Our Land/Sea vacation - Day 8 of 9 - Castaway Cay

[Parrotheader]

This covers the 7-day land/sea vacation of Keith and Holly from Birmingham, AL as told by Keith (Parrotheader.) We’re both 26 with kids still a couple years away. Holly had previously been to Disney World twice (one trip she was too young to remember) and Keith had been 5 times. We're BOTH cruise rookies. Pictures of our trip can also be found at:

http://www.luckie.net/disney/

Day 8 – Castaway Cay
Saturday, June 1

Once again, we awoke as we felt the ship slowing down, this time it was around 7:00. We took our time getting ready because we didn’t feel the need to be in the early rush off the ship. I headed on deck and took a few photos while Holly was getting ready. We were finally ready to roll around 9:00 and made our way ashore.

Naturally, we thought the island was beautiful. And we loved the nice open view the island offered of the ship. Most impressive. We got our picture made with Goofy (our only character picture of the entire trip) and then hopped on the trams to get to the Adults only beach. Although neither beach was truly packed yet we could tell how much nicer it was (crowd-wise) at the adults beach. We were among the first people there and quickly snagged an ideal spot with a hammock. I rented a few floats and then it was relaxation time.

I spent pretty much the whole day just floating on an inner tube soaking in the sun. Holly would periodically come out and join me on her own float and then go back to sit on the chairs or lay in the hammock.

We were originally going to book the snorkeling excursion on Castaway Cay, but I’m glad we didn’t. It would have interfered with what turned out to be a perfect day of relaxation. Plus, I could still see all the cool fish VERY clearly through the inner tube which acted like a big magnifying glass. Not to mention the fact that the water was crystal clear.

We ate lunch around noon at the little picnic area. The hot dogs were quite good and a nice kick back to reality after all the fancier food we’d been eating the last couple days (PB&Js excluded of course.)

After lunch, I got a Conc Cooler for Holly and a ‘Deep Blue Sea’ for myself since I can’t stand things with coconut in them. Both were great (I’ll take Holly’s word on her drink.) We spent the rest of the afternoon doing pretty much the same as we did that morning, relaxing in the water and in the hammock.

Around 3:00 we started heading back to the ship. We looked at possibly buying something at the gift shops, but we didn’t end up getting anything. We’re not all that big into souvenirs. We just wanted all our photos since the memories are the things we cherish most and photos do that better than anything in my opinion. Particularly when you record your whole trip like I did online and Holly’s doing via scrapbook.

Once we got back on the ship we showered and Holly took a nap while I went to the debarkation meeting. I knew I could have skipped it if I’d wanted because we knew they’d rerun it on TV all night. And I probably SHOULD have skipped it, but I didn’t so no big deal.

We packed around 5:00 and then headed off to our 6:00 show for the final night, Disney Dreams. The show quality was VERY good and although it seemed a little cheesy at spots (then again, what Broadway style show with a childhood-oriented message isn’t) we both enjoyed it immensely.

After the show, we milled around the gift shops and picked up a few post cards for extra pictures. We then went to Shutterbugs and after engaging in hand-to-hand combat to grapple for viewing position we found our pictures from the entire cruise. In my opinion they could make that process MUCH MUCH MUCH simpler by simply scanning the pictures and having about a dozen or so kiosks for quick viewing to help you find your selection. Then you’d just give them the picture number and they could quickly pull it for you. We ended up getting 3 of the 5 total pictures they took of us.

We strolled around the ship for awhile just enjoying, exploring and taking photos. The ship was REALLY moving that evening and it was cool to see another cruise ship off in the distance also heading back to Port Canaveral. I think it was the Carinval Fantasy judging by the distant profile, but it was tough to tell.

At 8:30 it was off to dinner at Parrot’s Cay. The environment here was laid back and a nice fit after being at Castaway Cay all day. We especially enjoyed watching our quiet, reserved assistant server, Ferhat, turn into an extroverted dance machine when the conga line started. The food here was once again very good (not quite up the standards of the other restaurants though) and I ended up making some bad combination decisions. Everything was good when I ate it, I just felt a little sick after dinner.

So, we spent most of our last evening just hanging out in our room. Holly was tired anyway so I didn’t feel quite so bad about having to keep her cooped up there. Still, I wish we could have maybe gone to one of the other clubs like the Cadillac Lounge for a little while our last night. And once I did start feeling better later on, she was too tired to go out. We ended up watching ‘A Beautiful Mind’ on the TV and then turned in around 11:00 (which was VERY early to this central time zone night owl.) The rocking of the ship certainly helps you drift off to sleep though.

Up Next:
Day 9 - Time to go home

 

[kellyb2000]

Will Holly scan her scrapbook when she is through and share that with us?! I am a scrapper and I love looking at everyone's pages.

 

[Parrotheader]

I'll see if we can although it'll be awhile before she's done. Plus, finding a scanner big enough for those odd size pages will be tough. We'll try though.

 

[pjkds]

Keith,

I'm REALLY enjoying your trip report! Especially the part about the cruise, since that's what we will be doing on June 27 (Wonder, 3-day).

I have one question about Castaway Cay:
Did you notice whether the tram to Serenity Bay was completely on paved roadway--or did it sometimes go across sand or dirt? I'm curious about whether an electric scooter/wheelchair can get all the way to Serenity Bay on a firm path.
(Disney does have special "sand wheelchairs" available, but I would like to take my electric scooter out to look around, if possible. --Yes, I know that the scooter will be totally useless on the sand itself, but I won't be spending any extra time in the sunshine.)

Also, did you notice whether there was any space for loading a scooter or wheelchair on the tram itself?

Thanks,
Your report and photos are fascinating.
pjkds

 

[Parrotheader]

I didn't notice any space for a scooter, but seeing as how it's Disney I'm sure it's either ADA compliant or they have some other alternative transportation to help get you across the island.

You probably WOULDN'T want to ride all the way across the island on your scooter (it IS paved the whole way, although the airstrip runway is not the smoothest thing on earth.) Unless your scooter could really pick up and move it's a pretty long ride. In fact, there's one tram ride from the boat to the central part of the island (we rode it in the morning, but walked and took pictures on our way back in that afternoon.) Then there's ANOTHER tram ride from the central part to Serenity Bay. On a hot day (as I'd imagine it would be in late June) I'd hate to be out on a scooter on a LONG BLACK runway trying to get from one end to the other. Those runways are designed for planes to land going 80+ mph so you can imagine how long even a small landing strip like that one was.

 

[pjkds]

Thanks, Keith,

I didn't realize how very long the trip to Serenity Bay would be. And since I HATE to be HOT (yeah, I know, it's June, but my trip to Florida is for a national spina bifida conference, which is scheduled around the school schedules) and need to avoid excess sun, I will DEFINITELY take your advice and not try to drive along the runway in the sun! Thanks for your insight.

Peggy