. My kids often don't want to eat at the same time or don't like what they got etc. On a cruise keeping them fed is easy and I don't have to think about how much I'm spending when they decide they are hungry and hour later.

We get to have great family time together but also find ourselves with free time. My wife and I even on this short cruise had free time just the two of us. At some points she had something she wanted to do and I got solo time on vacation. That just doesn't happen on most of our vacations. I loved that each of my children could decide for themselves what they wanted to do during the day and there were multiple fun options for them. While I'm not naive enough to think there are zero dangers on a cruise it is a much more controlled environment to give them freedom in, which I really love.

Conclusion

At this point cruising with Disney is our preferred family vacation. We've had some other incredible trips, like Costa Rica last summer but DCL is currently our go to. We love sailing with them. The ocean is already a magical place to be and they make it more so. I'm sure at some point maybe we will change but for now I plan to keep cruising!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Loved this trip report and the wrap up at the end! Thank you!