Great Stirrup Cay: Independently or with ship?

[acruise4me]

Will will be visiting Great Stirrup Cay with the NCL Jewel. How do you visit this island? Is it necessary to take the ship's excursion or can you do this one on your own? Is it worth going with the ship? Thanks!

[luvmysox1]

Will will be visiting Great Stirrup Cay with the NCL Jewel. How do you visit this island? Is it necessary to take the ship's excursion or can you do this one on your own? Is it worth going with the ship? Thanks!

This is NCL's private island. You can only book their excursions. Just parisail and snokeling, hippo slide. Everything esle you use ship card for drinks and food is covered in your cruise fare.

[islandgrl71]

New tour to Great Stirrup as of Dec. 09. Eco Adventure Boat Tour is a good alternative if you don't want to get wet but still want to see marine life. The boat takes you for an hour trip through the Northern Berry Islands in the shallow water to view stingrays, sharks and turtles in the mangrove estuary. Tour guides will stop along the way to pick up giant starfish, conch and land crabs to pass around the boat as they give the history and culture of the area. Guides are very informative and entertaining and will show you things such as a 200' Blue hole, airplane crash and the abandoned hideaway of the "Rat Pack". You can find previous posts under the name Aquatic Adventure Tour.

[BIG_Steve]

Will will be visiting Great Stirrup Cay with the NCL Jewel. How do you visit this island? Is it necessary to take the ship's excursion or can you do this one on your own? Is it worth going with the ship? Thanks!

 

Others have given good answers about what to do, but your question makes me wonder if you're asking how to physically get there? The ship doesn't dock, it anchors and you take a small tender boat over to the island. The tender is free, but on some ships you have to pick up a free ticket beforehand to get on. You can go to the island, swim, poke around, and eat, all for free.

[STARFISH*4]

sometimes too because of weather, tendering issues you miss this stop all together and have a day at sea or perhaps Nassau (which we did on our sailing in January) or Key West.

[BIG_Steve]

sometimes too because of weather, tendering issues you miss this stop all together and have a day at sea or perhaps Nassau (which we did on our sailing in January) or Key West.

 

Depends on the ship. The SKY (for example) seems to have a "day at sea" if they can't stop at GSC. Some of the other ships will do that, or go to another port. The SKY does 3 and 4 day cruises. Perhaps their margin is too thin to start paying additional port fees. (??)

[luvmysox1]

New tour to Great Stirrup as of Dec. 09. Eco Adventure Boat Tour is a good alternative if you don't want to get wet but still want to see marine life. The boat takes you for an hour trip through the Northern Berry Islands in the shallow water to view stingrays, sharks and turtles in the mangrove estuary. Tour guides will stop along the way to pick up giant starfish, conch and land crabs to pass around the boat as they give the history and culture of the area. Guides are very informative and entertaining and will show you things such as a 200' Blue hole, airplane crash and the abandoned hideaway of the "Rat Pack". You can find previous posts under the name Aquatic Adventure Tour.

 

Where is this? I have not seen it in excurisons available. Sounds fun. Is this private?

[kathynorth]

You may want to visit the Private Islands page under ports of call to read more info on Great Stirrup Cay.