The Castaway Club is Disney Cruise Line’s loyalty program. The more cruises you’ve been on, the more benefits you have. It has three levels: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. You become a Silver Member after your first cruise, a Gold Member after your fifth cruise, and a Platinum Member after your tenth cruise.
Silver Castaway Club Benefits: Check-in 90 days before sailing, a designated check-in line at the port, and a “Welcome Aboard” gift.
Gold Castaway Club Benefits: Check-in 105 days before sailing, a designated check-in line at the port, a “Welcome Aboard” gift, a private reception on cruises that are eight days or longer, and onboard discounts.
Platinum Castaway Club Benefits: Check-in 105 days before sailing, a designated check-in line at the port, a “Welcome Aboard” gift, a private reception on cruises that are eight days or longer, onboard discounts, priority boarding after concierge guests, and a complimentary dinner at Palo.
In the nine staterooms we have for our cruise, we have three Silver staterooms, one Gold stateroom, and one Platinum stateroom. The rest are all first-time cruisers. Notice I said stateroom, and not member. If you have one Castaway Club member in a stateroom, the entire stateroom gets that status. This comes in handy.
If you have solo travelers, try to spread your Castaway Club members out. I didn’t do this on purpose, but it worked out really well.
Maybe I was too stressed about early check-in, but it was important to me to get everyone as early a Port Arrival Time as possible. This lets everyone get on the ship at roughly the same time, since the bride and groom usually get to go on the ship first. I read about other couples having to wait for their families to board later, and I didn’t want that.
It worked out. Every cabin I was in control of, got the same Port Arrival Time. I’m not sure about the others, but at least my parents and my brother and the video camera will be getting on at the same time as us. I hope. I’m still not sure how all this works with the actual boarding process; first time cruiser and whatnot.
As the wedding couple, Jay and I get to dine at Palo included in the cost of the wedding package. Our Platinum stateroom has five people in it, so they also get to dine at Palo. Our original plan had us all dining at separate times, but now we’re looking at going as a large group. We’ll see what ends up happening.
So, understanding the Castaway Club will not make or break your Disney Cruise Line wedding planning, but it can be helpful. At the very least, it means you can explain it when someone asks you about it.
