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Ocean Cay Website


eroller
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Looks like you have to pay to eat there. I read that some or all restaurants charge a fee?  We will be there 2x on our 14d seaside cruise next January from 9a to 12 midnight. It's no big deal to walk back to ship but could be a p.i.a. during lunch and dinner hours.

Edited by jean87510
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Looks like you have a buffet but other eatery and bars will be a fee based.  Better stock up drinks in your mini friz before going out.  Also, chairs included but umb and cabana, extra.  Nice move by cruise lines to take away Bahama economy to their bottom.  Instead of cheap drinks on the Nassau shore, we will have to pay ship price drinks on the O Cay.  Hope they don't have hair braiding there money saved on braiding can go to my drinks.....oh wait, you pay for drink package then pay more to drink on their island......are they also going to sell a gold pass to get off the ship early so you can go hog the chairs at the good spot?

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7 hours ago, ashank1m said:

Looks like you have a buffet but other eatery and bars will be a fee based.  Better stock up drinks in your mini friz before going out.  Also, chairs included but umb and cabana, extra.  Nice move by cruise lines to take away Bahama economy to their bottom.  Instead of cheap drinks on the Nassau shore, we will have to pay ship price drinks on the O Cay.  Hope they don't have hair braiding there money saved on braiding can go to my drinks.....oh wait, you pay for drink package then pay more to drink on their island......are they also going to sell a gold pass to get off the ship early so you can go hog the chairs at the good spot?

It didn't look like buffet was free either.  Or maybe I'm reading it wrong on the link.  I'm also wondering how they will ensure that no one takes your umbrella and chairs if you decide to take a walk, go back to ship, or snorkel. I guess I'll find out next year when we go.

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Well this is interesting: I was poking around the website and there are couple of spots that say Aurea (one is a spa, the other is called Aurea Paradise Sands). I note that the bars and restaurants aren't free, but I wonder if Aurea passengers will have fee-free access to these areas. Given what I've read about the Armonia (as an older ship, its Thermal Spa isn't quite as large or nice as on other MSC ships), this would be a nice substitute/adjunct to the spa on the ship. Guess we'll have to wait and see, my understanding is that the Ocean Cay doesn't open for business until November.

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12 hours ago, ashank1m said:

Looks like you have a buffet but other eatery and bars will be a fee based.  Better stock up drinks in your mini friz before going out.  Also, chairs included but umb and cabana, extra.  Nice move by cruise lines to take away Bahama economy to their bottom.  Instead of cheap drinks on the Nassau shore, we will have to pay ship price drinks on the O Cay.  Hope they don't have hair braiding there money saved on braiding can go to my drinks.....oh wait, you pay for drink package then pay more to drink on their island......are they also going to sell a gold pass to get off the ship early so you can go hog the chairs at the good spot?

 

 

$19pp for the buffet, not free.  I think I will go back to the ship for that price.

Edited by ready2cruzagain
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We sailed on the Carnival Liberty in 2013 and you had to pay for the drinks and food yourself at the bar at Mahogany Bay, which is supposedly their private island. I don't know the procedure on other lines, though.

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4 hours ago, ikea logistics said:

Even all the other cruise lines who have there own island charge you for food and drinks so no different

 

I am not aware of any other cruise line that charges for food and most include the drink package when you have the drink package on-board.

 

Here is a quick rundown for clarity:

 

Half Moon Cay: Owned by CCL (Carnival, Princess, and Holland America). Complimentary buffet. It's been a while since I've been there so I don't recall if the drink package is included at HMC but there were many included food options.

 

Great Stirrup Cay: Owned by NCL. Drink package and buffet are complimentary. I was just there several months ago and the buffet is enormous. Ribs, Chicken, Fish, plus burgers/dogs, full salad bar, etc... They even had an entire pig 'roasted' (which I don't believe was actually roasted in the ground, but it was a whole roasted pig none-the-less).

 

CocoCay: Owned by RCL: Drink package and buffet are complimentary. I was just here a few weeks ago and RCL has really upped the buffet options plus they offer Grilling stations and they have separate food areas scattered throughout the island. This was the best lunch we had all week on RCL. Fish, chicken, and ribs were straight off the grill. All complimentary. 

 

Castaway Cay: Disney. Haven't been, but I would bet the food is complimentary. Someone who has been could comment.

 

Semi-Private LaBadee: This technically isn't owned by RCL as it's a private section of Haiti. But the above applies. Drink package and complimentary food. Their buffet area is also enormous. 

 

Semi-Private Mahagony Bay: I don't believe Carnival owns this section of Hondorous. I believe it's like Labadee and Harvest Cay where Carnival has a private beach area but it's technically not a private island. 

 

Semi-Private Harvest Caye: NCL. I haven't been there so I can't comment. But this definitely isn't an area owned by NCL.

 

Hope that helps to clarify.

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We did Disney and Castaway Cay in 2014. Buffet was complimentary (nothing enormous), as well as there was a soft serve ice cream free of charge, and they had the same soda/water beverage station as on the ship, free of charge. Things may have changed since then. 

 

 

Edited by CruisingMom77
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4 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

We sailed on the Carnival Liberty in 2013 and you had to pay for the drinks and food yourself at the bar at Mahogany Bay, which is supposedly their private island. I don't know the procedure on other lines, though.

Mahogany Bay isn't a private island or port area.  The restaurants and such there are private entities, in conjunction with CCL. It's more like Turks port with Margaritaville and such  or St Maarten with the various restaurants and bars.

Actual private ports like Princess Cays or Half Moon Bay or Labadee or Castaway Cay or so forth, the food is "free" at the buffets, drink packages cover drinks ashore (mainly), various activities, chairs includes while others have fees, etc.  

Ocean Cay would be pretty unique in being a completely private port/island, and yet charging for any food, not allowing drink packages to cover drinks ashore and so forth.

I'm in the wait and see camp - and will likely be heading to the ship to nosh if everything is truly extra charge. Fortunately, there's several stops before our visits, so we'll see how it shakes out. 

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I'll just go back to the ship. I am not paying $19 a person for buffet food. I can afford it but it's the principal. I have a feeling quite a few people will bring food off of ship. I'm still trying to grasp why the extra charge for internet at ocean cay.  It does look really nice though. 

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11 hours ago, jean87510 said:

I'll just go back to the ship. I am not paying $19 a person for buffet food. I can afford it but it's the principal. I have a feeling quite a few people will bring food off of ship. I'm still trying to grasp why the extra charge for internet at ocean cay.  It does look really nice though. 

I'm in the same camp as you, while I can afford $19 for the buffet (and TBH it does look pretty nice), I dislike being forced to pay for something that I think should be included in the cruise fare. OTOH if my wife and I see enormous lines at the buffet onboard, we might be inclined to just fork over the $19/pp and chalk it up to the adventure. That's a heck of a lot less than we'd spend for any excursion at a typical port stop.

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12 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Mahogany Bay isn't a private island or port area.  The restaurants and such there are private entities, in conjunction with CCL. It's more like Turks port with Margaritaville and such  or St Maarten with the various restaurants and bars.

Actual private ports like Princess Cays or Half Moon Bay or Labadee or Castaway Cay or so forth, the food is "free" at the buffets, drink packages cover drinks ashore (mainly), various activities, chairs includes while others have fees, etc.  

Ocean Cay would be pretty unique in being a completely private port/island, and yet charging for any food, not allowing drink packages to cover drinks ashore and so forth.

I'm in the wait and see camp - and will likely be heading to the ship to nosh if everything is truly extra charge. Fortunately, there's several stops before our visits, so we'll see how it shakes out. 

 

Thank you for the clarification. It's going back almost 6 years now, but I could swear Carnival billed it as a private area that only they had access to (however, I could be wrong). Anyway, we'll wait and see. I'm wondering whether MSC will allow passengers to bring food and/or drinks directly from the ship onto the island. (But something inside me says the answer is a big fat "NO.")

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Off the ship you don't get scanned and never had any problem taking food off the ship.  Buffet has cold cuts to make a nice sandwich with.  I don't take any fruits though possible germ for local plants.

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1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

 

Thank you for the clarification. It's going back almost 6 years now, but I could swear Carnival billed it as a private area that only they had access to (however, I could be wrong). Anyway, we'll wait and see. I'm wondering whether MSC will allow passengers to bring food and/or drinks directly from the ship onto the island. (But something inside me says the answer is a big fat "NO.")

 

Mahogany Bay is a private port that CCL corp owns.  It is like Amber Cove and Harvest Cay in that they charge for food and drinks.  These are private ports but the food is not made by the ships...contracted out to companies (Fat Tuesdays, etc).  The private islands are different and that is where the included food and drinks come in.  MSC is the first private "island" that I have seen charge for food and not have an included buffet. 

Edited by ready2cruzagain
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8 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

 

Mahogany Bay is a private port that CCL corp owns.  It is like Amber Cove and Harvest Cay in that they charge for food and drinks.  These are private ports but the food is not made by the ships...contracted out to companies (Fat Tuesdays, etc).  The private islands are different and that is where the included food and drinks come in.  MSC is the first private "island" that I have seen charge for food and not have an included buffet. 

Thank you, ready2cruzagain. That's an important distinction, I thought it was a private island but it is just a private port, hence the food and beverage being "pay as you go." I guess it remains to be seen whether MSC will maintain it this way or switch to Ocean Cay being free (with cruise fares rising accordingly, I suspect).

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13 hours ago, jean87510 said:

I am not paying $19 a person for buffet food. I can afford it but it's the principal.

Using the word "principal" instead of "principle" on a monetary-related comment is actually rather humorous in an ironic sort of way.  Kind of made my day! 😄

Edited by JAGR
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13 minutes ago, JAGR said:

Using the word "principal" instead of "principle" on a monetary-related comment is actually rather humorous in an ironic sort of way.  Kind of made my day! 😄

I'm in finance and I chuckled at the comment, too. Reminds me of something a priest friend of mine used to say; "it's not school that I hate, it's the principal of the thing." :classic_biggrin:

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