Great Stirup Cay

[sissie94]

I will be going on the 10/13 Norwegian Sky cruise and was wondering if it is worth paying for the snorkeling excursion. We have our own snorkel gear. Do they go further from the shore then we can go on our own?

[mbarnaby99]

I will be going on the 10/13 Norwegian Sky cruise and was wondering if it is worth paying for the snorkeling excursion. We have our own snorkel gear. Do they go further from the shore then we can go on our own?

 

You can go everywhere the excursion goes. If you bring your own gear, your in good shape. NCL does say you will have to wear a life vest but they are free to use. We say a good variety and even the sting rays.

[*Wink*]

I've read in other threads that the snorkeling just off the beach isn't bad at all. It'd be free to you since you have gear.

[JCJR]

I will be going on the 10/13 Norwegian Sky cruise and was wondering if it is worth paying for the snorkeling excursion. We have our own snorkel gear. Do they go further from the shore then we can go on our own?

 

If you are talking about Stirrup Cay then the snorkling area is accessed from the beach and it is free if you bring your own gear. Life vests are mandatory and they will not allow you to snorkle with out them. The cost for vests only was $5 for adults and $2.50 for children. I went July 28th and brought my own gear and had to rent the vest. I was bothered that I had to pay because there were no mention of this on their website. I was with a large group and we all brought our snorkling gear so we rented $40 worth of vests which I paid. BTW, my kids and I have our own vest which we did not bring.

 

I spoke with the excursion manager and they said they were going to post it in the website, which I have not verified.

 

We had a blast. It was one of the best beach snorkling I have ever done. There are two rock formations about 50 yards out or so that create a channel. There is a life guard on one of the rocks. The rocks are on the right hand side of the island (facing from the island out to the sea). You can walk in 2-4 ft of water for about 35 yards before it starts to get deep. We swam all over the place and saw a bunch of marine life. There were a lot of coral formations that made the water between 6ft-28ft.

 

We took inexperienced snorklers my wife, SIL, Nephew (9yrs old) (they know how to swim but never used snorkling gear) and they had no problems. They all said it was the highlight of their SKY cruise.

 

I read the excursion info and it says $29 for 7 hours. Basically it is an all day equipment rental. It also states complimentary guides. Which I did not see but I guess you meet at the equipment shack and every hour a guide takes a group out. Which it is probably for all the guests.