Any recent Great Stirrup Cay Villas reviews?

[CruisingSince1982]

Anyone recent with a ocean or lagoon villa? Can't find many reviews. 

[susanf31]

We sail on Jan 15 and have a villa at Silver Cove booked for our family of 7.  If you aren't cruising before then, let me know what questions you have and I will answer them when we return.

 

[ggTexasGal]

Have you seen this?  If not skim through all the pages.

NOTE:, there are some nice videos added on page 5 toward the bottom!

Many thanks to @FreestyleNovice for starting the thread and everyone who has contributed!!!

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by ggTexasGal
correction

[Vinegarjoe10]

7 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

Anyone recent with a ocean or lagoon villa? Can't find many reviews. 

We had a lagoon studio villa on 12/13. I would glad to answer any questions you may have. 
 

Regards,
 

Vinegarjoe 

[nhtravels]

1 hour ago, Vinegarjoe10 said:

We had a lagoon studio villa on 12/13. I would glad to answer any questions you may have. 
 

Regards,
 

Vinegarjoe 

Do you know if the Moet bar is included or is there an upcharge for the drinks?  (We only have the premium drink package, not the premium plus).  

 

We have a 1 Br. villa  booked for next week!  

 

Thanks 🙂

[ggTexasGal]

7 hours ago, nhtravels said:

Do you know if the Moet bar is included or is there an upcharge for the drinks?  (We only have the premium drink package, not the premium plus).  

 

We have a 1 Br. villa  booked for next week!  

 

Thanks 🙂

I'm believe that you would need to pay any difference in price = Over $15 + 20% gratuity + Bahama tax.

Please come back and update us with info!

[CruisingSince1982]

11 hours ago, Vinegarjoe10 said:

We had a lagoon studio villa on 12/13. I would glad to answer any questions you may have. 
 

Regards,
 

Vinegarjoe 

Was it big enough for 6?  I have a ton of credit, so getting the 1-bedroom isn't a big deal, but it just looks ridiculous to me (having a bed in a cabana). How was the water? Is it rocky? 

[ggTexasGal]

On 12/28/2021 at 7:36 PM, Vinegarjoe10 said:

We had a lagoon studio villa on 12/13. I would glad to answer any questions you may have. 
 

Regards,
 

Vinegarjoe 

@Vinegarjoe10  Happy New Year!!!  Please come back and tell us:

A) Did you did make to GSC? 

B) Your reaction to your Lagoon Studio Villa. 

   Also, if applicable --

C) Studio number and location (Were you happy with your location?) 

D) What amenities did you visit/utilize -- your opinion of them/location(s)/value(s)?

[limeyalchemist]

18 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

@Vinegarjoe10  Happy New Year!!!  Please come back and tell us:

A) Did you did make to GSC? 

B) Your reaction to your Lagoon Studio Villa. 

   Also, if applicable --

C) Studio number and location (Were you happy with your location?) 

D) What amenities did you visit/utilize -- your opinion of them/location(s)/value(s)?

We're also going to GSC on Jan 15th (Encore sailing Jan 9-16) and staying in an ocean villa.  Will also post as much info/reviews as I can gather here and in the other thread specific to the villas.

 

There are some good videos on YouTube of the various areas and villa types.

[bortman23]

2 minutes ago, limeyalchemist said:

We're also going to GSC on Jan 15th (Encore sailing Jan 9-16) and staying in an ocean villa.  Will also post as much info/reviews as I can gather here and in the other thread specific to the villas.

 

There are some good videos on YouTube of the various areas and villa types.

 

Following. I'm on the Encore sailing Jan 23-30, hoping we don't miss GSC and have a Lagoon Villa booked.

[raitch]

We were there a few days ago! Silver Cove Ocean Villa #115.  We liked the “ocean” location better since the lagoon is deeper water.  The ocean cove area was great for calm swimming.  We even had a stingray swimming around with us.

 

Valet service meant there were always drinks in our hands (they only came to the villas though, they didn’t come down to the beach).  The buffet was between the ocean & lagoon villas and the food was a step up from Garden Cafe but not exactly luxury.  Also it closed down at 2 so after that if you were hungry you were on your own.

 

 The villa itself was great because of the bathroom but it did smell musty.  Waaaaay nicer than the cabanas for sure!

[bortman23]

2 minutes ago, raitch said:

We were there a few days ago! Silver Cove Ocean Villa #115.  We liked the “ocean” location better since the lagoon is deeper water.  The ocean cove area was great for calm swimming.  We even had a stingray swimming around with us.

 

Valet service meant there were always drinks in our hands (they only came to the villas though, they didn’t come down to the beach).  The buffet was between the ocean & lagoon villas and the food was a step up from Garden Cafe but not exactly luxury.  Also it closed down at 2 so after that if you were hungry you were on your own.

 

 The villa itself was great because of the bathroom but it did smell musty.  Waaaaay nicer than the cabanas for sure!

Looks awesome! I'm nervous/concerned we'll end up missing the port. But I guess it's all a risk now?

 

Did you miss any ports on your sailing?

[raitch]

1 minute ago, bortman23 said:

Looks awesome! I'm nervous/concerned we'll end up missing the port. But I guess it's all a risk now?

 

Did you miss any ports on your sailing?

Nothing on a cruise ship these days isn’t a risk 😉 our cruise made all 3 stops no problem.  We were on a past cruise that missed GSK though.  The captain on Gem said they miss GSK 1-2x per month, I have heard others say it’s 50/50 odds whether you’ll miss it.  The issue is if the water is too rough for the tender boats.

[ggTexasGal]

1 minute ago, raitch said:

Nothing on a cruise ship these days isn’t a risk 😉 our cruise made all 3 stops no problem.  We were on a past cruise that missed GSK though.  The captain on Gem said they miss GSK 1-2x per month, I have heard others say it’s 50/50 odds whether you’ll miss it.  The issue is if the water is too rough for the tender boats.

Yes, it can definitely get rough on the tender boats, sometimes.

I'm glad you made it to your three ports!

[bortman23]

4 minutes ago, raitch said:

Nothing on a cruise ship these days isn’t a risk 😉 our cruise made all 3 stops no problem.  We were on a past cruise that missed GSK though.  The captain on Gem said they miss GSK 1-2x per month, I have heard others say it’s 50/50 odds whether you’ll miss it.  The issue is if the water is too rough for the tender boats.

 

Yeah we missed it on our first NCL cruise in 2019 so we were hoping to get there this time! 🤞

 

[ggTexasGal]

2 minutes ago, bortman23 said:

 

Yeah we missed it on our first NCL cruise in 2019 so we were hoping to get there this time! 🤞

I hope you get to have a fantastic day at GSC!!!

[TSUmom]

16 hours ago, raitch said:

We were there a few days ago! Silver Cove Ocean Villa #115.  We liked the “ocean” location better since the lagoon is deeper water.  The ocean cove area was great for calm swimming.  We even had a stingray swimming around with us.

 

Valet service meant there were always drinks in our hands (they only came to the villas though, they didn’t come down to the beach).  The buffet was between the ocean & lagoon villas and the food was a step up from Garden Cafe but not exactly luxury.  Also it closed down at 2 so after that if you were hungry you were on your own.

 

 The villa itself was great because of the bathroom but it did smell musty.  Waaaaay nicer than the cabanas for sure!

Thank you for sharing!  I am now happy with our choice of Ocean over Lagoon Villas

[skeeter195]

18 hours ago, raitch said:

We were there a few days ago

 

We were also there a few days ago on the Gem.  We had a lagoon villa.  We were not impressed at all.

 

We were there for almost an hour when the waiter first came by.  We went to the Moet bar twice before our waiter showed up at out villa.  He was great and we tipped him well even though it took about 15-20 minutes for him to get our drinks.  He was all alone for all of the villas and he was actually jogging back and forth trying to get the drinks out as fast as he could.  There was a different waiter for the 1 and 2 bedroom villas on the adjacent side of the cove.   

 

The water was rocky, slimy and had grass when first going in.  It was very shallow(less than 1 foot) for the first 40 feet or so.  It then dropped off quickly and was murky and weedy on the bottom.  We were there during the last 2 hours of the outgoing tide, slack then the rest of the time it was an incoming tide so the water never filled the lagoon.  It had that low tide smell also most of the time.  We swam across the lagoon and went into the ocean cove in front of the ocean villas.  It was like night and day.  The ocean side had a nice sand bottom that maxed out at about 5 feet deep in the areas that we swam in.  The water was clear and at the deepest part I was able to see a dime in the sand on the bottom. 

 

The food OK, like raitch mentioned it was a small step up from the buffet on the ship.  

 

Also make sure you have your card with you if you order drinks at the bar.  When we first went to the Moet bar the bartender asked what out villa number was and just put our drinks on our villa.  I even went to give him my card but he said it was not needed.  When we went to the bar near the food I was unable to get drinks for us because I only put tip money in my pocket when we left out spot.  The bartender would not charge it to our villa.  He even said "how do I know what villa you actually have?"  I showed him the number on my wristband.  Anyway we were able to get water from the buffet.

 

Overall I would rate the lagoon villa experience a 6 out of 10.  Next time we will get an ocean villa.  We have had a cabana twice before before the villas were built and we would rate those as a 9 one time and a 10 the other.  

[Burrata]

thanks for taking the time skeeter195 for posting your experience. Have a ocean villa booked, can't wait!

[ElizaSTN]

3 hours ago, skeeter195 said:

Overall I would rate the lagoon villa experience a 6 out of 10.  Next time we will get an ocean villa.  We have had a cabana twice before before the villas were built and we would rate those as a 9 one time and a 10 the other.  

This is disappointing.  We have a 2 bedroom rented.  Do you know if the water conditions are similar in that area?  (I’m not sure how it’s all laid out.) 

[skeeter195]

The studio,1,2 and 3 bedrooms are on the lagoon(cove).  The 1,2 and 3 bedroom villas are in a row. The studio villas are adjacent to them in a row with the Moet bar in the corner making up to the 2 rows, if this makes sense.  

 

So, your 2 bedroom shares the same lagoon(cove) as our studio did with the same water conditions.  A higher tide would have make the smell less but the rocks and grass will still be there.  

 

Is this area better than the rest of the island?, absolutely.  Is it a "luxury experience?", no way.  There were plenty of kids jumping around and having a great time and being loud in the water.  We thought that this was great, kids having fun is a great thing.  Personally I would not book on the lagoon again.  We will book the ocean villas next time.  The ocean villas only have studios though, no 1,2 or 3 bedrooms.

[kuku77254]

Why do you think they price the lagoon villas higher than the ocean villas? just curious.

[skeeter195]

It is a larger area and more secluded.  It should actually be better than the ocean villa area if the water was nicer.  It is manmade so cleaning it up is possible.  As far as our bad service that is easily corrected with more staff.  

[bookbabe]

I just posted some info and pics in the GSC thread…posts 125 & 126

 

 

[angweb71]

On 12/28/2021 at 8:36 PM, Vinegarjoe10 said:

We had a lagoon studio villa on 12/13. I would glad to answer any questions you may have. 
 

Regards,
 

Vinegarjoe 

What is the difference between the ocean villas and lagoon villas?