Your Favorite Time of Day for Castaway Cay?

[Anchors Away 2016]

To answer the original question, my favorite time on CC is in the last two hours before sail away. Most of the crowds are back on the ship. Discarded rental tubes are plentiful. The lines at the slides have diminished, as has demand for the lounge chairs, and the sun is not as hot/bright. We found it to be a very leisurely time. Having said that, I will say that we spend most all of the day there as we do enjoy all of the times, but the late day is our favorite.

As for crowds, I would like to make one distinction. When we were there with our family on the Fantasy last summer, "chairs" were plentiful and you could drag as many as you wanted wherever you wished (though they are a bit heavy/clumsy). "Loungers" were quickly filled up with towels and beach bags and we couldn't find one (let alone four) until much later in the afternoon. We were fine with the chairs and even managed to find some palm tree shade to bring them to (although this too was in short supply), but if a person wants a lounge chair, or one for each family member, they may find that difficult for much of the day. I know some people report no trouble finding open lounge chairs. That was not our experience.

 

[GPaLarry]

We have been there four times with no problems. Our grandkids are sand rats, so for them, playing in the sand and making castles and trenches is great fun. Leaving the ship fairly early means we get can get lounge chairs together. Never had a long line to eat, shop, etc. We did the bike rental, stingray adventure and, my favorite, snorkeling without a hassle...sunken mice are way, way out there but fun to find and photograph. Only problem with CC, the post office was closed three of the four times we were there. I guess they run on island time. Give your mail to guest services on the ship and they will take care of it.
CC is an option, like any port. If you want to stay on the ship, help yourself...it's your vacation.

 

[mrswillson]

All day! My husband and I LOVE Castaway and honestly both wish we docked there for the entirety of our cruise. First off, last on!

We have never struggled to find open chairs, and due to the size of the island and variety of beaches, it has never felt "crowded". On the flip side however, as lunch locations are scarce, eating is best done at an off-time (1:30-2:00 pm) as that is the one time when everyone converges together and it can get a bit busy.

 

[xQuizx]

We like to have breakfast on the ship and then head off to the beach in the morning. We have been on the Dream twice and the Fantasy once just a few weeks ago and were able to find loungers and umbrellas. Although on our last cruise we rarely used the loungers and just brought the chair to the water so we could play with the kids.

We like to have lunch and then hang out on the beach for another hour or so. We headed to the BBQ place at 12:30 and didn't find long lines. The trick is there are multiple serving stations. There are a couple at the front and also on the sides, so I normally go to the side to get my food.

We leave for the boat around 3 so we can pick up while the kids hang out at the club.

My only gripe on the 7 night Fantasy is I wish the following day was a sea day, to bask after a day at Castaway Cay. I enjoyed that on a 4 night dream cruise.

Cheers!

 

[dcassetta]

I like to get off the ship as soon as they announce that you can, head over to Serenity and stake out my favorite lounger. When the lifeguards start lowering the umbrellas, that means it's time to go back to the ship.

 

[xiphoid76]

We love being the last people on the island - we go off around 2 hours before sail away and have an empty beach and so much fun walking around. The lunch is closed but you can still get fountain soda and watch the staff work their magic putting everything away.

 

[scgustafson]

What part of the day do you prefer to spend on Castaway Cay, and why? We're going in 2 weeks and I'm trying to decide how to structure our day.

You left out my choice which is to book an itinerary without Castaway Cay, as it is overrated. If we do happen to go to Castaway Cay, we stay onboard and enjoy all of the amenities of the empty ship.

 

[dcassetta]

You left out my choice which is to book an itinerary without Castaway Cay, as it is overrated. If we do happen to go to Castaway Cay, we stay onboard and enjoy all of the amenities of the empty ship.

You know, all those starboard side verandahs are viewable from the family beach!

 

[Shanti]

You left out my choice which is to book an itinerary without Castaway Cay, as it is overrated. If we do happen to go to Castaway Cay, we stay onboard and enjoy all of the amenities of the empty ship.

I actually didn't leave anything out. I was only asking for people's favorite times of day at Castaway Cay. People who don't like it at all have no constructive response to make that relates to my question.

 

[scgustafson]

You know, all those starboard side verandahs are viewable from the family beach!

Maybe I was talking about the AquaDuck club?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We have never felt that Castaway was too crowded and anyone who reads these boards regularly knows I am plenty critical of DCL. Lol. But Castaway is something they get right (ok, except for getting rid of the crab races). We have on occasion noticed some longer lines at Pelican Plunge around 2pm but we usually just pop back in a half hour and the rush is usually gone. When I say longer lines I am estimating in the 30 min wait range at most.

 

[Main Street Matilda]

This thread has me curious because although CC was busy, it wasn't crowded enough that I thought it overcrowded or uncomfortable. We were aboard the Fantasy so we weren't on one of the smaller ships. We got off the ship early, around 10:30 I believe, and easily found 3 chairs in a row. The BBQ was a bit hectic but the wait was reasonable and the line moved fairly fast. When we went back for seconds a little later, there was no line.

I hate crowds and would have noticed if I felt like CC was overcrowded. I hope nothing has changed. We are taking another cruise in May 2018 and are really looking forward to our CC day.