Unable to Dock at Ocean Cay Sat Dec 21

[webworm]

We are sitting off Ocean Cay unable to dock due to 50Klm winds so will sit here until midnight before heading to Miami.

[mafig]

So sorry to hear that.  I'm sure you were looking forward to going there.

 

Hope the rest of the cruise was wonderful.😍

[dexddd]

OK, thanks.

 

MSC spent lots of money on island and a dock so misses will be rare.  Contrast to NCL GSC who has to tender and success is more in the 50-66% range.

[aravindndeepa]

4 hours ago, webworm said:

We are sitting off Ocean Cay unable to dock due to 50Klm winds so will sit here until midnight before heading to Miami.

sorry to hear that.which ship? any refunds or OBC announced?

[dexddd]

I should add from the drone footage the other day I was wondering how docking might be there.  Doesn't seem like much docking protection VS DCL.  They do have a tug though.

[qwerty11]

We had a $60 mysterious onboard credit appear on the missed Ocean Cay day. Also, anything we prebooked ahead of time for Ocean Cay was immediately refunded to our onboard account. 

[garrymorere]

15 minutes ago, qwerty11 said:

We had a $60 mysterious onboard credit appear on the missed Ocean Cay day. Also, anything we prebooked ahead of time for Ocean Cay was immediately refunded to our onboard account. 

 

They did refund port taxes and fees for the missed stop, but nothing further.

[Hlitner]

Bummer.  The approach lane to the pier is not much wider then your ship and the turning basin (adjacent to the pier) is also quite snug.  When we docked at Ocean Cay (last Monday) we noted that a stiff wind (especially if it were a cross wind) or any large swells would make docking very difficult or impossible.  Missing any port due to high winds and/or seas is just part of cruising and unfortunate.  The norm (within the industry) for missed ports is to simply refund any applicable fees that had previously been charged as part of your cruise price.

 

Hank

[Fred&Lily]

Here is a world map which shows current wind conditions:

 

https://earth.nullschool.net/

 

Roll your mouse wheel over the Caribbean and zoom in.  Some very high winds this week.

We'll be down there at OC January 26th on Armonia and I hope it's a calm day!

[webworm]

17 hours ago, garrymorere said:

 

They did refund port taxes and fees for the missed stop, but nothing further.

Be aware if you are a Canadian citizen and miss a port with MSC there is no refund of port fees and taxes. I was told only US citizens get a refund. This was my first MSC Cruise and it will be my last! I made that very clear with Guest Services this morning while getting of the ship.

[blordos]

I'm not a Canadian or a US citizen but we got a €100 obc extra when the MSC Splendida misses the Shanghai port due strong winds. The harbor autorities closes the port for all ships so it was not a MSC fault.

[Formula280SS]

17 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Bummer.  The approach lane to the pier is not much wider then your ship and the turning basin (adjacent to the pier) is also quite snug.  When we docked at Ocean Cay (last Monday) we noted that a stiff wind (especially if it were a cross wind) or any large swells would make docking very difficult or impossible.  Missing any port due to high winds and/or seas is just part of cruising and unfortunate.  The norm (within the industry) for missed ports is to simply refund any applicable fees that had previously been charged as part of your cruise price.

 

Hank

 

Hank, agree that the approach lanes (well marked) are pretty narrow.  I was told by an officer that it was dredged and that you can see the shallow, unsafe waters not far from the buoy's on each side.  I don't if that is true or not; just what we were told.

 

When we left Ocean Cay recently on our second week and second stop there was significant wind.  The ship was clearly under more power.  Do you know if that was because the navigation of the ship 'under power is better (bow thruster's left effective underway per another thread post, but azipods and stabilizers perform better (again, don't know, heard off hand)).

 

Also, I recall coming out of the fitness center and watching the Meraviglia dock and looking at Ocean Cay on the starboard side.  Does that mean we came in in the narrow channel past the lighthouse and then turned around?  Or. can MSC ships enter from the opposite direction?

 

Thank you.

 

[garrymorere]

1 hour ago, webworm said:

Be aware if you are a Canadian citizen and miss a port with MSC there is no refund of port fees and taxes. I was told only US citizens get a refund. This was my first MSC Cruise and it will be my last! I made that very clear with Guest Services this morning while getting of the ship.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that.

[dexddd]

Are they using the tug at all for docking assistance?

[blueslily]

2 hours ago, webworm said:

Be aware if you are a Canadian citizen and miss a port with MSC there is no refund of port fees and taxes. I was told only US citizens get a refund. This was my first MSC Cruise and it will be my last! I made that very clear with Guest Services this morning while getting of the ship.

 

Oh wow. Because of not docking at Ocean Cay and not getting a refund for taxes and port fees for being unable to dock there?

 

Also, what did Guest Services say was the reason that Canadian citizens do not get the taxes and port fees refunded? Was there a pricing difference or some other factor? 

 

 

[perakcruiser]

Most Europeans also don't get back port fees and taxes, this is not about MSC want to spoil US pax, it is about the national law under which you booked the cruise. So in this case you need to blame Canada not the Italians or the Swiss 🙂

 

 

[webworm]

1 hour ago, blueslily said:

 

Oh wow. Because of not docking at Ocean Cay and not getting a refund for taxes and port fees for being unable to dock there?

 

Also, what did Guest Services say was the reason that Canadian citizens do not get the taxes and port fees refunded? Was there a pricing difference or some other factor? 

 

 

They could not give me any reason why I would not get a refund for port fees and taxes after asking 3 times. I will be escalating to see if I can get a reason why. It makes no sense since I paid in US dollars and booked through the US website of MSC and just because we are Canadian we donèt get a refund. I have missed a port with other cruise lines and got a refund in this case.

[stoneman56]

On 12/21/2019 at 6:36 PM, aravindndeepa said:

sorry to hear that.which ship? any refunds or OBC announced?

No there is no compo, why should there be?

We didn't get offered any when we missed it on Friday and no one that I could see was bothered

Edited December 22, 2019 by stoneman56

[stoneman56]

On 12/21/2019 at 6:58 PM, qwerty11 said:

We had a $60 mysterious onboard credit appear on the missed Ocean Cay day. Also, anything we prebooked ahead of time for Ocean Cay was immediately refunded to our onboard account. 

We had that as well and wondered what it was for, very nice of them

[Hlitner]

4 hours ago, Formula280SS said:

 

Hank, agree that the approach lanes (well marked) are pretty narrow.  I was told by an officer that it was dredged and that you can see the shallow, unsafe waters not far from the buoy's on each side.  I don't if that is true or not; just what we were told.

 

When we left Ocean Cay recently on our second week and second stop there was significant wind.  The ship was clearly under more power.  Do you know if that was because the navigation of the ship 'under power is better (bow thruster's left effective underway per another thread post, but azipods and stabilizers perform better (again, don't know, heard off hand)).

 

Also, I recall coming out of the fitness center and watching the Meraviglia dock and looking at Ocean Cay on the starboard side.  Does that mean we came in in the narrow channel past the lighthouse and then turned around?  Or. can MSC ships enter from the opposite direction?

 

Thank you.

 

Based on what we experienced on the Divina the approach is from the West and ship passes through the narrow channel with the island off to Port.  When past the channel and very close to the pier the ship then executes a 180 maneuver before docking to Starboard.  At that point the bow is facing towards the West almost perfectly aligned with the narrow channel (ahead).  This makes the departure very straight forward. We were on the 2nd Divina voyage that docked at Ocean Cay and a crew member told us the first docking was done in a similar manner (with the ship docked on the Starboard side).  We had a Starboard cabin (in the Yacht Club) with a very good view of the light show from our balcony :).   My thoughts as we went through the approach, was that moving through the narrow channel and executing a 180 within the ship's own footprint would be difficult in any kind of significant wind.  The recent Carnival Glory collision in Cozumel is a very good example of how even  a 30 knot wind can have a major impact on maneuvering a large ship and the Glory was not trying to execute a 180.  Many Mariners will tell you that a large cruise ship is like a weathervane and does not handle well in a stiff cross wind.  

 

Somebody mentioned tug assistance.  On our visit there was a relatively small tug at the island but it did not assist our arrival or departure.  In fact, when we departed that tug was tied up across the island at its own berth.  There was also a small supply ship berthed near the tug (this was at a small docking area not far from the Ocean Cay Village).

 

Hank

[stoneman56]

6 hours ago, webworm said:

Be aware if you are a Canadian citizen and miss a port with MSC there is no refund of port fees and taxes. I was told only US citizens get a refund. This was my first MSC Cruise and it will be my last! I made that very clear with Guest Services this morning while getting of the ship.

I thought MSC owned the island so there wouldn't be any port fees to pay. 

If you're that cheap that you wouldn't sail with a particular line because you thought they diddled you out of a couple of dollars maybe cruising isn't for you. I'll let you into a secret, every line is out to empty your pockets of more money, however they can manage it. 

[webworm]

3 hours ago, stoneman56 said:

I thought MSC owned the island so there wouldn't be any port fees to pay. 

If you're that cheap that you wouldn't sail with a particular line because you thought they diddled you out of a couple of dollars maybe cruising isn't for you. I'll let you into a secret, every line is out to empty your pockets of more money, however they can manage it. 

'My pont is they should treat all their passengers equally and not based on nationality. Never heard of this before and have been on several cruises in the past. Actually missed a port previously and no questions asked was refunded the port fees and taxes. There are port fees and taxes for Ocean Cay. The Bahamian government you can be sure is getting a piece of the action and  they are not a couple of dollars with 2 cabins.

[Até]

I've read that MSC leased the island from the Bahamian government for 99 years and still pays Bahamian taxes at the private island.  Cruises stopping at Ocean Cay have some of the highest port fees/taxes I've ever seen on Caribbean sailings.  Seaside's Easter with four ports including Nassau & Ocean Cay have port fees/taxes of $181pp, but Divina's three port Eastern sailings skipping Ocean cay and going to St Maarten rather than Nassau have taxes of just $89pp, but add the three extra days going to Nassau and Ocean Cay and the taxes shoot up to $184pp.  Taxes on just the three day only stopping at OC/Nassau are around $112pp.

[Hlitner]

What makes folks think that MSC isn't paying themselves a port fee for Ocean Cay?  After all, they have invested piles of money in the island and would reasonably seek a return on investment.

 

Hank

[LMaxwell]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

What makes folks think that MSC isn't paying themselves a port fee for Ocean Cay?  After all, they have invested piles of money in the island and would reasonably seek a return on investment.

 

Hank

 

Those fees are going to the Bahamian Gov't; just like they do when a ship calls at GSC, Coco Cay, etc.  They can certainly upcharge cruise fares and try to earn their investment back, or try to sell as much upcharge as possible on the island; but non-negotiable items like taxes and fees aren't for the company.  

 

I appreciate your line of thinking but doubt it applies here