Norwegian cruise line was the first to open a private stop in the Bahamas with a big stirrups almost 50 years ago. Although the island has been strengthening for many years, major improvements, including the first pool and dock, are expected to open as early as November.
Construction continues on a 1,500-foot-long dock, avoiding the boring process of having to soften passengers with a small boat to get to land.
NCL president David Herrera, who called the island “GSC,” said the pier would solve the problem the ship had when the sea was too rough for passengers to land.
“We will never miss the GSC again,” he said Sunday at the baptism ceremony of the new Rhine ship, Norway Aqua.
Once completed, two of the NCL’s largest vessels can be processed at once, including a new class of vessels that can hold 5,100 passengers in 2030.
“We are looking at it strategically, so we are trying to match the island’s capabilities in gradual development with the ships deploying it to the island,” said Tom Rothal, NCL’s product development and strategy manager during Tuesday’s tour. “So we’re not going to stress the island too fast, too fast.”
Dock’s news was removed last year, but the NCL has revealed several other enhancements that will come to the island this week too.
This includes a 28,476 square feet pool with a capacity of 1,898 people that can walk as soon as passengers get off the ship.
“Scaling, that’s huge,” Herrera said as she detailed the new features. “We’re building a huge, heated pool with dozens of cabanas, miles of loungers, music, DJs, food and a swim-up bar. It’s going to be fantastic.”
Private island pools are not that common. Great Stirrup Cay is located in the adjacent Little Starp Cay, leased by Royal Caribbean and renamed Coco Kei, and has now been rebranded as the perfect day in Coco Sei. It has its own enormous pool, a water park with its wave pool, and other bells and whistles. Celebration keys at the new private Bahamas destination along the southern coast of Grand Bahamas Island on the Carnival Cruise Line also feature a pool.
But for now, at least for now, we won’t be able to find pools on both Disney’s Castaway Kay and Lookout Kay at Lighthouse Point, as well as Ocean Kay at MSC, Princess Cruise’s Princess Kay, and Half Moon Kay from Dutch America. At least not yet.
The placard shows the construction of a future passageway that will lead passengers to a new pool from the under construction dock at Norwegian Cruise Line’s Private Bahamas Great Stirup Cay (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel) on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Construction Crane continues work on a new dock coming to Norwegian Cruise Line’s Private Bahamas Great Stillap Cay (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel) on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025
Construction will continue on a new 1,500-foot-long dock as Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua will need to halt offshore from the Line’s private Bahamas Great Stillap Cay on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Construction will continue on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025 for a pool that has more than 28,000 square feet, with two swim-up bars on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Private Bahamas Great Stilellap Cay.
Tom Roser, product manager for Norwegian cruise line development and strategy, talks about his plans to develop the Vibe Beach Club area of the Line’s Private Bahamas Island Great Stirlap Cay.
The Placard shows plans for a more than 28,000 square feet of pool on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Private Bahamas Island on Great Stirup Cay.
Tom Roesser, product manager for Norwegian Cruise Line development and strategy, spoke on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 about the future development plans for the Line’s Private Bahamas Great Stillap Cay.
Construction Crane continues work on a new dock coming to Norwegian Cruise Line’s Private Bahamas Great Stillap Cay (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel) on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025
Construction will continue on a new 1,500-foot-long dock as Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua will need to halt offshore from the Line’s private Bahamas Great Stillap Cay on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
We will run towards the new Norwegian Cruise Line ship Norway Aqua as we will need to stop offshore from the Line’s private Bahamas Great Stirlap Cay on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua is anchored offshore from Great Stirlap Cay on Private Bahamas Island on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua is located offshore from the Line’s Private Bahamas Island Great Stirlap Cay on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua is located offshore from the Line’s Private Bahamas Island Great Stirlap Cay on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua is located offshore from the Line’s Private Bahamas Island Great Stirlap Cay on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ship Norwegian Aqua is surrounded offshore from the Line’s private Bahamas Island Great Stirlap Cay on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025.
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The placard shows the construction of a future passageway that will lead passengers to a new pool from the under construction dock at Norwegian Cruise Line’s Private Bahamas Great Stirup Cay (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel) on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
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Herrera said the pool will be family-friendly with a zero-entry area and another splash pad will be built for children.
“Of course there will be a bar for responsible parents right next to the kids’ splash area,” he said.
The line has built a passageway from the pier to the pool area and is currently adjacent to the welcoming stop for the existing amenities on the line. However, there is also a welcome area with a tram running through the rest of the island at the edge of the pier.
Each tram has the capacity to transport 107 riders, so passengers only wait 3-5 minutes at peak times, Roesser said.
The pool, kids splash area, pier and new welcome area are the first stages of the announced improvements. Others include adding space to mirror popular spaces found on NCL ships.
One will be the theme of Horizon Park, a family-friendly socialization and gaming area.
“We offer a variety of shaded seating options so families can rest, relax, recharge and interact with each other,” says Roesser. “And there are different grass games too. So there are Cornhole, Giant Genga, Connect 4, that type of game.”
The second themed area is for adults only ambience areas, with colder areas with villas, daybeds and loungers, available for an additional fee.
“We felt we needed to provide our guests with a greater choice. For now, there are no adult-only sections on the island,” he said. “We know that the concept is very popular on ships. This is how certain aspects of the consumer demographic are truly valuable. So, we try to tailor that segment of the island, just like we do as a ship.”
For now, NCL has developed 50 acres of the island’s 270 acres, with planned developments in place, but this is still less than half of the larger island. A significant portion of the island is reserved as environmentally protected land.
“The GSC today is beautiful. It has always been one of our top rated destinations,” Herrera says. “Everything that makes GSC special will continue to be part of our private island, but we only offer more.”
The lack of piers on the NCL side was a thorn as competitors had deployed them for many years.
When asked why the NCL didn’t build it faster, Herrera said, “We hope we have. We absolutely hope we have.”
“We had plans to build a pier in front of Covid and they were on the sidelines, so this was on the way, and when we did it, we wanted to make sure we got it right,” he said.
He teased the announcement of amenities coming soon.
“We are very excited about what we have announced and what we will be presenting in the coming months, that our GSC-loving guests are absolutely hoping to love GSC even more,” he said. “Great Stirrup Cay is trying to make it bigger.”
