Trip log, day two. Castaway Cay.
4-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral
June 20, 2019
Guests Ashore: 8:30 am Guests Onboard: 4:45 pm
Personal Navigator – Day 2

Castaway Cay, our first port of call on this 4-night sailing. Following the washout yesterday afternoon and evening, we awoke to calm seas and blue skies as we slowly made our way to the island. Emily was up early to run 5 miles on deck 4 while Isabelle and I started our morning off a little more casually. We went up to Cabanas to get breakfast and timed it so we could all eat together on our verandah as we maneuvered into our birth at Castaway Cay.

Today’s agenda started out with the Trot with Scott, which was our rebranded Castaway Cay 5k. When I went to guest services on embarkation day to sign up, I was told the event was full, but she said just to Evolution in the morning and it should not be a problem.

We planned to meet at Bon Voyage and go to Evolution as a group, but not knowing if the policy changed, I called an audible and went straight to Evolution to sign up. Well, as I sort of expected, it didn’t matter that I didn’t officially sign up. There were waivers and pens on the bar, and when they scanned my KTTW card I was handed a bib without any issue. This leads me to wonder; why bother having people sign up in the first place?

Additionally, the process we encountered on the Fantasy in March where you checked in and received your bib on the island with a staggered start was not in place here on the Dream. It was the traditional meet in Evolution and walk over to the start as one large group and start the race all at once.

Given the fact that last time I ran was the Best Damn Race Orlando in early-March, I was happy to finish in 45-minutes without any training. I really need to work on my time, I seem to be stuck at this pace. However, ever time I get the urge to start running, it is in the middle of the bloody Florida summer and I change my mind. 

Following the race, it was time to hit the brakes and chill. Thankfully, our group had some cabanas on the family beach to share and the 5k finish line was just a few steps away from the check in desk and our golf cart ride to the cabana.

We spent the rest of the morning marinating in the water on the floats and relaxing on the comfortable loungers and hammock at the cabana. 

Considering it had been a few hours since we all last ate, we headed over to Cookies Too BBQ to rope drop the island lunch.

The cabanas are truly and awesome and relaxing experience, and great for hanging out with a group. However, the one thing the family beach cabanas do not really offer are water activities. Snorkeling is not allowed, Pelican Plunge is a beach away, and more importantly Isabelle’s favorite ropes course is all a beach and a half away. 

So after lunch, we headed over to the Pelican Plunge and then over to the family beach so Isabelle could enjoy the ropes course. When we go to Castaway Cay when it’s warm enough to enjoy the water, we definitely want to swim.

I’d say around 2 o’clock, we finally dried off and started to make our way back to the ship after stopping in the two gift shops on the island. There seemed to be decent amount of new Castaway Cay 5k merchandise, it was almost like it was a mini-merchandise area from the runDisney events at Walt Disney World. There is enough merchandise, that I will work a Castaway Cay 5k merchandise post following the cruise.

The Iger sign by Marge’s Barges is still missing.

However, Chapek’s is still on the pump house.

Once back on the Dream, we dropped off our day bags and headed up the the pool deck to catch what was left of Tangled on Funnel Vision. By now they are fairly common, but this is our first cruise where the new drink of the day cups were available. 

Earlier at the cabana, we inquired about the new drink of the day cups, but they were not available on Castaway Cay. In fact, they are still serving cocktails in coffee cups. I’m all for the reduction of single use plastic cups which is why they have been using paper coffee cups. However, it seems like the perfect opportunity to up-charge guests with a souvenir drink of the day cup. I don’t know, for fun we should start sharing photos of the Stingray in a coffee cup with #CastawayCayCoffeeoftheDay. 

The new cups are clear with a blue wave pattern on the base and the Disney Cruise Line logo. We saw the poolside bar open and the premixed drink of the day, the Stingray, appeared. I suggested to Emily to go over to one of the actual bars and order the drink so it would be made fresh. She opted from Frozone’s, where they were happy to make the drink and even held back some of the juice to make it less sweet. While she returned with the Stingray in the new drink of the day cup, she informed me that she was told that they were typically just available on embarkation day. Yet again, I’m not sure why DCL wouldn’t want to sell people souvenir cups all cruise, but I’m sure there is a reason. 

After Tangled, we headed back to our stateroom to clean up for the evening. While we were in the room, I started to browse the On Demand selection and found a classic, Flight of the Navigator!

Tonight, those in the group dining at Palo and Remy met in Meridian at 5 o’clock. Normally, Isabelle would order room service and spend time playing Midship or bouncing around between Edge and the Oceaneer Club/Lab, but tonight she went to dinner at Animator’s Palate.

Guess, what? We had another incredible dinner at Remy and once again, the menu recently changed! Hopefully, I will not lose my notes this time around allowing me to post yet another Remy dinner review in the coming weeks well before the next seasonal menu change.

The toothfish course jumped to the top of the list of best dished we’ve eaten in Remy.

Following dinner, we met back up with Isabelle and chatted with some friends outside the Vista Cafe before the day started to catch up with us and the yawning started.

As you can see, the Connect@Sea desk is sharing space with Disney Vacation Club and the Future Cruise desk has taken over the Port Shopping which moved across from Port Adventures on deck 5.

Tonight at 11 o’clock, the PremEAR of Toy Story 4 is happening in the Walt Disney Theatre. Some of you who saw the day 1 personal navigator may have noticed there was no mention of Toy Story 4 for this cruise and tomorrow night just had the Pirate Party listed for the evening entertainment. Well, this is one of those ploys by DCL where they make you think the movie will not be shown. Then, all of a sudden the movie will be shown after all. It was less than a 50% chance I would have been able to stay up for the hour and Forky, sorry, I mean forty minute film, and I didn’t want to see it without Emily and Isabelle. Thankfully, Toy Story 4 is now officially listed as tomorrow’s evening entertainment in the Walt Disney Theatre.

Tomorrow we will be in Nassau, and I am possibly venturing ashore to find a SIM card from a place Matt from Royal Caribbean Blog told me about. I’m fairly confident I will find it. If all else fails, I know I’ll make it to the Pirate Republic Brewery. Wish me luck.

Complete Trip Log Index

• Day 1 – Port Canaveral
• Day 2 – Castaway Cay
• Day 3 – Nassau
• Day 4 – Castaway Cay