MSC Ocean Cay closed?

[goldrusher]

Went to Ocean Cay last year and it was clear that they were preparing to build something on the center part of the island,  The crew said the island would be closed for a few months coming up but they would not  say what was being built. Checked MSC cruises in March/April 2024 and none of their ships stop there. I suspect one or more of the following, 1.  A pool  2.  A water slide park  3. Rooms or a hotel to stay for a week  4 Dredging and building another pier so 2 ships can be there at the same time.  Thoughts??

[JT1962]

46 minutes ago, goldrusher said:

Went to Ocean Cay last year and it was clear that they were preparing to build something on the center part of the island,  The crew said the island would be closed for a few months coming up but they would not  say what was being built. Checked MSC cruises in March/April 2024 and none of their ships stop there. I suspect one or more of the following, 1.  A pool  2.  A water slide park  3. Rooms or a hotel to stay for a week  4 Dredging and building another pier so 2 ships can be there at the same time.  Thoughts??

Hopefully never any of those 4 options, which would ruin it, in my opinion. 
 

Nothing too drastic according to this article: 

 

https://www.travelpulse.ca/news/cruise/msc-cruises-unveils-enhancement-program-for-ocean-cay

 

“Guest facilities will be enhanced with the introduction of excursion centres to support watersport activities and island tours, a sea dive and snorkel centre, additional food and beverage outlets and other facilities.

 

”The MSC Foundation’s Marine Conservation Centre will be built as a base for biologists, coral reef experts and students. It will also house interactive pavilions, a lecture hall and coral exhibition tanks and provide MSC Cruises’ passengers visiting the island with educational opportunities about the importance of the marine ecosystem and the need to protect the world’s oceans.”

Edited March 22 by JT1962

[PTC DAWG]

12 hours ago, goldrusher said:

Went to Ocean Cay last year and it was clear that they were preparing to build something on the center part of the island,  The crew said the island would be closed for a few months coming up but they would not  say what was being built. Checked MSC cruises in March/April 2024 and none of their ships stop there. I suspect one or more of the following, 1.  A pool  2.  A water slide park  3. Rooms or a hotel to stay for a week  4 Dredging and building another pier so 2 ships can be there at the same time.  Thoughts??

Dredging and expanding a few of the buildings, YC in particular I believe…

 

Why would they want a hotel there? 

Edited March 22 by PTC DAWG

[goldrusher]

What does YC mean   A hotel could be a novel great idea financially  but could ruin the rustic feel of the island  .  People could get off the ship, stay and then get back on and go home a week later.  May be a problem if ships are full for rooms .    

[JukiTM]

Sure expanding and dredging the channel for upcoming World America, because normally they dock with Bow pointing out of the channel and the big ships as Seashore and Seascape often cancel the calls in OC because it's a challenge maneuver, to dock with bow in due to no much space to turn the ships inside the basin.

They were talking about the possibility to dock 2 ships at the same times, but the island will be closed only 6 weeks so I think it will be hard, dredge another part of the island and build a dock.

My question is, if they gonna create another pier, in which part of the island?

 

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, goldrusher said:

What does YC mean   A hotel could be a novel great idea financially  but could ruin the rustic feel of the island  .  People could get off the ship, stay and then get back on and go home a week later.  May be a problem if ships are full for rooms .    

Yacht Club

[BirdTravels]

16 hours ago, goldrusher said:

Went to Ocean Cay last year and it was clear that they were preparing to build something on the center part of the island,  The crew said the island would be closed for a few months coming up but they would not  say what was being built. Checked MSC cruises in March/April 2024 and none of their ships stop there. I suspect one or more of the following, 1.  A pool  2.  A water slide park  3. Rooms or a hotel to stay for a week  4 Dredging and building another pier so 2 ships can be there at the same time.  Thoughts??

We were supposed to call there today. However, the Captain was unable to “back us into the stall”, even with the assistance of a tug, and decided to cancel the call. 

[jdvmd]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:00 PM, BirdTravels said:

We were supposed to call there today. However, the Captain was unable to “back us into the stall”, even with the assistance of a tug, and decided to cancel the call. 

Today, the Magnifica is anchored and no tendering because of the winds. The World Cruise Poesia is sitting there. My friend onboard is not happy.

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, jdvmd said:

Today, the Magnifica is anchored and no tendering because of the winds. The World Cruise Poesia is sitting there. My friend onboard is not happy.

Ship happens

[Terre]

On 3/21/2024 at 10:56 PM, goldrusher said:

Went to Ocean Cay last year and it was clear that they were preparing to build something on the center part of the island,  The crew said the island would be closed for a few months coming up but they would not  say what was being built. Checked MSC cruises in March/April 2024 and none of their ships stop there. I suspect one or more of the following, 1.  A pool  2.  A water slide park  3. Rooms or a hotel to stay for a week  4 Dredging and building another pier so 2 ships can be there at the same time.  Thoughts??

Was on Seashore a couple of weeks ago.  It's beautiful!  Don't know if anything was added, but we did stop there for one whole and part of the next.

[rrraydon]

Stopped there on Magnifica last week, loved it!

[Fogfog]

Lots of wild rumors (hotels etc) that according to the 2 YC directors we spoke to in the last month- neither could be confirmed beyond the dedging. 

OC is not an amusement park like other lines and doesn't fit the brand and OC Marine Foundation mission

 

[squigglydownunder]

Has anyone seen/heard anymore about the updates going on there?

 

I wish there was someone who did flyovers of the Bahamas like Bioreconstruct does for Orlando theme parks.

[Cruisergal1208]

1 hour ago, squigglydownunder said:

Has anyone seen/heard anymore about the updates going on there?

 

I wish there was someone who did flyovers of the Bahamas like Bioreconstruct does for Orlando theme parks.

A few updates.  
 

MSC OCEAN CAY UPDATES:

 They have mentioned a few things on the current webinar.

Children’s Lagoon

Updating Current Lagoon

Larger/More Bars

Adding Another Buffett

New Conservation Center

New Housing for Crew/Relaxation/Entertainment Areas

[If_this_is_tuesday]

As they were finishing stage one construction they realized they screwed up the docks for small boats. Either my google-fu is bad or my memory is fudged because i can't find info now. They were building a overnight anchor small boat marina and didn't listen to or hire consultants and the location picked was a cluster-fudge for small private boats to navigate and anchor in many weather conditions. Info was in one of the videos of making Ocean Cay long ago but now either i'm completely nuts or they have wiped info about the marina that was planned.

Edited May 3 by If_this_is_tuesday

[squigglydownunder]

2 minutes ago, If_this_is_tuesday said:

Just after they finished stage one construction they realized they screwed up the docks for small boats. Either my google-fu is bad or my memory is fudged because i can't find info now. They were building a overnight anchor small boat marina and didn't listen to or hire consultants and the location picked was a cluster-fudge for small private boats to navigate and anchor in many weather conditions. Info was in one of the videos of making Ocean Cay long ago but now either i'm completely nuts or they have wiped info about the marina that was planned.

They definitely talk about it in the documentary that's on Tubi. The marina is on the side of the island that gets rougher water so they had to add that additional barrier to create a sheltered cove.

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 3/28/2024 at 12:03 PM, jdvmd said:

Today, the Magnifica is anchored and no tendering because of the winds. The World Cruise Poesia is sitting there. My friend onboard is not happy.

I didn't know they tendered there.

[jdvmd]

36 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

I didn't know they tendered there.

They did for a short time then took off towards the Keys for the rest of the day.