Great Stirrup Cay

[CruisingCleo]

We will be on the Riviera for the transatlantic leaving Miami on March 22. The first stop will be Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahama’s. Does anybody have experience with a stop there? Is it nice? How  are the restaurants and the bars? We saw a video where  the food  did not look appetizing at all. Would it be a good idea to just go to the beach for a few hours  and then  return to the ship? 
We just want to have a relaxing day, so are not planning any  excursions.

Edited November 11, 2022 by CruisingCleo

[LHT28]

AFAIK it is  NCL's private island

all about  the beach & water sports  so you could just go to the beach 

check the restaurants  then decide   if you want to tender back to the ship

 

 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

AFAIK it is  NCL's private island

Correct

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

all about  the beach & water sports  so you could just go to the beach 

check the restaurants  then decide   if you want to tender back to the ship

That's what we do.

[Yesimapirate]

Do they set up it any differently for Oceania then NCL?

 

We've been there on NCL (before they built some of the villas).  We weren't impressed. 

[AMHuntFerry]

Oceania culinary staff typically do a lunch BBQ on the island.

[CruisingCleo]

48 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Oceania culinary staff typically do a lunch BBQ on the island.

Now that sounds quite nice. Much better than what we saw on this video: https://youtu.be/jPksFpQsEIs.

 

 

 

[AMHuntFerry]

Tendering was not available last December due to wind, so I can't give first hand experience. We are not into the private island experience or sunning on a beach, so had booked a kayaking shorex in hopes of spotting some sealife. If you are a "wanderer", you can walk to a lighthouse (not the one with the zipline) and old cemetery. I can't post the link to the site where I found great info, but if you google "Unusual things to do on Great Stirrup Cay" you should get a hit.

Edited November 11, 2022 by AMHuntFerry

[MEFIowa]

17 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Tendering was not available last December due to wind, so I can't give first hand experience. We are not into the private island experience or sunning on a beach, so had booked a kayaking shorex in hopes of spotting some sealife. ...

Were you on the 12/13-23/21 W. Caribbean cruise on Riviera? The last stop was here but we couldn't tender.

 

But we did tender at Harvest Caye in Belize, another NCL private island. With the zip line over the water in front of the beach. Wife and I spent the day at the beach, getting there early to find the perfect spot in the shade. We didn't eat there. Did look at the shops and stores and places to see. Not a whole heck of a lot. So, we spent 95% of our time in the water or on the sand.

[AMHuntFerry]

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Were you on the 12/13-23/21 W. Caribbean cruise on Riviera? The last stop was here but we couldn't tender.

 

But we did tender at Harvest Caye in Belize, another NCL private island. With the zip line over the water in front of the beach. Wife and I spent the day at the beach, getting there early to find the perfect spot in the shade. We didn't eat there. Did look at the shops and stores and places to see. Not a whole heck of a lot. So, we spent 95% of our time in the water or on the sand.

yessirree!

We liked walking through the (shady!) animal display on Harvest Caye. I'm always leery of live-animal displays since they can be exploiting the wildlife; I don't know where on the conservation-exploitation spectrum this display lies, but the enclosures seemed well done (e.g., large and faux-natural environment).

[MEFIowa]

5 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

yessirree! We liked walking through the (shady!) animal display on Harvest Caye. ...

Lots of blue morpho butterflies in the one display. My wife freaked out when she almost ran into the lizard, who was outside his display.

[MisterBill99]

I know that this is an old thread, but I don't feel like creating a new one when this one is here. Can anyone confirm that the food at Great Stirrup Cay is better when Oceania visits than it is when NCL does? I understand that the food comes from the ship, so hopefully it SHOULD be better.

[Harters]

I don't know the answer to your question, MisterB. But I do know the food when we stopped there with Norwegian was pretty dismal. When Vista called earlier in the year, we decided to stay on board - one visit to GSC being enough for us.  

[pinotlover]

11 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

I know that this is an old thread, but I don't feel like creating a new one when this one is here. Can anyone confirm that the food at Great Stirrup Cay is better when Oceania visits than it is when NCL does? I understand that the food comes from the ship, so hopefully it SHOULD be better.

 

2 hours ago, Harters said:

I don't know the answer to your question, MisterB. But I do know the food when we stopped there with Norwegian was pretty dismal. When Vista called earlier in the year, we decided to stay on board - one visit to GSC being enough for us.  

Perhaps I’m confused on location, but I thought that the staff for GSC was locally sourced. The bartenders, cooks, waitstaff, etc, were all local hires and it isn’t primarily ship staff. If this is correct, why would a quality and taste of a hamburger be different depending upon the ship?

[Harters]

Found this on another cruise website. 

 

"There are a small number of NCL staff who will temporarily live on the island to provide services to guests, but contracts here are seasonal. The island does not have any permanent residents.

 

Many of the people serving you on the island work on the cruise ship, and the buffet food is prepared by the ship’s kitchen staff, who also bring the food ashore from the ship on a tender boat early in the morning."

 

If accurate, perhaps suggests that the "small number of NCL staff" are maintenance and cleaning staff. 

[MisterBill99]

25 minutes ago, Harters said:

Found this on another cruise website. 

 

"There are a small number of NCL staff who will temporarily live on the island to provide services to guests, but contracts here are seasonal. The island does not have any permanent residents.

 

Many of the people serving you on the island work on the cruise ship, and the buffet food is prepared by the ship’s kitchen staff, who also bring the food ashore from the ship on a tender boat early in the morning."

 

If accurate, perhaps suggests that the "small number of NCL staff" are maintenance and cleaning staff. 

 

Exactly. The island staff would run the activities and do maintenance. The food always comes from the ship. That's the way it works with Royal's private islands, and there's no reason to think otherwise for NCL. It's not like the island gets food deliveries!

[MisterBill99]

3 hours ago, Harters said:

I don't know the answer to your question, MisterB. But I do know the food when we stopped there with Norwegian was pretty dismal. When Vista called earlier in the year, we decided to stay on board - one visit to GSC being enough for us.  

 

Because of the food or because the island itself wasn't of interest to you? I'm sure it's a completely different atmosphere with a 1200 passenger ship there instead of 5000+. And I'm hoping that the food is different, too. We just booked a cruise for December that stops there, so we'll definitely check it out. Have not been there on NCL, but we've been to Royal and HAL's private islands. 

[Harters]

44 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

Because of the food or because the island itself wasn't of interest to you?

Both. Plus it was our first full day on board. It'd been a busy few days and we were just happy to spend the day chilling out on the ship.

[Twiga]

We stopped at Great Stirrup Cay on the Sirena in January 2023.  We were the only ship there. The food was provided by the ship. It was served buffet style.  We had a wonderful selection of barbecued meats, accompanied by salads and other dishes.  It was delicious!  Also, our beverage package onboard the ship was valid onshore. There were servers circulating among the beach loungers taking drink orders.  It was a very pleasant day!

[Jayne E]

We’ve been to these O private islands and IMO they are nothing more than an economic excuse not to stop at a nicer island.  No port fees and all money spent goes to O. 
Long lines, up to 1 hour at times, for a lousy selection of food.  No umbrellas and hard plastic loungers. Need to go early to find tree shade. There’s a reason most stay on ship after 1st visit.

The beach and water are nice however.

[MisterBill99]

1 hour ago, Jayne E said:

We’ve been to these O private islands and IMO they are nothing more than an economic excuse not to stop at a nicer island.  No port fees and all money spent goes to O. 
Long lines, up to 1 hour at times, for a lousy selection of food.  No umbrellas and hard plastic loungers. Need to go early to find tree shade. There’s a reason most stay on ship after 1st visit.

The beach and water are nice however.

 

Perhaps, but it's also nice to have a beach you can visit without having to pay for someone to take you there, and get food that you don't have to pay extra for, and drinks that are included. The customer pays for port fees (although Oceania never charged for them separately, you can be sure they were being passed onto the customer). Seems odd that there would be a one-hour wait to get food given how few people are on the O ships. I've never waited that long on a ship with many more people. 

 

Maybe the issue is the average age of O guests and lack of interest in a beach day. In our case, it will be at the end of a 12-night cruise, so a welcome relaxing day.

Edited Sunday at 05:48 PM by MisterBill99

[MisterBill99]

3 hours ago, Twiga said:

 Also, our beverage package onboard the ship was valid onshore. There were servers circulating among the beach loungers taking drink orders.  It was a very pleasant day!

 

Were mocktails free like they are on the ship? I'm not going to upgrade to the better drink package, since we're not huge drinkers and are happy with the non-alcoholic stuff.

[Twiga]

@MisterBill99, I don't know about the mocktails. Since we were told that we'd get the same drinks as onboard (this was before Simple More), I assume that if mocktails are free on the ship they will be free in Great Stirrup Cay, although the variety might be limited.

[Jayne E]

3 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Perhaps, but it's also nice to have a beach you can visit without having to pay for someone to take you there, and get food that you don't have to pay extra for, and drinks that are included. The customer pays for port fees (although Oceania never charged for them separately, you can be sure they were being passed onto the customer). Seems odd that there would be a one-hour wait to get food given how few people are on the O ships. I've never waited that long on a ship with many more people. 

 

Maybe the issue is the average age of O guests and lack of interest in a beach day. In our case, it will be at the end of a 12-night cruise, so a welcome relaxing day.

We are of "average age" and still go to beaches all over the world on our O cruises. It's not an old age thing, just a no cost low end cruise stop.

First time, one very long line in sun. When you finally got to buffet, there were two areas with same choices at each.  Second area empty as no one knew it existed. Maybe it's been rearranged with a line for each area.

Just saying our experience, as someone asked. Will be there December and spend some beach time and return for lunch.  Enjoy your cruise!!

[MisterBill99]

 

On 8/25/2024 at 5:57 PM, Jayne E said:

We are of "average age" and still go to beaches all over the world on our O cruises. It's not an old age thing, just a no cost low end cruise stop.

First time, one very long line in sun. When you finally got to buffet, there were two areas with same choices at each.  Second area empty as no one knew it existed. Maybe it's been rearranged with a line for each area.

Just saying our experience, as someone asked. Will be there December and spend some beach time and return for lunch.  Enjoy your cruise!!

 

We've been to other private islands, and they always have multiple sections/lines at the buffet with identical food. It's to get as many people served as possible.  We'll also be there in December and I will check out the buffet before deciding whether to head back to the ship.

[Jayne E]

2 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

 

We've been to other private islands, and they always have multiple sections/lines at the buffet with identical food. It's to get as many people served as possible.  We'll also be there in December and I will check out the buffet before deciding whether to head back to the ship.

Your prior cruises did it right.  Hopefully O has made changes, as some actually had to leave the line due to heat.