Private island visits can be an amazing part of a cruise vacation and are even more enjoyable when the weather lines up just right – not too hot, gorgeous skies, and that perfect turquoise water.
Those were exactly the conditions when Norwegian Aqua approached Great Stirrup Cay at 8 a.m. on Friday, July 18, 2025, the last full day of her most recent Eastern Caribbean cruise.
The ship had departed Port Canaveral on Saturday, July 12, with myself onboard, and had some less-than-ideal weather throughout the sailing, including sudden showers in both St. Thomas and Tortola.
So it was exciting when the weather looked so ideal for the visit to Great Stirrup Cay, the last port visit of the sailing.
I was thrilled to stand on my starboard-side balcony early in the morning, seeing how gorgeous the island looked as the 156,000-gross ton ship maneuvered into position for tendering operations to begin.
We kept turning and turning, and then – we sailed away. No visit to Great Stirrup Cay for us.
Minutes later, the ship’s master, Captain Robert Lundberg, announced that the weather was not safe for the ship’s tender boats to operate, and we would be enjoying a day at sea instead.
This is proof positive that what may seem like a stunning day isn’t always the ideal weather for a cruise ship visit, particularly when there is no dock for the ship to safely tie up.
Before noon, a new, revised Freestyle Daily newsletter was printed up and available at the Guest Services desk on Deck 7, with copies also delivered to individual staterooms shortly thereafter.
New activities were planned, including my personal favorite, Crowd Trivia (we won!), a wine-and-cheese pairing seminar, a movie in the Aqua Theater, a Caribbean dance class, and more.
Later in the afternoon, a full explanatory letter was also delivered to guests so we could more thoroughly understand why, on a perfect beach day, we weren’t at the beach.
“Let’s talk about the marine conditions. The continued long swell and strong currents we’ve been navigating lately have definitely kept us on our toes,” the letter explained. “While we always hope for smooth sailing, Mother Nature sometimes has other plans.”
Indeed, throughout the sailing the waters had been a bit on the rougher side. Nothing so strong as a storm, but we were definitely feeling more of the ship’s movement than is typical for a calm Caribbean cruise.
“Due to today’s sea conditions, it is unfortunately unsafe to conduct tendering operations, so we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our call to Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas,” the letter confirmed.
Confirmed as in the cancellation was due to the conditions, as we certainly already knew we weren’t visiting the private island. The decision, however, was made due to safety concerns, and was 100% the correct call to make.
How Can a Beautiful Day Be Bad Weather?
While there was certainly some disappointment onboard, the decision to cancel Great Stirrup Cay was appropriate and necessary.
The long swell mentioned by Captain Lundberg is particularly dangerous for tendering operations, as it creates a stronger pitch or rolling motion for longer vessels, such as cruise ships.
This means the smaller tender boats would not have been able to maintain a safe and stable position alongside Norwegian Aqua for guests to move from one vessel to the other.
I’ve tendered at multiple ports under varying conditions, and movement between the cruise ship and tender boat of 2-3 feet up and down is not unusual.
Bigger motions, however, could dislodge gangways and cause the two vessels to move too far apart for guests to step between them.
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While crew members will momentarily stop loading and unloading guests when the movement is too much for tender boats, this can dramatically delay overall tendering when a ship has more than 4,000 guests, as Norwegian Aqua did this past week.
Furthermore, the smaller boats would be much more susceptible to choppy waters moving into the narrow docking area at Great Stirrup Cay, creating very uncomfortable conditions for guests aboard. Dramamine, anyone?
Granted, not everyone aboard was happy with the decision, perhaps not understanding the necessity of the cancellation. Grumblings about “wanting to make more money by keeping us all onboard” were heard, which is a common complaint for any cancelled port visit.
Of course, Norwegian Cruise Line certainly didn’t make more money by keeping everyone aboard, considering they automatically cancelled and refunded all shore tours for Great Stirrup Cay.
Yes, the casino was open longer than expected that day, as were the retail shops onboard, but neither was any busier than they had been during the rest of the cruise.
Overall, most guests onboard had a very pleasant extra sea day as the ship made her way back to Port Canaveral, arriving on time Saturday morning as planned.
Fortunately, pier construction is already underway at Great Stirrup Cay (we saw the cranes from our distant view). Ships should begin docking at the private destination by December, with no more tendering necessary and fewer missed private island port visits.
