Castaway Cay Guide & Tips
Castaway Cay is Disney Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas, and is a common port of call for virtually all DCL Caribbean-bound itineraries. This guide provides info & tips for visiting, including things to do, planning advice, and how to make the most of your day. (Updated December 27, 2019.)
For starters, Castaway Cay is a 3-mile long, 1000-acre island used exclusively by Disney Cruise Line guests and Crew Members. DCL’s ships dock right on the island, making for an easy on-off experience. We’ve done several cruises to the Bahamas, and Castaway Cay is our favorite stop–it’s actually the main reason why we keep doing these itineraries!
You’ll want to take your Key to the World card and an ID with you when you exit the ship. In addition to that, we recommend packing a small day bag without any valuables in it to ‘guard’ your beach chairs is a good idea–but you could.
As soon as you get off the ship, pick up towels, and pass by the old gas station and post office (make sure to send something from here–they have a special Disney postmark) as you head towards the trams to get to the Family Beach and Serenity Bay, the adult-only beach. Alternatively, you can take the walking trail to fully explore Castaway Cay, which has its own touches of Disney details.
We’ll start our guide with how to explore the island to see these details!
Exploring the Island
There are a couple of trams on the island, but one of our biggest pieces of advice for Castaway Cay is to not over-rely on these trams. Castaway Cay is not just a private island, it’s Disney’s private island. This means that it’s themed!
Some of my best memories of the island are just its sense of place that I soaked up as I wandered around and explored the environments. It’s not as heavy on Imagineering as Typhoon Lagoon, likely because Disney wanted to strike a balance in making it appeal to Disney fans and ‘serious’ cruisers, but there is a ton to see, and plenty of Easter eggs.
We recommend walking to Serenity Bay and taking the shuttle back at some point during your day at Castaway Cay, even if you don’t plan on enjoying the adult beach. This is because you’ll the Imagineered-highlights all the way there, and then get to see additional details on the ride back over the runway. The walk really isn’t that bad, and can actually be faster than the trams.
Like so many things Disney, there is a convoluted backstory to go along with Castaway Cay, some of which you can pick up on as you wander the island, looking at signs and other little clues. However, it’s not possible to grasp the whole backstory from what you see alone. We recommend reading the full backstory ahead of time–or even taking it with you. I’ll give you context to some of what you see, and make the experience more enjoyable.
As for the real life backstory of Castaway Cay? It was previously known as Gorda Cay and was literally overtaken by an American businessman named Frank Barber used the on the airstrip as a hub for smuggling drugs into the United States, before ultimately being arrested. If you ask, some Crew Members will give you this real backstory to the island, although it is not the Disney-approved backstory, for obvious reasons.
If you ask me, Disney should just sanitize the real backstory a bit and have Castaway Cay tell the story of rum-running in the Caribbean. The Pirates of the Caribbean films have certainly opened that door, and a rum-running backstory would make more sense on the context of the island and would be easier for guests to grasp.
Beaches
Castaway Cay Family Beach is the main beach on the island, and as the name implies, is for everyone. This beach is sort of like multiple beaches connected into one, and it’s the area that is closest to the ship. It’s also where almost all of the beach activities are located–we will cover these in ‘Things to Do’ below.
This combination of proximity to the ship and things to do is a dangerous mix, which results in this beach being by far the most popular. If you plan on spending all day at the Family Beach, arrive early and stake claim to your spot. Your swords from Pirate Night will come in handy as you defend your spots from other guests attempting to pillage and plunder.
If you don’t plan on doing the Family Beach all day, our recommendation is to get here early or late. We noticed that it was least busy and most pristine first thing in the morning, so if you plan on doing any activity, early in the morning is the best time for that. If you just want to enjoy the beach, the last hour or so on Castaway Cay is the best time to go.
Guests tend not to want to be stranded on the island, and overcompensate for the fear that this will happen by leaving the beach about 1-2 hours before the ship leaves. The ship will not leave you behind, and unless you’re hiding in some bushes, you couldn’t get accidentally left behind if you want since Crew Members “sweep” the island to clear it of guests. Stay until the last 15 minutes to enjoy Castaway Cay almost all to yourselves!
The teen area is for…you guessed it…teens! We thought about pulling a 21 Jump Street and trying to infiltrate their beach, but I don’t have quite the boyish good looks of Jonah Hill, so we aborted this mission. Basically, it’s a bunch of athletic activities like volleyball and tetherball. Actually, we’re pretty sure the games and activities here are open to guests of all ages, despite this being called the teen beach. You can leave your disguises at home.
Serenity Bay is the adults-only beach, and is most distant beach on the island. As compared to the other beaches, it is much, much quieter. Serenity Bay is a great place to kick back and just relax in paradise. It’s perfect for that. If you want to actually do something, though, Serenity Bay is your worst option on the island. Beyond simply relaxing, eating, and a limited set of activities like massages and cabana rental, there is not much substance to Serenity Bay.
However, I don’t like spending a whole day just lying on a beach chair, so my recommendation would be spending the middle portion of your day at Serenity Bay, and spending your morning and afternoon elsewhere. Consider making an effort to doing the hours around lunch at Serenity Bay, so you can avoid the large crowds elsewhere, but doing something else before and after that.
The reasons for this are so you can avoid the crowds elsewhere during the busiest parts of the day, but still be able to enjoy the fun activities elsewhere on Castaway Cay. Of course, this is a your mileage may vary type thing. If you have kids, you won’t be doing Serenity Bay at all. Conversely, if you have no interest in actual activities and just want to relax on the beach reading, Serenity Bay could be an all-day activity for you.
Dining
There are three BBQ locations on Castaway Cay that are included in the cost of the cruise, just like dining aboard the cruise ship. Cookie’s BBQ is located on the near side of the family beach, Cookie’s Too is located on the far side of the family beach, and Serenity Bay BBQ is the adult beach option.
Each of these locations serves almost exactly the same items, namely BBQ, including ribs, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, fish, salads, corn on the cob, fresh fruit, and self-serve soft serve. Our server at Palo recommended always checking out the Serenity Bay BBQ, if possible, because sometimes they have a slightly better menu if the ship has a surplus of certain items. The main difference is that Serenity Bay BBQ has ribeye when the other locations do not.
Another option is to go back aboard the cruise ship, and have lunch in one of the regular dining rooms. Some people prefer this for greater variety and a chance to regroup, but we think time on Castaway Cay is already too limited, so we do not recommend this, nor would we do it. Plus, we thought the BBQ at Castaway Cay was pretty good and offered something for everyone.
There are also four bars located around the island, each of which have drinks available for purchase. There are signature mixed drinks available, the most popular of which is the Konk Kooler (a blend of rums and tropical fruit juices) and you can also purchase special ‘beach bottles’ of beer. Prices actually are not that bad, at around $5.50 per drink not in a souvenir mug.
Things to Do
Most of the things to do are located around the Family Beach. Pelican Plunge is the floating water slide and play platform located in the ocean, which has two water slides, a giant “bucket dump” of water, and water cannons that you can use to shoot targets. Minimum height for the Pelican Plunge water slides is 38″ and anyone under 48″ must wear one of the provided life vests. Note that the floating platform is out in the ocean, and requires being able to swim to access (I could not touch the ocean floor out by the platform).
Also near the Family Beach is the Spring-a-Leak water play area for kids. Basically, water sprays everywhere from broken pipes and things on a splash pad that young children can enjoy. Scuttle’s Cove is another area for kids, which offers youth activities that are supervised by Disney counselors from the ship. We don’t have kids, so I’m not entirely sure of all the activities offered here, but it looked there was basically a whale bone play area, and some organized activities for kids that don’t go in the ocean. Anyone else know what other activities are offered at Scuttle’s Cove?
There are a couple of game pavilions near the Family Beach, that offer a variety of different sand and shaded games like volleyball, tetherball, foosball, ping-pong, pool, shuffleboard, basketball, and golf wiffleball. There is no additional charge for any of these games.
Another option is the Castaway Cay 5k. This is a great way to get off the ship early and see the island quickly. It’s fun and not too challenging–depending upon the weather outside. I’ve done the Castaway Cay 5k once…which was good enough for me. I got the medal, saw the course, and that’s enough. From here on out, stuffing myself on soft-serve ice cream and other all-you-can-eat snacks takes priority. Give it a try if you like running more than you like ice cream. We regret nothing! 😉
Character meet and greet opportunities are available throughout the island, and we found these meet and greets to be the best chances to meet characters on Disney Cruise Line. This is mostly because the natural, outdoor lighting is superior to the lighting on the ships, and because the backdrops are gorgeous.
We have been lucky to find very short waits (a couple minutes or so) for the characters first thing in the morning, and in out of the way places. Captain Jack Sparrow at Serenity Bay is also a neat experience, and is like a scene straight out of the movie!
Those are about the extent of the no-added cost activities on Castaway Cay. Everything else requires a rental and an additional fee. “Marge’s Barges & Sea Charter Dock” is the place to go for boat rentals, and you can here for a wide variety of boat rentals. Options include a glass-bottom boat, a power catamaran, parasailing, Hobie Cats, fishing tours, and more. Exact pricing is listed on the ship or at the island.
At Gil’s Fins and Boats and Flippers & Floats, you can rent snorkel equipment to use in the Snorkeling Lagoon, plus other smaller-scale aquatic rentals like inner tubes, paddleboats, and kayaks. Our recommendation is the 3-in-1 Castaway Cay Getaway Package, which provides snorkel equipment for the day, an inner tube for the day, and bicycle rental for one hour.
This 3-in-1 package bring us to perhaps the most interesting aspects of Castaway Cay: the Snorkeling Lagoon and trails. Although technically the Snorkeling Lagoon is free, it’s most likely going to cost money for the equipment rental. We brought our own fins and masks, and were made to get vests, which we were not charged for.
The Snorkeling Lagoon is pretty fun, large, offers a variety of fish to see with plenty of visibility, and has some cool hidden Disney “stuff.” Bike rental provides a way to see other areas of the island via a series of trails that cut through some of the more undeveloped areas. Even though Castaway Cay is an 1,000-acre island, only around 10% of it has been developed. In some of these areas, there isn’t a whole lot to see, but they’re worth exploring if you like nature.
Castaway Ray’s Stingray Adventure is another popular option, which provides the opportunity to snorkel with some 40 stingrays that are in the water off the island. There is an additional charge for this experience, but stingray encounters are always fun. Sarah compared this to “a light version” of Stingray City in the Cayman Islands.
If you don’t want to spend any money, simply wandering around the developed areas of Castaway Cay, looking at the Imagineered details and posing with the photo ops is a lot of fun.
During November and December, Castaway Cay gets decked out for the holidays. This is one of the highlights of DCL’s Very Merrytime Christmas Cruises, with the large Christmas tree and “sandmen” around it being really cool.
You’ll find other Christmas decorations around Castaway Cay, mostly consisting of garland and other decor in the areas closest to the ship. There’s also beach-inspired holiday music and other little touches. All of these Christmas touches on Castaway Cay are arguably better than what you’ll see aboard the Disney Cruise Line ships!
Shopping
There are a variety of shopping options on Castaway Cay…which should surprise no one, since it’s a Disney island! There are two primary spots to buy things on the island: “She Sells Sea Shells…and Everything Else” and “Buy the Sea Shore,” with the former being the larger of the two venues having slightly more variety.
In terms of souvenirs, if you want something to remember your visit to Castaway Cay by, you’re pretty much stuck buying something here at the typical souvenir prices. Castaway Cay logo items are only available on Castaway Cay, and cannot be purchased on the ship. We found the selection to be fairly good for Castaway Cay logo items, with some neat items and a good mix of classic and ‘trendy beach’ designs.
The supplies are a different story. Pack wisely so you don’t have to purchase items here. Things such as sunscreen, disposable underwater cameras, and beach toys are all for sale here, and the prices are around triple what you might expect to pay for the same things in the real world.
What to Pack
There are a few things you’ll want to bring to Castaway Cay that you might not otherwise consider. First, quality water shoes. You’ll want these because the paved walkways and even that white sand can get hot, plus there are crushed up seashells and other things that can cut your feet in it. Second, beach bug repellant.
Castaway Cay is mostly an unimproved island, and depending upon the time of year you visit, the sandflies (or “no-see-ums”) can be really bad. On our first visit in early February, these bugs made Serenity Bay virtually intolerable. Bugs aren’t always an issue, but it’s better to be safe than sorry…and not get eaten alive.
You’ll want to take an underwater camera. There is a lot to see and photograph underwater (including Hidden Mickeys!), so we think it’s a good idea to pack an underwater camera. Nowadays you can pick up a decent digital underwater camera for less than $100, making it really foolish to waste money on a disposable one on Castaway Cay.
We just mentioned those Hidden Mickeys underwater, well, those aren’t the only Hidden Mickeys on Castaway Cay. Since the island is Imagineering-designed and themed, taking the Hidden Mickeys Go to Sea book for Hidden Mickey hunting can make for a fun activity while on Castaway Cay!
Two ‘depending upon the circumstances’ type things you should bring are your own snorkel set and fins, and beach toys. Other items are more common-sense based: sunscreen, hats, and other beach-ware. You might also want to check out our Unique Disney Packing List, but those items are mostly geared towards the cruise itself and not Castaway Cay.
That covers it for our coverage of Castaway Cay! Planning to set sail aboard one of the Disney Cruise Line ships? Read our comprehensive Disney Cruise Line Guide to prepare for your trip, plan entertainment and other activities, and learn what to expect from your Disney cruise! For some quick, must-know things, read our Top 10 First Time Disney Cruise Line Tips.
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Your Thoughts
Do you have any tips to add for enjoying Disney Cruise Line’s Castaway Cay? Any favorite excursions or things you think are a good value? Drink recommendations? Any other secrets to share or questions? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please leave a comment below!
Can children under 5 do the snorkleing or the sting ray adventure? My son is 4 🙁
What was the outcome for your 4 year old? We are going in September and my little guy will be 5 two weeks after. Curious if they let your child do the stingray adventure.
I am curios too – we are about to leave on our cruise and my daughter is 4.
Thanks for all your info! Great review! If we bring our own snorkeling gear can we get into the stingray bay for free? What areas can you snorkel in for free? and what is the earliest you can get off the boat?
Thanks!
Everywhere else is free, but not the Stingray Bay.
Question–for the snorkeling, what are the differences between the paid excursions versus just going out in the water in Serenity Bay and snorkeling? Do you have to pay for the extra excursion to snorkel, and is it worth it?
Thanks!
Howdy Y’all –
I am bringing my very fair skinned father on the cruise – will there be enough shaded areas when we are in port in Nassau and Castaway Cay? Or will he have to stay on the boat? When the boat is in Port, are most of the amenities shut down?
THANK YOU!!!
There’s shade in both locations, but some exposure to the sun is unavoidable. If you do want to stay on the ship, you won’t have an issue–and there will still be plenty to do on it. Have fun!
Thanks so much for the info! We’ve been tossing around back and forth on weather we even wanted to do a cruise at all and this review just might have tipped the scales to a yes. Now the question is when is the best time to go?
Thank you SO MUCH for this in-depth review and great advice. We are going to CC for the first time next spring and I’ve been searching for info. This was PERFECT and thorough as usual. It was just what I needed. Thank you!
Hi Tom
Thanks for this review of Castaway Cay. My husband and I are off on a Fantasy Eastern Caribbean 7 night cruise next Feb (coincidentally, I love coming on your website as it seems you do lots of things for the first time just before we do and I benefit from your expertise!. I wanted to ask, you mention you were on a Caribbean cruise in February. Could you give me an idea of what we can expect weather wise? I know February is technically still winter in the northern hemisphere (we are escaping some of the hottest weather here in Australia by going away in Feb) but i’ve been unable to find any real information on weather in the Caribbean as a whole at that time of year. What was your experience? Was it cold, hot, somewhere in between? Did it rain alot? I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.
Just got back from CC. My wife, four kids, and I really enjoyed it. My 12 and 10 year old daughters and I thoroughly enjoyed the snorkeling. We had debated doing it, but after lunch decided I it. The best money we spent. I spoke to several people who felt like it wasn’t worth it because they didn’t see much, however come to find out that they weren’t swimming out beyond the first life guard. You have to swim out to the farthest parts. We saw tons of fishes, a barracuda, stingrays, and a sea turtle. We snorkels until they literally told us we had to get out and get to the boat. There was no one else in the water or on the beach.
Its a very informative tips. So nice post. The pictures are really very beautiful and awesome. It looks good. Thank you so much for sharing.
Nice summary, I would only emphasize looking for details there. They don’t have windows like at the parks, but there are several tributes to imagineers and others scattered around.the water was chilly while we were there in January, we tolerated it for the stingray experience, but couldn’t bring ourselves to go see the underwater stuff. I was bummed, but got over it.
Here is a link to my music video from our cruise, with emphasis on Castaway Cay.
http://youtu.be/VkY9axm51as
Enjoy!
Dave
Thanks for the article. My partner and I are tossing up between Eastern and Western for September 2015. At least both include Castaway Cay!
Great tips thank you. My fiancé (well husband by then) and I are going on the Western Caribbean cruise in September next year and I am so thankful for all your amazing tips (this one and all your other blog posts too). It’s going to be our third trip from the UK to WDW and I can honestly say your tips are going to help it be the bet vacation yet. Thank you again, it’s lovely to see other “grown ups” with a true adoration of the house of mouse.
“If you have kids, you won’t be doing Castaway Cay at all.”
I am assuming this is a typo and you intended to write Serenity Bay instead of CC. Because if not, this could not possibly be more wrong.
Dang, two typos pointed out in the first 10 comments. I guess the proofreading monkeys I have on the staff got drunk on the job again! (Oh yes, this blog’s staff is composed entirely of monkeys. That should explain a lot!)
“It was the best of times, it was the blorst of times?!! “
The last time we were at Serenity Bay, Capt Jack Sparrow just came walking up the beach like he’d just washed ashore. Since we were almost as far from the ship as you could get and he was walking back toward the ship, we have no idea where he materialized from, but he was a Johnny Depp deadringer and we had him all to ourselves!
Same thing happened to us at Serenity Bay with his approach. There was a group of young females who were quite…ahem…”enamored” with him and spent a lot of time taking photos.
We did the 5K and really loved it! We received the plastic medals but it’s important to note that they’re not guaranteed. I know I would be disappointed not to get one but it has happened. It was also VERY hot when we ran it so stay hydrated, of course!
Love Castaway Cay! The 5K is so much fun. Each participant gets a little winner metal at the end for completing and it’s free to do! You also don’t have to run the entire 5K. Many people jogged, jogged/walked, or just walked. I even saw one gentleman walking and stopping to take photographs with his SLR camera!
The character meet and greets are the best at castaway cay. We were just sitting on Serenity Bay and Goofy walked up to us for photos. Just made the day more special.
I figured it was like a typical runDisney event in terms of not actually having to run. I’ll definitely do it next time. 5K is really pretty easy, even if the weather is hot.
Where do you sign up for the 5k? It sounds like so much fun!
Nice post! Castaway Cay is one of our favorite places to visit in the world. It is basically everything you want in a tropical island + Disney magic. Hard to top. 🙂
On the snorkel vests – Everything I read before going the first time pointed to there being no charge for the vests if you brought your own gear, and we’ve now been 3 times over 3 years and never been charged. I guess that isn’t official word, but it seems consistent. As a side note – don’t rule out wanting your snorkel gear in places other than the “official” snorkel lagoon. On our last visit a few weeks ago my wife got to snorkel just a few feet away from a stingray at Serenity Bay, and having that underwater camera along like you mentioned made for some pretty cool shots.
One last note – Our first visit was one of those times the Serenity Bay BBQ had lobster, so I can verify it does happen! Neither my wife or I like lobster though, so I guess the experience was wasted on us.
Good to know about the vests. The way the lady reacted at the rental spot made it seem like maybe she was bending the rules, but it was unclear.
Also, good tip about snorkeling elsewhere. We saw stingrays at Serenity Bay, too, but we had left our camera and snorkel gear back on our beach chairs.
I concur that snorkeling at Serenity Bay is awesome! The water is shallower further out and the water is clearer than in the main snorkel lagoon. There aren’t the Easter Eggs that you’ll find in the lagoon (Mickey, 20K ride vehicle), but there are some small reefs and there seemed to be WAY more fish and closer, making them easier to photograph.
Also, you don’t need to wear a snorkel vest at Serenity Bay since there aren’t lifeguards! You only need the vests in the lagoon.
I had to giggle when I read your suggestion in the second paragraph to “pack a small day bag without any values”. Leaving our values at home will enable a care-free vacation! 😉 I know that you meant “valuables”, but it’s funnier the way it is!
I think Captain Jack Sparrow would approve of not packing your ‘values’ when on shore at Castaway Cay! 😉
Great post! I have two tips for snorkeling. 1) Go first thing in the morning, before people get the sand all stirred up and visibility becomes poor. 2) Swim all the way out first, then snorkel your way back in. That way, when you get tired, you’re closer to shore.
I adored Castaway Cay and spent the entire day there. I ignored the first call back to the ship, then the second, and finally they swept me out as they were taking the umbrellas down and realigning the beach chairs.
Great tips about snorkeling. We did it late in the afternoon and there weren’t many people out there when we went, so the visibility was great, but I suspect it would have been even better first thing in the morning.
Thanks so much for this post! It is really thorough and will come in quite handy since I just booked our cruise for next summer. I really enjoy the photography as well!