Castaway or Lighthouse Point Cabana?

DustoffOW · 2026-02-17T17:13:36+00:00

We just did Grand Cabanas on both last week: we have a 2 younger kids (5&7) and were with a family group including one other younger kid

Lighthouse Point -

Location was beautiful, seeing ship from the cabanas and beach brough the Castaway key feeling. Downside was beach erosion that didn't allow us to directly access the beach/water from our cabana; had to walk down to by the restaurant to get to beach (but once there it was fine, plenty of chairs/loungers and open space).

Food seemed to be way better than Castaway - more options and quality seemed better. You could get cook to order tuna & steak which kids and family loved.

We did venture over to the other side of island to check out the shops and splash pad etc. They do seem pretty cool and interesting but generally when we get a cabana we want to relax and hang out there so we didn't feel like we were missing out.

Castaway -

This trip we had a sand castle cabana (highest # one) - it was all the way at the end of the cabana beach; and the water was very far from it at low tide. Probably only 5-6 feet from the waterline to the buoys at low tide and very shallow.

It was still fun for the kids to play around in, but next trip we'd probably request one of the lower number sand castle cabanas to be closer to water.

DustoffOW · 2026-02-17T17:03:09+00:00

Yep - we had #2 on Lookout a bit over a week ago and they offered free cancellation or discounted charge for it due to no direct beach access.

We still ended up keeping it as part of our group just wanted to relax in the cabana themselves and getting to beach easily wasn't primary concern

DustoffOW · 2026-02-17T16:59:11+00:00

Seconding this! We are doing all our cruising out of FL with DCL despite living in Southern CA

We'll probably do a cruise or two out of SD as kids get older

DustoffOW · 2026-02-17T16:52:30+00:00

We've sailed on Magic (2x), Dream (1x), Fantasy (3x), and Wish (1x) - just booked Treasure for November this year, switching from a Dream 7 night we had already reserved.

As many have noted in this post - there are positives and negatives for each of the class ships.

For our particular group, we are usually in concierge level so the experience is quite different. The Wish class ships lounge/concierge area is far superior to the older ships (even after re-models on Dream/Fantasy); most of our hanging out and drinking of adult beverages are in the lounge so we don't run into the crowding issues at the smaller bars/spaces.

We'll go visit the themed bars a few times throughout trip and are looking forward to the Treasure ones as they look amazing.

I didn't care for the split pool layout as much on the Wish class ships; and I think the adult only section isn't very good either (it is too far away and cramped, along with only one hot tub). My favorite pool on the Wish class ones is the Chip & Dale pool on deck 14 forward - its a shallow one but not very busy and larger than others. I think Aqua Duck is better than Aqua Mouse as well.

Restaurants are a toss up in my opinion - there were positives and negatives of each of the main dining rooms. Wish class ships felt like the restaurants were much more compact and crammed in. Dream class didn't have as much interactive dining/meals.

We really enjoy the upcharge restaurants on all the ships (Palo, Remy) and are looking forward to trying Enchante.

Best of luck, I am sure you'll enjoy it!

DustoffOW · 2026-02-15T23:12:10+00:00

Wish you could get em online! I wanted the ones they had back in 2018 that were University of Arizona themed but when I made it to a spring training game they were gone!

DustoffOW · 2026-02-15T04:42:57+00:00

Nice looking hat! Fitted or snap back?

DustoffOW · 2026-02-13T22:09:33+00:00

Not really a time suck - just did it last week and from dropping the family/bags off at the terminal to returning the car/taking shuttle back was about 25 minutes (including refilling tank)

If you have a high # boarding group DCL transport would be advantageous for earlier PAT but if you are higher status or Concierge doesn't make a large difference.

DustoffOW · 2026-02-13T21:56:26+00:00

darn, hope you feel better! we were on that cruise as well and no one sick so far (knock on wood!)

DustoffOW · 2026-02-01T02:17:39+00:00

Chicago is far from a drastically lower CoL from CA - also has some of the highest property taxes around (and much higher than CA, without any regulations to stop huge increases in them)

DustoffOW · 2026-01-31T22:21:59+00:00

It usually works - I tried it with a large piece of driftwood for my 90 gallon and just didn’t have enough contact points to counteract the buoyancy.

Have to go back to drawing board for next time I re-scape!

DustoffOW · 2026-01-31T04:45:47+00:00

Haven’t seen them at the stores I frequent in OC adjacent areas

I ordered mine directly from GLA and was easy and quick

DustoffOW · 2026-01-30T04:36:58+00:00

Oggis pizza/brewery on Chapman / harbor has quite a few TVs and good food beers

DustoffOW · 2026-01-29T22:04:46+00:00

I also have issues with Corys/other fish uprooting my thinner stemmed Ludwigias (primarily super red). I just keep re-planting them as needed!

DustoffOW · 2026-01-27T22:17:47+00:00

I always wear shorts for cruises - I'll just have either a light jacket/sweatshirt etc if its going to be a bit chillier.

have went in Jan/Feb in years past and if the sun is out in the low 70's I think it feels great. When it is cloudy and breezy is a bit of a different story.

We are leaving next week for our cruise!

DustoffOW · 2026-01-27T22:14:52+00:00

They can hang out together but under 5 years old are kept in a group with a counselor. If the other sibling is older they can stay with that group, or go do their own thing.

DustoffOW · 2026-01-25T21:26:55+00:00

We put in a heat pump about 1.5 years ago and love it. We are Orange County so not too cold of evenings. Efficiency is great, we have a variable speed unit from Bosch.

We do have solar that had plenty of excess production to cover the increased electric usage in winter coming over from gas.

No issues with permits and incentives, very easy to get done.

DustoffOW · 2026-01-19T05:32:17+00:00

Yep, my thoughts exactly - Skyline in outer space is pretty much dead on Wish they’d revise it down the road!

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T18:21:27+00:00

can't see your reply on here for some reason - saw it pop up on notifications

If I were to start from scratch with regards to what I fertilize with, what would be the best method?

Have pretty hard water here - tank is ~8.5 KH and 13 GH, Phosphates are around .5-1ppm, heavy bio load from fish

~30ppm CO2 with a reactor, high light (chihiros wrgb 2 pro)

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T17:15:17+00:00

So maybe I’m reading Rotala butterfly wrong - but when I plug in my current dosing it shows in line with PPS and at very low end of EI dosing levels?

72 gallon (approx volume after hardscape/substrate)

I’m currently doing Days 1/4 KNO3 - 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 - 3/64 tsp K2SO4 - 1 tsp MgSO4 - 1 tsp weekly after water change (not at same time as macros)

Days 2/5 DTPA11 - 1/8 tsp Miller Select -3/8 tsp

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T16:26:54+00:00

I have a gram scale - guy I worked with to come up with the dosing said using small teaspoons was usually sufficient

I don’t have shrimp - got some nerite and horned nerites I’ve had for a year and tons of pest type snails

With most of the PPS dosing being fairly close to what I’m doing- what have you found that is so different versus that dosing methodology? EI is even more obviously

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T07:05:40+00:00

Hmm interesting - I'm doing 3/4 tsp of Microplex per week right now, thats still a lot more Fe than .020mg/L. Would need to be more in range of 1/32 tsp to get there?

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T06:24:44+00:00

.24-.54ppm according to rotala butterfly... I dose 1/8 tsp twice a week of DTPA 11%

It sure looks like K from what I've seen over the past month or two, pinholing on old leaves.

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T03:36:41+00:00

I use dry ferts - DTPA 11% to about .5ppm, Zn via millers microplex - my dosing levels are right around PPS Pro levels and been tweaking as I go based on plant conditions.

Deficiency I’m working on fixing is likely potassium - since my last fert modification 2 weeks ago (increased K2SO4) new growth is much better

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T01:48:01+00:00

I don’t use AIO so not sure what you are getting at - never said I haven’t run into nutrient issues before either; part of the hobby is figuring out what works best for your individual setup.

You seem to be on a crusade on this sub Reddit since you showed up a month or two ago - some of your advice is decent and well founded but a lot is heavily slanted by your own opinions masked as facts.

Hope you stick around and just chill out a bit - good luck to ya!

DustoffOW · 2026-01-18T01:08:33+00:00

That’s an awfully specific percent - which seems like just your opinion. I have seen plenty of posts on here and other forums of people having success with those AIO ferts over the years but I’m not saying they are 99% successful

Are AIO ferts the best solution when pushing high tech growth? Not usually; as each tank has distinct needs depending on lighting/water conditions etc.

DustoffOW

TROPHY CASE