What to expect in your room – Packing Tips
-Nightlight (if kids would like to see well at night; even outside rooms are pretty dark)
-Bubble bath/shower gel for kids (the room has a bathtub/shower combo but only provides adult shampoo/conditioner/lotion for free)
-Dixie cups (if your kids use after brushing their teeth; only glass cups are provided in the room)
-Empty water bottles or your favorite coffee mug (easier to transport; can be easily brought ashore)
-Other FYIs – there are plenty of drawers in the room and plenty of hangers. The room was a good size (we were in an outside window).
Shorts/pants with pockets (you’ll need to carry a room key and the ship phones which are like small cordless phone walkie talkies – two per room – that you can text each other or call each other and also used to text you when your kids are ready to be picked up from the kids activities. I’d say bring a small purse, but these phones only vibrate (no noise ring) and you need them close to your body to feel them vibrate)
-Beach bag (its nice to have a separate beach bag for towels, sunglasses, snacks, etc)
-Collapsible small lunch bag (we put some ice in a Ziploc bag and brought some drinks with us; I heard you can also have room service bring you sandwiches and then pack those with you too).
Other misc items
-Bring a highlighter to mark up your daily activity guide
-Before you travel, search for past “Magic Personal Navigators” that other families have scanned and posted to various sites. It will give you a head’s up on available activities and helped relieve some stress in advance when asked by the kids, what are we going to do?
Beverages – There is a nice beverage station on deck 9, back of ship near the buffet. It has like 4 soda stations and 2 coffee/hot drink stations. Options included reg and diet coke, reg and diet Sprite, water, unsweetened ice tea, pink lemonade, and fruit punch. Hot drinks included coffee/Twinings tea/hot cocoa packets. All milk options are available as Borden’s brand – choc milk/whole/2%/1%/Skim. In the buffet/restaurants, juice was limited to orange and apple (and we asked for and received cranberry too). TIPS: 1-The hot cups have “sippy cup like lids”… the cold cups have plastic lids with space for straws. I happen to be slightly germ-a-phobic and the straws were unwrapped in a dispensing station (where you push the tab down and a new straw unwrapped plastic straw appears). Consider bringing your own straws from home or some prewrapped in paper ones. 2-In the buffet, the milk is in the back of the buffet area separate from the other drinks sitting on ice. Consider taking some of the milk cartons back to your room and placing in your beverage cooler for a snack.
-Food – Was ok in my opinion, meaning selection was more limited than I was expecting, but what I ate was good. My surprise was the lack of noodles and rice. Kids food choices were (by the pool) hot dogs, chicken fingers, burgers, sausage, pizza; (at the buffet) mac n cheese (most days), chicken nuggets and corn dogs (seemed to alternate); (at dinner off a kids menu you can color on) pizza, mac n cheese, and burgers (always) and each day there was the option for one of the following depending on the day: mozzarella sticks, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken. Before the cruise, I had told our sons they could eat anything they wanted on the ship, but that really wasn’t the case. Spaghetti for one meal only – no rice dishes or noodle dishes. And for fruit, while fresh fruit like melon and bananas were available at Goofys gally in plentiful supply, there weren’t say mandarin oranges, pears, peaches, or apple slices (just a whole apple you had to cut or ask to be cut and then you skin). Also for cereal selections, there were no Cheerios, just fruit loops, frosted flakes, granola, raisin bran.
-Characters – Available often. Consider packing something for them to sign (like a pillowcase for us) and leaving it at the front desk day 1 of the cruise. It will be returned to you the last night of the cruise signed by all characters. Many families appeared to have bought an autograph book from the gift shop to have the characters sign, but that does involve waiting in line multiple times although you have the option for a photo (professional or personal or both).
-What to wear – In the end, I wish I had packed less. I had bought 3 outfits for everyday (swim suit, t-shirt/shorts, dinner outfit). We only used the two nicer outfits for the formal and semi-formal nights. Otherwise, we just wore our t-shirt and shorts to dinner. Some families did change, but it was about half/half in the dining room. There is the option to take a formal photo any night in the lobby (obviously the line is longest on formal night, but an option for any other night too).
-Pirates IN the Carribean Party – Fun, but didn’t start till almost 10pm! Basically some dancing/music, folks descending rom above (but hard to see at night) and then a nice firework display at 10:30ish pm.
-Kids clubs (the one for 3-11 year olds were fun/nice – took our kids a few days before they really wanted to use them though). You’ll need to get a Mickey band to use (basically free, just pre-register online before you go and select a password you and your husband will use at pick-up). The Mickey band is rather thick and needs to stay on during the entire cruise, its a GPS locator while in the clubs, and can go on your wrist or ankle. Remember to apply sunblock under the band when in the sun. It only works as a GPS device inside their clubs; not on the rest of the ship/islands
-Gym has nice equipment with TVs, but bring your own headphones
-Spa – I had a Swedish massage. Nice, but they try to sell you other lotions/services at the end as part of their “evaluation”. Had I known in advance, I would have signed up for the deck side chair massages which is what I prefer at home too – 30 minutes for $46.
-On shore days – you must get pool towels from deck 9 before you leave the ship on deck 1. Towels aren’t available/provided as you get off the ship (unless you purchase a pack with water/towels).
For Castaway Cay:
Next time, we will be sure to bring a cooler of bottled waters because the Evian is pricey on the island and I will get up in time for yoga on the beach.
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