Bannister Island

[cruzlovr75]

PRECIOUSCRUISER- How was Bannister Island? Can you share your thoughts about it with us? Thanks.

[oreoandboots]

We enjoyed Bannister Island. We went directly from the ship to the island. There are alot of little shells, but we just wore water shoes. My kids didn't though. They didn't care. There was plenty of chairs to use also. It really wasn't all that crowded on the day we went. My husband saw a few fish snorkeling & quite a few starfish also.

[rjm11]

Thanks everyone for the descriptions... we are booked on this excursion through NCL in April- can anyone recall if there were floating mats and/or kayaks available? Any extra charge for either of these?

[oreoandboots]

Thanks everyone for the descriptions... we are booked on this excursion through NCL in April- can anyone recall if there were floating mats and/or kayaks available? Any extra charge for either of these?

 

There were floating mats & kayaks at no additional charge.

[rjm11]

There were floating mats & kayaks at no additional charge.

 

Thanks for the info.... we are hoping to use the kayaks a little!

[beachman727]

We just returned from this trip and enjoyed it. I booked it through RCI mainly because with two small kids we did not want to tender and we got picked up and returned directly to the ship. I'm not sure if you can book this directly but if so you would have to tender which is about 15-20 min ride in (plus the lineup on the ship) and then you would do the same ride back and pass your ship for another 15 min ride since BI is past the anchor area. Plus reverse that back out to return. Lots of transportation.

 

The island is very nice and well equipped to handle probably about 150 to 200 people. We had two groups in and each boat held about 60 people and there was still room around. We were the only large ship docked that day.

 

The tour was 4hours including travel time so you had 3hours and a bit there which did seem too short.

 

We left the ship around 915 ship time which was 715 local time so it was a bit early and returned at 1pm ship time. Would have been nice to stay for the whole day but they were cycling in the afternoon groups.

 

It basically is a small private island geared for cruise ships and I believe only open when ships are in port. The washrooms were pleasantly modern and and not as bad as previous posts. Lots of beach chairs be sure to get off the boat and walk fast to get something in the shade if that is what you want since there are limited shade locations. The beach is all crushed shells. You really need beach shoes here. Zero shells to collect. Roped off swimming area. Bar and restaurant. Floating beach mats. Kayaks you can take out. Volleyball area. Not much else, but for a beach break that was good enough.

 

If you can book directly through the ship and get picked up and returned to the ship it's pretty smooth and pain free and definitely worth a premium.

[TeresaJ]

We really enjoyed it but wished we would have had more time there :)