Disney Treasure 7-Night Caribbean Cruise Report Part 4 - Crystal Caves Excursion

It’s fall outside, but on this blog it’s still August and we’re still in the Caribbean—this time with caves! Join us for this brief look at day 4 aboard the Disney Treasure, including a quick visit to the adult-only “Quiet Cove” and an excursion to some caves!

About This Post (With One Oops)

This post is part of a series of posts recapping our summer 2025 7-night Caribbean cruise aboard the Disney Treasure. While I’ve mostly been publishing chronologically, I wound up publishing the pirate night post that should follow this one early (oops). So if you’ve read that, this is a step back in time. If not, just read this one first.

Good Morning, Day 4 (Grand Cayman)

The fitness center opened on time today and was…actually pretty empty. Yesterday’s crowds made sense because of the time change. The prior day was the first day at sea, so I guess people were still wanting to stick to their routines if possible. But by the third morning (today), rope drop crowds had whittled down to just a few of us. People still trickled in as the morning went on, though, so I’m glad I stuck to my routine.

After my run I wandered around the upper decks a bit. I paid a visit to the adult-only section of the ship on Deck 13. This is a part of the ship that is quite awkwardly designed, though much of that is presumably intentional. Since we didn’t spend any real time in this area, now is as good a time as any to discuss it.

The (Intentional?) Awkwardness of Quiet Cove

Coming up to Deck 13 from the lower pool decks, you’ll have the AquaMouse queue to your right and the “Adult Only” section of the ship to the left.

This section is basically shaped like a J (or candy cane, depending on perspective).

It runs along the port side of the ship before reaching the aft of the ship, where it curves around with a small pool, the Currents bar, and Cove Cafe.

This makes Cove Cafe one of the least accessible parts of the ship, and I suspect this was intentional. On the older ships, Cove Cafe is just inside the adult-only portion of the ship. On those ships, the setup leads to guests with children popping in “just for a second, to grab a latte.”

Just imagine—you’re sitting in a coffee shop on a Disney Cruise Line ship, reading the Wall Street Journal and a peculiarly small human wanders in. Then—without so much as a polite “how do you do?”—it immediately starts throwing LEGOs everywhere, wiping its boogers on the chairs, and playing peek-a-boo with your Finance section!

I guess word spread about how lawless Cove Cafe had become, and the loyalty punch cards just weren’t enough to bring people back. So to please everyone, Disney made some updates.

While the Wonder and Magic still suffer under the old regime, the Disney Dream and Fantasy have Vista Cafe, a specialty cafe on Deck 4. The Wish and Treasure both have a pair of specialty cafes on Decks 4 and 5.

Now, guests with little terrors no longer have to “pop in” to Cove Cafe for some cold brew. And, on the Wish and Treasure, Cove Cafe is a bit more than a hop, skip, and jump from anywhere a kid would be. Finally, you and the Editorial Board can enjoy your together time in peace.

Too much? But in all honesty, I get the point. Design plays a huge role in how people use spaces, and it’s probably better to have this setup than to encourage constant conflict between guests, Crew Members, and other guests.

Emily and I don’t make many visits to the Quiet Cove area of the ship. Emily notes that one morning while we were enjoying funnel vision she encountered a very busy Cove Cafe when trying to grab a quick cold brew. But the few times I strolled through the Quiet Cove area, it did have that “oasis” feel to it, so I get the appeal of the design.

Breakfast and Hero Zone

Finishing up my wandering, I headed back to the stateroom. Zoe was apparently totally zonked. We were going on…many…straight late nights, and the little one who usually pops out of bed as soon as I start clomping around to put my running stuff on managed to sleep until after 8AM, even with the blinds open and light filling the room. Disney tired is the best tired, but all good sleeps must come to an end.

At breakfast, Emily noted the steps for getting plant-based food had changed slightly (just as to who you should talk to in order to place an order). This isn’t a big deal for us, but there are reasons that people with dietary restrictions prefer transparent, consistent, uniform procedures. Otherwise, breakfast was a delight, as it always is in Marceline Market.

We were set to meet for our excursion at 10AM, which left an hour to spend at the Hero Zone. Unfortunately, the Hero Zone opened about 10 minutes late (with no explanation or apologies). That still left us plenty of time to enjoy some foosball and air hockey.

Cayman Crystal Caves Excursion

Our excursion for the day—and our only true excursion of the trip—was the Cayman Crystal Caves Tour. This excursion prices at $129.00 (ages 10 and up) / $119.00 (ages 5 to 9) and consists mostly of an hourlong tour of Cayman Crystal Caves and required transportation.

We met in Worlds of Marvel at 10AM, where we were checked in and assigned to a group we’d be sticking with until the end of the excursion. The port is a tender port, so once it was time to get off the ship we were led down to the tender boats, and just before 11AM we were dropped off at the port. I love the views of the ship you get at tender ports, so here’s the feature photo from the top of this post again:

After queuing for about 30 minutes we were loaded onto a bus, and it was about a 45-minute drive to the caves. The queue was shaded, but still hot. Some adults were already starting to lose patience.

At the main entrance we stepped off the bus for a short while. There was a brief discussion about what to expect and a reminder not to touch things. This is also where we learned there would be mosquitoes. There was plenty of bug spray provided, but if I’d known this I would have endured the heat in longer clothes. FWIW, mosquitoes didn’t wind up bothering us.

There was also a small cafe where you could buy beverages and snacks, but the staff quickly became overwhelmed trying to churn the busload of people through the line as quickly as possible. There was also a drinking fountain, so we used that. I didn’t take pictures of any of this, but I did get a pic of a chicken:

After a few minutes we hopped back on the bus for a very short ride. Getting off the bus in the area of the caves, there was a quick opportunity to preorder some food to eat (quickly) after the tour. Around 12:50PM we got to see our first cave.

The tour of the caves lasted about an hour and included three caves. At some of them we were allowed time to explore on our own. There were bats in a few locations that were pretty cool to see.

Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and had experiences with the caves dating back to his childhood. He maybe oversold things a few times—the caves were notably warm caves, but not “the hottest sauna you’ve ever been in”; there were mosquitoes in some nooks, but not “so many you won’t last TEN seconds!”—but that’s sometimes the price of a lifelong enthusiasm for a topic.

The tour moved at a fine pace. We never felt bored or stuck in one area for too long, but we didn’t feel rushed either. Some kids were getting restless by the second cave, but others were just completely enthralled.

Zoe was probably somewhere in the middle. Even for the kids who struggled, I’d say it’s a good chance to practice mindfulness—disconnecting your brain from the Disney Treasure to focus on caves is no easy feat.

After the tour, we stopped at the shop and restaurant for a few minutes. The heat was punishing so Emily and I split a can of beer. After the drive back to the port, we were boarding a tender boat just before 3PM and back on the ship by 3:05PM.

Altogether, this was 5 hours and $377 for an hourlong cave tour. The caves were cool. And with so much time already spent on the ship, we were glad to have something else to do. But this is the sort of awkward trap you can fall into on cruises. You spend a lot of time and money just to be on the ship and go on the journey. Then you feel compelled to spend even more doing things you might usually skip, because that’s the point of travel.

We could have arranged our own journey to the caves and saved the money. This would have saved some time, too. But travel know-how muscles atrophy when you’re on a cruise. Part of the appeal of booking excursions through your cruise line is that it keeps you “in the bubble” somewhat—no one wants to “vibe-switch” from drinks at the Haunted Mansion Parlor to haggling over a $10 cab fare to the other side of an island.

So, would I recommend the excursion? Sure, if you want to see some cool caves, or if you want something to do that isn’t a regular beach activity, it’s a fine option. Ultimately, it’s going to work best for families who have some sort of an itch to scratch—whether it’s getting off the ship, or seeing some caves, or just exploring any new place. If you’re content to relax on the ship—or to pick a more straightforward beach excursion—I don’t think you’re missing out on a huge experience if you do that instead.

Back onboard the ship it was time for one of the most anticipated parts of the cruise—Pirate Night!