MSC Delays Marine Reserve Opening
by Daniel McCarthyRendering of MSC Cruises’ Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve. Photo: MSC Cruises
MSC Cruises’ new Ocean Cay Marine Reserve in the Bahamas will now officially open in October 2019, 10 months later than originally scheduled.
According to executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago, the delay is a result of MSC wanting to “to ensure the level of quality and attention to details in both infrastructure and services that our guests have rightfully come to expect from MSC Cruise.”
The cruise line will now officially break ground on the project on Oct. 6, when the Prime Minister of the Bahamas Perry G. Christie joins MSC’s team at the site to officially launch construction.
Vago also said that the delay means the project will be expanded. “While working on the final project, it was hard not to further enrich this unique beach destination with new and additional unique services for our guests. This naturally called for more time than originally planned.”
Calls to the island on MSC Seaside and MSC Divina scheduled between December 2017 and the new opening date will be substituted for calls to Nassau. Other itinerary changes have yet to be announced.
MSC signed a 100-year lease agreement with the Bahamas Prime Minister to occupy and develop an island exclusively for MSC guests in December 2015. When it opens, Ocean Cay will be the largest development of any cruise line in the Caribbean; its 95 acres, including 11,400 feet of beachfront, will host a family beach and kids’ restaurant, an inland lagoon, a zip wire, and a wedding pavilion.
Executive vice president of sales and guests services Ken Muskat told TMR in June that the plan is for five of MSC’s ships to eventually sail in the Caribbean, and two to Cuba. Ocean Cay will be a stop on most of its Caribbean itineraries.
