Great Stirrup Cay, last week

We sailed the MSC Divina, which borrows GSC from NCL for the days it sails there.

We have been reading this board faithfully for our trip and it did supply us with most valuable info. First of all, we are really not beach people. I have had two cases of early melanoma and try and stay out of the sun as much as possible. We debated even getting off to see GSC, but we decided to do so.

We got to the island about 10:30 when most tendered in about 8:30. At the main beach there wasn't even a lounge chair to be found and believe me, every inch of available shade was taken.

But, thanks to members here, we asked where the tram to the Lagoon was, and we took that 10 minute ride to a completely different world. NO CROWDS, unlimited empty lounge chairs, many palm trees with shade right under them.

For beach people they had several area which basically had their own private lagoons to swim in and lounge there. They have a sort of 'lake' right in the middle, not very deep, where you can even put your lounge chair into the water and just relax.

Yes, they don't have all the rentals that the main beach has, but there is so much beach with hardly anyone there, shade, and the BBQ is also there. MSC (and I assume NCL) offers cold water, lemonade, and all the usual BBQ stuff. We spent a very relaxing day, lounging in the shade, just enjoying the magnificent scenery. I'll post some pixs as soon as I can get to it.

The Divina carries 3800 passengers and there were maybe 300 in this area.

Hope this info helps anyone going there.

Cheers

Len

Thanks for the post and looking forward to some pix.

I've never been, but very interested in visiting GSC.

Is the lagoon to the left? See pic attached.

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

Yes..on ALL of the private islands/beaches, the 1st beach will be packed and jammed...folks simply plop into the 1st chair they see....unwilling to walk 1 more step than necessary! You did good by keeping on....and were rewarded for you efforts!

magnificent scenery. I'll post some pixs as soon as I can get to it.

 

Yes thanks. Looking forward to your pictures.

thanks for the review- that sounds great! Was there a bar area over there as well?

Subscribing to this thread because I want to see the pictures. We will be there again in November and...like most people, we plopped our butts down in the first available chair after you get to the beach and it was CROWDED! :p I plan on adventuring down to the lagoon this time.

Thanks Giantfan13 for the great information. We are sailing on MSC Davina in 2 weeks and I have not had any time to research our ports of call until now. How do I locate the tram and was there a cost for the ride to the lagoon. How often did the tram run? Was the BBQ provided by MSC cruises?

Thanks Giantfan13 for the great information. We are sailing on MSC Davina in 2 weeks and I have not had any time to research our ports of call until now. How do I locate the tram and was there a cost for the ride to the lagoon. How often did the tram run? Was the BBQ provided by MSC cruises?

I'm not the OP, but, I was there yesterday and the lagoon was fabulous! When you get off the tender, walk to the left, there are signs for the tram, tell the driver you are going to the lagoon, there is no cost for the tram. . I would say there were never more than 50 of us there, the tram runs every half hour or so. Lunch is provided, hot dogs and hamburgers, a small bar. I saw beer, I don't know if they had mixed drinks, I just had water and lemonade. Here are some pics.

And a few more. There is very little shade, but, I was able to put a lounger under one of the trees, most of these pics were taken from that lounger.

I'm not the OP, but, I was there yesterday and the lagoon was fabulous! When you get off the tender, walk to the left, there are signs for the tram, tell the driver you are going to the lagoon, there is no cost for the tram. . I would say there were never more than 50 of us there, the tram runs every half hour or so. Lunch is provided, hot dogs and hamburgers, a small bar. I saw beer, I don't know if they had mixed drinks, I just had water and lemonade. Here are some pics.

Thanks for the wonderful pictures maureencruiser. Those are beautiful and probably the most pictures I have seen of the lagoon. I am going to make sure that we go over there this time around (in November).

When you say that lunch is provided, is there a spot over by the lagoon that they serve lunch? Or do you have to go back over to the main lunch building to get lunch?

Would you happen to know if there's "any" snorkeling at all in that area? I know in the main area there is some, but just wondering about here because it looks like it's kinda man-made and it might not have the possibility to have much there.

Thanks for the info and once again for the wonderful pictures. :)

Mitsu, There is a spot at the lagoon called Bobolinks that serves hot dogs and hamburgers. You could probably have a more extensive lunch at the main place, but Bobolinks had the basics. My lounger was actually in the smoke from the grill, I'm sure I smelled like burgers all day. Here is Bobolinks from my lounger. You can see the Divina in the background.

Here is the tram.

Here is the grill, you can see the bathroom in the background, the blue building.

Not particularly inspiring, but, it will fill your belly.

I went on a little walkabout of the lagoon area, this is just on the other side of Bobolinks. Trust me, I did not walk more than maybe 50 feet. Are these people snorkeling, I can't tell.

Love this picture!

Here's a shot from the back side of Bobolinks proving I did not go far.

There was a volleyball net with a Carnival ship tendered off CocoCay, oops, I mean Little Stirrup Key. :rolleyes:

And that completed my "grand" tour. Back at the lagoon there is a lifestand, but, no lifeguard.

I can't swim, so, I stayed close to the shore, it dropped off rather quickly. People swam out to the island and walked around out there. You can see in this picture there is a "rim" that goes around the island and people were walking and sitting on the rim. You can see two men walking on the rim at the right side of this pic and a couple sitting on the rim at the right side also.

I can't remember if I already posted this, but, this is from my lounger and the Carnival ship gives you a perspective on how close the volleyball net was. You can alos see 2 people standing on the rim.

I didn't notice any snorkelers, but, I wasn't looking for them, either. There were fish in there and I saw one very excited little boy tracking a crab if that helps. Some one else should be able to comment on snorkeling opportunities. I hope these pictures helped.

Oh my gosh, you are terrific!! Thank you SO MUCH for the pictures. It looks beautiful and it looks like I'm going to have to go exploring while there. I have never even seen that part of the island and it definitely looks like it's worth visiting for sure. I think the reason I didn't go over there the last time is because as soon as we hit the beach, I seen a stingray swimming and I took off after my camera to try to get a picture (with no luck of course because he was gone by the time I got back) and we kinda just stuck around that area the rest of the day snorkeling and stuff.

I'm super excited now. :D

Oh, how embarrassing! :o I did post duplicate pictures, but, for different reasons, to show different things, like the rim. They also had a place where you could rent mats and little boats. This was right behind Bobolinks, I do NOT know if you could rent them there or if you had to rent them on the ship and just pick them up there.

For a little more perspective, this is taken standing at Bobolinks.

The sandy spot to the right was where the volleyball net was.

The "crowd" at Bobolinks. I see 25 people, I never saw more than maybe a dozen or so in the water at one time. The OP said he saw about 300 on his visit, I guess it just depends on how many people know about it.

I think the reason I didn't go over there the last time is because as soon as we hit the beach, I seen a stingray swimming and I took off after my camera to try to get a picture (with no luck of course because he was gone by the time I got back) and we kinda just stuck around that area the rest of the day snorkeling and stuff.I'm super excited now. :D

Glad I could help. I actually read on one of these threads that the lagoon was built for a stingray encounter that never came to fruition, I don't know if that is true. The tram driver also showed us where there is going to be a kayaking spot on the way to the lagoon and the house where the employees who stay on the island live.

Glad I could help. I actually read on one of these threads that the lagoon was built for a stingray encounter that never came to fruition, I don't know if that is true. The tram driver also showed us where there is going to be a kayaking spot on the way to the lagoon and the house where the employees who stay on the island live.

So I wonder where they actually do the stingray encounter at then if it's not here? :confused: I do recall reading that others have done this excursion and there's some type of sandbar where it's done. They do have it listed as one of the excursions for NCL. My daughter and some of the rest of the family is doing it (we are not since we have done the stingrays twice in Grand Cayman and the cruise the week before this one we will be doing the sharks and stingrays in Belize, so we will pass on it here).

I didn't realize that they had employees that actually stay on the island. I guess I just assumed everyone came off the ship and worked there during that day. But, I guess it makes sense to need people to stay on the island to maintain it and work on improvements. :)

Mitsu, Did you see this thread? It's about a snorkeling tour at Cococay and says it's for GSC, as well. I don't know if that's true, you can check it out.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2092480

I'm thinking the lagoon may have been less crowded when I was there because the MSC people don't know as much about the island as the NCL people do. :)

Mitsu, Did you see this thread? It's about a snorkeling tour at Cococay and says it's for GSC, as well. I don't know if that's true, you can check it out.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2092480

 

I'm thinking the lagoon may have been less crowded when I was there because the MSC people don't know as much about the island as the NCL people do. :)

Thanks for the info and the link. I'll let my daughter know about it since she is the one wanting to do the stingrays. I wonder if it's the same that NCL has listed on their website? The snorkeling pictures looked awesome, but the "party boat"....well, not really what I would be interested in with a young child. :( My daughter will also have a young child (and the only reason that she wants to do the stingrays-because she has done them in Grand Cayman, but didn't have my grandson with her at the time, so he has never done them). So, even though it looks like an awesome tour, I'm kinda hoping this is not what NCL is offering because of the drinking and partying. Of course drinking is fine, but in the pictures I see a "little more" than just having your normal drink. ;)

Maureencruiser. Do you know if you can rent clam shells at the lagoon? We will be there in about 2 weeks and would like to have some shade.

Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures! I will be there in a bit more than 3 weeks and will definitely be heading to the Lagoon! It's wonderful to have a mental picture. Looks very tranquil.

Head for the lagoon.

It is probably one of the nicest areas on the island.

When I was at Great Stirrup Cay I never did find the lagoon (I don't think it existed then) but I did find the airport. I wonder if it's still there?

Thank you so much for posting your pixs of the Lagoon, Maureen. For some reason many of our pixs didn't come our right (we need a new camera ASAP). I see you stayed basically by the man made lake. You did have one pix in exactly the spot were we sat, looking out towards where people were snorkeling.

As I said several times, we aren't beach people, and do not even bring bathing suits, but if we can find a nice shady spot, we love to just sit, chill out and enjoy the views. We also like to explore a bit. We originally wanted to walk to the lighthouse, but they said it wasn't accessible at that time.

We also like to sort of explore a bit. We walked around a lot of the coastline, where there are several places that you basically have a small beach to yourselves, among the rocks. Sorry I just don't have pixs of this, but it is absolutely gorgeous, if you get there and secure one of these areas for yourself. We walked around the rocks and found several wonderful conch shells, (pretty good size also).

Here some of the pixs that did come out. Hope you enjoy.

Parts of the rocky shoreline

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/bahamas/MSC%20DIvina/IMG_6454_zpsc2c5b20f.jpg

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/bahamas/MSC%20DIvina/IMG_6447_zpse894f786.jpg

Walking out on the corral

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/bahamas/MSC%20DIvina/IMG_6453_zps2ef91783.jpg

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/bahamas/MSC%20DIvina/IMG_6456_zpsd272e7b4.jpg

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/bahamas/MSC%20DIvina/IMG_6458_zpsc29a46ec.jpg

This is more OUR style :D:D:D:D

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/bahamas/MSC%20DIvina/IMG_6464_zps06eaa512.jpg

Don't let the coastline fool you, there are plenty of places along the shore with beaches, and, as I said originally, people just took their loungers and moved them right into the water.

Cheers

Len

So, even though it looks like an awesome tour, I'm kinda hoping this is not what NCL is offering because of the drinking and partying. Of course drinking is fine, but in the pictures I see a "little more" than just having your normal drink. ;)

Oh, sorry, I didn't look at the pictures or the video, I just saw the post about how good the snorkeling was. :o

Maureencruiser. Do you know if you can rent clam shells at the lagoon? We will be there in about 2 weeks and would like to have some shade.

Now, that I do not know, I don't see any in my pics.....Sorry....:confused:

When I was at Great Stirrup Cay I never did find the lagoon (I don't think it existed then) but I did find the airport. I wonder if it's still there?

 

Wow how neat. I wonder if it's still there.

 

We also like to sort of explore a bit. We walked around a lot of the coastline, where there are several places that you basically have a small beach to yourselves, among the rocks. Sorry I just don't have pixs of this, but it is absolutely gorgeous, if you get there and secure one of these areas for yourself. We walked around the rocks and found several wonderful conch shells, (pretty good size also).

 

Len

Thanks for the wonderful pictures!!! This place is getting more and more interesting! :)