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Is just a morning in Great Stirrup Caye worth it?


mtrancher
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56 minutes ago, HowardK said:

I remember I opted for a later one and an earlier one coming back. This way I missed the rush out and the rush back. 

Great idea. So... how long were you actually on the tender? What should one plan for regarding tender time? Obviously timing matters.. but in your case... what did you experience

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On 1/16/2021 at 8:04 PM, Sand and Seas said:

Very strange!  I wonder what other ship(s) would 'bump' Getaway out of GSC. 

 

I wouldn't bother to get off the ship in Nassau.  For GSC, I'd have to think about it for just a few hours in the morning.  We like to sleep late🌞

well, if you wouldnt bother to get off the ship in nassau (neither would i for that matter) it would certainly be a waste of time sitting around in gsc just vegging. its better to stay on board 

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1 hour ago, complawyer said:

well, if you wouldnt bother to get off the ship in nassau (neither would i for that matter) it would certainly be a waste of time sitting around in gsc just vegging. its better to stay on board 

I guess we would look at this differently.    We have been to Nassau a dozen times or so.   Nothing there we personally want to visit again.  Much better beaches and ports on other days of our cruise.

 

GSC has ocean, sand, and hopefully a sunny day🌞   

Everything we love to cruise for, but we would rather have a longer visit to make it worthwhile with the tendering.  As I said before, we like to sleep late on a cruise so we wouldn't be on the earliest tenders.

 

 

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they need to build a pier. christmas 2 years ago it was apparently calm seas..but not..we got all ready to go and then they canceled. the captain said the reason you can see royal at their island is they have a dock. for those unaware you can probably swim between the private islands. they are that close. it was disheartening to not go because of later forecasted rough seas. 

 

then the pool deck looked like a 3rd world country with people just everywhere. it was nuts. glad im not a pool person cause that would have been nuts. thank goodness for the haven. i dont know how people like being packed in like that. 

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There are rumors that NCL was going to build a pier and add some more attractions (slides, lazy river, etc.) but that was pre-COVID, so not sure if any new upgrades will actually happen, likely not for several years at this point.

 

"NCL is embarking on design and construction of Phase III at Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. Facilities include a new pier which can accommodate two passenger ships simultaneously, water attractions, pools, a lazy river and new beaches. A new Bahamian Village will be constructed with food and beverage venues for guests as well as dormitories for service staff along with supporting infrastructure for water, sewer, and power systems."

 

Source: https://www.nv2agroup.com/projects/ncl-great-stirrup-cay-phase-ii/

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  • 4 months later...
On 1/16/2021 at 11:41 AM, Trimone said:

I have suffered from Crohns for 25 years, i to have had the misfortune of eating not fully cooked food, it hospitalised me with campylobacter, I personally never eat of the ship and very rarely in the buffet.

We had a fantastic cruise and didn’t realise the family’s holiday had been ruined until we met at LAX to fly home.

I've had crohn's disease for 20+ years. Actually just needed emergency surgery back in January for an ulcer burst I did not know I had.

 

Certain foods set me off, I just go with the punches. Currently on Stelara injections.

On 1/16/2021 at 11:33 AM, All-ready2cruise said:

Well, of course I feel badly for him, however, the fact that he got ill was not due to food poisoning, right? Those suffering from Crohns disease are prone many different reactions for food. 

 

"This is even more important when you have a flare-up of your Crohn’s symptoms. Spicy or greasy foods, whole grains, high-fiber fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, caffeine, and alcohol can all be harder on your body during a flare-up."

^^^^

Taken from this link: https://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/crohns-disease/creating-a-crohns-disease-diet-plan

I know this all too well living with crohns disease for 20+ years. I have reactions to foods all the time, you just learn to roll with the punches.

 

On a side not, I love spicy foods, sriracha is my favorite! 

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17 minutes ago, ClevelandCruisin said:

I've had crohn's disease for 20+ years. Actually just needed emergency surgery back in January for an ulcer burst I did not know I had.

 

Certain foods set me off, I just go with the punches. Currently on Stelara injections.

I know this all too well living with crohns disease for 20+ years. I have reactions to foods all the time, you just learn to roll with the punches.

 

On a side not, I love spicy foods, sriracha is my favorite! 

how is this even relevant to the gsc question?

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23 minutes ago, complawyer said:

how is this even relevant to the gsc question?

It was to a related post earlier. Read all the comments and you'll see what I was replying to earlier.

 

Or should I get technical on how my experience was on GSC with crohn's disease?  

Edited by ClevelandCruisin
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On 1/19/2021 at 6:26 PM, mtrancher said:

Great idea. So... how long were you actually on the tender? What should one plan for regarding tender time? Obviously timing matters.. but in your case... what did you experience

Unfortunately, tender durations can vary immensely!
We have been lucky had had some relatively short tender times to/from GSC.
Yet, we have also had to sit for longer periods of time, waiting for loading/unloading based on multiple factors. (These are NOT in any cause/effect order):

1) Timing  2) How many tenders are running?  3) Fitness and/or age of passengers.  4) Weather/Sea conditions.  5) Which tender is being utilized & number of passengers - tenders go when filled!!! 

6) Unknowns
 

Given the above, once the tender(s) are filled, the ride from ship to island (or returning to ship) tends to go rather quickly ...mabe 10 minutes, sometimes longer based on above.  Once back to the ship, the above factors weigh-in again.

 

Now, here is a FUN FACT...  The large white tenders at GSC are actually flagged SHIPS that were on The NORWAY. 

@mtrancher If you are an early riser, and the tenders are running, I suggest you give it a try.

DH & I will be going, even if it's only for a short period of time!  It's been too long since we last went there!!!

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11 hours ago, complawyer said:

ok if you insist, get technical. if you read my earlier post, if the ship docked in gsc, i wouldnt even bother to get off the ship.  

 

As I said in my first post, it is a matter of taste and personal likes.

 

The stay at GSC gives me the opportunity to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, which I don't get to do often enough. I compete in a lot of open water swimming events in the West so I like the chance to swim in the Atlantic.

 

I also like "different". Sitting on the beach to read and relax is a different experience from sitting in a lounge chair on the ship.

 

Obviously none of those things matter to you and that is fine. The OP can take the various responses and decide what they might like to do.

 

3 hours ago, ggTexasGal said:

 If you are an early riser, and the tenders are running, I suggest you give it a try. DH & I will be going, even if it's only for a short period of time!  It's been too long since we last went there!!!

 

I am an early riser, so that is a big reason I do it. If I didn't roll out of bed until 9:30AM, I might not bother with a 12:30PM departure time. But I'd have no problem making a 6:00AM tender, so I go; DW, not so much. She might join later, but I'll be without her on the 6AM tender 🙂

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scotta075. you are 100% correct, those things dont matter to me at all. i've been to great stirrup caye twice, the third time the water was to rough to tender so the capt decided not to even stop.

 

i'm 15 minutes from the pacific, so swimming in the atlantic isnt a great motivator for me.  

 

i may sound like a grumpy, stubborn old man (which in fact I am) but sorry, there is nothing on great stirrup caye that would induce me to get off the ship. im sure there are literally 1000's of people who love the experience, i'm just not  one of them. the original post was: is a morning in gsc worth it. to me, the answer is still a resounding no!

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This may be a decision to whether you want to get off ship to visit GSC or not .... the sea water will be cold in January!

 

GSC is at the top of the Caribbean so the water does get chilly/cold during the winter months.

 

BUT, why not get off ship (when the queues are short) to visit and explore GSC, have drinks, eat and shop and then return to ship, no need to go for a swim.

 

 

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11 hours ago, complawyer said:

i'm 15 minutes from the pacific, so swimming in the atlantic isnt a great motivator for me.

 

I'm 3 minutes from the Pacific if the elevator is slow, 1 minute if I catch it just right. The warm waters of the Atlantic are a novelty for me. I don't get to swim in it all that often.

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If the entire visit/duration at GSC is half a day / morning for 4 hours or less - tendering is probably not "worth" it for some ... unless you are sailing Haven, booked one of the private villas (for 1/2 day ??) or have escorted/priority tendering, booked a NCL shorex activity on the island.  

 

Weather/water & sea conditions permitting and favorable for the short 10 minutes ride each way ... the entire transfer process is more than 30+ minutes or an hour for most guests.  Although, for the mega/+ ships - they use both front & back (starboard side) to transfer crews, provisions, gears & equipments and passengers ashore.  Norway I and Norway II can each pack easily 450 persons per ride (max capacity is 500 for these double deckers).  

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A couple of cruises ago we did two beach days, a  private island in Cozumel and Great Stirrup Caye.

 

The private island in Cozumel  involved finding our group in the pier area and waiting around for quite a while for a long bumpy boat ride to the island. On the island we were served small plastic cups of draft beer and some sort of pre mixed drinks also in  plastic cups. There was also a pretty mediocre taco buffet set up that we ate lunch at. The excursion set us back about $60 per person.

 

Our stay in Great Stirrup Caye involved waiting in line on the ship for a few minutes for the tender and a short ride to the pier. We had a nice selection of beers and and open bar using the unlimited drink package. We didn't eat at the buffet which was free because a friend working on the island caught us some lobsters and fish and grilled them for us. People we talked to said it was ok.

 

Both places had nice beaches and were very relaxing 

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43 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Keep in mind that GSC can be hit or miss.  Unofficial count over the years about 30% miss due to sea conditions.  Now wait for the poster who is 6 for 6.

You're absolutely right!

We made it in January 2020 off the Encore but almost didn't make it back to the ship. Lol.

Had a great day. We rented a cabana and enjoyed all the amenities for the entire day.

There was a super long line to get a tender back to the ship at the end of the day and then it took us about 30 minutes to get back to the ship and it was pretty hairy.

The water was so rough that they couldn't get the tenders close up to the ship to get onboard. We kept circling around but they couldn't approach the ship for fear of crashing into it.

And then when they finally got up to the ship, it was an adventure stepping onto the ship. We practically had to jump back on. Kind of crazy but we did have a great day so I guess it was worth it to us.

After being there and after our experience, I'd probably skip it for just half a day.

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1 hour ago, dexddd said:

Keep in mind that GSC can be hit or miss.  Unofficial count over the years about 30% miss due to sea conditions.  Now wait for the poster who is 6 for 6.

That's true. We took an early boat from the Ship and got there. Our friend working on the caye told us that soon after we got there the sea got rough and didn't resume until around noon. It was a little rough reboarding.

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