This guest trip report was written by Rachel, whose family sailed concierge on back-to-back sailings on the Disney Magic – first a 5 night Marvel Day at Sea, followed by a 4 night Bahamian itinerary. You can start the trip report from the beginning here.
Day 2
Our second day was a port day at Castaway Cay. I was up early enough to watch us pull in that morning. The weather was absolutely beautiful!
I cannot resist taking 500 photos of the ship on Castaway Cay.
We always take the walking path to the beaches (instead of the tram) for a couple of reasons: 1) there are characters that are out along the way and if you’re in the tram, you can’t stop or get close to take a photo and 2) there are several ship (Shutters) photographers out at several vantage points taking photos – we stopped at several.
We got off the ship around 9am this time, which is normal for us. We like to enjoy the island for as long as possible and the first couple of hours in the morning are particularly great since not everyone gets off as early as we do. Many things are not busy and there are plenty of chairs to grab on the beach – you’d have your pick! We had a cabana for the day, so that was our first stop – the cabana check-in hut, which is near the second tram stop. After you check in, they take you in a golf cart right up to the door of your cabana.
We had cabana #8 for the first time (full review and more photos here) and it had a stunning view of the beach, ocean, and ship!
We always ask the cabana attendant (this time it was one of our concierge hosts) to take a photo of all of us when they’re done giving the “tour” of the cabana and amenities.
My family began relaxing immediately with my husband and youngest taking over the hammock and my oldest grabbing a beach lounger. The beach is beautiful right here, but deceptively rocky once you enter the water.
My boys got the floats out and hung out in the water for a little while before our friends showed up. The water was a little chilly for me!
One of the great things about the cabana beach is that it is much less crowded than the family beach – even on a half capacity cruise. There were only a handful of kids in the water on our beach.
Around 10:30 our friends showed up and all the boys got right to work playing. The adults ordered some drinks from the bar attendants that passed by.
At some point the kids decided they wanted to go snorkel in the snorkeling area so we stopped by Flippers & Floats to get some gear. They require you to wear a floatation device (yellow vest) if you are going to snorkel. We brought our own masks, but not fins. All snorkeling equipment is included in the price of the cabana.
Here is a look at the snorkeling area and beach from the deck of the Heads Up bar. It provided a good vantage point for keeping an eye on our snorkelers. There are also many life guards stationed in the water in that area.
Our crew worked up an appetite snorkeling so we went straight to lunch at Cookies Too since it’s the closest Cookies to our cabana. We were still not allowed to serve ourselves at the buffet or the ice cream machines, but at the drink and condiment stations we could.
After lunch, the boys all went to Pelican Point to do the slides. With fewer people on the island (due to not being at capacity on the ship), the lines were very manageable and the boys got to go down the slides as much as they wanted – until they were just tired!
Back at our cabana, the beach was even more empty! Folks were still getting lunch and some actually head back to the ship in the afternoon.
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and hanging/playing on the beach. About 4pm our crew packed up and called for a golf cart to take them to the nearest tram stop. My friend and I hung back with our cameras and decided to make the walk all the way back to the ship. As in the morning, the island is nearly empty by this time and I love enjoying the walk back to the ship. It’s very quiet and I also love photographing things. We took our time and let all of our boys get a head start on showering! All the following photos were taken on our walk back:
Back on the ship we all got ready for dinner and watched the ship pull away from Castaway Cay from our balcony.
We were ready early so we caught Goofy dressed in his finest in the atrium. This night was “optional dress up” instead of a formal night, but the characters were dressed up. We also looked around on deck 4 before heading in to eat. This is a great time to be on deck 4 – it’s generally quiet and the lighting is great for photos.
Our dinner was in Animator’s Palate that night – a favorite because of the unique entertainment! We got right to work on our drawings.
My favorite dish in Animator’s Palate is actually an appetizer – the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes. I ordered a double portion because I love it so much.
I also usually order the cookie sundae for dessert as well! I didn’t take any photos of the animation show that night – where they use your drawings and animate them. I actually watched the whole thing this time!
After dinner we saw some princesses on the stairs in the atrium. The show that night was a replay of the Tangled musical we had seen the night before so we skipped the show and hung out in our rooms together. My friend and I went to an adults-only trivial game in one of the pubs.
Our towel animal was waiting for us back in the room. It looks like a bunny to me. My kids left it in tact for me to photograph, but one of the chocolates was already missing! I don’t blame them – they were very good.
We watched a movie in our room before heading to bed. We were SO looking forward to the next day – our Marvel Day at Sea!
Up Next: Day 3 – Marvel Day at Sea
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