MSC Meraviglia Ocean Cay -- March 2024

Ocean Cay -- March 13, 2024  

We had breakfast at the buffet and arrived in port. There is no breakfast buffet on the island. Some pictures from the forward facing window. The Ocean Cay lighthouse with a bar and lighthouse show at night. Nice houses, though I did not determine what they were used for or who lived there. 




We met our room steward, requested ice, and got our only towel animal, well, not an animal. He also brought us two extra beach towels the day before for Ocean Cay; we had four from when we first arrived. We had plenty of towels on this cruise, which is good because I like an extra hair towel. He left the ones that we hung on the hooks outside the bathroom, and there were extras in a bag under the bed. 


Welcome to Ocean Cay. Ocean Cay is supposed to have some free umbrellas, but we got a paper to rent one for $20. We had picked Lighthouse Beach for snorkeling based on it being mentioned as having snorkeling and without jellyfish and jellyfish eggs that leave whelps on me and Owen. I found a shade tree to setup camp, but they wanted to be sure that we found the right snorkeling place so walked to the lighthouse and lighthouse bar. The other side was just jet skis, no swimming allowed. The water was cold, but we adjusted quickly. There were not a lot of fish and no coral, but we found the most fish by the don't swim past here barrier. The barrier went to the bottom of the ocean and the fish loved it around there. One school of fish where just on the other side, sitting there, and would not cross. The ship from the island.  




After we snorkeled, we walked around a little and went to the buffet for lunch. Part of the lagoon. 










The buffet on the island was good, but had a pretty slow moving line that they were gating people through in groups. I had a lady behind me that kept reaching ahead of me, like it made any difference on how quickly she would get her food, with family members behind her, not in line, saying get lots of that or this. She drove me crazy. My kids had her at first, but then stuck me with her by getting in front of me. After the salads, it was strange that they had in this order: rolls, desserts, and then mains and sides. They had crew pre-cupping the drinks to speed things up. The lemonade was good on the island, not on the ship. The pulled pork was so good! Travis said the jerk chicken was good too. The mac and cheese was still bad, like on the ship. 

After lunch, we explored more of the island. We saw this island from the island, but the picture from the ship was better being higher above it. Someone mentioned good snorkeling in another area, but we did not did get back in. 

Back on the ship, we did the water park, while others were still on shore and while we were already wet. The slides are fun!


Almost sunset. We had dinner at the buffet, in order to go to the 7pm Comedian, Ken Boyd, show. He was funny. After the first day on the ship, the 8:30 pm show was always booked up, but there was space left in the 7pm and and 10pm shows. So, we had no trouble switching from the 8:30pm to 7pm show. Then we went back to our room to watch the 8:15 pm lighthouse show and also saw the 9pm show. The crazy thing was that the pilot boat sat in the water all day next to us, until it was time for him to escort us out.  

Next up...Nassau, the Bahamas 

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Location: Ocean Cay – MSC Marine Reserve, The Bahamas

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