Ocean Cay closure 04/2024-05/2024?

[styles27]

Has anyone received an email from MSC about this?

[GPPhilly]

This seems very odd to me.  I can't image what they would be doing to close the island for that long.

[Two Wheels Only]

15 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

This seems very odd to me.  I can't image what they would be doing to close the island for that long.

 

It's possibly construction related. On our last 2 trips there, we saw signs of ....something...that was in the process of being built. I'm not really sure what it was and received confliction information (no surprise) from the staff members when I asked. 

[styles27]

18 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

This seems very odd to me.  I can't image what they would be doing to close the island for that long.

Only thing I thought of was maybe they’re finally going to work on the channel to accommodate the new “World” ship? 
 

[GPPhilly]

42 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Only thing I thought of was maybe they’re finally going to work on the channel to accommodate the new “World” ship? 
 

That would make sense.  If they were increasing the size of the channel because if it was on the island, I would imagine they would just work around that.  

[styles27]

This same person posted a screen shot of the email but it’s not in English 

[shipgeeks]

I sure hope it is not for the purpose of building an adventure/thrill park.  The island is perfect the way it is.

[Glitchlo]

we are suppose to be there April 10 or 11 but have received nothing to indicate an itinerary change (coming from NY)

[styles27]

23 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

I sure hope it is not for the purpose of building an adventure/thrill park.  The island is perfect the way it is.

Completely agree. I love OC because it’s not like the other cruise line’s islands. 

 

9 minutes ago, Glitchlo said:

we are suppose to be there April 10 or 11 but have received nothing to indicate an itinerary change (coming from NY)

That’s what people are saying on this other site, that’s why I asked him to post a pic of the email. I then realized he didn’t book on the US site so maybe that’s the difference. 
Maybe the MSCUSA side of the company hasn’t caught up yet. 

[capriccio]

Docking on a Honduran island as a substitute on a 7 day western Caribbean cruise makes sense but it makes no sense as a substitute for a 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise.  I wonder what will be the substitute for those cruises. 

[styles27]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

Docking on a Honduran island as a substitute on a 7 day western Caribbean cruise makes sense but it makes no sense as a substitute for a 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise.  I wonder what will be the substitute for those cruises. 

Looks like Freeport. Someone else just confirmed it. 
 

[ready2cruzagain]

3 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Looks like Freeport. Someone else just confirmed it. 
 

I sure wouldn't like that substitution!!!

[morpheusofthesea]

One other problem to look into if any port in Jamaica. If one is on any excursion and runs into a medical emergency, due to State Department giving Jamaica a level 3 travel advisory ones insurance might balk, like Medjet evac.

Also check this out : https://cruiseradio.net/6-ports-people-stay-ship/

Wouldn't hurt to double check.

Edited June 27, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[kelleherdl]

As one would expect, no one told MSC Cruises USA website. Ocean Cay remains on the itineraries for April and May 2024.

[mowogo]

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I sure hope it is not for the purpose of building an adventure/thrill park.  The island is perfect the way it is.

Thankfully the company is very against that idea.  The ships are the amusement park.  

 

2 hours ago, styles27 said:

Looks like Freeport. Someone else just confirmed it. 
 

I hope the people getting that shift haven’t experienced Ocean Cay so they don’t appreciate how much the downgrade is.  Ocean Cay helps balance out a lot of the issues of MSC when sailing in the main portion of the ship.  

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

5 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I sure hope it is not for the purpose of building an adventure/thrill park.  The island is perfect the way it is.

However, Royal Caribbean is making HUGE profits from their water park on Coco Cay so it's possible MSC is looking at that and saying hmmmm. (But Ocean Cay is much smaller than Coco Cay so I doubt it.)

[mowogo]

32 minutes ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

However, Royal Caribbean is making HUGE profits from their water park on Coco Cay so it's possible MSC is looking at that and saying hmmmm. (But Ocean Cay is much smaller than Coco Cay so I doubt it.)

I’d say more likely the for profit water park island would be a new one.  MSC is starting to have enough ships in the area that all sailings can’t go to Ocean Cay so they are at the point where they would be looking to do another island like Carnival/HAL/Princess and Disney have done.

[sbcs5390]

I know there’s talks about work to be done at the YC area to accommodate World America. This must be primarily be the channel though? 

[Morgsmom]

There has also been talk about building a hotel on the island (seriously), but I just can't see that happening.  Definitely will not be a water park.

[Paphillyguy]

I can't imagine a water park goes with the whole marine reserve theme.  Also, I would not think they would close the island to build something in the middle of the island that is pretty much closed off now.   The more I think about it, it most likely is to widen and deepen the channel and maybe extend the docking area.  This will also make docking in higher seas easier for the other ships and less missed spots.  

 

Other work on the island can then be done during this time, like making the Ocean House bigger.  They might even address a lasting fix for the YC rock issue  

Edited June 28, 2023 by Paphillyguy

[perakcruiser]

12 hours ago, mowogo said:

MSC is starting to have enough ships in the area that all sailings can’t go to Ocean Cay so they are at the point where they would be looking to do another island like Carnival/HAL/Princess and Disney have done.

Yes, MSC is very popular with Americans now. But still they cannot build something that only US pax love and all other would hate😄 

[Homosassa]

20 hours ago, styles27 said:

Only thing I thought of was maybe they’re finally going to work on the channel to accommodate the new “World” ship? 
 

Surely MSC that touts Ocean Cay as a Marine Reserve wouldn't destroy the surrounding sea bed to dig out a larger channel to bring in a larger ship (more passengers) to stress the already fragile marine environment that they say they are reclaiming....

[styles27]

It will be interesting to learn what the plan is, hopefully there will be an announcement soon. 

[mmbcater]

I spoke to my MSC sales manager and he knew nothing about this and he would. Could someone post what site this was initially on?

[sidari]

Below is a list of MSC Seashore sailings which are affected and updates. Current Sail Date Current Nights Current Itinerary New Sail Date New Nights New Itinerary 3/31/2024 11 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Nassau,Port Canaveral 3/31/2024 14 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocho Rios,George Town,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/07/2024 4 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Nassau,Port Canaveral 3/24/2024 4 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Nassau,Port Canaveral 4/11/2024 10 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocean Cay,Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Belize City,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/14/2024 14 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Puerto Plata,San Juan,Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocho Rios,George Town,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/11/2024 3 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocean Cay,Port Canaveral 4/3/2024 3 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocean Cay,Port Canaveral 4/14/2024 11 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Belize City,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Nassau,Port Canaveral 4/14/2024 14 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Puerto Plata,San Juan,Port Canaveral, Nassau,Ocho Rios,George Town,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/14/2024 7 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Belize City,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/14/2024 7 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Puerto Plata,San Juan,Port Canaveral 4/21/2024 4 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Nassau,Port Canaveral CXL CXL Cancelled Sailing, client chooses new sailing 4/25/2024 10 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocean Cay,Port Canaveral,Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/28/2024 14 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Puerto Plata,San Juan,Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocho Rios,George Town,Cozumel,Port Canaveral 4/25/2024 3 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Ocean Cay,Port Canaveral CXL CXL Cancelled Sailing, client chooses new sailing 4/28/2024 11 Nights Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Costa Maya,Cozumel,Port Canaveral,Port Canaveral,Ocean Cay,Nassau,Port Canaveral 4/28/2024 11 Nights Port Canaveral,Nassau,Puerto