Friday January 20th - Castaway Cay day!
So here it was, our last full day of vacation
But it was our FIRST visit to Castaway Cay, woohoo!!
Woke up around 7:30am and I could still feel us moving so obviously we were not docked yet. I think all ashore was supposed to be at 9:30am? Anyway, I looked out the sliding door and yep, there was ocean! DH was awake but the girls were still sleeping so I threw on a bra lol and went out on the verandah to see how far we were from CC. It was still a speck in the distance at that point but lots of people were already out on their verandah's . Stayed out there for a bit, went inside for a quick shower then came out again and we were much closer. DH came out for a gander as well, got a bit bored and went back inside
Weirdo
Now, when I booked us into 5650 (remember I had moved our stateroom at least 3 or 4 times before taking this cruise) I hadn't thought about it being Starboard side but we were so that mean an excellent view of CC!
Eventually the girls awoke, DD8 came outside to look at CC then promptly went back in lol Everyone got dressed and we headed up to Cabana's for breakfast. Our plan was to have a good breakfast and wait about 20-30 minutes after the ship had been cleared to get off so we weren't with a huge hoard of people. This turned out to be a mistake
We saw our friends P and R so they sat next to us for breakfast. We made plans to meet up on CC as they already had of all their stuff with them and were getting off right away. So after breakfast we went back to the cabin and grabbed all our stuff and headed off the ship. Yep, no crowds. Awesome.
A tram came right away and we all got seats. Fabulous start! DH had been studying the map and thought we should get off at the second stop. I had no qualms either way (we had decided not to put the girls into Scuttles Cove, at least not right away. Figured maybe later in the afternoon we would put them in there for a bit).
So we got off at the second tram start and started looking for chairs.
And we looked.
And looked.
AND LOOKED.
Forget about finding 4 chairs. We couldn't find ONE!!!!
You know how far we got before we found ONE empty chair? THE END of the family beach.
ONE lousy chair.
Dude we were NOT impressed. But fine....whatever.....it's an island in the Bahama's, we've got towels, the sand is nice and soft. So we hogged the one chair (which was under a palm tree so yay for shade) Put two more towels down, opting to keep two clean for us to dry off. Then the girls and I hit the water while dh perused the map of the island a bit more, deciding if he wanted to snorkel or not.
The air temperature was not super hot, maybe 75F? And the water temperature was a bit chilly
Dang, not a great start to our first CC experience.
But hey, here's some lovely photos at least
The girls and I grabbed a free inner tube
Looking back I wish DH and I had gone parasailing at CC. Something to think about for next time
Anyway, DH joined us in the water and he also agreed it was rather chilly (but you see how many people were in the water!) so he opted not to snorkel
So basically we spent most of our time wading around in the water, playing with the girls and such. P and her daughter L found us so we chatted for quite a while as the girls played together. Eventually we got out of the water and watched the kids play. DH went to the nearest bar (which was about 10 feet from our chair haha, so in that respects it was a good location!) grabbed us a yummy alcoholic beverage each and a drink for the girls to share.
It was even more crowded by this point and people we encroaching on our tiny space. Ugh. We were really not super pleased with our CC day at this point.
So around 12:15/12:30 we packed up and went in search of lunch, planning to return to the ship after lunch. Yes I know....we didn't really give CC a chance but to be honest, we were quite bummed at this point.
Our serving team had advised us that CookiesI was a better place to eat than Cookies II (I think that is right?) anyway we walked further down to Cookies II and yes, besides the assorted burgers and hot dogs, they had ribs and bbq chicken and the like. Lunch was really quite good, we were really impressed. Guess there's hope for CC after all
After lunch we all got some ice cream and then perused some of the vendors there.
And found Mt Rustmore!
Along the way to the first tram stop we saw a LOT of empty chairs. Dang it. So either (a) we should have gotten off at the first tram stop or (b) we should have left the ship even later!
In hindsight, next time we will get off the ship first thing and we will get off at the first tram stop (or walk it!)
So we got back on the tram and saw this beauty waiting for us.
We had hoped to finally catch Moana as all the other show times during the week had been in conflict with something else. But alas, we arrived back on the ship about 15 minutes after the movie had already started. Never mind, we eventually saw it at home about 2 weeks later
So we dumped our stuff in the cabin and then hit the pool deck. Which was EMPTY!!! Well there you go....silver lining of a less than stellar CC day meant an empty pool deck. And finally riding the Aqua Duck
Which we did....many times over!
Many ice creams were consumed. Possibly several beverages as well
Some more food was procured. The pool deck started getting a bit busier after 3pm. We pulled out of CC during one of the many aqua duck rides (where the wait went from 30 seconds to about 15 minutes
). Nothing beats hearing those lovely horns as you pull away from the gorgeous island!
Anyway, up next: our final meal. But wait, what about the rainforest room? Did we see the final show in the theatre? And what about the final show in the atrium? Lots more coming up!
)
Yeah, I'm classy like that.
