Today is the final day of this 7-day inaugural sailing on MSC Cruises’ new flagship, MSC World America, and we’re spending the day at the line’s private island in The Bahamas, MSC Ocean Cay Marine Reserve.
Back in the 1960s, this place wasn’t even a proper island. It was an artificial spot created by Dillingham Construction from Hawaii, who dredged it up to mine aragonite sand for industrial use. For decades, it was just a sandy work site with deep channels carved out so ships could haul the stuff away.
But by the time Dillingham packed up, the cay was left in rough shape—abandoned, littered with debris, and pretty much forgotten. Fast forward to 2015, and MSC Cruises saw potential where others saw a mess. They snagged a 100-year lease from the Bahamian government and got to work turning this rundown sandpit into a private island paradise.
So, MSC poured about $200 million into the project, kicking things off in 2016. Their goal? Transform Ocean Cay into a sustainable, guest-friendly marine reserve. They cleared out tons of scrap metal, planted over 75,000 native trees and shrubs, and even relocated coral to help the ecosystem bounce back.
Despite a setback from Hurricane Dorian in 2019, the island welcomed its first cruise guests in December of that year. By January 2020, the Bahamian government officially designated it a marine reserve, recognizing MSC’s efforts to protect the surrounding 64 square miles of ocean.
As far as cruise line private islands go, Ocean Cay is huge, and it’s more about relaxation and connecting with nature instead of masquerading as an amusement park in the middle of the ocean. You won’t find pools, waterslides, horseback riding, or zip lines here. You will find plenty of beaches to enjoy and sun to soak up.
Beaches on Ocean Cay Marine Reserve
The most popular beach on Ocean Cay is just steps from the ship, and it’s one that those who get off the ship first thing flock to—Lighthouse Beach. It offers a bird’s-eye view of the ship, has chairs set up in the sand complete with free umbrellas, and is close to two bars (one of them brand new) and food trucks to grab a bite to eat. It’s important to note that Lighthouse Beach does NOT have sun loungers. The chairs on the beach are Adirondack chairs. Right nearby is, you guessed it, the Lighthouse! Here, you can take a climbing tour to the top to check out the views from the highest perch on the island and then grab a drink and light bites at the Lighthouse Bar below.
Seakers Family Cove is finally open, and it’s a nice secluded beach that hasn’t been used since the island opened. It’s now available as a quiet spot for families to chill and enjoy the water. There are VERY few—and I mean VERY—loungers here.
The largest of the island’s beaches is South Beach, which is full of lounge chairs and lined with cabanas that you can rent for the day. It’s home to the Ocean Cay Lagoon, which is the perfect spot to swim, lie on a raft, or just chill in the water for the day. Keep an eye out for some lemon sharks that call the lagoon home. They swim among the guests, were introduced to the lagoon purposely, and are of no harm to humans. Nets are placed at the entrance of the lagoon, which block larger predators and big fish from entering the lagoon area. Food trucks and bars line South Beach, so you’re never too far away from food or drink.
Opposite South Beach is Pineapple Beach, which has the same layout and is just on the opposite side of the lagoon.
Bimini Beach takes a bit of walking to get to but offers ocean views as opposed to lagoon views. If you’re looking for an out-of-the-way beach with fewer people, this is your spot. However, if you’re looking for total seclusion and even fewer people, head over to the westerly side of the island to Sunset Beach. This is a very unpopulated spot and one that most people don’t venture to. There are plenty of trees to lie under, so you get the perfect mix of sun and shade and great westerly ocean views. One thing about this beach: there are spots where it’s pretty rocky.
No matter what beach you hit up, you won’t be far from restrooms, bars, or food trucks. One thing to note is that the sand on Ocean Cay is not fine; it’s coarse sand that contains many small rocks and pieces of shells and coral. Shoes are advisable!
Food & Drink on Ocean Cay
When it comes to food, the island used to be serviced by just one buffet, Seakers. This is no longer the case! The newly opened Boho is the new buffet spot that is about double the size of Seakers and is guaranteed to make getting lunch much easier. Both spots offer the same BBQ-style spread and outdoor seating. Seakers is closest to South Beach, while Boho is closest to Sunset and Lighthouse Beach.
You can also get burgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, fries, and even lobster rolls at various food trucks along the island’s pathways and beaches. With the exception of premium items like the lobster rolls ($11.50), all food is free, and the best part… your beverage package works for drinks—both soft and hard—on the island!
WiFi on Ocean Cay
For those who need to, or just want to, stay connected while on Ocean Cay, there’s WiFi available, but it’s spotty. Before disembarking the ship, you log off the ship’s WiFi and then connect to the Ocean Cay hotspot once outside.
While WiFi is available, it’s very spotty, cuts in and out, and is not very reliable. There is no cell service on the island.
WiFi on Ocean Cay is included with your onboard WiFi access, and there’s no additional cost.
Arrival at Ocean Cay and a Private Cabana
We arrived at Ocean Cay around 7 AM, and once provisions were offloaded, guests were cleared to go ashore at 8 AM. The welcome plaza is just steps from the ship, and you can catch one of the many trams that run throughout the day to take you to different spots on the island. The shore excursions desk is also nearby, so if you have an excursion booked, you can head to it once you’re off the ship.
Weather-wise, it was sunny but very windy. Due to the winds and ocean conditions, some excursions were canceled—mainly ones that involved boats or wave runners.
For my day ashore, I rented a private cabana for the day ($299). My cabana, which you don’t get to pick in advance and are assigned when you check in, was located on South Beach and just a few steps away from food trucks and a bar, making its location perfect.
The cabanas have a couch, chair, small table, four sun loungers, and two floating mats. Since you have the cabana for shade, there are no umbrellas provided. However, due to the winds today, umbrellas were not allowed to be used on any of the beaches. The cabana also has a cooler box that is stocked with cans of water.
While there is no dedicated cabana service, bar servers walk the beach area taking drink orders.
More Enhancements on the Way!
After soaking up enough sun, I decided to do some walking around the island to check out what’s new. In addition to the new Boho and the new large bar at Lighthouse Beach, several additional food trucks and smaller bars have been added, and there are more buildings going up, including additional housing for those who live and work on the island, two other large buildings (I’m not sure what they will be used for, but they are near beaches), and then, in the center of the island, there is a large construction project going on, which may be a pool and waterpark based on its size.
One noticeable bit of construction that’s going on is located offshore. A new island is being built, which is rumored to be a private island destination for MSC’s luxury brand of small yacht-like ships, Explora Journeys. Currently, Explora ships call upon Ocean Cay, but Ocean Cay is designed for thousands of passengers at once. If true, this new small island will be the perfect size for Explora’s boutique ships, which carry fewer than a thousand people.
MSC Marine Conservation Center
Opened just a few days ago, the new MSC Marine Conservation Center is located just steps away from the main entrance plaza. I was looking forward to checking out this new addition and learning more about what their mission is.
When it opened, I wrote a short article about it, which, according to the line’s press release, stated, “The facility has features like interactive pavilions, a lecture hall, a bio-lab, and even a land-based coral nursery.”
In the daily planner, there was absolutely no mention of anything going on at the Center, other than opening hours. It was like it didn’t even exist. I walked over expecting to see some of what was hyped.
There was a welcome center, which was more like a gift shop and a spot to make a donation to the MSC Foundation.
Interactive pavilions? Where? There was no signage indicating any.
Lecture hall? Yes, but it was empty with no schedule of any lectures or presentations going on.
Bio-lab? Again, where was this mysterious lab? Signs would help.
The land-based coral nursery, yes, it’s there with literally DOZENS of tanks for coral, but only ONE of those tanks had any coral in them.
The only MSC person walking around this area was a gardener watering the grass, who wasn’t much help when I asked some questions.
There were a few signs around and three pieces of coral placed on a table.
This was one of the saddest, most uninspiring exhibits one could possibly have walked into. I entered excited to see what this new center would be like but left scratching my head, wondering what the heck was going on here.
Another oddity is that, for this sailing, there was no beach party at the end of the day. I have been to Ocean Cay dozens of times, and each cruise that departed in the early evening had a party on the beach with a DJ and activities for the kids.
In fact, just the other day, one of the MSC cruise directors I follow on Facebook posted pics from the beach party during their call to Ocean Cay. So, there seems to be a bit of inconsistency with this across ships.
Ocean Cay Lighthouse Show
All aboard time was set for 7:30 PM, with the Lighthouse Show scheduled for 7:45 PM, just before our departure. The iconic lighthouse at Ocean Cay is covered with LEDs that come alive at sunset with a brief 5-minute show set to music.
The show recently resumed after taking a brief hiatus. Lightning struck the lighthouse several months ago and took with it some of the electronics used to create the show. Parts have arrived, and the show is back on!
You can watch a video of the show below. The music that accompanied the show was not audible from the ship, so the music you hear is not the music that’s part of the actual show.
Dinner at Butcher’s Cut Steakhouse
Tonight, I made a second appearance at Butcher’s Cut. I dined here previously on Day 2, so I won’t get into rehashing since you can read that report for more information on the restaurant in general.
For tonight’s dinner, I went with a shrimp cocktail, wedge salad, and opted for the surf and turf.
Service seemed to be at a much faster pace tonight, with courses coming almost as the previous was cleared. However, despite feeling a bit rushed, everything I ordered was prepared perfectly and was delicious.
Overall Cruise Review
Now, let’s dive into the overall review for this cruise, keeping in mind this was the inaugural sailing.
Accommodations
As I noted in the Day 1 report, I originally booked an inside stateroom, knowing that I would be taking advantage of MSC’s PlusGrade system, where I could place bids on stateroom upgrades. I ended up winning a bid, which resulted in me being assigned stateroom 10279, a balcony stateroom with both Promenade and ocean views.
The room has twin beds that combine to form a king, ample closet space, a large-screen TV, a mini-bar, a safe, and a bathroom with a shower (glass shower door).
The balcony, which does indeed give views of the Promenade below and partial ocean views, has two chairs and a footrest and is a nice size.
I would consider the room “compact” with thoughtful use of space. However, the biggest drawback of this room was the noise. As I noted a few times during the week, if you’re looking to enjoy peace and quiet out on the balcony, forget it. There’s always music and entertainment going on down on the Promenade, which you can hear both on the balcony AND inside the room.
You can also hear music and the thumping bass from the late-night DJ that entertains on Deck 7 in the Panorama Lounge.
Another note, and this is common to all staterooms onboard, you need to have your keycard inserted into a slot just inside the door in order to activate the power and air conditioning in the room. A regular credit card or other similar card WILL NOT work. The system requires the RFID chip inside the card to activate. I found after a day out, it took a long time for the room to cool down, and I also found the temperature of the room on some nights to be very warm.
While the stateroom was nice, I would definitely not book a room overlooking the Promenade.
MSC World America Food
MSC is widely criticized for its food, especially in the main dining room and buffet. This is mainly due to the fact that MSC is still an Italian cruise line, no matter how hard they try to fit in with Americans. Food, for the most part, is heavily influenced by their Mediterranean roots, which, to many Americans, is unfamiliar.
For this cruise, I did not eat in the ship’s main dining room, as I wanted to concentrate on the specialty dining restaurants for this review.
Main Dining Room (Free) – Did not experience.
Buffet (Free) ★★★☆☆ – I visited the buffet three times to check out the variety offered—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast is pretty much what you would expect on any cruise line, and it was solid. Lunch had a nice selection, ranging from pizza and burgers to fish, carved meats, pasta, salads, and vegan options. Dinner had a good variety as well. With stations for different types of offerings, including desserts and ice cream, there was a huge variety of offerings, so you should not have a hard time finding anything you were craving. The layout of the buffet and large areas to sit and enjoy your meal allowed for great traffic flow with very few bottlenecks.
Eataly ($) ★★★★★ – You can read my review of my night at Eataly here, but it’s safe to say that this restaurant, hands down, earns every bit of its five stars. The food was simply fantastic! It’s safe to say that this was the best restaurant on the ship.
Butcher’s Cut Steakhouse ($) ★★★★☆ – If it weren’t for Eataly, Butcher’s Cut would take the top spot on MSC World America. Having eaten here twice during the cruise, I experienced service that was paced correctly and service that was too fast. The food was good, but the cramped space and inconsistency with timing took away one star.
Paxos Greek Taverna ($) ★★★☆☆ – As I noted in the Day 6 report, I was thinking about canceling my reservation here, as Greek food and seafood aren’t really my thing, but I did enjoy my dinner. However, I’m taking a star away simply because their cocktails are limited, and asking for a cocktail not part of their menu is a bit of a hassle for the staff.
Kaito Sushi & Teppanyaki ($) ★★★★☆ – For dinner, a show, and great food, you can’t beat a visit to the teppanyaki restaurant, and with a bit of sushi to start off, you get the benefits of sampling both the sushi restaurant and the teppanyaki.
Luna Park Pizza & Burgers ($) ★★★★☆ – I didn’t have anything but the pizza, which is fresh made, absolutely delicious and is not only available from this location, but on the buffet, at the main pool, and also on the buffet. Simply put MSC has THE best pizza and it’s avialable in several differernt styles including traditional thin cust, Roman style, and Sicilian.
All Star Sports Bar ($) – Did not experience.
MSC World America Fellow Passengers
MSC attracts a wide range of guests across multiple age groups; however, most passengers on every MSC cruise I’ve been on have mostly been Italian/European.
The ages varied widely on this sailing as well, from young families with toddlers and teens to honeymoon couples to seniors. It would be very hard to put an average age on paper for this cruise.
As noted in the Day 5 report, there was a large number of Diamond/Blue Diamond (the highest two levels of the line’s loyalty program) passengers on this cruise, the largest I have ever seen on MSC.
MSC World America Service
I was expecting there to be hiccups in service at bars and restaurants, being that this was the first sailing. Surprisingly, there were none. With a well-seasoned crew picked to join the new ship, you’d never know this was the first sailing, as things ran smoothly and flawlessly.
Debarkation
Debarking the ship was as hassle-free as embarking. MSC’s new Miami terminal is a blessing when it comes to getting on or off a ship. On World America, you can choose to self-disembark, carrying your own luggage off the ship as one of the first groups off, or you can leave your luggage out the night before and collect it in the terminal.
For this trip, I chose self-disembark, and as published in the schedule left in staterooms the night before, it started right on time at 7:45 AM. Once the announcement was made that we were clear to go, I headed down to Deck 6, where I was met with… no line! I walked right off the ship and into the terminal, where you stand in front of one of the facial recognition scanners, and boom, you’re done.
Since I was taking the Brightline train back to Boca Raton, I was in need of an Uber to the train station. Once you exit the terminal, you take an escalator up to Level 2, where a dedicated area just for rideshare is located. Once I requested a ride in the Uber app, it told me which “zone” to go to—they are assigned by Uber and Lyft. Simply look for the zone on the signs in the pickup area and wait for your ride.
Pretty simple, and I was at the train station in less than 15 minutes.
Overall, a very smooth debarkation.
MSC World America Final Thoughts
While the Seaside class of ships remains my favorite, I developed a warm spot for World America. I found the ship easy to navigate, and it’s designed well to spread out venues to avoid overcrowding in areas that are often congestion points on other ships. Examples of this include not clustering all the specialty dining restaurants in one space and offering quick-service food outlets on multiple decks.
The ship is truly a game-changer for South Florida cruisers and can certainly compete toe-to-toe with Royal Caribbean’s Oasis and Icon-class and Carnival’s Excel-class ships, especially for families looking for a vacation where their kids won’t be bored and adults can have fun as well.
Would I sail on her again? Absolutely! Just in a different type of stateroom.
MSC World America Day 7 Daily Program
Click here for the entire version as a PDF.
