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Great Stirrup Cay Question


Tigeroy
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Hi

 

How does NCL handle tendering to the island? I'm a past NCL cruiser and in the past tender tickers were given out for specific tender times.

 

Thank!

Linda

 

It is my understanding that they still use tender tickets with specific times listed. One Freestyle Daily I've read recently outlined the procedure as somone needs to go to Guest Services to pick up tickets for the group. I do not think that applies if someone has priority tendering but I'll find out in a little bit more than a month.

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Hi

 

How does NCL handle tendering to the island? I'm a past NCL cruiser and in the past tender tickers were given out for specific tender times.

 

Thank!

Linda

 

You sign up and are given a time. They post the info in the dailies as to when you can sign up.

 

What ship are you going on and when? We missed GSC on the BA 3/23 sailing and I was looking at the camera today and could not tell if they made it today. They did make it last week.

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If you don't have "priority tendering" privileges, then it is still that way. You can get in line for tender tickets, and when the tickets are handed out, it's first come, first served (you can pick up more than one ticket for family). Then it's just wait for your tender number to be called. After about two hours, it generally goes to "open Tender", no tickets necessary. The tenders are pretty big and hold a large number of persons.

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... We missed GSC on the BA 3/23 sailing and I was looking at the camera today and could not tell if they made it today. They did make it last week.
Weather doesn't look good on the BA bridge cam this am... I'll bet capt decided against GSC and is heading to Nassau.
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You sign up and are given a time. They post the info in the dailies as to when you can sign up.

 

What ship are you going on and when? We missed GSC on the BA 3/23 sailing and I was looking at the camera today and could not tell if they made it today. They did make it last week.

 

I looked at the web cam earlier this AM and could see GSC on the horizon. I just took another look and it would seem that they did not stay. The waters do look a a bit choppy with some white caps.

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Weather doesn't look good on the BA bridge cam this am... I'll bet capt decided against GSC and is heading to Nassau.

 

I looked at the web cam earlier this AM and could see GSC on the horizon. I just took another look and it would seem that they did not stay. The waters do look a a bit choppy with some white caps.

 

Yes, I've looked at it a couple times today and it doesn't look like they made GSC today either.

 

When we were on a couple weeks ago we were doing a drive-by around 8:30 and we left breakfast around 8:40 and the asst concierge told us it had been cancelled and captain would make announcement around 9.

 

They did open shops up at 10:00 a.m. and we walked around a bit and asked those folks if they were supposed to have the time off and they said yes but they had to work.

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We had Priority Tendering for GSC on the BA and that would've put us as among the first on dry land - we're supposed to meet in the Theater at 8:30 AM ... oh, well. Otherwise, you can reserve your tender tickets via interactive TV in the stateroom - unless you are signed up for NCL-Ex or tours. For the GEM or smaller ships, you have to pickup Tender Tickets at a designated time if you are on your own (the Dailies have the exact details)

 

Just checked the BA webcam again, land in the near distance & it's Nassau overnight, just like what happened to us. GSC would've been nice, our track record thus far is 50:50 - twice tendering and twice skipped.

 

NCL-BA-Nassau-9-Apr-2014.jpg

Edited by mking8288
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We are sailing in 2 weeks and suppose to visit GSC. Now I'm

Thinking it might not happen :( I've been watching GSC videos on YouTube all month with my kids, they're so excited to go there! Fingers crossed!

 

Anyways, do we need a tender ticket? If we leave later after the crowd dies down do we still need it? My kids are only 3 & 4 yrs so staying out on the beach with the hot sun all day probably isn't a good idea so we're not in a rush to get off.

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Last time at GSC, the GEM used the big double-decker tender boat that carry several hundreds ashore on each run or back, but it took time to load especially for pax needing special assistance as it was rocking & rolling a bit with quite a bit of vertical movement.

 

Scheduled arrival is 10 AM and if not in a hurry, I would just stay on the ship, enjoy early lunch/late brunch (the buffet would be the only venue open, maybe O'Sheehan) with the 3 & 4 years old. Once the majority of pax who WANTED to get onshore are out on the tender, they will announced over the ship's PA of "open tender" - no tickets are needed at that point.

 

Easy to get sunburn even on a cloudy & overcast day in the tropics, use sunscreen with high SPF #'s - there are only so many clam shell offering extra protection. I've seen inexpensive portable, compact, easy-to-setup folding shell on *Bay for under $30 USD shipped, might be worthwhile to get one & bring it along.

 

As for returning, plan to come back earlier as lots of folks wanted to stay on the island - resulting in long lines for the last tender.

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We are sailing in 2 weeks and suppose to visit GSC. Now I'm

Thinking it might not happen :( I've been watching GSC videos on YouTube all month with my kids, they're so excited to go there! Fingers crossed!

 

Anyways, do we need a tender ticket? If we leave later after the crowd dies down do we still need it? My kids are only 3 & 4 yrs so staying out on the beach with the hot sun all day probably isn't a good idea so we're not in a rush to get off.

 

 

We were there last week, amazing, kids loved it! We had leisurely breakfast and took our time and watched the tendering from deck and relaxed, then went down and got right onto a tender, way easier than standing in lines or waiting in the theatre, who wants to waste time doing that?! Had no problem at all getting lounge chairs etc going later.

 

Coming back we left earlier to head to ship to again avoid the crowds and it was easy and walked right onto tender and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on ship. Perfect!

 

Have fun! It's amazing!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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