No evenings at Ocean Cay?

[Mattnvick]

Was looking at cruises on the Canadian website Feb/March/April 2022.

All stops at Ocean Cay seem to be leaving at 1800. 

They used to be there much later.

Just wondering why the change....?😏

Edited December 5, 2020 by Mattnvick

[shipgeeks]

Which ship?

We are looking at both Armonia and Seaside.  The cruises I see are at Ocean Cay until 1am (leave after midnight), or stay there overnight, giving us a good part of two days there.

However, with the way these ships are scheduled, with 3, 4, 7, 10 and 11-night options, I'm wondering whether this will all be changed to only 7-nighters in the opening months, to simplify testing, documentation, etc.

Are you looking at Meraviglia?  

[Norwich Cruiser]

Our cruises if they sail have late nights.

[rkacruiser]

Sailing before the sunsets would deprive guests of the sound and light show at the lighthouse that helped to make my MSC cruise a truly unique and memorable one.

[sfaaa]

 My 2021 cruise on Seashore will be leaving at 6PM as well. Bummer.

[KennyFla]

On 12/9/2020 at 12:15 PM, Couple-Somerset said:

I cant remember which but 1 of our cruises stays a day and a half - its either August 28th 2021 on Meraviglia or September 5th 2021 on Divina, both 7N

 

The cruise we are looking at on the Divina for October overnites at the island.

[sidari]

3 hours ago, sfaaa said:

 My 2021 cruise on Seashore will be leaving at 6PM as well. Bummer.

Our Seashore sailing has also been changed, has anyone heard of why the changes have been made ?

[Linda the Book Lover]

Interesting news, so I checked our March 27th cruise on the Meraviglia and sure enough we leave at 6pm. There was also another port change (we don't care about that). Perhaps the light show will be seen from the ship only and no island evening activity.

 

[Amy Paperlady]

Those of you fretting that you leave Ocean Cay at 6pm--when do you arrive? Because my cruise also leaves Ocean Cay at 6pm, but it arrives at 2pm the day before, so it's an overnight and one can enjoy the light show and party if they wish, without having to worry about leaving to pack (at least, I'm assuming that's why the change... That, and more time for passengers to spend money on Ocean Cay, so more money for MSC).

[sptrout]

We had originally booked the Meraviglia for the second week of December 2020 (this week I think). That cruise was also scheduled to depart OC at 6PM, which I thought was odd (same day arrival). We were on the same cruise a year ago and the OC departure time that cruise was 11PM. We had no apparent problem in arriving back in Miami at the scheduled time.

 

I assumed that the earlier departure time was for COVID issues that would require more time in the Port of Miami for turn around. 

 

Luckly, I bailed out on this now canceled cruise about two weeks before the YC's final payment date. We could not afford to loan MSC money for and unknown amount of time.

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Amy Paperlady said:

Those of you fretting that you leave Ocean Cay at 6pm--when do you arrive? Because my cruise also leaves Ocean Cay at 6pm, but it arrives at 2pm the day before, so it's an overnight and one can enjoy the light show and party if they wish, without having to worry about leaving to pack (at least, I'm assuming that's why the change... That, and more time for passengers to spend money on Ocean Cay, so more money for MSC).

Our Seashore cruise arrives at 6am on the same day that it leaves at 6pm.

On Meraviglia last Xmas we arrived at 8 am and left around 10.30 pm.

[rkacruiser]

It makes little sense to me to understand why a ship would sail from Ocean Cay before the light/sound show could not be experienced.  That show helps to make MSC's private island experience more special than some other private island cruise lines experiences.  

[gkbiiii]

The Armonia, now has an outstanding itinerary, with overnights in both Nassau & Ocean Cay.

[rkacruiser]

13 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

The Armonia, now has an outstanding itinerary, with overnights in both Nassau & Ocean Cay.

 

Overnight in Nassau?  I'll stay on the ship.  Overnight at Ocean Cay?  Great!

[gkbiiii]

9 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Overnight in Nassau?  I'll stay on the ship.  Overnight at Ocean Cay?  Great!

At night, Nassau has many great dinner restaurants, casinos, & nightlife. So overnight at Atlantis & cool nights in Ocean Cay.

[JAGR]

On 12/16/2020 at 3:13 AM, gkbiiii said:

The Armonia, now has an outstanding itinerary, with overnights in both Nassau & Ocean Cay.

Ocean Cay would be good.  An overnight in Nassau is the equivalent of a night in jail.😉

[gkbiiii]

Night gambling at Atlantis would be great.

[shipgeeks]

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

Ocean Cay would be good.  An overnight in Nassau is the equivalent of a night in jail.😉

Pretty nice jail!  Nice sunsets in Nassau, from ship's open decks, and fun watching all the other ships come and go.  Could be worse.

[sidari]

2 hours ago, JAGR said:

Ocean Cay would be good.  An overnight in Nassau is the equivalent of a night in jail.😉

John ... No room service in prison ... 😁

[Robert Yahnke]

I agree with sidari on that John!  

[Robert Yahnke]

I still don't understand why leaving at 6:00 pm  from a one day stay at Ocean Cay would help with covid  procedures.  Getting to Miami at 10:00 pm and staying at dock overnight would be very expensive.  I just don't want to miss the lighthouse light shows!

[sfaaa]

Leaving at 6pm has to be either COVID related or about cutting costs like having less staff working on the island and closing up early.  I can't think of any other good reason.

[Linda the Book Lover]

1 hour ago, sfaaa said:

Leaving at 6pm has to be either COVID related or about cutting costs like having less staff working on the island and closing up early.  I can't think of any other good reason.

Your answer is logical and I tend to agree.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, sfaaa said:

Leaving at 6pm has to be either COVID related or about cutting costs like having less staff working on the island and closing up early.  I can't think of any other good reason.

 

If it is due to cutting costs, then they are "cutting off their nose to spite their face".  Ocean Cay's experience, including the Lighthouse show, is what helps to distinguish them from Princess Cays and Half Moon Cay.  (No recent experience with the other cruise island ports.)  

[shipgeeks]

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?