The private island wars have gone into overdrive, and now another line is jumping into the action.
While cruise line private destinations are nothing new, transforming these spots into must-see destinations via hundreds of millions of dollars is a more recent phenomena.
Things started off with Royal Caribbean’s CocoCay that was turned from a sleepy island to a massive destination complete with massive pool and waterpark.
More recently, Carnival joined the party with the opening of its Celebration Key. That private spot features massive “lagoons” for passengers to enjoy and more than a mile of beach, in addition to waterslides, splash pads, beach games, and more.
Now, Norwegian Cruise Line is revealing the latest updates to its island, Great Stirrup Cay, and they have to be seen to be believed.
Massive Upgrades Coming to Great Stirrup Cay
If you’ve ever visited Great Stirrup Cay before, you know that the experience is already pretty nice. It’s a relatively quiet spot with white sand beaches, plenty of places to relax, and the electric blue water that The Bahamas is famous for.
But compared to CocoCay, which sits literally right next to Great Stirrup Cay, the island is lacking in some respects. There’s no pool, no waterpark, and not even a dock. Now, that’s all about to change.
Earlier this year, NCL announced a number of new features coming to the island. This includes a multi-ship pier (ending the need for a tender back and forth from the ship) with new welcome center, as well as a 1.4 acre pool area with a heated pool dubbed the Great Life Lagoon.
There will also be new pool bars, a 3,400 square foot splash pad called Splash Harbor, and Horizon Park. This park will include lawn games, mini-golf, along with pickleball courts and a sport court to play.
For adults, there will be the Vibe Shore Club, a spot for adults only that features its own private bar, along with villas for rent.
And if you want some excitement, NCL is debuting a new race course with what it calls “jet karts” as an excursion. These reportedly combine go-karting and jet-skiing to let you race around a track just offshore from the island.
To get around all these spots, there will also be a new tram put into service to ferry people around the island.
These new attractions have already been in the works, and are set to open up toward the end of this year.
But it’s the newest announcement about what’s coming to Great Stirrup Cay that will turn heads. It also shows that the cruise line is competing directly with CocoCay that’s just a stone’s throw away.
A 19-Slide Waterpark with River and Cliff Jumping
In addition to all the features revealed before, NCL has now introduced the latest update to Great Stirrup Cay, a brand-new waterpark called Great Tides.
And this park looks to compete not only with waterparks on ships or at private islands, but anything on land as well.
It will feature a staggering 19 waterslides, anchored with Tidal Tower that’s home to eight slides alone. Here, there will be racing slides, tube slides, and body slides. There’s also an 800-foot “dynamic river” (note, not a lazy river!) with tunnel and a 9,000 square foot kid-friendly splash area. That splash park will feature eight slides of its own and tons of spots to get wet.
But it’s another area of the new Great Tides Waterpark that we think will be the most interesting. Cliffside Cove will have dual racing slides, but also something we’ve never seen in a waterpark before… cliff jumps.
There will be two jumps — one at 10 feet and one at 15 feet — into the water below. There’s also a new style of family slide where up to four people can slide down all at the same time on a massive slide into the water below.
This park is set to open in summer of 2026. That will be after the new features mentioned earlier, which are set to open toward the end of 2025 and into 2026.
You can see some renderings of what guests can expect in a video posted by Norwegian:
Yes, There Will Be Charges for Some Areas
One thing to know is that as you might expect by now, not all of these features will be included for free with your day at Great Stirrup Cay.
There’s no official word we’ve seen on the actual pricing, but some of the areas will include a charge while others will be included.
Specifically, NCL put out the following notice of free/paid activities on Great Stirrup Cay:
Included
- Beach access
- Pool
- Splash Harbor
- Horizon Park
- Hammock Bay
Paid/Admission Charge
- Cabanas
- Great Tides Waterpark
- Vibe Shore Club (Adults-Only)
- Silver Cove
- Jet Karts
You can learn more about the updates to Great Stirrup Cay here.
