Waking up and seeing Castaway Cay in front of you can either be the happiest or the most saddest feeling in the world. On one hand you are happy as you have a day in absolute paradise but you can also feel so sad as the majority of the time, the view of Castaway Cay means that it is the last day of your cruise and that you will soon be back in the real world. It was truly a sad feeling for me on this day as I was having simply the best time onboard the Disney Treasure and I definitely was not ready to disembark the ship the following morning.

After waking up about 6:30am I walked out onto our verandah and could see that the sun was just starting to rise and I could already see the familiar sight of Castaway Cay in the distance. I walked up to Deck 11 to get us both a cup of tea which we drank whilst sitting on our balcony and enjoying the peace and quiet of early morning in the Bahamas. The ship started to make the turn to back in towards Castaway Cay at 7:00am and unlike on the older ships, on both the Disney Wish as well as the Disney Treasure, you can barely feel any movement when the ship is turning. As Marceline Market opened at 7:00am, my boyfriend walked up there to get us both some croissants for breakfast which would tide us over until lunchtime.

It was such a beautiful morning at Castaway Cay and I have never seen it look so clear. Thankfully it was a theme that would continue for the rest of our time there as there was barely a cloud in the sky the entire day – we really had been so lucky with the weather the entire week. It was a very strange feeling thinking that this was our eight visit to Castaway Cay which is something that I never ever thought I would be able to say – I just wanted to visit at least once after watching a documentary about it all those years ago! However this would be our last visit for the foreseeable future as we have a lot of other travel plans that we have to do first.

Our Cruise Director Trent made an announcement just after 8:30am that the ship had been cleared for disembarkation so we took that as a sign to put on some sunscreen and get dressed ready for our day at Castaway Cay. We then took the elevator down to Deck 1 Aft where we left the ship just before 9:00am.

Our first plan of the day was to meet all of the characters as they had started wearing brand new outfits on Castaway Cay only a week after our previous visit last year. Each character usually only has two meet and greet times in the morning so we had made a plan to meet them all as quickly as possible so we could then continue the rest of our day on the island.

Our first character was the incredible Daisy who was meeting at the Post Office at 9:00am wearing her island best followed by Captain Jack Sparrow (who we had never met before) at Marge’s Barges at 9:15am who told us all about his jar of dirt. Chip and Dale had no set meeting times on Castaway Cay that morning but we were told by one of the amazing Cast Members that we could find them hanging out near the gangway first thing which we did and we then met Donald at 9:30am back at the Post Office.

It was such a beautiful walk along the Island Pathway that morning from the Post Office towards Scuttle’s Cove for our next round of character meet and greets. I will always tell everyone to do the walk if they can rather than take the tram especially if it is a nice day (and it was not too humid either on this day which was perfect) as you can get some great photos on the way.

Our next character to meet was Minnie who was out at Scuttle’s Cove at 9:45am, quickly followed by Pluto who was also out at 9:45am at Mount Rustmore and both of these locations are right next to each other making it very easy to meet everyone in a short amount of time. We then rejoined the line to meet Mickey at Scuttle’s Cove and then finally Goofy at Mount Rustmore who were both out at 10:15am.

Whilst the lines to meet characters at Castaway Cay are never that long and do move quicker compared to onboard the ship, if you do want to experience the shortest wait times make sure to go to the second meet for each character (especially for Captain Jack Sparrow) as the line will be much quicker than during their first meet and greet time.

My next job was to go to She Sells Seashells and Everything Else to buy the Goofy Cookies BBQ pin which is the only thing that I wanted to buy at Castaway Cay. When purchasing merchandise on either Castaway Cay or Lookout Cay, be aware that there is no discount offered for Gold, Platinum and Pearl Castaway Club members (unlike onboard the ship) and 10% Bahamian sales tax will be added to all of your purchases.

We stopped at Cookies BBQ for a few minutes to sit in the shade with a cold drink to help cool off – sadly the ice cream machine was not yet open at this time – before we moved down to the beach and easily found two quiet sunloungers and an umbrella so we could stay in the shade.

Whilst I left my boyfriend sitting in the shade on the beach to enjoy and make the most of the data on the Bahamian E-Sim that he had purchased for this day, I walked back along the beach towards Gil’s Fins and Boats as I wanted to try the snorkelling at Castaway Cay once again despite me saying every time that I have no plans to ever do it again!

I decided to rent all of my equipment this time – which included a mask, snorkel, fins and a snorkel vest – which cost $44 and was charged to our stateroom and there is no need to book in advance. If you are bringing your own snorkelling equipment, you are able to collect a snorkel vest for free at either Gil’s Fins and Boats, Flippers and Floats or at any of the lifeguard stations along the beach as it is mandatory to wear one whilst you are in the lagoon.

As it was so sunny I was really looking forward to getting into the water however I did not get far before I realised that there was water leaking through the waterproof case around my iPhone (thankfully it was my old phone which I had brought with me especially for this and not my current one) as well as through my mask which was making my eyes sting and once again I wondered why I was doing this especially when I had said never again after the last time.

I quickly swam back to the beach and sat down for a few minutes where my boyfriend noticed a tiny area on the case of my phone where the seal was not sitting properly which was causing the water to leak into it. Once he had fixed it and thankfully there was no damage to the phone, I headed back into the water to try again and I’m very happy to say that it was a much more successful visit than the first time.

The reason why I wanted to go snorkelling again at Castaway Cay was to see all of the new statues that have been placed underwater in the lagoon. Along with Mickey and Minnie you can also now find Boo’s Door, Price Eric, a Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride vehicle as well as Daisy Duck who I believe used to be found on the front of Donald’s Boat in Toontown at the Magic Kingdom before it was demolished to make way for the Fantasyland expansion.

There are buoys floating throughout the lagoon which indicate where the statues and other points of interest are below the water. This was also the first time that I had used fins in the lagoon and they really made such a huge difference compared to my previous visits and I found that I was able to swim between all of the statues and across the entire lagoon (which is so much bigger than it looks and the Mickey statue is so far out) much quicker than before.

I also spotted one of the Nautilus submarines from the former 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage attraction at Magic Kingdom as well as a boat and plenty of fish swimming around.

Whilst there are showers on the island to rinse off the salt water after being in the sea, it was always our plan to go back to the ship and have a proper shower and get changed into some clean and dry clothes before also having lunch back on the ship as well. We had spent almost four hours on Castaway Cay that morning so we took a slow walk back towards the ship and we were back onboard just before 1:00pm.

After having a shower and getting changed we walked up to Deck 11 to visit Marceline Market which was open for lunch that day between 12:00-1:30pm where we grabbed some desserts which we took outside to Mickey and Friends Festival of Foods where we had a little bit of everything to eat between us. We really enjoy having lunch back onboard a quiet ship and we also find that the quality and the choices (especially if you do not eat meat) are so much better than on the island.

Once we had finished our lunch we also took a few minutes to try and get some photos of an empty Grand Hall which we have done before onboard the other ships on Castaway Cay day but for the first time ever, it was incredibly difficult to do (though thankfully I did manage to get a few photos before it got too busy) as so many people were heading back onto the ship ready to join the long line to watch the matinee performance of The Tale of Moana in the Walt Disney Theatre at 3:00pm.

Our final stop before getting back off the ship was the Imagineering Lab inside the Oceaneer’s Club on Deck 2 as it was the only time it had an open house that entire week apart from on embarkation day. There are a few changes compared to on the Disney Wish as the items on display are slightly different and include artefacts from Animal Kingdom, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin as well as a ride vehicle model from The Happy Ride with Baymax at Tokyo Disneyland amongst many others.

There are also clocks on the wall for each of the parks around the world and the time displayed on each of them is the date that each park opened – 17th July for Disneyland, 1st October for Magic Kingdom, 15th April for Tokyo Disneyland, 12th April for Disneyland Paris, 12th September for Hong Kong Disneyland and 16th June for Shanghai Disneyland.

To the side of the Imagineering Lab is another area with a large scale model of the Disney Treasure along with blueprints and other items from the design and construction of the ship, a ride simulator where you can design your own roller coaster as well as The Walt Disney Prop Shop displaying more items, signs and costumes from all of the parks around the world. There are also attraction posters on display from Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure, Tron Lightcycle Power Run and Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure (the second best Disney attraction in the world behind Mystic Manor) as well as Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs at Hong Kong Disneyland which I have never been on but I hope to put that right in a few weeks time. Stay tuned!

There were so many people getting back onboard the ship to line up and watch The Tale of Moana when we disembarked at 2:10pm all ready to spend the rest of our short time ashore enjoying a cocktail in the sunshine on Castaway Cay. One of our favourite things to do at Castaway Cay in the afternoon is to walk to the Head’s Up Bar at Pelican Point and sit with a drink until we have to go back to the ship.

However we quickly found out that on the Disney Treasure, all of the bars at Castaway Cay close early at 2:30pm which was an hour and a half before the all aboard time – even the Conched Out Bar which usually stays open until much later was closed. The only reason we could think of was that so many people were back on the ship to watch Moana leaving anyone else wanting to enjoy all of their time at Castaway Cay unable to get an alcoholic drink that afternoon.

Thankfully we found one of the soda machines still open so we grabbed a soft drink instead and walked to the now empty Head’s Up Bar with it to sit and enjoy the beautiful view of Castaway Cay and the Disney Treasure in the distance.

Once we had taken our traditional photo of us at Pelican Point (which we do every time we visit Castaway Cay), we slowly walked back towards the ship. We took the time to take in and savour the moment and everything around us as we have no idea when we will be back again. The all aboard time that afternoon was 4:00pm and we were back on the ship at 3:50pm – Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay are the only two places where we are comfortable leaving it as late to get back onboard.

We headed straight up to our stateroom where we sat on the verandah and watched as we sailed away from Castaway Cay at 4:35pm to the sound of all of the horns of the Disney Treasure along with a glass of the last of the Prosecco that we had in our fridge that we still had to drink.

At 5:15pm we walked down to the Grand Hall to watch Coriander and Sage retell the story of Brave. It was so quiet as most of the people onboard were either in their staterooms packing their bags or in the very long line for the 6:00pm performance of The Tale of Moana – the two lines on Deck 3 went from each entrance to the Walt Disney Theatre along both sides of the ship and all the way back into the Grand Hall.

I also spotted another three details in the steamer trunks belonging to Coriander and Sage that had been covered over the previous evening which were a map of the Jungle Rivers of Adventureland from the Jungle Cruise line at Disneyland, the Indiana Jones world map from Choose Wisely as well as the treasure map from adventurer Arthur Quinn that revealed all of the details of the Disney Treasure to the public back in 2023.

After Coriander and Sage had brilliantly retold the story of Brave in their own words, they then wanted to tell another story using ours. It turned into a game of Madlibs where the children in the audience suggested different words which Coriander and Sage then placed into the story of The Little Mermaid and the result was hysterically funny.

After a lot of thought we made the easy decision between us to not go and watch The Tale of Moana onboard the ship that evening. We both said that we wanted to enjoy our last evening onboard and neither of us wanted to stand and wait in a long line or sit in a packed theatre that night. I am not sad in the slightest that we did not go and see the show and as far as I am concerned, it gives us the perfect excuse to book another cruise on the Disney Treasure because I really cannot wait to sail onboard her again one day.

Even though we were planning to do Express Walk Off the following morning and carry our own bags off the ship, we headed back up to our stateroom for a few minutes to pack the last of our things away before we decided to take a slow walk around the outside decks and then head to a quiet Haunted Mansion Parlor for one final time.

At 7:30pm we headed back to Deck 4 of the Grand Hall where we watched Coriander and Sage retell the story of Encanto. They also played Madlibs once again afterwards but I am so sad that I cannot remember what story they told as I stupidly forgot to write it down in my diary.

Before our dinner we decided to have a look in the shops onboard one final time and we could also see the very long lines once again for the 8:30pm performance of Moana and this was almost an hour before it was due to start and we knew that we had made the right decision to have a chilled and relaxed night instead of seeing the show.

Our final night dinner was back in Worlds of Marvel at 8:15pm and it was time for the brand new Guardians of the Galaxy themed “Celebration of Heroes: Groot Remix” dinner starring Rocket and Baby Groot which I was really looking forward to – anything with Baby Groot is a winner in my books!

For my final meal onboard I ordered the Porcini Sacchetti as well as the Ahi Tuna Poke which I absolutely loved followed by the Plant-Based Soba Noodle Bowl for my main course. We finished by ordering the Cappuccino Mousse to share which was the perfect way to end our meal.

The Celebration of Heroes: Groot Remix dinner begins with a montage honouring all of the superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who keep the world safe. However the proceedings are very quickly interrupted by Rocket (as well as Baby Groot) who is incensed that Peter Quill aka Star Lord is being honoured as Rocket himself saved the galaxy three times and there is no mention of him on the list. As Rocket is Groot’s hero, Groot decides to start planning a surprise for the overlooked Rocket which will be revealed at the end of the meal.

Between the scenes of Groot planning his surprise, an “Awesome Mix” soundtrack of songs plays and there are also Marvel trivia questions on the screens around the restaurant throughout the dinner which you answer by pressing the corresponding buttons on the Quantum Cores on each of the tables which will light up green or red to let you know if you have answered correctly or not.

The music was truly awesome as well (and not too loud) and we enjoyed a Guardians of the Galaxy approved playlist including You Make My Dreams Come True, Footloose, One Way or Another, Mr Blue Sky, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Come and Get Your Love, September, Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang, Dreams, Fox on the Run, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and Living on a Prayer.

Another cool little detail that I noticed during the meal is that when Groot causes the power to go out in the restaurant, the alert code displayed on all of the screens is 705.718.706 which are the shipyard hull numbers for the Disney Wish, Disney Treasure and the Disney Destiny which all feature Worlds of Marvel onboard.

At the end of the meal, Groot reveals to everyone that Rocket is now a hero too as the screens are filled with photos and videos in recognition of his best friend to the sound of Celebration by Kool and the Gang. And in true MCU style, there is also a Post-Credit scene showing America Chavez, Cassie Lang and Riri Williams sitting at Festival of Foods on Deck 11 after celebrating their latest victory and discussing a game of shuffleboard.

Celebration of Heroes: Groot Remix at Worlds of Marvel really was perfect for our last evening onboard. It was so chilled and relaxed and the atmosphere and ambience were just right and I loved every single minute of it. Along with Plaza de Coco and Tiana’s Place on the Disney Wonder, it is one of my favourite dining room experiences across the entire Disney Cruise Line fleet.

Once we had left Worlds of Marvel for the final time on the cruise (as we were not planning on having breakfast there the following morning), we headed to the Grand Hall to grab our spot ready to watch the final Arabian Nights Kiss Goodnight at 10:00pm followed by Treasure Found – the farewell show onboard the Disney Treasure – which was due to begin at 10:15pm.

Treasure Found is the grand finale to the cruise and your final farewell to all of the characters as it is the last time that you will see them onboard. Once all of the characters arrive in the Grand Hall, you have fifteen minutes to get any last minute autographs or photos with them before they say goodbye.

At 10:30pm Coriander and Sage arrived on the stage as our journey together that began at the sailaway party a week ago was now coming to an end and yet we had all come so far in that time. But had we all found the treasure that we were looking for?

They then retold our week together onboard where we sailed with pirates, travelled to exotic ports of call, sailed towards adventure to claim our destiny, trained alongside the world’s greatest heroes, chose wisely with globetrotting archaeologists, socialised with spirits and revelled in the celebration of a lifetime.

However they then revealed that the greatest treasure of all was hidden inside the treasure chest onstage which an audience member held the key for. Coriander and Sage opened the chest and the magic lamp at the bottom of the staircase came to life and the Genie’s voice filled the Grand Hall to let us know that the treasure that we had all been looking for were the memories that we had all made during our time onboard. Memories are better than gold, stronger than diamonds and more valuable than any prize in the universe and they will always be greater than all the magic and all of the treasures in the world.

To finish the show Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Princess Tiana and Naveen, Rapunzel and Flynn, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin, Moana and the Genie joined Coriander and Sage on the stage to say a final goodbye. It was such an incredible farewell but also such a bittersweet moment as you truly know that your cruise is over and it is a very sad feeling.

As it was late, the Grand Hall emptied out very quickly with everyone going back to their staterooms to get some sleep before the early start the following morning. However I really was not ready to say goodbye to the beautiful Disney Treasure so for the first time in forever, I decided to walk around the ship just to take everything in one final time.

I even took photos of the artwork inside of the elevators. The ones at the aft of the ship were blue with drawings of Jasmine’s birds whilst the forward elevators were orange and featured Abu the Monkey – you can easily guess which design was my favourite.

I also took a few minutes to look at the Steamboat Willie moving artwork located between both sides of 1923 which features a small Voyager Minnie amongst the details as well as the Disney Treasure herself.

Despite having spent a week on the Disney Treasure, I also had not looked closely at all of the display cabinets outside of 1923 properly until the last night. Here you can find information, details, sketches and artefacts about the design of the ship which include the keel coin, mock ups of Peter Pan and Hook on the stern of the ship, concept art for the Aquamouse as well as photos of Roy and Walt Disney themselves.

The Grand Hall was almost completely empty so I took a minutes to take everything in for the final time this cruise. I really was not ready to disembark the Disney Treasure the following morning and it was such a sad feeling that our long awaited trip that we had looked forward to for so long was almost over. I always knew that I was going to love the Treasure but I was not prepared for just how much.

Even as I write this final blog nearly four months later, I still find myself missing the Disney Treasure more than anything. It truly left such a wonderful, magical and lasting impression on me. Out of the fourteen cruises that we have been fortunate enough to take over the years, the Treasure has firmly claimed the top spot as our absolute favourite cruise that we have ever been on.

After exploring everywhere else on the ship, I ended the evening by taking the elevator up to the Decks 11, 12 and 13 for some fresh air as well as a few more last minute photos. Whilst looking out to sea, I could also see several other ships in the distance all making their way back to Port Canaveral as well.

I finally got back to our stateroom just before 1:00am where my boyfriend was already fast asleep. I never sleep well on the final night of a cruise as I know that I have to get up so early the next morning to disembark. I set my alarm clock and eventually drifted off to sleep for a few hours even though I knew that I could easily sleep for a lot longer as it had been such a long and tiring final day onboard.

When I woke up a few hours later just after 6:00am we were already docked back at Port Canaveral and just like that, our cruise was sadly over and it really was a sad and horrible feeling. As we were meeting a friend in Orlando for brunch, neither of us wanted any breakfast that morning so we just had a cup of tea to drink whilst we showered, got dressed and gathered all of our belongings together.

Express Walk Off was due to begin at 7:30am so we left our stateroom just after 7:10am and we did not even need to wait for an elevator which is so unusual on the final morning. Once we reached Deck 3 we joined the line of people also doing Express Walk Off which actually started ten minutes early at 7:20am.

A few minutes later we tapped our Key to the World cards for the final time as we finally stepped off the Disney Treasure and back onto dry land. As we were travelling with a passport (which you should always do no matter what your nationality is), we were directed to the new Facial Recognition scanners at Port Canaveral immigration which took seconds to process and before we knew it, we were back outside the very quiet terminal building where we started our journey a week earlier.

We spent the day drinking coffee to stay awake, shopping at Disney Springs, having a wonderful brunch with friends and doing some last minute shopping that we needed to get before we drove back across Florida to reach Tampa Airport to fly back to London late that evening.

The only unwanted drama of the entire week happened when we landed back at Heathrow when someone walked off with my suitcase at baggage reclaim thinking that it was theirs. Thankfully as I have AirTags in every bag that I travel with (I would recommend them to anyone), I could see where it was as I was chasing it through the airport terminal and out into the car park. Thankfully as they had left their very similar looking bag on the baggage belt, we had a contact number for them and the airline called them immediately and told them to come back straight away which thankfully they did.

Now excitement is truly in the air once again as we have another cruise to look forward to in 2026 and this one is truly special. It’s a fourteen night bucket list epic adventure aboard the Disney Magic and we cannot wait. Let the countdown commence.

But as Coriander and Sage would say, that’s a tale for another time.

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