Great Stirrup Cay - June 2019

[chefnene]

What are the chances of tenders making it to Great Stirrup Cay at the end of June?   Have been on this itinerary3 times on the Breakaway and only made it there once.  We are going on the Dawn this time.  Does the size of the ship make a difference?

[esm54687]

GSC is completely dependent on weather and seas not ship size (the tenders used are the same for all ships in the fleet) ......  it's impossible to predict the morning of never mind 4 months before.   Advice: never choose an itinerary if the sole goal is GSC. 

[dexddd]

No one can tell you for sure.  It's like trying to tell if it will rain in 3 weeks.  Plenty of people can give anecdotal history but until you get close you won't know. 

[roger001]

As mentioned, it's all about the tenders rocking and rolling, safely loading and unloading.  

[smokie36]

We just got off escape march 3 it was first time in weeks that passengers were able to go ashore 

[GatorTide]

Didn't make it there on the 3/16 sailing and just read they also didn't get there on the current one either. They didn't tell us it was canceled until about 15 minutes before we were supposed to arrive. Annoying! Hope you have better luck. 

[BirdTravels]

On 3/3/2019 at 7:34 PM, chefnene said:

What are the chances of tenders making it to Great Stirrup Cay at the end of June?   Have been on this itinerary3 times on the Breakaway and only made it there once.  We are going on the Dawn this time.  Does the size of the ship make a difference?

We are 5 for 5 getting to GSC at all times of the year. Our last cruise, we enjoyed the island, the following week, the island was closed for a hurricane,,, actually all cruises were diverted to the western Caribbean. 

[perkydebrajean]

We made it fine the middle of June the one time we stopped there. 

[mking8288]

As noted by multiple CC'er above, it is really up to mostly mother nature on the morning of scheduled tendering at GSC, how lucky "some" of us had been had zero bearings whatsover - it's like rolling 3 dices to hit on a table game.  

 

One of the veteran NCL ship captain gave his insight, that if there is a good north wind blowing at the Berry Islands area, which include GSC ... sleep in & make alternate plans, head for the spa or stalk those prized loungers, etc. - stay put & plan for more time at sea and/or heading to Nassau, if a berth is available.  

 

Size of the ship has little to no bearings, you still need to safely transfer to the double decker tender boats based at GSC - some folks freeze & turn around at the narrow gangway.   Nevermind predictions for this June ... even, if one NCL ship can tender this morning does not assure that another ship can safely do to tomorrow ... and, for safety reasons - passengers had been RECALLED to promptly return to the ship early due to changing & worsening sea conditions due to wind, tide & waves, etc. 

 

Our first GSC visit was 2003 and we had to step onto the beach & do the last few steps, before the tender piers were constructed and we had varying success, or NOT since ... lately, it's just 1 out of 3 or 4 being able to go ashore.  

 

Always have a Plan B when planning to call upon GSC.  

Edited March 25, 2019 by mking8288

[Peachypooh]

We made it to GSC the last week in June one year. Unfortunately

that doesn't mean you will. It all depends on the weather.