Aleksza Family Blog: Disney Cruise Line - Disney Fantasy - Trip Report - Part 3

This is a guest blog series by Stephen Aleksza about our Disney Cruise Line (DCL) cruise on the Disney Fantasy in September/October of 2014. Our Halloween on the High Seas cruise had a western Caribbean itinerary that included: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Castaway Cay. This was our first Disney cruise, but somewhere around our 13^th cruise overall. Our previous cruises have been on Princess (Platinum), Celebrity, and Norwegian. We enjoy Disney stuff, but I would not say that we are Disney fanatics. Our last trip to the Magic Kingdom was over ten years ago. I am big pre-trip researcher so I figured that I would share some of my research and contribute my own information through this series.

Part 3 -

This post is about our shore excursions. These were our ports-of-call.

Cozumel

We have been to Cozumel several times. We selected a Disney Port Adventure to

Destination Website - Playa Mia

Disney Cruise Port Adventure - Cozumel Beach Break

We did research on going direct to Playa Mia instead of going through Disney Port Adventures. The pricing direct and the pricing via Disney was within a couple dollars. The only key difference by purchasing direct was that it would have allowed for a full day vs the excursion times. However, the excursion time was pretty much the whole time our ship was in port and we wanted to do a bit of shopping. So in reality, we would not have been staying any longer than the excursion times so we booked with Disney for the convenience.

We RECOMMEND this excursion. We had a great time. The facilities are very nice (Not as great as the photo shopped photos, but no place is). We enjoyed the beach, the pools, the slides, the bars, and the lunch (The lunch was a little weak, but OK). Our six-year old daughter had a blast.

There were two departure times and we chose the earliest. We recommend that time. We arrived right around opening time. We had our choice of seats and were able to enjoy the slides, pools, etc without any crowd or any wait.

General Tips:

Go-Pros are not allowed on the slides
Bring your phone, there is free WiFi
Drinks are standard resort open bar strength
The ocean trampolines/play area is a pretty decent swim from the shore. Our daughter does not swim and it was a long and tiring tow. (She refers to this as “our worst idea of the day”.)
The shuttle returns you right at the dock mall so you can cross off your shopping on the way back to the boat

Grand Cayman

We have been there before several times too. We also knew that it would be a tender service. Nothing really jumped out for our daughter to do, so we stayed on the ship. We picked up this habit of staying on the ship for a port day several cruises ago. It paid off again. We had a great day. You are able to enjoy everything on the ship without the crowds or the waits of a sea day. We rode the Aqua Duck with no wait, the pools with no crowds, etc. I would encourage everyone to pick a port day to enjoy on the ship.

Falmouth

This is a relatively new port and we had not been there before. We picked the Green Grotto excursion via Disney Port Excursions. We choose this because most of the activities are a bit far from the port (30+ minutes) and Jamaica is not known for its safety and security.

Destination Website - Green Grotto Caves

Disney Cruise Port Adventure - Disney Cruise Port Adventure

Unless you have a 8-12 year old boy, I would not recommend this excursion. On the up side, all the guides from the tour company, cave, and lunch were very nice and really tried to make it a good day. Also, at the cave the tour guide did a great job with the kids. Giving them adventures and opportunities to explore dark areas of the caves. Every young boy LOVED the trip. However, the cons are a bit longer:

The bus A/C barely cooled the bus
The bus had no power, as you went over a hill it had to slow to about 15 mph. Bicycles could pass beside us going up the hill we were going so slow. :D
The cave is exactly like the pictures and not at all. All the pictures are super well lit. Not the reality. The caves are just plain limestone caves with a couple lights here and there. I was expecting a show cave, this was not that. (We were thinking this would be similar to the Luray Caverns in the US. So not that.)
The caves were hot. That surprised us. We were worried about being cold in the caves (many are). Not here. It was hot and stuffy. It was so hot at some points were were anticipating the cold with glee!!! Never happened.
The lunch was a piece of chicken and rice in what looked like an old house on the beach. Interesting, but definitely not up to the Disney experience. However, the view from the beach is pretty

The port itself is new and built for cruise ships. Very touristy, but a very clean, secure, and easy to access port to get off and stretch your legs. Next time, we’d consider this for a “day on the ship” day.

Castaway Cay

We have been to Norwegian Cruises and Princess Cruises private islands. Castaway Cay beats them all. The island is heavily themed with great infrastructure. The BBQ is much better and the free ice cream and soda continues on the island. There is also a lot of beach activities. Another key point is the the water is within and artificial harbor. So you get to enjoy the water with no waves. We recommend that you get off the boat here and enjoy the island.