Norwegian Sky Tenders/ Great Stirrup Cay

[PIM463]

My partner and I just got back from a trip on the Norwegian Sky and I was very curious about the tender situation to get to Norwegian's private island. I was under the impression that we would have to tender to Nassau, also but that wasnt the case.

 

The tendering process was quite simple, when you're ready to go, get a ticket from the ticket distribution area (in our case, Dazzles Club on deck 6) and go down to deck 3 and form a line. The tenders hold about 450 people so it doesnt take long for all those people who want to go over to the island. We didnt experience any of the fighting, shoving or pushing mentioned in other posts. I tend to think that a civilized adult wouldn't resort to shoving like a kindergartner but, I guess. At any rate, the trip took about 9 minutes from ship to dock and is quite nice. The sun was out and we had a nice gentle breeze. There wasn't too much rocking back and forth, however, on the way back, it was a little bumpier. With that said, if you were having problems on the ship with sea sickness, have your Dramamine or patch handy.

 

 

Great Stirrup Cay, as some might know, is simply a sandy island on top of a coral reef....with that said, the sand on the cay is quite rocky and not as "silky" underfoot, as a traditional beach. When we pulled up to the dock, there was lots of construction equipment strewn about and I think that Norwegian should invest in building some sort of barrier, fence or screen with company logos or advertisements to shield the equipment. They also might think about simply parking it on the other side of the island and not right next to the dock. If the workers have to walk a little farther to get the equipment, then so be it. I definitely think it would be better, in terms of guest experience. The food and entertainment on the island was decent and definitely commensurate with what's available on the ship. There were lots of beach chairs available in three distinct sections. The section closest to the dock were filled up first but, if you walked just a bit, you could get more privacy in the third section, closest to the private cabanas.

 

**DISCLAIMER** I was fooling around with my new camera trying to reduce the glare and I used an improper exposure setting...

 

Here are the vids to give you a taste.

 

[kcdancerkc]

It's the ugliest island I've ever been on - but still better than being at work!

[shelly11]

It was beautiful both times I went before the hurricane. The construction equipment was on the far side at that time too.