Well, it’s almost time to say goodbye to the Norwegian Sky as this 9-day cruise around the Caribbean is about to come to an end. In this final report, I’ll talk about our day spent on the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas, some highs and lows of the cruise, my overall rating, and whether I’ll sail on Norwegian Cruise Line in the future.
But first things first! Let’s talk about Great Stirrup Cay. Once inhabited by the Lucayan people, it became a pirate hideout before the British settled nearby islands. In the 20th century, the U.S. military used it during World War II and early space shuttle launches. Norwegian Cruise Line acquired the island in 1977 from the Belcher Oil Company, transforming it into the first private island for cruise passengers. NCL has since upgraded the island with new amenities, including expanded beaches and food areas, and plans for private villas and a two-ship pier set to open by late 2025.
A notable feature of the island is the lighthouse, built in 1863, which stands as a historical landmark. The remnants of past military installations add a touch of intrigue for visitors interested in the island’s storied past.
I first visited Great Stirrup Cay back in 2014 when MSC Cruises had an agreement with Norwegian to use the island on off days. It wasn’t until several years later that MSC opened their own private island, MSC Ocean Cay Marine Reserve. I remember being underwhelmed with the destination back then, and in my review, I mentioned, “Norwegian brass needs to take a visit to the other cruise line’s islands and see how colorful, welcoming, and fun they are and invest some money into Great Stirrup Cay to bring that same type of experience to their island. MSC, on the other hand, should speak with other cruise lines and work out a deal to use their islands on off days and ditch this one.”
Since 2014, Norwegian has spent a significant amount of money improving the island by adding more amenities, improving the beach areas, and making it a true paradise. The one issue that it suffers, along with Holland America Line’s Half Moon Cay, is the ship drops anchor offshore and tender boats transport you back and forth. As mentioned above, construction is set to begin on a pier to allow NCL ships to dock, and Holland America is also going to add a dock to their island, so tendering is coming to an end soon.
For those wanting to be among the first to go ashore, tender tickets were distributed, and numbers started being called shortly after 9 am. By 10:15 am, no tender tickets were required, and anyone could just come and go as they pleased, with tenders going to and from the ship approximately every 20 minutes.
Around 1 pm, I headed down to deck 3 to board a tender to the island, and once we pulled away from the ship, the ride to the island was very rough. There were moments when some of my fellow passengers let out loud gasps as the tender pitched and rolled with the wind and the waves. For those prone to seasickness, this could have been the start of a very bad rest of the day!
As soon as I stepped off the tender, the changes made over the years were very much evident. A new entrance provides a much warmer welcoming experience, and the “shacks” that were used for merchandise sales have been replaced by much nicer, more permanent-looking structures.
Photos from 2016 showing the transformation of the entrance area:
Photos of the same area in 2024:
When it comes to the beach, there is no shortage of it! Great Stirrup Cay has a ton of beach space spread all around the island. The beach was not crowded, mainly because the Norwegian Sky only accommodates 2,000 passengers, while the island is designed to have enough space to service the needs of their newest ships, which have double that capacity.
Photos of the beach in 2016:
Removing that ugly inflatable slide increased the property value significantly! Besides the beach, there’s a zip line for the adventurous, cabanas for those who want to get away from it all and have some privacy, several spots to grab a drink, the main BBQ where lunch is served, and a private area for those paying extra money for a more exclusive experience.
Now, the lighthouse shown in the picture above is not the historical one I mentioned in the beginning. This lighthouse is a modern addition to house the zip line. The lighthouse from 1863 is a distance away and, from what I could tell, is not in a guest-accessible area but is visible from the ship. Also visible from the ship is Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CoCo Cay. Their private island is literally right next door!
Overall, Great Stirrup Cay has seen an incredible transformation from my first visit nearly 10 years ago. While it definitely doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that will keep kids occupied for hours like CoCo Cay, it offers the same type of laid-back amenities as you’ll find on Holland America’s Half Moon Cay and slightly more than MSC Ocean Cay Marine Reserve.
It was time to return to the ship, so I headed over to the tender boat. For those that require additional assistance, NCL’s tender boats have a lift that can take a passenger from the lower deck to the upper and vice versa. To give some perspective, you board the tender on the top deck when you leave the ship and exit on the lower deck when you arrive at the island, so the lift makes it easier for those with mobility issues.
The tender ride back was just as rough as it was coming. One of my fellow passengers spent the ride back throwing up over the side of the boat, and a few others were turning green.
For dinner, they had sucking pig on the buffet, so I couldn’t turn that down! Nice crispy skin, delicious tender pork belly…. mmmm!
After enjoying some of that, I walked through The Local. If you’ve been following along, the other night I had an issue at this bar-food bar/restaurant. I, and the two bartenders, tried for 20 minutes to get one of the servers to take my food order to no avail. There’s a ridiculous policy on this ship and this ship only, where bartenders at The Local cannot take a food order for someone sitting at the bar, only a server can. So in between waiting on tables, they have to take orders from those sitting at the bar, which makes zero sense.
As soon as I sat down, the Food & Beverage manager who I complained to the other night came over, offered apologies again, assured me he spoke to those in charge about the policy, and also had a meeting with the crew. He handed me a menu and offered to get me whatever I wanted. Even though I just had some food on the buffet, I didn’t want to be “that guy” and turn down his offer, so I asked for a cheeseburger and fries.
The burger is the same burger that is served at the outdoor buffet during the day and isn’t much to write home about. It’s a typical frozen burger. The fries weren’t much to write home about, either. While the chicken wings I had a few days ago were great, the burger wasn’t.
Okay, time to get into the full recap.
Embarkation
As I mentioned in the Day 1 report, I was assigned a “terminal arrival time” of 9:30 am – 10:00 am, which is NOT a boarding time. In fact, the ship isn’t even clear of passengers from the previous voyage at 9:30 am, so I’m not sure what this was all about. I arrived at the terminal around 10:45 am and my boarding group was called an hour later. Besides waiting in the terminal for boarding to begin, the overall process of going through security and getting on the ship was pretty seamless.
You get your stateroom key in the terminal, and once you get on the ship, you go directly to your lifeboat station to check in, and then you’re free to let your vacation begin. The only complaint I had about embarkation is the amount of time it took for rooms to be ready.
On almost every cruise I’ve ever been on, rooms are ready no later than 1:00 pm / 1:30 pm. On this particular day, rooms were not ready until 2:30 pm, which meant lots of people were walking around with suitcases and complaining that it was taking so long for rooms to be ready. The assistant cruise director kept making announcements that “finishing touches were being made to rooms.” I’m not sure if this was normal or a staffing issue, but rooms taking this long to be ready was a bit frustrating.
Stateroom
Norwegian Cruise Line stands out by offering cabins specifically designed for solo travelers, which come without the hefty single supplement fees that typically range from 150% to 200% of the fare. Prior to my cruise, I received an email inviting me to bid for an upgrade, a system many cruise lines now use through Plusgrade instead of giving complimentary upgrades based on status.
I placed minimum bids: $50 per person for an oceanview and $200 for a balcony. The day before departure, my $50 bid was accepted, and I was assigned solo oceanview stateroom 7210 on Deck 7 forward. Unlike newer ships with smaller solo cabins, Norwegian Sky features full-sized solo rooms akin to regular interiors, oceanviews, or balconies.
Stateroom 7210, at 147 square feet, includes two twin beds combined into a full, a small convertible loveseat, a footstool, a small TV, and a cooler/refrigerator. Though comfortable, storage space is quite limited with a small closet and few drawers, barely sufficient for one person’s belongings.
The bathroom, though small, is functional with shelves and a shower with a curtain. Power outlets are VERY scarce, with only one European and one American outlet, plus USB ports on the bedside nightlights. Despite the ship’s 1999 vintage, the room feels reasonably updated due to periodic refurbishments, retaining a 90s charm in its color scheme and furnishings.
I didn’t hear a peep through the walls from my neighbors, but you could hear people talking in the hallway, and the proximity to the kid’s club made for a lot of rugrats running down the hall at night.
Norwegian Sky Food
Each daily review touches on the food I had that night. On most cruises, I typically avoid the main dining room and dine at specialty restaurants, but I wanted to experience the MDR on this ship. I found the food in the main dining room on each night I ate there to be on par with the MDR on Holland America Line and much better than the food in the dining room on Carnival or MSC.
The buffet selections for breakfast were the usual things you would expect. Lunch on the buffet offered two different experiences. Inside, a rotating menu of lunch items and outside, burgers, hot dogs, and other items. The Italian restaurant served pizza by the slice during lunch hours. For dinner, the only buffet open was the one inside, featuring various entrees ranging from strip steak and shrimp to tonight’s sucking pig and roast turkey.
For this trip, I dined at all the ship’s specialty restaurants except for the sushi bar, as the menu didn’t have many cooked items, and the ambiance wasn’t very cozy.
If I had to rate the various restaurants, they would be:
- Main Dining Room (Free) – ****
- Le Cucina (A la carte or dining package) – ****
- Le Bistro (A la carte or dining pacakge) – *****
- The Local (Free) – *
- Cagney’s Steakhouse (A la carte or dining pacakge) – ****
The standout restaurant of the cruise was Le Bistro – hands down. The food, service, atmosphere… everything about this restaurant blew me away, which is why I chose it two nights and the steakhouse only one – which is odd for me!
Norwegian Sky Fellow Passengers
Since this was my first cruise on Norwegian, I wasn’t sure what age demographic the line caters to. The ship itself doesn’t have much to keep kids busy – no water slide, no splash pad, no ropes course, etc., so kids would definitely be bored on this ship. Also, longer cruises attract an older crowd.
For this trip, there definitely weren’t many kids under 13. The average age for most passengers I would estimate to be in the 45-55 year old range. There were not a lot of cruisers over the 75 mark. Many were local to Florida, while several I talked to were from overseas or the west coast. There were quite a few “new to NCL” cruisers on this trip, including myself, while I did see a good chunk who had top-tier loyalty status.
Norwegian Sky Entertainment
Here’s where things take a different spin. When it comes to entertainment by solo or group musicians, I give them all high marks. It was great to have a live band around the pool during the day and musicians in the various lounges at night. Having someone play a piano in a lounge before dinner while you’re enjoying a glass of wine makes a big difference and enhances the guest experience.
I found the guest entertainers to be horrible. The hypnotist was so bad, I walked out. The comedian was average. The production shows, meh.
Throughout the day, the schedule was full of things to do, so there wasn’t a lack of entertainment and activities for those that like to keep themselves busy. The lounges at night were always busy with live music or karaoke, which kept the party going into the early morning. There was only one deck party, and it was their glow party. I thought there would be more, but there wasn’t.
Norwegian Sky Service
When it came to service, I didn’t at any point feel like the crew was being overworked. They all went out of their way to take care of you, whether it was at guest relations, a bar, a restaurant, or just in passing. In speaking with various crew members, the consensus is they like working on the newer, larger ships much better than the Sky, which is 25 years old. Their biggest complaint is crew housing. Many are assigned cabins that hold three or four crew, while the newer ships have solo or double rooms for crew.
Over the course of 9 days, I never saw my stateroom attendant once. My room was cleaned daily, but he/she never made an introduction. As far as stateroom service is concerned, the room only gets cleaned/refreshed once a day. Something most cruise lines have switched to since COVID. Holland America and MSC still do a twice-a-day service. I must admit, the lack of a towel animal was a disappointment.
When it comes to service charges, $20 a day is charged for solo cruisers.
Debarkation
I chose to use the self-debark option, where you carry your own bags off the ship instead of leaving them out for collection the night before debarkation. According to the timeline provided in the daily planner, self-debark would begin at 7:45 am, which would work out well since I had a 9:45 am train from Miami to Boca Raton.
Shortly after 7 am, announcements began to be made that the ship had been cleared, and those who chose self-debark could now proceed to the gangway. Since I wasn’t expecting it to be that early, I wasn’t quite ready to leave, but wandered down around 7:20 am and, for the first time in the history of my cruising, there was NO line to get off the ship.
I scanned my face at the gangway and proceeded to the terminal to go through immigration, where another facial scan cleared me to exit. I got into my Uber and arrived at the Brightline Miami Central terminal at 7:40 am. There was another train that was leaving at 7:45 am with a stop in Boca Raton (only every other train stops at Boca for some reason), which I could have switched to if I didn’t dilly-dally around!
Since I had a Premium+ ticket with Brightline, I waited for boarding in the lounge, where a small breakfast buffet was set up featuring eggs, sausage, breads, Danish, and fruit. The train arrived on time, and I was in Boca Raton at 10:30 am.
I had one issue with the return trip on Brightline which they have yet to resolve for me. The Premium+ ticket comes with a $10 Uber voucher, which is added to your Uber account the day of travel. For my trip from Boca to Miami, it was added. However, it wasn’t for the trip from Miami to Boca. Customer service keeps saying they’re looking into the issue, but there’s been no resolution.
Once again, the trip on Brightline was well worth it. Anyone who has cruised from PortMiami knows it’s a struggle. From inadequate parking to traffic congestion all around the port, PortMiami SUCKS. Brightline gets rid of all that frustration, so if you’re considering taking it on your next cruise… do it!
Overall Rating
Being that this was my first cruise with Norwegian, I didn’t know what to expect. My friend Phillip is a HUGE fan of NCL and always gives them high marks (I name-dropped him just to make sure he’s reading this!). I was a bit concerned about going on a 25-year-old ship, but I have to say, the Norwegian Sky is a beautiful, very well-maintained vessel that is kept spotless. Granted, she just returned from drydock not too long ago, so she’s looking in tip-top shape right now, but I didn’t encounter rust, any malfunctioning equipment, odd smells, or areas of neglect.
In all honesty, a 25-year-old Carnival ship would NEVER look this good!
The Sky does not get many good reviews on social media and travel sites, which surprises me a great deal, as some of the things people have complained about I haven’t seen at all during this cruise. I went into this with an open mind, having read the reviews, but determined to form my own opinion.
With that said, I would absolutely, without a doubt, book another cruise on Norwegian Sky in a heartbeat! I’d also like to book a cruise on one of their larger ships to compare the experience. Since the new ships offer solo studio staterooms with amenities just for solo cruisers, I would book one of those staterooms over a balcony just to try it out and see if they are really worth the savings.
So, Norwegian… you got me!
As always, thanks for following along on this latest adventure and stay tuned as my next one is just a couple of weeks away.
Norwegian Sky Daily Programs
The daily programs can be viewed or downloaded in PDF format by clicking on each below.