Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 9 - Castaway Cay

[Scruffette]

Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 9

Index

Friday 7th September

Castaway Cay

Today was one of the days of our trip I had most been looking forward to - a day in paradise on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.

We woke up at 7.45am to get ready and applied copious amounts of sun cream. Last time on Castaway Cay 3 years previously, we accidentally fell asleep in the afternoon sun and got quite red. I was determined that we wouldn’t be making this mistake again!

Breakfast was in Cabanas, and outside the window it was looking really grey and drizzly



We weren’t too disheartened at this point, as we know how quickly the weather can change. I just hoped it would hurry up!

Ollie’s plate –



Again, I think he started before I took a photo

My plate –



Look, there’s even a tiny bit of fruit on there! I enjoyed the breakfast burger this morning and Mickey waffles are always the best. I really didn’t mean to put that much cream on my plate!

This sticky bun was served warm -



Whilst this wasn’t as good as Palo’s sticky buns, this was still a real winner!

We took the rear gangway, picking up towels en route, and headed out to the island, where the rain had turned to a very light drizzle.



Pretty much all of the excursions were cancelled today…



As it was still a tad rainy, we thought we would start with some snorkelling.



We took the tram to the first stop and found Mount Rustmore, which we missed last time. (Although it doesn’t look that rusty!)



The sky had suddenly brightened up, so we timed this well!



Great views of the ship from the island!

We enquired at the snorkel rental hut how much hiring just flippers would be (which we had used on our snorkelling excursions and found to be really helpful). They wanted something extortionate like $17 just for the flippers, so we declined and decided we’d just have to swim harder!

The snorkelling at Castaway Cay proved to be a lot better than I was expecting.

We found the nautilus –





This fish turned out to be quite friendly –



We were getting close to where the Mickey statue was, when my absolute favourite snorkelling moment happened.

Out of nowhere, came a sea turtle. It was moving so gracefully and calmly that we just followed it, a bit in awe.





Me trying to be friends with a turtle!







Then, a friend came to join it! We spent a fair few moments just watching and following. Their movements felt very majestic.



Eventually they drew quite a crowd and swam off, but I loved watching them for a few minutes.

We then swam back to see our friend –



I love how there are these hidden treasures to find!

We did ask a lifeguard where to find Minnie, and he directed us over to the buoy where Mickey was.

I’d had enough of snorkelling now and after 90 minutes in the water I looked like a complete prune! We never found Minnie, but I was happy with all our exploring.

With the active portion of the day over, it was time for total relaxation!





We took the tram over to serenity bay, the adult only beach.

Most of the hammocks on the beach were taken, but there was a free hammock near the entrance to the beach. If you’re spending the day on an island in the Bahamas, a hammock is mandatory!

The hammock turned out to be a good spot, as we weren’t too far from drinks/food/toilets. The hammock was also partly in shade from a palm tree, which was ideal.





The adult only beach was a little busier than last time we were here (probably a function of there being more families on board in August than September), but the beach was still lovely and relaxing.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the hammock to get some lunch.

I love the BBQ food on Castaway Cay. We got two plates of food with all of the options, so we could cut most things in half and try a bit of everything (although the gherkins were all for me!). I can confirm it was all delicious!





The lady who had accosted Ollie’s phone at breakfast the other day came up to talk to us, but fortunately she soon got distracted by another newlywed couple who were far more interesting!

After lunch, Ollie made us up two diy ice cream cookie sundaes using the soft serve ice cream machines. Mine was the chocolate one.



We took these back to our hammock to eat. We also may have had a bit of a nap. I remember feeling so relaxed this afternoon!



We saw one pair of our tablemates, who were heading over to the snorkelling lagoon for a bit. Our hammock was a good spot for people spotting.

We decided we fancied a dip in the sea, so went for a paddle in the water, which was a lovely warm temperature. We did see a starfish in the water, but we saw someone lift it out of the water to show people



(Obviously we swam a bit further down the beach, in the swimming bit!)

It was then time for some more lounging, so back to the hammock it was! We saw our tablemates again, who said it looked like we hadn’t moved!

Can you believe it was the afternoon and we still hadn’t had a cocktail yet? This had to be rectified and we got a pina colava to share ($9.53). This became a favourite across the trip and we had a few when we were at Disney World (got to make use of the cocktails on the dining plan!)



The sky started to look a bit ominous in the afternoon and there were tannoy announcements saying the water was closed. A few people ignored these announcements, but cast members eventually came along to encourage people out the water.



We headed over to the tram, where it started absolutely pouring! This was how we ended our visit last time at Castaway Cay!





After the first tram, we took shelter (with everyone else it seemed) in the shop.







We picked up this Olaf ornament ($22.39 including tax) which I love! I have no idea when we’ll be back at Castaway Cay, so I wanted something to remember the island by.

The rain was dying down a bit now, so we had a chance to grab a few snaps of the ship!







Although the rain looked like it was about to stop, we decided to head back on board as we were all packed up and had plenty of time on the island.

[Scruffette]

Lots of people were heading back on board, but I assume they all went straight back to their rooms. The atrium was completely empty, which I had never seen before!



Look, no one around!





Mr Hook and Smee were out doing meet and greets!









Back in the room we took a few photos from the verandah and got showered. Considering everyone was probably showering at the same time, hot water was never an issue!














These were waiting for us in the room, reminding us that our cruise was almost over





At 4.45pm, something called ‘Mickey & Friends’, with no description, was listed on the navigator. I wasn’t sure what this was, but wondered if it was an opportunity to meet multiple characters at once (I hoped in one photo, but this wasn’t the case).

We turned up about 10 minutes early, expecting to see a queue. Nope, no line, no cast members. Eventually a few more people joined us in the atrium. Eventually, just after 4.45pm, the characters were announced one by one and appeared in their Halloween costumes.









The meet and greet was basically a free for all, with the characters spread out across the atrium. However, the lines were reasonably short. The characters were only out for about 15 minutes, so it was a bit chaotic.



Peter Pan was also out (a bit random with Mickey and friends), but no one seemed to want to join his line.

Afterwards, we thought it was time for another cocktail! Or more specifically, a dole whip with rum ($7.76). The picture doesn’t look the most appetising, but it was delicious!



And what would a trip to the pool deck be without a snack? We shared some chicken tenders and a slice of blue cheese and pancetta pizza. A winning combination on the pizza topping.



We then had a bit of chill time on the verandah before heading to tonight’s show, which was Believe.

We saw this on the Dream 3 years ago, and ever since have been singing one of the songs (What makes your garden grow…). I really enjoyed the show again.

It was about a father who learns to believe in magic, thanks to the help of the Genie. However, I do find it a bit strange that they have two shows which heavily feature the Genie from Aladdin.

We sat on the balcony again, which is my favourite place to watch the shows from.

It was now time for that inevitable part of the trip that we try to put off… packing!

Ollie actually popped to the shop to pick up a few bits we had spotted earlier, while I went back to the room to start packing.

We bought a book of cruise stickers for my Mum –



This cute captain mickey tshirt, which I wore in the parks ($27.99)



Ollie also sneakily bought me this mug, which I got at Christmas.



I love the slanted-ness!

It was then back to packing, which wasn’t too bad as we didn’t have to worry about luggage weight limits as we were off to Disney tomorrow. We almost finished before dinner, which was quite quick for us!

Tonight, dinner was in Animator’s Palate, for the animation drawn to magic show.



First thing was first – draw our character!

I struggled to know what to draw – I should really go with a plan next time. As you can probably tell, art is not my in my skill set.



Ollie took ages to draw his, and I then realised he was drawing our server Ana!



I did a quick dash back to the room as we had forgotten our phones – I’d be a bad trip reporter without food photos!

They have a set appetiser on this night, presumably to speed things up. I had somehow forgotten how rubbish this appetiser was when we had it on our Med cruise.

Appetiser sampler platter – smoked duck breast with pickled red onions and craisins, dill marinated shrimp with tomato-mayonnaise and horseradish, smoked salmon tartar with sour cream and cream cheese.



It’s just not very good. I quite like prawns and salmon, but I don’t know why you’d have two fish appetisers out of three, when lots of people aren’t keen. Also, how do they manage to get everything the same colour? At least the plate was nice. I’ve since seen that they’ve ditched the set appetiser and now give you a choice on this night. A much better idea!

Ollie had remembered how bad the appetiser was, and ordered the children’s appetiser. I can’t find the actual description online, but Ollie proudly named it Mickey’s Melons.



A much better choice! It also looks pretty cute.

Next was the tomato spaghetti and meatball soup – with basil, which I enjoyed. Although the spaghetti was quite tricky to eat with a spoon!



For mains, we both chose the roasted filet of beef wellington – covered with mushroom stuffing wrapped in puff pastry, served with fingerling potatoes, baby vegetables and a cabernet black truffle jus



We had beef wellington at our wedding (although not filet of beef) so it was nice to reminisce.

For dessert, Ollie had the very cherry chocolate sundae – vanilla ice cream topped with dark cherry compote, chocolate fudge sauce and whipped cream

Sorry, no photo of this one!

There weren’t as many desserts to choose from, so I asked just for some ice cream (I’m not too keen on cherries).

Ana suggested I could have a Mickey premium bar. Yes please!



Yes, I do love Mickey!

The animation show was at the end of dinner and it was fun to watch our characters on screen.





Ana also gave us the challenge of naming all the Disney films shown in the clip.

We were talking with Ana about breakfast in the morning; because the Disney buses left quite early, the second breakfast seating would be too late for us. Ana said she could accommodate us at the early seating, which was nice. Our tablemates all decided this was too early, so it would just be me and Ollie at breakfast.

With this in mind, we said goodbye to our tablemates and had a group photo with them and our servers.

After dinner, we still had to finish our packing and get our cases outside our stateroom, but we managed this quite quickly.

It was then off to shutters, to buy our formal night photo.





I think Shutters is so much better now it is all digital screens. I use to think it was such a waste when they printed all the photos out, as I’m sure most of them didn’t get bought.

We chose the download of the photo rather than a printed version, which you could do over the ship wifi. We both downloaded it to our phones.

It wouldn’t be an evening on the ship without a cocktail! We picked up two cocktails of the day from The Tube.



It was called a stingray. No idea what was in it, probably rum! The end of the adult game, ‘Seriously’ was on, so we watched and giggled a bit.

Ollie was having a bit of an issue with his foot, thinking he trod on something at Castaway Cay today. Not ideal when we would be walking a lot for the next two weeks! (This seems to be a common occurrence, having trodden on weeverfish before).

The medical centre was closed, so we went back to the room and I examined his foot. Using my expert medical opinion, I couldn’t really see anything.

Somewhere along the line we also picked up some pot stickers form the adult late night buffet!

Despite having a busy day planned tomorrow, we were trying to put off going to bed. We always do this the last night of a cruise – wandering the ship so we don’t have to go to bed. On our Med cruise we ended up going to bed at 3am!

We decided to start the mid ship detective agency and chose the Muppets. This was fun and a good way to travel round the whole ship.









However, we didn’t complete this as we got cut off at midnight! So we have no idea who the culprit was!

We did find this interactive picture, with a steering wheel to move the ship in the picture!



In the atrium, they were rehearsing one of the shows with the characters (I think the farewell show). A few people were still up and around, and a cast member said we could watch, but not to take any photos.



We found the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

[Scruffette]

A late night stroll wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the pool deck. We picked up some drinks and played a game of table football, which I lost miserably again!







We never found the time for a game of mini golf!





Eventually, we admitted defeat and headed back to the room. Ollie filled in the questionnaire, while I got ready for bed. He particularly mentioned Ana our main server and Borys our Palo server on the questionnaire. They were both great!

It was a weird feeling going to bed – we were both sad that the cruise was over, and even 7 nights doesn’t feel long enough! However, we were really excited for the rest of our trip and still had two weeks of fun ahead of us. We felt very lucky.

Day 10 - Check into Port Orleans French Quarter, Disney Springs & Magic Kingdom

[collybird]

What a shame about the weather, our Castaway Cay day was completely washed out and we weren’t even allowed off the ship.

Your snorkelling pictures are amazing, especially of the turtle.

The buffet at the adults’ beach looks amazing, a whole steak on a buffet, what a dream.

The ship sounds quite spooky late at night when most of the guests are

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by collybird

What a shame about the weather, our Castaway Cay day was completely washed out and we weren’t even allowed off the ship.

Your snorkelling pictures are amazing, especially of the turtle.

The buffet at the adults’ beach looks amazing, a whole steak on a buffet, what a dream.

The ship sounds quite spooky late at night when most of the guests are

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Such a shame about your Castaway Cay day However, the perfect excuse to book another cruise! Thanks for reading

[yellowrose78]

What a great day, Castaway cay looks beautiful. Love your atrium photo, the ship looks stunning

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by yellowrose78

What a great day, Castaway cay looks beautiful. Love your atrium photo, the ship looks stunning

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Thanks for reading