Ocean Cay First Timer Questions

[tkwbear]

On my upcoming 15 day cruise, we will be spending an overnight stay and an additional day at the end of the cruise at Ocean Cay. I really love Half Moon Cay, so I am hoping this will be at least as good.

 

Is the snorkeling there worthwhile? Is the water basically transparent? Any fish to see? On an MSC video there seemed to be a lot of seaweed washing up.

 

Is the nightly show centered around the lighthouse good? Where is the best place to be to watch it?

 

A more general question, does MSC allow you to take bottled water and/or a refillable bottle on the ship and on the island?

 

 

[alyssamma]

9 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

On my upcoming 15 day cruise, we will be spending an overnight stay and an additional day at the end of the cruise at Ocean Cay. I really love Half Moon Cay, so I am hoping this will be at least as good.

 

Is the snorkeling there worthwhile? Is the water basically transparent? Any fish to see? On an MSC video there seemed to be a lot of seaweed washing up.

 

Is the nightly show centered around the lighthouse good? Where is the best place to be to watch it?

 

A more general question, does MSC allow you to take bottled water and/or a refillable bottle on the ship and on the island?

 

 

I can answer about this island...it's amazing and the water is clear. There are 2 areas - Yacht Club and non-Yacht Club. Honest, the non-YC is much better. I saw a pretty huge ray while just walking in the water up to my shins. 

 

The lighthouse show is amazing...and there is a beach party which is pretty good too right before the show starts. You can see the show from just about anywhere (including the ship), but if you are on the island, don't worry, plenty of places to see (you'll want to be where the beach party is).

 

I can't answer about the water. If you are sailing YC, everything is included and you won't have to worry about this...

[styles27]

You can’t bring bottled water on the ship but you can bring a refillable type bottle. We always take our stainless water bottles on cruises, MSC included. 

[tkwbear]

38 minutes ago, styles27 said:

You can’t bring bottled water on the ship but you can bring a refillable type bottle. We always take our stainless water bottles on cruises, MSC included. 

Thanks! Can you put that in your checked luggage or do you have to carry it on?

[ready2cruzagain]

6 hours ago, tkwbear said:

Thanks! Can you put that in your checked luggage or do you have to carry it on?

We put ours in our luggage

 

[dexddd]

We were there four times in September.  Not many fish in YC area and we also didn't see many by lighthouse.  The ones we did see by lighthouse were by rocks.  Note not all areas were open when we went.

 

When on ship, twice we saw a big ray and a small ray go past netting into lighthouse and even into shallow water.

 

Show, well, maybe it was hyped too much but I wasn't really impressed but just one opinion.  Maybe because it wasn't very long.  They also have a couple camp fires going if your thing.

 

Our DD carries a metal water bottle everywhere.  The only time anyone asked her about it was security at PC getting on ship.  Their question was is it empty?

[KennyFla]

We snorkled in the lagoon.  In the rocks at the jetty by the YC area a lot of fish have moved into the rocks.  If you don't splash around too much, they will come out.  There is also a turtle and a couple 5 foot sharks in the lagoon.  One swam right by me.

[Morgsmom]

I snorkeled on the "main beach" (nearest lighthouse). Not much to see in terms of fish but it was still pretty and the water is crystal clear.

[kelleherdl]

9 hours ago, styles27 said:

You can’t bring bottled water on the ship but you can bring a refillable type bottle. We always take our stainless water bottles on cruises, MSC included. 

There is a bottle refilling faucet by the locker room building.  I don’t know if they are located elsewhere.

[tkwbear]

4 hours ago, KennyFla said:

We snorkled in the lagoon.  In the rocks at the jetty by the YC area a lot of fish have moved into the rocks.  If you don't splash around too much, they will come out.  There is also a turtle and a couple 5 foot sharks in the lagoon.  One swam right by me.

Sharks? Seriously? Is that the supposed nurse shark that won't bite (usually)? Has anyone else had similar encounters?

 

I once saw a very large barracuda at HMC, but he didn't seem to be interested in me. He was just chilling next to the rocks.

[alyssamma]

10 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

Sharks? Seriously? Is that the supposed nurse shark that won't bite (usually)? Has anyone else had similar encounters?

 

I once saw a very large barracuda at HMC, but he didn't seem to be interested in me. He was just chilling next to the rocks.

Def sharks there...you can google videos of them swimming in the shallow waters...

[MonsterJoe]

We love Ocean Cay - We would book a 7 day cruise that only went there.  It'd be a great place for a small AI, too. 

[Paphillyguy]

With most of the ships leaving at 6 pm this fall from Ocean Cay is there still a Lighthouse show?  

[tkwbear]

I see there are jellyfish there as well.

 

 

[alyssamma]

10 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

I see there are jellyfish there as well.

 

 

This might be seasonal...in Oct there were no jellies...

[alyssamma]

24 minutes ago, Paphillyguy said:

With most of the ships leaving at 6 pm this fall from Ocean Cay is there still a Lighthouse show?  

So...it varies. On the Mera 10/2 there were 2 stops...one early and one late...the late one had the show.

 

Some itineraries are overnighting there.

 

So it really just depends...but if you leave a 6 you won't see it.

 

FYI, the parade (which was awesome) is a casualty of covid and is no more...

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, tkwbear said:

Is the nightly show centered around the lighthouse good? Where is the best place to be to watch it?

 

The Lighthouse show is awesome.  Unique as a cruise line private island experience!  Probably being on the beach near the Lighthouse would be the best, but, having a veranda stateroom on the starboard side of the ship would allow one to see the show from your veranda.

 

Can't accurately answer your other questions, however.  Sorry.  

[SirWolf]

Photo taken thru window of Yacht Club Top Sail Lounge..

[tkwbear]

1 hour ago, alyssamma said:

This might be seasonal...in Oct there were no jellies...

I hope the sharks are seasonal too. Lifeguards at Half Moon Cay have told me they see some in the summer (only).

[alyssamma]

10 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

I hope the sharks are seasonal too. Lifeguards at Half Moon Cay have told me they see some in the summer (only).

LOL, not a marine biologist but I don't think sharks are seasonal. I think the jellies are because of "tides" and "currents" and some other stuff...not sure. 

 

I'm scared of sharks too, but the sharks there are "harmless" 🙂

 

[Gatordad1967]

4 hours ago, alyssamma said:

LOL, not a marine biologist but I don't think sharks are seasonal. I think the jellies are because of "tides" and "currents" and some other stuff...not sure. 

 

I'm scared of sharks too, but the sharks there are "harmless" 🙂

 

Seasonal in a sense that they might be chasing certain baitfish.  They probably go further south in the winter.

 

[KennyFla]

13 hours ago, tkwbear said:

I hope the sharks are seasonal too. Lifeguards at Half Moon Cay have told me they see some in the summer (only).

When I mentioned the shark, a waiter said, "They are always in there, we named them."  I can't remember the name.

 

They have not bothered anyone.

[KennyFla]

14 hours ago, alyssamma said:

So...it varies. On the Mera 10/2 there were 2 stops...one early and one late...the late one had the show.

 

Some itineraries are overnighting there.

 

So it really just depends...but if you leave a 6 you won't see it.

 

FYI, the parade (which was awesome) is a casualty of covid and is no more...

The other problem is that docking there is not a sure thing.  On the Oct 17 Divina cruise, we were supposed to be there Monday and Tuesday, but could not dock Monday morning.  In my opinion the weather was not that bad.  We went back the Saturday for the day.

 

That crazy turnaround inside the ship channel is probably to blame.  That is just crazy.

[MonsterJoe]

5 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

The other problem is that docking there is not a sure thing.  On the Oct 17 Divina cruise, we were supposed to be there Monday and Tuesday, but could not dock Monday morning.  In my opinion the weather was not that bad.  We went back the Saturday for the day.

 

That crazy turnaround inside the ship channel is probably to blame.  That is just crazy.

We were a few hours late in docking the second day we went.  The weather seemed fine to me.  The CD explained that the person-dug channels to the dock are so precise that any strangeness in the tides and/or wind can make it difficult to navigate safely.

[celebrity girl]

I snorkeled in the lagoon by the lighthouse.  This is where you want to be as the chairs and umbrellas are free there.  Over by the rocks to the left I saw some big fish and a ray.  Over on the right by the lighthouse there are TONS of little fish if you look closely and are not in a hurry.  That area close in by the edge there is like a fish nursery.  Lots of colorful baby fish, sea urchins, crabs, hermit crabs and baby corals that are just starting to take hold.  If you disturb the sand a bit the little fish will come over to grab at the nutrients in the water.