No evenings at Ocean Cay?

[rkacruiser]

50 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

We sailed B2B on Seaside last January, so we had two Ocean Cay days.  On the first one, All Aboard was 4:30, with departure scheduled for 5pm.  At 4:31 we were moving!

The second week, we stayed til midnight or so.  We watched the parade and light show from the ship. Nice, but no comparison with the daytime beauty of the cay.  IMO, its primary asset is its natural beauty.

As the workers live on the cay (nice-looking housing), I can only guess that the earlier departures have something to do with getting back to Miami during the night, perhaps for provisioning?

 

Your thinking about the need for more provisioning is reasonable.  But, do you know if the ship did arrive in Miami earlier than other times?  To depart Ocean Cay without the guests witnessing the nighttime entertainment lessens the value of an Ocean Cay port call as compared to the other cruise line private islands.  

[sidari]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

We sailed B2B on Seaside last January, so we had two Ocean Cay days.  On the first one, All Aboard was 4:30, with departure scheduled for 5pm.  At 4:31 we were moving!

The second week, we stayed til midnight or so.  We watched the parade and light show from the ship. Nice, but no comparison with the daytime beauty of the cay.  IMO, its primary asset is its natural beauty.

As the workers live on the cay (nice-looking housing), I can only guess that the earlier departures have something to do with getting back to Miami during the night, perhaps for provisioning?

The narrow channel and the island itself are affected by strong winds at times and this could be a reason for leaving earlier or later, on our Meraviglia stop during the Xmas 2019 cruise a number of events were cancelled including the parade due to the wind which didn't seem that bad while walking around in the evening.

[JAGR]

On 12/31/2020 at 2:53 PM, Robert Yahnke said:

I agree with sidari on that John!  

But you all say it's better than jail, as long as you stay on the ship!  That's not a Port.  That's just a pause in a cruise, or a sea day.  The point I was making was that if you go off the ship, you are in for nothing but but vendors.

 

[Linda the Book Lover]

58 minutes ago, JAGR said:

But you all say it's better than jail, as long as you stay on the ship!  That's not a Port.  That's just a pause in a cruise, or a sea day.  The point I was making was that if you go off the ship, you are in for nothing but but vendors.

 

I don't know..a relaxing day at the beach and the ability to do excursions if you so desire sounds ok to me. Sure there are shops to buy the usual stuff but you don't have to and buy anything. On NCL's island my DD and I did a boat around the lagoon (of course she did the pedaling) and enjoyed the walking etc. on my Dh and my upcoming MSC cruise we plan to stay on the ship except the private island. I think of it as individual choice...and yes, I am sorry to miss the light show but next time around!

[rkacruiser]

23 hours ago, sidari said:

The narrow channel and the island itself are affected by strong winds at times and this could be a reason for leaving earlier or later,

 

I have read numerous comments about the weather condition issue as well as the narrow channel.  Now, I wonder, why didn't corporate MSC take those issues into consideration as Ocean Cay was being developed?  Nothing can be done about the weather other than possibly providing adequate breakwaters from adverse sea conditions.  But, the channel's width?  The turning basin's size?  That is something that I think that corporate might have considered maybe better than they did.  

 

Regardless, Ocean Cay is a gem!

[dexddd]

Who knows, it got delayed what, two years as it is, operated for three months, then no guests.

[shipgeeks]

We have been scheduled to visit Coco Cay, RC's private island, about six times over the years.  We've been there once.  Weather is always an element.

[georgemoe]

My Seashore sailing April 2022 also has a 6:00PM departure. Hopeful this gets extended once cruising resumes to near normal levels. We were looking forward to the night time elements of the island.

[phissy]

Our cruises for this fall and next spring also show departure at 6pm.

Interesting, we have one in November that does not have a stop at Ocean Cay.  It is listed as one of the cruises under the banner of Ocean Cay Caribbean cruises...when I check itinerary recently, OC was no longer on the schedule.  I have tried to post on Roll Call , letting others know of the change. I guess they are expecting a lot of "traffic" at OC this fall.