What time does the NCL tender leave Cayo Levantado? Is shade available?

[LakelandCat]

Hi all. We are getting to ready to book this beach break. Will be on the Jewel. We are taking our 18 month old with us so we can play around the edge of the water. NCL has times to leave the ship every 30 minutes, starting at 10:30 thru noon. I have read on the boards that the first tender back to the ship does not start until 2:30 or 3pm depending on the poster. I am trying to figure out the times so we won't be there too long with the little guy, whereas before our son we woud have been the first to arrive and the last to leave the beach! :) Also, is shade available either by trees or umbrellas? Any other Cayo Levantado excursion specific advice for taking a toddler? All info is appreciated. I have read most reviews about this excursion and these are my last questions to be answered. Happy cruising to all and thank you. Will post a review when we get back.

[hova]

The first tenders back to our ship started around 3pm.

Even though our online booking stated that we were to start our tour over to Cayo L was at 10:30, when we boarded the ship, our tour tickets stated 11:15. In fact, we never go to the island until noon. So... we were happy to bring the last boat back around 5pm. I don't remember seeing any umbrellas, but their was some trees around their if you wanted to get out of the sun.

 

hova

[lovetocruise99]

Here are several photos of Cayo Levantado that I took on this excursion. We enjoyed our time there immensely.

 

http://familytravelfun.com/cayo-levantado-photos.html

[Nickymjw1]

Can anyone tell me what the cost of drinks & food were at Cayo? Trying to get an idea of what this excursion is really going to cost me since I can't get back until after lunch time...

[mj cruiser]

The burgers and hotdogs were $5 each and they came with fries...all were not very good when we were there. There is also a buffet offered I think that was $12-15. We got to the beach at about 10:45 am and left at around 2:45 pm so we could go back to the ship to eat. I hope NCL adds some places to get food because we would have stayed much longer out on the beach if there was decent food :D my son had a total blast playing in the waves and there were some people there with babies as well.