Sleeping on a cruise ship is a unique experience. The ship gently rocks, and in combination from all the excitement from the day before, had me falling asleep quickly last night. The indoor stateroom beds aboard Norwegian Getaway are comfy, and the bedding feels luxurious, even in this, the most affordable room.
Our day two aboard the Norwegian Getaway began in the early hours of the morning as the sound and vibrations of the ship’s anchor being let go, awoke us from a peaceful sleep. With the release of the ship’s anchor at approximately 7:00am this morning, the ship underwent a series of vibrations and minor shaking.
The drop of the anchor signaled to all who were awoken by its release, one thing, we had arrived at Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island in The Bahamas!
We had previously arranged for an early tender slot the previous day, and by doing so we ensured that we could cross over to Great Stirrup Cay at anytime.
After waking up and donning our swim suits, we made our way to The Garden Cafe for some light breakfast. Breakfast appeared to be the busiest time of day we have yet experienced at The Garden Cafe, the main buffet onboard. However, there was still plenty of spaces available, and we were able to secure a window table with a gorgeous view of Great Stirrup Cay.
The Garden Cafe has copious choices of breakfast foods available to guests. I opted for an omelet, fruit, sausage, hash browns, chocolate croissant, and coffee. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised that coffee, several types of juices, tea, and even hot chocolate were complimentary at the Garden Cafe during breakfast.
At breakfast we discussed what our plans for the day were. Our view offered a great landscape for discussing the day’s itinerary, as we were able to see an overview of Great Stirrup Cay, and what some of the island’s beaches looked like.
After breakfast we went straight to the tender vessel, to begin our day at Great Stirrup Cay. We didn’t wait in any lines in order to board the tender to the island, and there was plenty of seating on the transport.
After waiting onboard the tender for approximately 15 minutes, the boat detached from the side of the Norwegian Getaway, and we were able to take in a full view of our cruise ship for the first time. Seeing just how large the Norwegian Getaway is, in comparison to the tender ships, gave me a perspective of just how large a ship like the Getaway truly is.
The tender transport system seemed well organized and proficient, and in about five minutes after departing from the Norwegian Getaway, we had docked at Great Stirrup Cay.
Our first impression of Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island, was that it feels very much like a resort. Well manicured landscaping, palm trees, and white sand beaches, greet you as you step through the entrance of Great Stirrup Cay.
Norwegian highlights Great Stirrup Cay’s nationality, by displaying The Bahamas flag in many places throughout the island, including throughout the entrance. The vibrant colors of blue and green greet guests as they make their way onto the beaches of Great Stirrup Cay.
We immediately noticed the plethora of lounge beach chairs all over the main part of the island. There were so many available lounge chairs, that it appeared that even if almost every passenger of the Norwegian Getaway had been on the island today, there would still be a chair for everyone.
I also noted, and appreciated, that there is no additional charge to use the lounge chairs at Great Stirrup Cay, use of this amenity is complimentary to all guests.
We quickly found lounge chairs located in the shade of a palm tree and dropped off our beach towels and sunscreen, so we could explore the island unencumbered.
We then followed the signs near the beach to explore the different areas of the main center of Great Stirrup Cay. We walked through the shopping area, dining area, bars, and along the several walking paths that connect the beaches.
The island is relatively small, and apart from the optional and additional shore excursions, the main activity of Great Stirrup Cay, is lounging beneath the many palm trees, and taking a swim in the gorgeous turquoise water of The Bahamas. We noted that there are several small buildings advertising snorkel gear, water loungers, and paddle boards for rent.
While we spent our time at Great Stirrup Cay exploring and documenting the sights, we noticed that many people had engaged in these activities and seemed to be having a lot of fun, all with the backdrop of the Norwegian Getaway in the distance.
There are several food and drink locations on Great Stirrup Cay. The two main food venues are the Jumbey Beach Grill (on our visit was this location was open from 11:30am to 2:00pm), and Abaco Taco, the complimentary taco bar.
Great Stirrup Cay features two specialty bar locations, the Bacardi Bar and the Patron Bar. We chose to order a couple drinks from the Patron Bar throughout our visit, trying the classic frozen margarita and the Patron Pomelo, both of which were delicious and refreshing. We noticed that the Patron Bar and the Bacardi Bar seemed to portray different atmospheres.
The Bacardi Bar had loud party and dance music playing from the moment we arrived to the island, up until the moment we departed later in the afternoon. Every time we passed, it seemed people were dancing, laughing, and generally having a fun time at this location. While the Patron Bar gave off an aesthetic of being a more laidback and trendy beach bar. Both of these venues were walk-up, and guests were permitted to take any drinks they purchased to any area on the beach.
Great Stirrup Cay offers guests the opportunity to have either a very relaxed day lounging by the ocean, or engaging in active shore excursions. For example, from the iconic Great Stirrup Cay lighthouse, we noticed guests participating in a zip line course.
While other guests spent their entire afternoon in either the clear blue water, or lounging under a palm tree. We chose to walk the length of the main area of Great Stirrup Cay, taking in all of the views and making notes of all the island had to offer its guests.
We noticed that there are two main beach areas of Great Stirrup Cay. The stretch of beach closer to the tender harbor has a large amount of palm trees supplying shade to guests, the stretch of beach further away, had almost no palm trees near the lounge chairs.
It also seemed that a vast majority of guests had chosen to occupy lounge chairs on the first stretch of beach, closer to the tender harbor.
We noticed that it appeared that many of the NCL crew members from the Norwegian Getaway had disembarked in order to work on Great Stirrup Cay for the day. As there was a Caribbean-style band playing on the island, that the day before we had noticed playing onboard our ship for embarkation day.
Great Stirrup Cay offers many beautiful opportunities for photography. The island has an over the water swing, large amount of palm trees, the Norwegian Getaway anchored just off shore, and crystal clear blue water, that all come together to create the perfect scenery.
The final tender from Great Stirrup Cay back to the Norwegian Getaway departed the island at 3:00pm on our day, and at approximately 2:45pm we made the short walk back to the harbor, where we had been dropped off earlier in the day.
Although we spent about 4 hours at Great Stirrup Cay, we felt that we easily could have spent at least a couple more hours enjoying the island, while simultaneously feeling that we had seen a good amount of what the island has to offer passengers of NCL. We thoroughly pleased with our day at Great Stirrup Cay!
My impressions of Great Stirrup Cay is that it is very clean, and offers guests of Norwegian Cruise Line the opportunity to experience a beautiful tropical setting, while maintaining a resort-like feel.
Additionally, every crew member we spoke to on the island was very kind, and appeared to be genuinely interested in if we were enjoying ourselves. I very much enjoyed this taste of paradise at Great Stirrup Cay, and would love to visit again someday!
After finding our way back onboard Norwegian Getaway, we went returned to our stateroom to shower and freshen up for a late afternoon and evening of further Norwegian Getaway exploration.
In my research of the Norwegian Getaway, prior to boarding, I had read about the Skyy Ice Bar, and knew that this was a venue that I needed to check out. After showering, we took the elevator to Deck 8 where the Skyy Ice Bar is located and approached the entrance.
At the entrance, a crew member informed us that it is an additional charge to enter the bar, we were told that entrance into the bar costs $18 and includes two drinks from the Skyy Vodka drink menu. I felt this was a reasonable price, as most drinks cost anywhere between $8 to $13 for one, onboard the ship.
After paying for entrance, we were handed coats that resembled large ponchos with fur-lined hoods. At first we thought this seemed a little excessive, after all how cold could an ice bar aboard a cruise ship really be? The answer, very cold! Huge blocks of ice with elaborate sculptures and designs cut into them adorned the room, and every corner of the venue seemed to invoke its inspiration of the ice hotels found in Scandinavia.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the only ones inside the bar, and this allowed us to take in all of the ice art, and absorb the atmosphere of this unique space. For my two drinks I chose to try the ‘Ice Cold’ and ‘Hazelnut Delight’, both of which offered interesting flavors, that helped accentuate the aesthetic of the location, not to mention that the drinks themselves were served in cups made of ice.
We agreed that one of our favorite parts of the Ice Bar, were the elaborate seating constructed of ice. There was a large throne made of ice that we had fun taking pictures with, and even braved the literally freezing temperatures for, when we removed our ponchos in order to achieve a more aesthetic looking photo. The experience of the Norwegian Cruise Line Skyy Ice Bar was a lot of fun, and left us with frozen fingers on our hands, and big smiles on our faces as we walked directly outside in search of warmth and sunshine.
We quickly discovered some of the best ocean views of our trip thus far, when we made our way towards the back (or ‘aft’ as I’ve come to learn) of the ship. The early evening sunshine reflecting off the water created an incredible golden glow. This simple yet beautiful moment was a reminder of just how fun and remarkable cruising can be.
We soon realized it was almost 6:30pm, which meant that it was time for dinner.
Prior to our cruise, in the NCL app, I arranged reservations at several of the complimentary restaurants onboard, and tonight was our first time dining in one of these restaurants. Tonights dinner venue was Savor, a tastefully decorated and designed space, featuring “classic favorites with unique new dishes”. We were told by the hostess that a window table would be opening up in just a couple minutes, and asked if we would be willing to wait. We said yes, and were rewarded with another beautiful ocean view to accompany our meal.
At Savor guests can choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert, all complimentary. We both chose the smoked salmon tartare for our appetizers, the shrimp pasta alla Voka sauce for the entrees, and the mint, hazelnut, chocolate mousse for dessert. I thought that this restaurant felt very upscale for it being a complimentary dining space.
Because of Norwegian Cruise Line’s freestyle cruising brand marketing, we were sat at a table just for us, and were not asked to sit with another party (as is common on many other cruise lines).
After dinner we decided to wander the ship for a little while until the Howling At The Moon Dueling Pianos entertainment began. We went to take a look at Spice H2O, and discovered they had set up for ‘movie under the stars’. There were lounge chairs pulled out for guests, while a movie played on the jumbo screen above. tonight’s featured movie was the Disney film Moana.
After peeking in on movie under the stars, we headed back down to Deck 6 to check out Headliners, this is a space that hosts several different types of entertainment throughout the cruise sailing, and tonight it was Howling At The Moon Dueling Pianos.
The performers for this entertainment were incredibly talented, and we were very impressed with their ability to sing and play every song that was given to them on the song request forms from guests.
Each performer could play at least two types of instruments, and they rotated from playing piano, saxophone, drums, guitar, and even the harmonica at one point. Howling At The Moon was very fun, and had all the guests who chose to attend singing and bobbing their heads to the music.
We stayed at this location for a couple hours, enjoying the entertaining personalities of all the performers.
Around this time, it was approaching midnight, and as it had been a few hours after dinner, we were beginning to feel hungry again. We decided to make a stop at O’Sheehan’s Bar & Grill to test out their late night bites menu.
O’Sheehan’s is a complimentary dining location aboard Norwegian Getaway, that stays open 24 hours a day. We decided to order the pretzel bites with beer cheese sauce, and the fish and chips. The portion size was decent, both were about average in terms of quality, but satisfied our late night hunger. This location makes a great option if you are looking for somewhere to eat late at night onboard. I would be interested in trying out more of their menu during future nights of our sailing.
After our late night snack, we headed back to our stateroom (or home at sea as I am referring to it now), and I sat down to write out our account of the day. Today was filled with new and exciting experiences that are uniquely Norwegian Cruise Line. From Great Stirrup Cay, to the Skyy Ice Bar, to the entertainment, and dining, much of what we experienced today can only be found aboard and with NCL vessels.
Tomorrow is our first full Sea Day. We are looking forward to exploring the Norwegian Getaway even further, and participating in the activities onboard and offered amenities. Tune in tomorrow to see how we spent our day at sea! Until then, smooth sailing!
Hayley Phillips
Hayley Phillips is a military spouse currently living in Florida and loves all things travel and travel planning.
