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The following trip report is from my family’s 5 night Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic. We visited Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay on this Very Merrytime itinerary.
The details below are from Day 5 of our trip, which was a day spent at the AMAZING Castaway Cay. If you are looking for the beginning of this Disney Cruise Line review, you can find Day 1 at this link:
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Personal Navigator- Day 5
I grabbed a paper copy of the personal navigator from Guest Services on Day 5 of our trip. You can see photos of the daily navigator below.
The Disney Cruise Line Navigator App also provides this information while you are onboard the ship.
Disney Cruise to the Bahamas
On Day 5, we woke up to gorgeous weather outside. We had really lucked out this entire trip! Alhough it was December, the weather had consistently been sunny and in the 80’s. Even the mornings were really pleasant.
The four of us walked up to Cabanas for the breakfast buffet. We grabbed a table and enjoyed our food with a great view of the island! Then we headed back down to our stateroom to change into swimsuits for the beach.
Once we had all changed and applied sunscreen, we made our way to Deck 1 to disembark the Disney Magic cruise ship. Since we had the stroller with us, we had to take the elevator down. It was around 9:00 at this time, and it wasn’t busy at all.
After you swipe your Key to the World Card and walk off the ship, you can easily grab beach towels from one of the stands pictured above.
Beach at Castaway Cay
Even though there is a tram available to shuttle you from the ship to the beach, we enjoy walking along the pathway. It only takes about 10-15 minutes to reach the beach, and you can get some really great pictures along the way.
The beach wasn’t busy at all when we arrived, so we grabbed an available set of chairs to put down our beach items. The island provides both long loungers and short beach chairs like in the photo below.
We like to move the shorter chairs to the shoreline. This allows my husband and I to sit comfortably while our two kids play in the sand. The water and sand had a lot more shells and rocks than the last time we had visited, so you may want to pack water shoes to protect your feet.
The water was crystal clear and pretty warm for December. My kids played in the sand with the toys they had brought. At one point they asked for a bucket to make sand castles. My husband walked over to one of the shops on the island and found a bucket with a shovel for $8.
We ended up just throwing this pail away at the end of our trip because we didn’t have space in our suitcases to pack it. Next time, I will pack the buckets that collapse and don’t take up much space in your luggage.
You can find the collapsible sand pails I ordered here! (Amazon Associate Link)
We let our girls play on the beach for a couple hours. At one point my six year old decided she wanted to try the climbing feature in the swimming lagoon. My husband took her to grab a swim vest from one of the nearby stands, and the two of them spent some time in that area for a while.
He had to watch her from the water as he wasn’t allowed to climb on it with her. A quick tip for visiting Castaway Cay- this area of the beach was not busy at all and would be a great place to sit with your family!
Pelican Plunge
Around 11:30, we grabbed all of our things and strolled over to Cookie’s BBQ for lunch. It had just opened and wasn’t busy at all. The four of us went through the line and found a picnic table in the pavilion. Our food was good, and the kids even got ice cream for dessert.
We walked around the island for a bit after lunch. Then my six year old decided to try the water slides at Pelican Plunge. My husband went with her while I watched from a little observation deck. The lines for the slides weren’t long at all, and both of them said they were a ton of fun!
Splash Pad
Castaway Cay has a water play area called Spring-a-Leak that’s a great place for toddlers and little kids to play. It is located right beside the bike rentals and offers a shaded area with benches for parents to sit.
I took my toddler to this splash zone to play while her big sister had fun at Pelican Plunge. My one year old loved this little area.
When they finished sliding at Pelican Plunge, my husband and older daughter walked over to Spring-a-Leak to meet us. I wanted our toddler to take a nap, and my six year old wanted to swim in the pools on board the ship one last time.
So, we headed back to the Disney Magic. One of the good things about going back to the ship early is that the pool deck isn’t busy at all!
Buena Vista Theater
Frozen II was scheduled to play in the Buena Vista Theater that afternoon. My six year old had been begging to see it again, so I took her to the movie while my husband stayed with our toddler as she napped.
You can pick up popcorn right outside the doors to the theater. Buena Vista Theater wasn’t crowded at all, and we both really enjoyed the movie!
Disney Cruise Line Tips
When the movie ended, it was close to dinner time. We went back to the stateroom to organize our tipping envelopes that our stateroom host had left. The gratuities are automatically disbursed to your account, but you can change them if you would like.
You just tear off each ticket and put it in its corresponding envelope. Our Concierge Team was not included in this, so I tipped them separately.
Lumiere’s Dining Room
Our toddler had not taken the best nap and she had decided that she was over this vacation. Needless to say, her behavior by dinner time was not spectacular.
I decided to take her to the pool deck for dinner instead of to the main dining room. I knew there was no way she would behave for a sit down meal.
My husband and six year old went to Lumiere’s to eat and thank our serving team one last time. They also gave the servers their tip envelopes.
I grabbed pizza on the pool deck and sat in a lounger by the pool with our one year old. The movie Coco was playing on Funnel Vision, and my toddler had the best time watching it while eating cheese pizza.
Luggage Tags
After dinner, our toddler was completely wiped out. I took her back to the stateroom to go to bed so that I could pack. My husband and I wanted Disney Cruise Line to handle our luggage, so we were supposed to have it in the hall outside our room by 10:00 that night.
It was not smart of me to wait until the last minute to pack everything, and I had to rush to fit everything in our luggage. So, I recommend starting the process much earlier than I did. Luckily, I finished packing and had the bags outside the door on time.
I made sure to leave out certain items that we would need that night and the next day:
- backpack
- diapers/wipes
- hair brush and accessories
- pajamas
- clothes for debarkation day
- shoes for debarkation day
- toiletries
- ID and Key to the World cards
As I was packing up the room, my husband took our six year old to watch the nightly live entertainment in the Walt Disney Theater. The show on Day 5 was Disney Dreams, and they both said they really enjoyed it.
Final Review of Our 5 Night Cruise
Although cruising with a toddler isn’t the most stress free experience, we all truly had a great time. Even though I didn’t get to enjoy the nightly shows as much as I would have liked, it was also enjoyable to relax in our stateroom each evening after a full day of activities.
Did you enjoy this Disney Cruise Line review?
Comment below with any questions or tips you have!
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