Trip log, day three. Castaway Cay.
3-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral
June 18, 2005
Guests Ashore: 8:30 am Guests Onboard: 5:00 pm
Personal Navigator – Day 3
Our first visit to Castaway Cay, one I remember vividly because I walked out on deck 7 aft to take some photos and the camera fogged right up. Thanks to some modern day post processing, I was able to salvage some of them. Similar to the cruise, I had no idea what to expect – the allure of Disney’s private island did not register in my head, but after a lackluster day in Nassau, I was excited to go to the beach.
However, after breakfast a storm rolled in so we waited it out which meant some more time on deck 7 aft observing the storm move across the island.
As the storm moved out, we made our way ashore just in time for the blue skies to return.
The channel pre-Dream class upgrades.
Castaway Cay is plastered with awesome signage with hidden references similar to windows on Main Street, but we encountered what remains our favorite sign of all, the hurricanes Frances and Jeanne was here sign marking the systems visits in September 2004.
Mickey Mouse was out in his island gear meeting guests just off the walkway.
We singed up for the port adventure that included snorkeling rental, a float, and bike rental. Nowadays, we often bring our own snorkeling gear and grab one of the required inflatable snorkel vests from the lifeguard chair. The one thing we continue to do time and time again is rent bikes to ride around the island. This is a really fun activity during the colder visits to the island.
After snorkeling, biking, and a bit of floating we found some hammocks to relax for the remainder of the afternoon.
Heading back we stopped at Mt Rustmore for one of the few photos of myself from the cruise.
You might have guessed already, but we went out to deck 7 for the sail away.
We left the blue skies as we sailed back towards Florida.
Our final night’s towel animal greeted us as we returned to our stateroom following dinner and Disney Dreams.
The next morning we disembarked the Disney Wonder and headed back to Walt Disney World. There were very few people taking ground transfers back to Walt Disney World as most were headed to the airport. As a result, we were loaded into a van with another family to go back to the parks.
I hope you enjoyed reading a trip report with very little information and some bad photos. Our first cruise was really a blur. 3-nights was not enough time and everything just felt rushed. Keep in mind, the wealth of information we have available at our fingertips now was not what we had back in those days. All I can really say is that we had a fun time and years later when we were looking to take our first cruise with our daughter, I was all for another Disney Cruise.
Well, I think I can say for all of us that read your site, that we are very glad you honeymooned on DCL. Who knows, if it weren’t for that cruise we might not all have this great site filled with wonderful and helpful information.
Did you go to Serenity Bay on this cruise? Just wondering what it was like back then.
Scott. I loved your final comment that your first 3 day cruise felt rushed. That was our experience as well. We sailed 4 nights on the Wonder in 2000 with our 2 young children. And although it was good, it was not great. We were lost or late most of the cruise for events. We did not go back until 2005, on a 14 night Panama on the Magic. After a few days, we were not lost, DCL had vastly improved Navigators, and we had the best holiday ever. Hooked for life after that. I warn new cruisers to expect to be a little gobsmacked the first few days.
We sailed with my parents on the Magic Sept. 11-18 in 2004 to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We were the first ship there after Frances. The sign was there, but no mention of Jean, yet. She popped up while we were onboard and we had to make another change to our itinerary to stay ahead of her. The whole trip was impacted by three of the four hurricanes that hit Florida that year. This trip was supposed to be a Western Caribbean, but Ivan kept us away from there. Castaway Cay was all brown from the salt water blown onto it by Frances! They also opened up Serenity Bay to families. I have a photo of my mom standing in front of the sign (sorry, it is not digital) which was especially fun since her name WAS Frances! We were so glad to be at Castaway Cay because five years earlier, we went on our very first DCL trip for my parents’ anniversary and missed it because of Hurricane Floyd! Our trip was the first time they ever went to Cozumel which looked WAY different back the. At the end of the pier you walked right into the town, no maze mall.
First cruise was also a 3-night on the Wonder. What a great way to start a new addiction.