Anyone else concerned about the size of Ocean Cay?

[speedyt]

On 5/6/2019 at 9:05 AM, Mattnvick said:

 

Norwegians island Harvest Caye off of southern Belize is only 75 acres. I was there in February on the Getaway.

 

They have an area for only the Haven (i wasnt in the haven) but the island never felt small or constricted to me.

 

There was a beach, a pool, a wildlife area and zip line.

 

Although i wasnt too impressed with NCL i thought the private island was something they did really well.

 

I dont think you need to worry about the 6o acres in Ocean Caye. I think it will be beautiful. MSC takes a pride in their appearemce of their ships  i have no reason to believe the island will be any different.

 

Im looking fwd very much to going there

I agree with you! I went to Harvest Caye last year and thought it was nice and not crowded at all. We loved it!

[cathep]

There's a Fyre Festival joke in here somewhere.

 

It has occurred to me that the island looks small to house a ship the size of the Seaside, so I'll be curious to read the reviews of it once it's open.  But it's still more appealing to me than Nassau.

[CarolnLarry]

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 1:00 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

I typed this in response to another thread, but thought it may be hijacking so I'll start my own thread for discussion about the size of ocean cay:

 

I'm a bit concerned about there being a YC area on Ocean Cay when it's all said and done simply due to size restrictions. In fact, I'm a bit concerned about the size of Ocean Cay even if MSC does not dedicate space to YC. According to MSC, Ocean Cay is only 65 acres. That's tiny. Teenie-tiny.

 

For comparison sake,  Half moon Cay (CCL) is 2,600 acres, Great Stirrup Cay (NCL) is approximately 270 acres,  Coco Cay (RCL) is 140 acres. Granted, these islands aren't entirely developed,  but even if the developed area is close to the total size of Ocean Cay, there isn't any wiggle room for people to spread out. Example, on Half moon cay, approximately 60 acres are developed, but there are an additional 9 miles of beach for people to spread out on (even if just walking/exploring). 

 

I recently returned from CocoCay on Anthem of Seas. Even thought the ship is slightly larger than Seaview (168 gt vs 153 gt respectively), they hold virtually identical amount of passengers at double occupancy (4132 vs 4180 respectively).  I would estimate that CocoCay has about half of it's 140 acres developed, maybe slightly less. If my logic holds true, that means the developed area of Coco Cay equals the total amount of area available on Ocean Cay (with no wiggle room).  Based on persnal experience, It's going to be super tight even without reserved area for MSC. 

 

If MSC reserves some area for YC, it couldn't be more than 10-15 acres could it (25%)? Taking the total amount of usable space down to about 50 acres for the remaining 4000 or so guests. My home sits on 10 acres. I can't imagine 150 YC guests stretching out on my lawn. Our cabin up-north lies is 100 acres. I can't imagine 4000 people fitting there either.

 

Of course, I'm just playing a numbers game that doesn't tell the whole story. Add to that, my calculations could be off so I welcome additional mathematicians to chime in.  Perhaps the space available on Ocean Cay is much more user friendly than the usable space on competition islands, which would make this discussion nothing more than a null hypothesis. However; it's been MSC's business practice to pack more people into less space (as identified by space ratios on all the new builds), so I do think space is going to be a restraint with or without a dedicated YC area. 

 

I'm headed to Labadee (RCL's little slice of Haiti) in a few weeks. It's 240 acres. We're coming in on an Oasis class which is significantly larger than any ship in the MSC fleet. I'm interest to see if it feels as crowded as Coco cay did. 

 

I've been following the development of Ocean Cay since MSC announced (4? 5? years ago). Getting close to the actual opening is exciting. The final product is anyone's imagination, but it's interesting to me and I thought it may be interesting to other cruise buffs :). 

 

No, I am not concerned about things I can't control.  It will be what MSC wants and I will either like it or not. No big deal.

[oldenslo]

I'm sorry but I still cant get my head around the the concerns that the island is too small.

 

If it was a sea day all the passengers would be on the boat, would there by cries "the ship is to small where will everyone fit". 

 

This is an island purposedly built to accommodate a shipload of people.

 

Some will even stay onboard, there will be plenty of room.

[mickey89]

Been to both Half Moon Cay and Coco Cay, both leave a lot to be desired - give me almost any other island and it would be better.  Coco Cay was terrible the shoreline is so shallow that its impossible to swim unless you walk at least 1/2 mile.  Half Moon Cay is plagued with sand flies. I wonder what Ocean cay will be like but have no interest to visit given the poor MSC itineraries on offer, Seaside in particular.

[BermudaBound2014]

4 hours ago, oldenslo said:

I'm sorry but I still cant get my head around the the concerns that the island is too small.

 

If it was a sea day all the passengers would be on the boat, would there by cries "the ship is to small where will everyone fit". 

 

This is an island purposedly built to accommodate a shipload of people.

 

Some will even stay onboard, there will be plenty of room.

 

I agree with you in that 'concern' is waaaay to strong of a work. A better title would have been, "Anyone want to discuss the size of Ocean Cay". I wrote this post having just returned from Cocoa Cay where things were very over-crowded even with people staying on the ship and the ship was Anthem so it's not even THAT big. Therefore; I'm not sure I agree with 'plenty of room', but there will be more room than a sea day for certain :).

[Touringmom]

This is why I am always hesitant to sail on the larger ships and we tend to sail on the smaller ones. You’re just in competition with a whole lot less people for space on beaches, excursions etc. if are with 2000 people rather than 4000 or 6000. We are going to Ocean Cay on Armonia which is the smallest ship to visit the island. 

[Barcelona17]

On 5/5/2019 at 2:50 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

You won't have a ship all to yourself if my numbers are accurate  lol :-D.

 

The point of this post is not to slam MSC or Ocean Cay, rather to engage in a good spirited dialogue about what Ocean Cay is going to be with other like minded cruise enthusiasts. 

 

Ever since MSC removed the YC area renderings on Ocean Cay there has been lots of posts by individuals who are wondering whether or not a YC area on Ocean Cay will actually exist once it's finished. I'm simply making a case that it won't. I reserve the right to be wrong.

 

 

I think your posting is quite reasonable, but you do realize people on this site often either want to argue for the sake of arguing or simply have fun disrupting a reasonable discussion. Tends to discourage some people from posting.

dcl

[jdvmd]

I grew up on a farm that was 185 acres. Sixty-five acres is not small.

[Dwizzle]

I will be sailing on the Meraviglia on Dec. 1 2019! Only my 2nd cruise. First was 3 years ago on the NCL Getaway and I thought it was great! Very excited to see Ocean Cay but I won't be too disappointed with another port or sea day if necessary.

 

I don't expect all areas of Ocean Cay to be finished based on "recent-ish" pictures I've seen. YC is not in my budget so no interest (concern ? ;-) ) there.

 

I booked guarantee balcony. The cabin hasn't been assigned yet even as it states on the MSC site that it will be assigned within 14 days of sailing. I am not worried as long as I can get on the ship!