Disney Cruise Line’s private island, Castaway Cay, is a small slice of paradise in the Caribbean! On this slice of paradise, Disney added a private getaway where you can escape the crowds of people that you’ve been traveling with on your cruise ship. These private getaways are called Cabanas and they are small cabins placed on a private sections of the family beach and the adult beach. There are twenty regular and one large sized Cabanas on the family beach. These are also six cabanas on the adult beach.read more
Today was our first trip to the island of Antigua! We were pretty excited because we love stopping at new places. Nancy and I got up early and went to Cabanas for a quick bite and some coffee, then headed back to the room and woke the girls up. After they got ready, we all went back to Cabanas so the girls could eat.
Once everyone was fed, we left the ship for a bit of shopping in the port area.
The shopping area of the port is really nice. There are a lot of shops crowded relatively close together right at the end of the pier. Most of your common port stores are located here, including the notorious Diamonds International. This port area was an enclosed security area with guards near the entrances. We wondered outside the area and still felt very safe.
While looking around for souvenirs, we stumbled on a small shopping village off to the side. It was really nice with a number of smaller cafes and artist shops. We really enjoyed looking around this area. After getting some iced coffee, we headed back to the ship to get ready for our tour.
The quickest path back to the ship took us along a wood pier. This was a nice opportunity to get a different view of the ships.
We got back on board and went to grab another quick bite from the quick service restaurants before we left. We didn’t want to get too hungry on the tour. Our scheduled excursion meeting place was in Azure on Deck 3, so we arrived 10 minutes before our scheduled time. We were going to participate in the “Amazing Antigua” Tour.
Visit English Harbour, home to the famed Nelson’s Dockyard, Blockhouse Ruins and Shirley Heights Lookout.
On this adventure you will…
Board an air-conditioned minibus with an experienced, knowledgeable tour guide and ride approximately 30 minutes through Antigua’s countryside, rich in daily West Indian life. Explore local villages and see old churches that exemplify West Indian culture. Travel past the magnificent view of Falmouth Harbour to English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard. Built in 1725, the Dockyard served as the base for the English naval squadron patrolling the West Indies.
Enter the historic park, the only working Georgian dockyard in the world, and meet a National Parks Guide, who will lead you on a short, informative walking tour through the Dockyard with its beautifully restored buildings, detailed plaques and many points of interest.
Enjoy a complimentary and refreshing rum or fruit punch followed by free time to explore the Dockyard, museum, art gallery, gift shop and boutiques.
Conclude your roughly one-hour visit and continue by minibus to Dow’s Hill Interpretation Centre at Shirley Heights, where you will view a fascinating 15-minute multimedia presentation tracing the island’s history.
Continue on up to the former signal station, Shirley Heights Lookout, for a picture-perfect view of Nelson’s Dockyard and English Harbour.
Travel back through Antigua’s picturesque villages en route back north to St John’s.
Once we got organized, we were assigned a Donald Duck sticker and then led off the ship to an awaiting Mini-Bus.
The mini bus was air conditioned, but some of the seats were more comfortable than others. Our party got split up and I ended up sitting in the back in a seat that had a hump for the wheel. My knees ended up uncomfortably high. I also ended up next to some excited individuals that talked for a good portion of the trip, making it hard to hear the guide as she gave a narrated tour.
The bus left quickly and we were off. We got a good description of the general day to day activities in the main town and of the various locations that we passed, including schools, churches, and stadiums.
We passed an old sugar mill and got an explanation of its history.
This is the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, which was used in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
We also passed a number of historical churches on the tour.
After about 30 minutes, we arrived at Nelson’s Dockyard, which was an English Naval Base and shipyard. Nancy was really excited about visiting because she liked Duran Duran and they filmed a couple of videos at this location (including their video for “Rio”).
After we left the bus, we were assigned to a guide specifically employed by the Dockyard. She explained the history of the dockyard and its unique capabilities in the colonial period. She explained that we would get a quick tour of the dockyard, followed by a drink that was included with our tour.
After a short walk down the hill, we got to see the various buildings that comprised the dockyards. Some were barracks, officers’ quarters, and shops that made sails.
We also got to see the captans, which are large wheels that were used to help clean the bottom of the ships. Lines would be attached to the masts of the ships and they would be pulled in to tip the ship on its side. The bottom could be cleaned and repaired.
After we saw the captans, we were directed to a bar to collect some rum punch. We relaxed for a little bit and looked at the ships.
After we finished looking at the ships, we headed back towards the bus, making sure to look into the shops as we walked. The meeting location was back at the entrance where we were dropped off. I definitely didn’t want the same seats we had on the trip here. Once the bus came, we loaded up right away and sat together near the front. The entire group eventually arrived and got on board as well. We then headed to the Dow’s Hill Interpretation Center. This consisted of an elevated platform you can go up on to look around as well as a visit to an interpretative history of the island.
The views from the elevated platform was amazing, including a great view of English Harbor.
The interpretation center visit was really nice, but we weren’t allowed to take photographs inside. There was a restroom and a small shop there as well. Once we finished at this place, we were hurried off to Shirley Heights Lookout for another quick photo stop.
When I say quick, I meant like we had 5 minutes to get off the bus, get a quick photo, and then jump back on the bus. There were a few vendors selling items here, but we didn’t feel like we could spend any time looking.
We got back on the bus and began the long drive back to the ship. The guide kept us fairly well entertained trying to teach us some aspects of the local dialect. She then answered any questions that were posed from members of the tour. Overall, it was a good tour. I don’t know that we would sign up to do it since we already did it once, but we all enjoyed it.
We got back to the ship right before sail away. Once on board, we dropped off our bags in the room and headed up to the pool deck to get a snack. I ended up back at the shawarma station (again), along with a plate of fries. We took our food to the top deck and enjoyed it while watching the sunset.
Around 7:00, we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. We decided to go watch “So you think you know your family” in Azure. Its a great family game show and had us howling with laughter.
Once the show ended, we headed for Tiana’s for dinner. The menu was the Princess night menu (not the traditional New Orleans menu).
After dinner, Nancy and I went to Cove Cafe for Cognac tasting. Once that was over, it was time for bed. It had been a long night and the cognac was making us really tired. We headed to back to our room to discover another great towel animal creation!
Tomorrow, our destination will be the French Island of Martinique!
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
We slept in till 9:30 am on St. Maarten day since we didn’t have a specific time we needed to leave the ship. We decided on this cruise to get in a number of relaxing beach days and this would be the first one. We decided to return to one of the easiest beach stops there is, the Holland House. This was recommended to us by the DCL Dude and this would be our second return.
We needed some food first, so after getting ready, we headed upstairs for some breakfast from Cabanas.
After finishing breakfast, we left the ship around 10:30. The Wonder was docked on the pier right next to a Fred Olsen ship. This was the first time we’d ever encountered a Fred Olsen ship.
The Wonder was looking splendid, as always!
Our first stop was the water taxi stand so we could get our tickets. I detailed the procedure and walk in our previous visit to St. Maarten and it remained unchanged this time, with one exception.
The walk was from the other end of the beach and took us past a good number of shops and restaurants. We did get a lot of vendors encouraging us to visit their shops/bars/restaurants. We told them no thank you, we were headed to the Holland House. They all wished us a good day.
After a short 5 minute walk, we were back at the Holland House. We stopped at the outside bar and got our chairs and the Wifi code. This time, the signal seemed to be able to reach the beach and we could use it all day long. The cost was the same as last time, $25 for two chairs, an umbrella, and four drinks.
We picked some chairs that were close to the water, although the temperature was a bit chilly. We enjoyed the sunshine while it was there, but the clouds would come and go.
Our view of the Wonder was great! We also had a view of a thunderstorm that was rolling towards us. With a good amount of warning, we knew we would have to leave the beach in a bit once it came though. We had been on the beach about 45 minutes when we started to gather our items up.
We asked if we could sit in the hotel’s restaurant until the storm went over, since there were lots of open seats, but they wouldn’t let us. The security guard was being very nice and letting people come in off the street to get out of the downpour. After sitting inside for about 30 minutes, the storm passed and we headed back outside.
By the time 2 pm came around, we were getting a bit hungry and wanted to head back towards the ship for lunch. We made sure to stop and get a picture of the cow!
On the way back to the ship, we decided to look for the Yoda Guy shop. The shop and museum is run by Nick Maley, who was a make up artist on a number of Star Wars Movies.
We found the shop by looking it up on the internet, then walked over to the address. Once you find the door, you have to head upstairs.
The shop is free to enter, the museum has a per person charge. Since we wanted to get back to the ship, we headed inside the shop for a quick look. There are lots of drawings and models for sale. Nick Maley was in the shop and talking with people as they went through the museum.
After looking around the shop, we headed back to the water taxi pier. We almost missed the water taxi because of some last minute clothes shopping, but the water taxi was nice enough to wait for us since it was just a few extra seconds. We made sure to tip them a few dollars extra!
After the walk, we headed to the French Quarter Lounge so Nancy could look around since she didn’t get to experience it the day of boarding. We let our friends know we were there and they joined us for a quick snack and some drinks.
After relaxing and talking for a while, we went to Azure for one of our favorite activities, the Silent Disco! I think there were three different channels you could listen into with your headphones. We stayed there until it was over, then we had to head to dinner.
Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate. The menu was the standard menu, but the food was a little bit disappointing. Some of the items were a bit cold and not quite right, but we let it slide.
One thing we noticed were these plastic cups. Disney Cruise Line has made a number of changes recently to help the environment, including getting rid of a number of single use plastics. I asked our waiter about the cups. He said they were the new cups for kids, but these were washed and reused instead of being thrown away.
After getting the information on the cups, Nancy and I headed back to bed. We had another great towel animal waiting for us in the room!
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
Today was Castaway Cay day, one of our favorite stops! We had a lot of plans for the day and were eager to get started. Nancy and our friends were going to run the Castaway Cay 5K and then head to one of the cabanas on Serenity Bay Beach, the adults only beach. My older daughter was planning to spend the day with her new friends from Vibe. My younger daughter and I were going to head to the family beach and then meet our friends for a jet ski excursion late in the day.
Nancy was up and out of the room early to get some food at Cabanas. We were a bit slower to get out, but eventually ended up in Cabanas as well for breakfast. It seemed to me that the ship was a bit late getting to Castaway Cay. Before the ship docked, I received this unfortunate message on the DCL App. We didn’t notice anything bad about the wind or ocean conditions, so we were pretty bummed to miss the jet ski excursion.
Meanwhile, Nancy and our friend met up in the Walt Disney Theater for the Castaway Cay 5K. They were given their race bibs and eventually led off the ship to the race starting line.
The participants are led from the ship, on foot, all the way to the start line. The start line is located down near Cookies Too.
Once the race started, Nancy and our friends decided to just walk over to the adult beach and not finish the race. It was pretty hot. The path to the other beach took them down the runway on the island.
Here is what the water looked like at the adult beach. I would have stopped running and just flopped into the ocean.
There are tons of chairs and umbrellas at the adult beach.
After checking out the beach, they headed back to find the cabanas they had rented for the day. Unlike the family cabanas, there is no separate section of the beach for cabanas guests. The cabanas are set back off the beach.
It has all the amenities of the family cabana, including sun screen and fruit tray.
The fridge was stocked with sodas and waters.
There is a safe and the cabanas has plenty of towels.
There is a lot of seating (more than three adults could actually use at one time).
There is a hammock as well. Near the hammock is the fresh water shower and a stack of floats for use by the cabanas guests.
Here is the view of the beach from the adult cabana.
Meanwhile, back at the family beach, my younger daughter and I rented a float and grabbed some chairs at the far end of the family beach. We usually setup down here because of its proximity to the bathrooms and Cookies Too. The beach also doesn’t tend to be too crowded down here because it isn’t as wide. There are only two or three rows of chairs in this section.
My younger daughter and I spent most of the day down here until about 2 pm or so. We alternated between resting in the chairs and using the float in the water. The water temperature was fantastic. We took a break for a bit to grab some lunch as well. Around 2 pm, we decided to head over to the rental area to grab an Aqua Trike since we didn’t get to do jet skis.
We got our Aqua Trike and headed out towards the Fantasy.
We had a GoPro with us, so we were determined to get as close to the Fantasy as we could for some good pictures. Despite both of us paddling away, it was taking a long time. I had forgotten how much work the Aqua Trike actually was.
We eventually did get pretty close, although go pro makes it seem like we were farther away though.
As we turned around, we noticed that we were racing a storm back to the beach.
Nancy happened to be headed back to the ship as that time, so she managed to catch a picture of us while we were headed back in. It took us a while to get back to the shore though, that Aqua Trike is quite the workout.
We dropped off our life vests and started walking back towards the ship. We got in touch with our older daughter to make sure she was headed back to the ship. She was almost there as well, so we waited around until she was there.
Before we got back on the ship, I made sure to get a picture of the outside of our room. Our room is the one circled in red below. I actually really liked my friends’ room (8165) that was one deck above us. It was also an obstructed view verandah, but the obstruction was much smaller.
We got on board to begin cleaning up. As always, Nancy watched the sail away from Castaway Cay to see the “wave goodbye” that the crew members on the island give the ship as it leaves.
The kids went off to find their friends while Nancy finished up the packing. While we didn’t plan on putting our suitcases out by 10 pm, she still wanted to get everything done before dinner. We planned to take advantage of Express Walk-Off to leave the ship with our suitcases in the morning as soon as the ship cleared so we could start driving back home. We had found the debarkation procedure letter on our bed when we got back on the ship after our day on Castaway Cay.
Disney Cruise Line’s private island, Castaway Cay, is a small slice of paradise in the Caribbean! On this slice of paradise, Disney added a private getaway where you can escape the crowds of people that you’ve been traveling with on your cruise ship. These private getaways are called Cabanas and they are small cabins placed on a private sections of the family beach and the adult beach. There are twenty regular and one large sized Cabanas on the family beach. We will only be talking about the Cabanas on the family beach as we have never experienced the ones on the adult beach.
Reservation
The Cabanas are available via Disney Cruise Line’s reservation system. That means Concierge guests get the first opportunity to book them at 125 days from sailing. The next group will be the Platinum level Castaway Club cruisers at 120 days, followed by Gold members at 105, then Silver members at 90. If there are any left at that point, first time passengers can reserve them at 75 days from sailing.
We have heard many tales about all the Cabanas being rented by Concierge members and it being a miracle for Platinum members to get them, with little to no hope for Gold or Silver castaway club members to receive them. I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. We have sailed a total of eleven times and have reserved four Cabanas, once as a Silver Castaway Club member, twice as Gold members and once as Platinum. One of the eleven cruises was to Alaska, so reserving a Cabana wasn’t a possibility. So, we’ve had an almost 50% success rate of reserving a Cabana. Our secret is to stay up until midnight of our booking date and attempt to grab one right away. The other technique is to keep checking back multiple times if you aren’t able to get one.
Amenities
The Cabanas at Castaway Cay are open air cabins that are available to rent during the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM. The Cabanas have a private beach that only Cabana guests can access. They also come with unlimited drinks and snacks; the use of snorkel equipment, floats, bike rentals, and beach toys; and a supply of sunscreen. All this, including the first six guests, can be yours for the low price of $599 (or higher during certain parts of the year). Yes, I know that is expensive, if not outrageous. However, it tends to be the only excursion we do on some of our cruises. The adult cabanas include the first four guests and are less expensive at $399.
In addition to the amenities described above, the Cabana rental provides you with other services. The first is a Cabana host. They will transport you via a golf cart around the island (mainly to get lunch or to a tram stop). There are a ton of towels in the Cabana for your party to use that day, including cold washcloths in the mini-fridge for you to use when you want to cool off. The snacks include chips and granola bars, fresh fruits, sodas, and water. I’ve heard you can request certain sodas beforehand, but we’ve never done that. The supply of sunscreen includes spray and lotion, and you can take it with you when you leave for the day. The Cabanas also have sand toys you can use, as well as a huge number of rafts and floats. Cabana guests can take advantage of one hour bicycle rental and also have use of snorkel equipment for the day.
We decided one time to use the snorkel equipment (the girls and I), since we figured it would be a safe learning environment for us. Well, I don’t have any pictures of the experience. My youngest daughter and I didn’t like snorkeling at all. We either weren’t doing it correctly, or just don’t like it. She couldn’t get her mask on quite right and I spent a lot of time helping her with it, while sucking in way too much water. We tried it, but probably won’t repeat it.
The Cabanas are enclosed on three sides and open to the beach and water on the fourth side. Each Cabana includes a loveseat and cushioned chairs which are inside in the shade; a ceiling fan keeps the area cool even in the heat of the summer. There are also cushioned lounge chairs on the Cabana deck overlooking the beach, and each Cabana has its own hammock, sun umbrella, and several beach/lounge chairs on the beach. The Cabana is outfitted with tissues, a safe for valuables ,and power outlets. There are travel magazines in protective covers if you forgot your own reading material. Finally, each Cabana includes a curtained changing area and outdoor showers (which include a foot washing faucet). These feature made it very convenient when running the Castaway Cay 5K so we could change from running clothes into our bathing suits!
Usage
For two of our four Cabana rentals, we have had a Cabana setup waiting in our stateroom the night before before Castaway Cay day. This included a letter telling us all the benefits of the Cabana rental as well as a paper model of the Cabana. The wristbands we would use that indicated we were Cabana guests were included in an envelope. The last Cabana we rented while on a Dream cruise just included the wrist bands.
Getting to the Cabana
The first thing you will encounter when leaving the ship is the Bahamian Inspection Station (I think that’s what its called). I believe they want to make sure you aren’t bringing alcohol onto the island and they check your ID when you get back onto the ship. I don’t quite understand it, since the 99% of the people on the island are the people that just got off the boat (there are only a handful of people that stay on the island overnight).
Once you clear the inspection station, you will see a post office (yes you can mail items back to the US) and the excursion shack (known as Marge’s Barges and Sea Charters Dock). You can check in here if you have boat related excursions.
The first stop is the tram stop. Yes, Disney runs a tram just like at the theme parks. There are three tram stops for the family beaches. You can also get a tram to the adult beach, but you have to transfer at the last family beach stop. To get to the cabanas, you will want to head to the last family beach stop, known as Pelican Point Tram Stop.
Checking In
The Cabana check-in shack is located right next to the last tram stop, Pelican Point. Simply tell the staff which Cabana you have, and show them your wrist bands. They will check your names against the list. They have always offered to drive us in a golf cart down to whichever Cabana we had for the day.
Locations
We have had Cabanas 6, 19, 20 and 23. Cabana 6 is close to the regular family beach, near the rope barrier that separates the family beach from the reserved beach that is limited to Cabana guests. Cabana 19 and 20 are farther from the family beach. However, the lower number Cabanas (which I believe are the original Cabanas) are spaced farther apart than the higher number Cabanas. We felt like we were much more on top of our neighbors in Cabanas 19 and 20 than we were in Cabana 6, especially when we were sitting in the hammock or beach chairs. The other big difference between these Cabanas is the beach experience; the beach near Cabana 19 and 20 is narrow and the lagoon is not as wide or deep as other parts of the beach. Cabana 23 is located on the adult beach.
Pictures of all the cabanas we’ve rented are included below. We have also included pictures of Cabana 21, which is the grand family Cabana. While the regular Cabanas can accommodate up to 10 people (6 are included with the rental price), Cabana 21 can hold up to 16 guests.
On Day 3 of our cruise, the ship was due to port in Nassau. We usually don’t get off the ship, but thought it might be fun just to go into Nassau and walk around. We had previously been on a Dream three night cruise with some friends that went into the port and they enjoyed it.
We woke up really late, so it was about 9:30 by the time we left the stateroom. It seems like the crew had to get some training, because we saw them practicing fire fighting techniques in our hallway.
We decided to head to Cabanas to get some breakfast before heading ashore. Since it was a little bit later in the morning, Cabanas was pretty much empty. We filled up with our favorites because we weren’t quite sure how long we would stay ashore. Our goal was to get back on board before lunch time.
After breakfast, we headed off the ship. We were docked right next to a Royal Caribbean ship, Empress of the Seas. While we are excited to try out a Royal Caribbean cruise soon, the Empress of the Seas needs some attention. She was sporting more than her fair share of rust.
We stopped for some quick pictures at the dock and then headed into the town. To enter Nassau, you have to head through an entry building and then go through a corral where there are vendors. Some of the vendors are selling goods (food and souvenirs) and others are offering tours (jet skis, bus tours, etc). Some of them are pretty verbally aggressive but it didn’t really bother us since we were prepared for it.
After we left the corral area, we found ourselves in a main square. There were a couple of hotels here along with a fair amount of taxi cabs offering rides. I found this part of Nassau to be nice. It reminded me of the main square in Cozumel.
We headed down the road towards the Straw Market. The Straw Market is a famous market in Nassau. We did go inside the Straw Market for a bit, but didn’t find anything we were interested in. Some of the vendors on the side of the market were actually hand making various carvings, which were interesting. Most of them were selling the same merchandise.
We headed out of the Straw Market and towards Señor Frog’s. We weren’t going to go in, the kids just wanted some pictures. We headed through Pompey Square and over to Señor Frog’s.
After taking some pictures with the Frog, we headed back towards the shops. We stopped in a few, then headed back to the ship. We didn’t end up buying anything, but did see some interesting items in My Ocean. We could see Atlantis off in the distance. I actually had friend who had just spent a week at Atlantis on vacation. He said it was fun, but expensive.
After walking back through the entry building, we headed back on the pier to this awesome sight. The Disney ships definitely look great in port.
The kids headed off to the clubs while Nancy and I headed to Cove Cafe for a coffee. We also made sure to grab some snacks from the display case. These snacks were all tasty. We didn’t want to eat too much since tonight was our chance to dine at Rapunzel’s Royal Table!
As the ship left Nassau, Nancy and I watched the sunset from Deck 4.
As dinner time approached, we headed towards Rapunzel’s Royal Table. This was going to be our first time enjoying the re-imagined dining room on the Magic. When we went on the Magic at Christmas, this was still Cariocas. We headed towards Deck 3 Aft, where the dining room is located.
We were welcomed to the dining room by the master of ceremonies for the evening. We ended up with a great table for the evening, right along the main walkway.
There were a few things we loved about the new dining room. The first was the attention to details in the place settings.
There was also an acoustic band that provided the musical entertainment. We really loved them. We ended up seeing them playing in various other locations during the rest of the cruise.
We also really enjoyed the entertainment. There was singing and dancing, mainly by the Tugs.
We were then joined by Rapunzel! She led the dining room in some singing and dancing. It turned out it was her birthday!
Rapunzel went around the dining room, briefly stopping at each table. You could get a photo with her if you asked, but she wouldn’t sign autographs. In the middle of Rapunzel’s route around the tables, Flynn Rider came out and sang a song with Rapunzel. The two of them then continued to go around the dining room.
With their final song, the dining room staff brought out lanterns to “float” among the tables.
Overall, we LOVED the changes to the dining room. We heard people complain about the noise level. The staff told us it can be a tough venue because they needed to get the order and then deliver the food so they weren’t in the way of the entertainment. I can understand both issues, but for us, this was a great change in entertainment value as well as in food quality.
The dining room staff also had great outfits. Here is our OUTSTANDING dining staff of Viand and Jesus.
Once again, the kids disappeared to their clubs and we headed for bed.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
