Lucayan National Park status post-Dorian

[publicpersona]

Has anyone been on an excursion to Lucayan National Park since Dorian? According to the appeal for support at https://bnt.bs/helplucayan/, the park is closed and that was posted early December. From the pictures there, it seemed unlikely that there would be access to the beach any time soon, although the caves may still be worth a visit.

[hp_slash]

FYI, just found this article that says they hope to reopen Lucayan National Park soon:

 

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2020/jan/03/lucayan-national-park-could-reopen-next-10-days/

 

Currently it is closed to the public.

[publicpersona]

9 hours ago, hp_slash said:

FYI, just found this article that says they hope to reopen Lucayan National Park soon:

 

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2020/jan/03/lucayan-national-park-could-reopen-next-10-days/

 

Currently it is closed to the public.

 

Thanks. Good to have updated information. MSC is selling shore excursion to the park and I cruise with them end of this month. I'll report back whether they cancel it or what.

[publicpersona]

I just discovered that the Lucayan National Park kayak and nature shore excursion that I had booked with MSC (for 1/29/20) has had its description changed to an exciting paddle around the marina looking at the shops instead. They sent out no notification of the change and now are telling me it is too late to cancel (although they say I might be able to talk to shore excursions on board).

 

[CruisinCrow]

On 1/26/2020 at 12:38 PM, publicpersona said:

I just discovered that the Lucayan National Park kayak and nature shore excursion that I had booked with MSC (for 1/29/20) has had its description changed to an exciting paddle around the marina looking at the shops instead. They sent out no notification of the change and now are telling me it is too late to cancel (although they say I might be able to talk to shore excursions on board).

 

 

That makes me afraid to book any of the Freeport tours through MSC.  They are offering a tour to the brewery for our cruise in February and I found out that the brewery is closed until at least April. ☹️

[publicpersona]

1 minute ago, CruisinCrow said:

That makes me afraid to book any of the Freeport tours through MSC.

 

This will be my first cruise on MSC, so I'm trying to keep an open mind. And I will say that the customer service reps I've talked to were empathetic and tried to help. But the fact remains that the MSC shore excursions people continued to sell excursions to the National Park even though they knew it was closed, and then substituted a pretty unattractive harbor paddle without any notification.

[CruisinCrow]

2 minutes ago, publicpersona said:

 

This will be my first cruise on MSC, so I'm trying to keep an open mind. And I will say that the customer service reps I've talked to were empathetic and tried to help. But the fact remains that the MSC shore excursions people continued to sell excursions to the National Park even though they knew it was closed, and then substituted a pretty unattractive harbor paddle without any notification.

 

I understand they were probably hoping things would open back up and that they have no control over the damage.  But I don't understand not fully refunding your money.  Hopefully you can get it straightened out when you get on board!

[CruisinCrow]

Looks like the park has reopened if you wanted to try to get there on your own.  https://www.bahamas.com/pressroom/lucayan-national-park-reopens

 

[EMc&DrS]

We did the MSC excursion to the park when we were on Divina back in 2017.  Out of all the excursions we've taken over nearly 20 cruises, this was one of our favorites.  If they offer it again once the park is open, it is worth the trip.  We started with a kayak tour through the mangroves for about an hour, then we walked to the beautiful beach where they filmed scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean. Finally, we had a walking tour through the park and visited two underground caves inhabited by thousands of bats. I'm sure the mangroves have not recovered from the hurricane, but the beach was beautiful.  Our guide did it all--he drove us to and from the ship, set up the kayaks, led the tour through the mangroves, and was full of interesting storie s and facts on the walks.