Missing Great Stirrup Cay

[eggybear54]

It appears the ships miss GSC from time to time due to winds and challenges with tendering. We are long-time Disney cruisers, and know this is a possibility with all the private islands but luckily for us we have never missed Castaway Cay.

 

If they do miss GSC, does the ship to to Nassau or just hang around at sea? Just curious what the back-plan is for this line. We sail in a week, and I happened to see a post that the Jewel missed GSC today.

 

Thanks.

[Don Haynes]

There is usually a day at sea. By the time a ship sailed to Nassau after giving up on the private island its too late. Too much of the day is gone...

[tiggerfan616]

It depends last January we missed GSC but were able to dock in Key West for the day which was nice since my DH and I have never been there. Others have said they have just had a day at sea.

[KarmaElectra]

Missed Great Stirrup Cay twice ~ still have never seen it! The first time, we had a sea day. The second time, we overnighted in Nassau....instead of leaving around 5:00 pm as scheduled, we stayed until noon the next day.

[BIG_Steve]

Not sure why, but NCL seems (??) to handle the situation differently with different ships.

[sparks1093]

Not sure why, but NCL seems (??) to handle the situation differently with different ships.

 

I think it depends on the other stops in the itinerary and where the ship still has to go, impacted by when in the schedule the decision to pass GSC by is made (i.e. the day before versus the morning of).

[rollie]

NCL tries to go to another port but there are many factors that can stop them. One being how many other ships are in port, and is there room for them.

 

Rollie

[bakerintn]

On two cruises, missed GSC twice....once turned in to a sea day the other we went to Key West.

[eggybear54]

Thanks for the feedback. I think that helps to set expectations with the family.

[CTCruisers]

It depends last January we missed GSC but were able to dock in Key West for the day which was nice since my DH and I have never been there. Others have said they have just had a day at sea.

 

I have always wanted to go to Key West.

 

We had booked a cruise on the Gem out of NYC that was originally billed as having Key West for a stop. Two months before the cruise, we found out they dropped Key West for another port in the Bahamas. What a waste that was, the port was in the middle of nowhere.

[rollie]

Key West is a wonderful stop. There's a lot to do and see. And it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

 

Rollie

[CruisinMaterial]

I really hope one of my two upcoming cruises misses GSC and goes to Key West, heck both could go to Key West and I would LOVE it! :D I have been to Key West once on the Dawn back in 2003 and have yet to make it back there. Here's hoping the Jewel misses GSC and goes to Key West on it's way back from the Western Caribbean! :)

[MsTabbyKats]

I really hope one of my two upcoming cruises misses GSC and goes to Key West, heck both could go to Key West and I would LOVE it! :D I have been to Key West once on the Dawn back in 2003 and have yet to make it back there. Here's hoping the Jewel misses GSC and goes to Key West on it's way back from the Western Caribbean! :)

 

I wouldn't mind substituting Key West...but I would mind an extra sea day.

[Cruise-Uh-holic]

Just got off the Jewel today , and we had missed GSC.

Very disappointing but i don't think it would have been a good day anyway. They handled things very nicely and had new a freestyle daily out within an hour.

 

We spent a very cloudy and rainy day at sea, as the ship crawled closer to Miami, it sometimes seemed we were stopped.

[Don Haynes]

Really folks, lets get real here. Sea conditions and winds are directly related. Google the Beaufort scale. Keep in mind a beautiful day can have wind gusts.

 

If the sea conditions are too rough for the tenders, the weather will be too windy to enjoy a day on a beach. This very small island is a beach. Not much else is there. If its raining on one part of this small island its very likely its raining on all of the island. If its too windy on one part of this island, it will be too windy everywhere on this small island.

 

I wouldn't consider a day on the island a great one if you are being sandblasted and/or have your picnic blow away in a gust.

[mbisson]

I think it depends on the other stops in the itinerary and where the ship still has to go, impacted by when in the schedule the decision to pass GSC by is made (i.e. the day before versus the morning of).

 

A couple weeks back our Pearl sailing missed GSC. The decision was made the day before and instead of finding another port (which can be difficult depending on what is scheduled for the ports), they just sailed direct to Miami but slower (I think they dropped all the way down to about 9 knots) and made it an extra sea day

[Globaliser]

To add another possibility in to the mix, Freeport has been known to be a substitute for GSC when the latter is cancelled with sufficient notice.

[Tmrlovesjr]

We have never missed GSC on any of our NCL cruises and would be heartbroken if we did. The island is nice, and if you are athletic there is good hike to the right pass the hammocks and tables, just be carefull. LOL hubbie got some really nice pics of the ship from there last Easter.

[CruisinMaterial]

Just got off the Jewel today , and we had missed GSC. Very disappointing but i don't think it would have been a good day anyway. They handled things very nicely and had new a freestyle daily out within an hour. We spent a very cloudy and rainy day at sea, as the ship crawled closer to Miami, it sometimes seemed we were stopped.

 

What did they substitute for activities? I'm guessing things topside on the pool deck would have been out of the question so there must have been things to do inside the ship. Probably more NCL U classes. :cool:

 

Did you get to the island and they just decided to not go or was the decision made earlier in the morning? Thanks and hope the rest of your cruise was enjoyable! I do look forward to your review! :D

[jollycruise]

First cruise we went to GSC. Second cruise we missed it due to weather but they took us to Key West and we had a fun day.

[dark star]

we missed it on the dawn in january. substituted nassau instead. decision was made the day before.

[seaofwonder]

Was just on the 12/13 Jewel that cancelled GSC. We were eating breakfast when the captain notified us around 9:00 AM. We were already past Nassau. The entire day at sea I kept wondering when they were going to announce because the seas were choppy....but got hopeful and my hopes were dashed.

 

The substituted some horrible activities (balloon flowers), a bunch of family stuff, and some more bingo games.

 

We basically just spun around in circles for an entire day :-(

[CruisinMaterial]

We basically just spun around in circles for an entire day :-(

 

I sure hope you didn't get dizzy! :p:D

 

Balloon flowers? What on Earth kind of an activity is that? Bingo is a given for any day at sea. Don't forget those pull tabs too! :D Sounds like a day at sea is not something that I would enjoy too much if it were last minute. It might actually force me to use the balcony mom insists on having. If I slow down a cruise for that long it means I'll be sleeping! Thanks for posting the happenings though! :)

[seaofwonder]

I sure hope you didn't get dizzy! :p:D

 

Balloon flowers? What on Earth kind of an activity is that? Bingo is a given for any day at sea. Don't forget those pull tabs too! :D Sounds like a day at sea is not something that I would enjoy too much if it were last minute. It might actually force me to use the balcony mom insists on having. If I slow down a cruise for that long it means I'll be sleeping! Thanks for posting the happenings though! :)

 

LOL....it was so funny watching the navigation channel on that day. We were moving soooooo slowly...we actually went up past GSC and then turned around and came back down.

 

Yes, balloon flowers was an actual activity that day! I think they also added a martini tasting (get the alcohol consumption up). I was surprised that they didn't add a slot tournament or something in the casino!

[CruisinMaterial]

LOL....it was so funny watching the navigation channel on that day. We were moving soooooo slowly...we actually went up past GSC and then turned around and came back down.

 

Yes, balloon flowers was an actual activity that day! I think they also added a martini tasting (get the alcohol consumption up). I was surprised that they didn't add a slot tournament or something in the casino!

 

In 2005 when the Star Princess missed Princess Cays due to the weather (since it was the Hurricane Wilma mystery cruise)... we were going to slow and bobbing all over the place! It was insane and if they had sped up we would have been moving a lot better cutting through the waves as opposed to bobbing in them! We had a Carnival ship on both sides of us and a Royal Caribbean was off in the distances. I thought we were going to have a pile up of cruise ships at one point!

 

Casino stuff really doesn't do anything for me personally but now you're talking with martini tasting! Yummy! :D:eek::D Wouldn't be able to tell who was going in circles at that point now would I? LOL