The up to 4,100 passengers currently onboard Norwegian Epic thought they were on their way to Great Stirrup Cay – Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island destination in the Bahamas – as the final call of the current 7-night sailing.
But unfortunately for cruisers who were looking forward to exploring the 268-acre island oasis, the visit on January 31, 2025, is no longer possible.
“Captain just cancelled Great Stirrup Cay!!,” a current passenger shared in a Norwegian Epic Facebook forum at about 7 p.m. EST.
Per other current guests, the visit has been replaced with a day in Nassau, Bahamas – with cruise tracking data showing the 155,873-gross ton vessel sailing in the direction of the Bahamian capital.
“Are you stopping at another port since that one got cancelled?”, one person inquired.
To this, a current guest replied, “Yes, we are stopping in Nassau.”
The current week-long sailing initially embarked from Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida, on January 25, 2025 – and is due to return on February 1, 2025.
In addition to the now-cancelled call on Great Stirrup Cay, the itinerary included Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; St, Thomas, US Virgin Islands; and Totola, British Virgin Islands.
The 2010-launched vessel will operate the same itinerary several more times between now and the end of March – when she repositions to Rome to spend the summer sailing the Greek Isles.
It’s unknown if future versions of this sailing will be affected by similar changes, but recent guests with the same itinerary commented that Great Stirrup Cay was also removed from their voyages.
Is Weather the Culprit?
Norwegian Cruise Line has not issued an official letter or statement regarding the last-minute itinerary change, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the cause was weather-related.
Great Stirrup Cay, which is located at the northern end of the Berry Islands between Great Harbour Cay and Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CocoCay, is a tender port – which means the crew members ferry guests to and from the island using smaller tender boats or lifeboats.
On January 31 when the NCL ship was supposed to visit, the forecast calls for 16-19 mph winds. While this isn’t too much wind for a cruise ship to handle, it could be enough to cause choppy waters and make tendering operations unsafe.
Norwegian Epic Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: Ventura)
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Recent passengers who booked the same itinerary have also commented on weather and rough seas hindering their visits.
“I get why they cancel the stop. We stopped January 19th,It was treacherous when the tender returned to the ship. The tender was moving so much I fell over when trying to exit,” one recent guest shared.
“We did FINALLY make it to GSC, but we only got 2 hours on the island because they delayed all morning. They skipped the cruise before us and the one after us, so it seems like actually making it to the island is rare,” another former passenger chimed in.
All that said, Norwegian Cruise Line is in the process of building a new two-ship pier at their private destination – with construction expected to finish late this year (2025).
Not only will the pier be able to accommodate NCL’s biggest ships – Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Bliss – but it will render tender operations unnecessary if two or less ships are in the port.
Appeared first on: Cruisehive.com