Great Stirrup Cay Excursion tips wanted

[ccastano]

Who's got pro's and con's?? We are planning on going over and doing snorkeling, etc. Anything we should look for especially, or avoid completely? Any tips and info greatly appreciated! This is our first cruise..myself, DH, DS - 11, DD-6.

 

We were thinking of doing the snorkeling on the Pearl Island trip but we've kind of been warned off that so I'm hoping this one will be good.

 

TIA,

Caprice

[Suesan Jean]

Well, just think of Great Stirrup Cay as an EXCELLENT Beach Day!!:)

 

We were there last year in April and we LOVED IT!!!

 

I brought along a snorkel mask and tube for each of us (got them at Wal Mart real cheap), we were off the ship early. So we could find a nice place to sit and find some chairs and umbrellas.

 

There is a "Snorkel Shack" right there, you can rent your snorkel gear too. I am not sure of the price. You also have to get your "Snorkel Vest" there too. It is free and you HAVE to wear it while snorkeling. Just return it when you are leaving.

 

There are snorkel classes that you can pay for. But, honestly. you really don't need them. You just go in the water and you will see things.

 

I saw some stingray, and LOTS of really pretty fish. When you go in the water, swim towards the rocks on the RIGHT side of the beach. If you swim out a bit, there is a ledge drop off and WOW!!! you feel like you are in an aquarium...!!:D

 

Also, there is a bit of metal sticking out of the water, kind of middle of the beach, straight out a little bit. LOTS of pretty little fish swim there.

 

You can rent BIG round floats and parasail. There will be a nice Bar-B-Q, which is free, provided by NCL. There is some shopping, trinket kind of stuff, bring a small amount of cash just in case you see something.

 

There is a massage cabana, hair braiding and some nice hammocks to just hang out on.

 

You WILL have a GREAT TIME!!! Oh, brings LOTS OF SUNBLOCK and be VERY LIBERAL WITH IT!!! Because you WILL be in DIRECT SUN!!! You DON'T want to get burned!!!:eek:

 

Have FUN!!!:)

 

Suesan:)

[ccastano]

Thank you so much for the info! It sounds great, sounds exactly like what I was hoping for :D

 

Caprice

[marianneyaya]

You will have a fabulous time!! Even though we enjoyed every day of our cruise, and enjoyed everything we did....GSC was so much more than we expected. We loved it!! Lots of people...yet we never felt crowded. I agree with everything Suesanjean said. We also bought our snorkel gear at Walmart...inexpensive. Bring a small zip lock bag with you and put dry cereal or bread in it. You'll see millions of fish!! (rethink...might be too many for your 6 year old.)

One thing we did (by accident, but it worked out good!), we put a bright colored t shirt on top of our umbrella. Helped to find it, as they are all the same!

I didn't understand what all the fuss about GSC was until we were there....I'm sure you'll feel the same. I could have spent a couple days there.

It makes me happy just thinking about it. :)

Enjoy!!