Great Stirrup Cay questions

[happythoughts]

I am looking for any opinions on whether it worth traveling with 2 toddlers to Great Stirrup Cay at night? I'll be traveling on the Spirit which will be docked at the Island at night and part of the next day. What are the night activities? Did anyone enjoy being on the island at night? I have read that bug spray is needed. Any other advice? Thank you for your input.:)

[Zimomiller]

Having been to Great Stirrup cay many times during the daylight with my toddlers, my reaction is that if the sun has gone down, I cannot see any attraction for the toddlers.

 

Granted I have never been to GSC at night, but I would bet that they would have much more fun on board in the kids program or just spending time with Mom and Dad.

[bergenctycruzer]

We were on the spirit 7/30-8/5 (see my review for details)

I have two girls ages 8 and 11.

 

After reading the boards, and hearing about it being "buggy" we decided to skip the evening at GSC. However, I am almost certain that Kids Crew does attend that evening and offers all sorts of activities for the children. (i.e. arts and crafts, face painting) Since we did not do this, I don't know the details surrounding Kids Crew at GSC at night.

 

We woke up early the next day and took the tender at 8:30 a.m.

(I was told first tender was at 7:30 a.m.)GSC was already PACKED at 8:30 a.m. We managed to find chairs/umbrella, but not the Lounge chair type. This did not bother us at all because the girls and I spent most of the time in the water and Nonna stayed "with the bags". We rented the large tube (20.00) and shared it since it is soooo big. (this kept BOTH girls in ONE place... easier for me to keep track of them) By 11 a.m. it got VERY hot, so we took the tender back, had a nice lunch in Windows and then went to the kids pool on deck10. No one got Over-heated.

 

Suggestion: ;) Since you have small ones, try to rise early and get an early tender. (it will be practically empty and much more comfy; it gets to hectic later on) Kids are up early anyway. Have a nice breakfast and

stay till before lunch time. Any tender back before noon is less hot and sticky and crowded. (just an observation) We watched them from the deck coming back on the later tenders... they were PACKED with hot tired people.... BUT all looked like they had fun!

 

You will definitely enjoy GSC. The beach is beautiful..... the water.....calm.... clean....wonderful...! Since we have kids, I would give up the "night life" and enjoy the day time hours at GSC.

 

Just my opinion.:)

[cantwaitt]

With a 2:00 departure, savor every moment.

 

You have plenty of time to relax for the nearly two-day return trip.

[akaCruiser]

By the time you arrive at GSC it will be turning dusk. When we arrived at GSC, we decided to skip the evening, as it was close to our daughter's bed time. Also, you would not see too much on the beach and the water temp would have been colder. BTW, most of the activities on the beach are for the adults anyway.

 

It's a lot better getting there early next morning. We got onto a tender around 9:30 AM. By noon time we were ready to head back to the Spirit for lunch and nap time.

 

At GSC you might be lucky enough to spot some stingrays, so bring an underwater camera. I got a couple of decent shots of some stringrays and other small fishes.

[awatt]

With toddlers I would skip the evening. Evening activities are adult oriented. My 7 and 9 year old liked swimming at night, and watching the limbo guy. However, night swimming not a great idea with toddlers. And unless you got a chair early to watvh the limbo guy, it was hard to see. Also I got eaten alive.

 

So, we had a good time, and I'm glad we did it, but would skip it next time and shoot for an early tender in the morning.

[happythoughts]

I just wanted to thank all of you for your advice.:)