Ocean Villa or Lagoon Villa at GSC

[kuku77254]

I've looked all over for reviews and only found one saying that the beach and water was not nice at the Lagoon. But I don't know if that's how it always is. Anyone that is familiar with them weigh in? I have to make a quick decision and having trouble. The Lagoon Villa is more expensive and seems newer and nicer but if the beach and water is not nice, doesn't make sense to book. 

[ggTexasGal]

Sadly, you won't find a lot of reviews for several reasons.  Silver Cove was still under construction when Covid-19 shut down the cruise industry. 

This year, due to an assortment of reasons, few ships have actually been able arrive at Great Stirrup Cay.  Therefore, we only know what a few people, who did make it there, have posted.

So, if you book the Ocean Villa (which are slightly older, and possibly, a little smaller) you would still have access to all that Silver Cove has to offer, otherwise.  It seems like a good place to start!

 

Please, share your experience if you get there!

[limeyalchemist]

We just visited Silver Cove on January 14th 2022.  Here is a video that I just completed and uploaded to YouTube showing it.

 

We rented an Ocean villa, no.110 and loved it.  As you can see, it wasn’t crowded, food was great and the water in both the lagoon and ocean villa beach were pristine.  This was our 6th visit to GSC (out of 6 attempted visits) but first to Silver Cove.

 

Highly recommend it.

 

Silver Cove, Great Stirrup Cay - Jan 2022
https://youtu.be/hzAG_g5X7rU

Edited January 30, 2022 by limeyalchemist

[Karmary]

Hi, Ive been to Silver Cove several times already.  Two things to consider: 1. The lagoon villas have a nicer, larger water area and located right near the Moet Chandon bar which os great if you have the higher level drink package as the drinks there are almost all up charges.
2.  But it is not a full bar so the servers need to go to the Ocean side to get frozen pina coladas etc.  They will be happy to do so but the drinks are almost always "unfrozen" by the time they return.    
     My advice is lagoon view for an UNBEATABLE view and swimming area, but if drinks are the priority select the ocean villa.  Both have access to the special dining area and you can walk around and enjoy either beach and bar area.  All photos from the lagoon side. 

[kuku77254]

OP here. Thank you, Karmary, that was very helpful. I had selected a Lagoon Villa but was scared off by another post saying the beach and water was rocky and the water was also stagnant. From your pictures, that doesn't seem to be the case whenever they were taken.

[luckyinpa]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:17 PM, limeyalchemist said:

We just visited Silver Cove on January 14th 2022.  Here is a video that I just completed and uploaded to YouTube showing it.

 

We rented an Ocean villa, no.110 and loved it.  As you can see, it wasn’t crowded, food was great and the water in both the lagoon and ocean villa beach were pristine.  This was our 6th visit to GSC (out of 6 attempted visits) but first to Silver Cove.

 

Highly recommend it.

 

Silver Cove, Great Stirrup Cay - Jan 2022
https://youtu.be/hzAG_g5X7rU

 

what are some examples of food you saw in the cove? id def want to go see the entire selection for myself but later on is there a server to bring food to you? 

 

edit: found one vid of food and it looks the same as whats in the regular area. so i assume nothing upgraded like cococay and their private area with filet etc

Edited February 6, 2022 by luckyinpa

[FLcruisergrl]

1 hour ago, luckyinpa said:

 

what are some examples of food you saw in the cove? id def want to go see the entire selection for myself but later on is there a server to bring food to you? 

 

edit: found one vid of food and it looks the same as whats in the regular area. so i assume nothing upgraded like cococay and their private area with filet etc

NOTHING like the Coco Beach Club, unfortunately. With what you pay for a Silver Cove Villa, it should be though. Slightly better than the main area food, but still a basic buffet.

[kuku77254]

We made it to GSC last week so I wanted to come back and give my thoughts. We booked a one bedroom Lagoon Villa. Logistics - we took the tender to the island, then we went to the villa desk once entering GSC to check in to get our wristbands, then we took a golf cart to the Villa Reception building where we checked in again, then we got on another golf cart and were taken to our villa. The villa is very nice. The refrigerator was stocked with carton water, there was a fruit bowl and a bowl of stale tostitos and salsa. I'm not sure why anyone would need a bedroom there unless maybe you had a young child that needed to nap. It was nice to have a real bathroom to shower at the end of the day. And lots of bath towels and beach towels so you don't need to bring any. There were lounge chairs and a table on the patio and beach chairs and umbrellas further down on the beach. And yellow rafts that you could help yourself to. 

 

I selected the one bedroom lagoon villa as opposed lagoon villa for the location. The one and two bedrooms are central on the lagoon and the other villas are on the far side of the lagoon. It was an easy walk to the reception building, food, and ocean side from the one bedroom. The other villas were a much longer trek. 

 

The sand does have little rocks and shells in it so not always comfortable to walk on but not bad near and in the water. The water in the lagoon was not stagnant but did not have a surf. It was shallow for about 30 feet and then dropped off so the water got darker. There was a platform out in the water that you could swim out to for I'm not sure exactly what but we did. It was very serene at the lagoon. It was more like a big swimming pool. We decided to venture over to the ocean side to compare. 

 

The ocean villas are older so not as nice but still fine. The ocean side does have a very small surf. It is more narrow and smaller area than the lagoon side.  The sand is the same small rock and shell sand and there are some rocks in the water. It is really an inlet so it is protected. I can't imagine that it ever gets too much surf because if the water was rough enough to make big waves in there, you probably wouldn't get to stop at GSC anyway. The water there was shallow the entire section so it was the very light, clear turqouise color and was beautiful. My son preferred the ocean side because of the surf and the water was less scary for him because it didn't get dark like the lagoon. The ocean side is also closer to the snorkel area. You can swim out of the inlet about 100 yards and reach the snorkel reef. 

 

So, if I were to go again, I would choose an ocean villa for my son. If you have kids, ocean is probably better. If you just want to lay on the yellow rafts all day, the lagoon is better. On the ocean, the small surf still carries the rafts in and on the lagoon you can just float without fighting the current. I don't think you can go wrong on either side. There were plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas so you can always go experience the other side. It's a nice splurge and I would do it again.

[Beer Belly]

10 hours ago, kuku77254 said:

We made it to GSC last week so I wanted to come back and give my thoughts. We booked a one bedroom Lagoon Villa. Logistics - we took the tender to the island, then we went to the villa desk once entering GSC to check in to get our wristbands, then we took a golf cart to the Villa Reception building where we checked in again, then we got on another golf cart and were taken to our villa. The villa is very nice. The refrigerator was stocked with carton water, there was a fruit bowl and a bowl of stale tostitos and salsa. I'm not sure why anyone would need a bedroom there unless maybe you had a young child that needed to nap. It was nice to have a real bathroom to shower at the end of the day. And lots of bath towels and beach towels so you don't need to bring any. There were lounge chairs and a table on the patio and beach chairs and umbrellas further down on the beach. And yellow rafts that you could help yourself to. 

 

I selected the one bedroom lagoon villa as opposed lagoon villa for the location. The one and two bedrooms are central on the lagoon and the other villas are on the far side of the lagoon. It was an easy walk to the reception building, food, and ocean side from the one bedroom. The other villas were a much longer trek. 

 

The sand does have little rocks and shells in it so not always comfortable to walk on but not bad near and in the water. The water in the lagoon was not stagnant but did not have a surf. It was shallow for about 30 feet and then dropped off so the water got darker. There was a platform out in the water that you could swim out to for I'm not sure exactly what but we did. It was very serene at the lagoon. It was more like a big swimming pool. We decided to venture over to the ocean side to compare. 

 

The ocean villas are older so not as nice but still fine. The ocean side does have a very small surf. It is more narrow and smaller area than the lagoon side.  The sand is the same small rock and shell sand and there are some rocks in the water. It is really an inlet so it is protected. I can't imagine that it ever gets too much surf because if the water was rough enough to make big waves in there, you probably wouldn't get to stop at GSC anyway. The water there was shallow the entire section so it was the very light, clear turqouise color and was beautiful. My son preferred the ocean side because of the surf and the water was less scary for him because it didn't get dark like the lagoon. The ocean side is also closer to the snorkel area. You can swim out of the inlet about 100 yards and reach the snorkel reef. 

 

So, if I were to go again, I would choose an ocean villa for my son. If you have kids, ocean is probably better. If you just want to lay on the yellow rafts all day, the lagoon is better. On the ocean, the small surf still carries the rafts in and on the lagoon you can just float without fighting the current. I don't think you can go wrong on either side. There were plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas so you can always go experience the other side. It's a nice splurge and I would do it again.

Thank you for the review

[TSUmom]

Thank you for the review.  There is so little information on this topic which really made this helpful.

We have an ocean studio villa reserved in May so now I just hope we make it to the island.  Thank you again for taking the time to do this reveiw!

[GeezerCouple]

 

kuku77254 -- 

 

How deep was the lagoon water before the drop-off, and how steep was the drop-off?

IF someone wasn't watching where they were putting their feet, would they find the water getting deep very abruptly, or was it like walking from shallow to deep end in a swimming pool (without the even surface, obviously!)?

 

And about how deep was the deep part within the lagoon?  Any snorkeling value there?

 

Thanks.  It looks beautiful there!

 

GC

 

[kuku77254]

16 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

kuku77254 -- 

 

How deep was the lagoon water before the drop-off, and how steep was the drop-off?

IF someone wasn't watching where they were putting their feet, would they find the water getting deep very abruptly, or was it like walking from shallow to deep end in a swimming pool (without the even surface, obviously!)?

 

And about how deep was the deep part within the lagoon?  Any snorkeling value there?

 

Thanks.  It looks beautiful there!

 

GC

 

The water before the drop off went from nothing to maybe waist high as you walked out. It's very obvious were it gets deeper because there is a distinct color change in the water. I have no idea how idea how deep it was since I didn't have mask on and didn't look. We didn't try snorkeling there but there were a lot of little fish (and medium fish) actually near the shore and even a sting ray. You could see them just standing on the edge of the water so there must be something out there. There is a designated snorkeling area which probably be a better bet to see stuff.

[kuku77254]

Here's a photo and you can see the water color change when it gets deeper.

[LisaLisa87]

Thank you for sharing this info, @kuku77254. I was planning to reserve an ocean villa after reading some posts here, but there were none available by the time I got around to it. I ended up reserving a lagoon villa instead. Seems like there are pros and cons to each. 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, kuku77254 said:

Here's a photo and you can see the water color change when it gets deeper.

 

Oh, how peaceful that looks!

 

Does anyone know how quickly the bottom drops off when the water gets darker, how steep that is?

Or how deep it gets?  (I assume "pretty deep", so the main question is "how steep is that drop-off?")

 

Many thanks!

GC

[elidance]

hi all - would anyone who was wondering about an ocean versus lagoon villa please reply with their thoughts after making it to silver cove?  the reviews on this thread are very helpful!  we have an ocean villa reserved for a cruise in November.  thank you! 🙂 

[Slk1z]

I have done both.  

Twice in the Lagoon and last time was in a Ocean.    Either or are great.   The Ocean Villa's seemed slightly smaller in size than the Lagoon Villa's but more than enough space for 4 people. Also the Ocean Villa's are super close to the Buffet .  Where some of the Lagoon are a bit of a hike.

That being said, I found the water temp relative between the Lagoon and Ocean.   The Lagoon's water will come and go quite a but depending on the tide.

Back in Jan.  when we were there they were working on a new pool and bar area on the far side of the Lagoon...  when this does open the Lagoon might be more convenient to access said area.

As I said thou, I don't think you can go wrong with either.   

 

[abw052978]

We recently did the Lagoon Villa.  They are on the farthest end, but you can either call the reception desk or ask an attendant to send a golf cart to take you to the buffet or bar.  The lagoon itself does have a fair bit of seaweed on the bottom in the deeper parts.

 

As mentioned above, they are working on an infinity pool and bar area on that side of the lagoon.  The attendants we spoke to have no idea when it will open as it continues to be delayed.

[Lupush]

Rented a lagoon villa the last time we were in GSC and it was incredible.  Water was beautiful, service was excellent.  The only issue we had was that my son got stung by a jellyfish.  Other than that, it was amazing.

[elidance]

thank you all!

[celestialcruiser]

Is there waiter service for drinks when you are on the patio of the villas or on the beach?

[acct1975]

both you have a butler that covers a couple of villas and they will makes the rounds on you primarily on the patio but sometimes they do come and check on you at the beach chairs. At least that's my recollection.

[vacation44]

Anyone have any updates they would Iike to add in their experience?  We are still deciding on which way to go.  

[elidance]

hi all, i keep searching for more info on silver cove because there's so little out there.  just saw this link that makes it sound like the ocean villas don't have air conditioning, but the lagoon villas do.  can anyone verify that the ocean villas have air conditioning as well?  also - any updates would be appreciated as asked by vacation44. 🙂  thank you!

 

https://cruise-panorama.com/silver-cove-at-great-stirrup-cay-luxury-and-seclusion-beyond-imagination/