view of the ship and lighthouse shadow from the top of the lighthouse

At just $10 per person ($9 if booked online pre-cruise), the lighthouse climb on Ocean Cay is the cheapest cruise-ship excursion I’ve ever seen – at least with that as the intentional price. We did once book one for $6.95 on Holland America, but that was because whoever put it on the website put the decimal point in the wrong place on an excursion intended to sell for $69.50. The website allowed the booking at that price and they did honor it onboard after expressing great surprise that we had found it so cheap. It’s not likely it stayed at that price on the website for very long. Unlike the lighthouse climb where $9 or $10 is the actual price, or at least it was at the time of our cruise.

guide pointing out interesting things at the top of the lighthouse

Sometimes an excursion that costs a lot turns out not to be worth nearly that much, but the lighthouse climb on MSC’s private island Ocean Cay, which we booked as an excursion on the Meraviglia was well worth the $10 per person it cost. The views alone would have been worth that, but we had an excellent guide. The quality of the guide can definitely make or break an excursion.

day and night at the Ocean Cay lighthouse

The red-and-white lighthouse stands 100 feet high, the tallest in the Bahamas according to our guide. It’s not solid. The outside somewhat resembles netting only a whole lot more solid. It’s laced with thousands of LED lights as well as spotlights at the top and bottom which produce quite a colorful lighthouse show after dark. What it does not have is an actual navigational light at the top. Apparently it is just for looks rather than function.

lighthouse show

There’s a bar next to the bottom of the lighthouse, which is a popular hangout for island visitors as well as a handy place to wait for the excursion to start. It has lots of tables and other places to sit, some sheltered and some out in the sun.

getting ready to climb the lighthouse

Once the group gathered at the bottom of the lighthouse the guide had people leave excess belongings like backpacks and beach bags on a handy ledge as they were too bulky for the climb, and safe there as the lighthouse is gated off and people are only allowed inside the fence for the tour. Next she asked if anyone was afraid of heights and made sure the guy that said yes was next to her for the whole way up. He did not have any problems along the way so either he handled his fears well or wasn’t bothered by the climb. Or just said he was scared so he could go first.

stairway up and down

A spiral staircase winds up the center of the lighthouse with 165 steps to the top. Along the way there are a couple platforms that circle around the inside of the lighthouse with 2 viewpoint openings each so people only have to walk up a third of the steps before stopping for a bit. Of course everyone whips out their phones or cameras at the stops. The guide gave us plenty of time for people to take all the photos they wanted from each viewpoint. She even took photos of everyone who wanted one of themselves along with the view.

viewpoint window

At each stop the guide gave people time to take their own photos, then took photos of anyone who wanted them, then spent a bit of time sharing information about the lighthouse, Ocean Cay, or neighboring islands and cays. Cay, quay, or key are usually all pronounced key. Keys and cays are small coral-based islands where a quay is a manmade wharf.

view from the lighthouse

Even from the foot of the lighthouse there’s some pretty spectacular views of the ship, island, and sea. The view only gets better the farther up you go. You can see more and more of the island until the whole thing comes into view. From the top you can see quite a distance in all directions. The guide pointed out which way to the nearest islands, the closest occupied one being Bimini. There’s a beach on the island called Bimini Beach because the next thing after it across over 20 miles of ocean is Bimini.

Lighthouse Beach

Ocean Cay was once an industrial sand mine, which created the island through dredging. MSC purchased the island in 2015. They cleaned up the industrial waste and planted grass and trees on what was a bare pile of sand. The surrounding waters have been classified as a marine reserve so fishing is not allowed in the area, nor is removing shells or rocks or anything else from the beach. They recycle everything on the island including food waste, which is used for fertilizer.

island view from the top

The biggest structure on the island is apartments for the workers who live there. Most of the cruise ship private islands we’ve been to are mainly staffed by crew from the ship, but this one had over 100 residents, all of whom work for MSC. The guide said she was lucky enough to have a private apartment, which meant she could have family come to visit sometimes. Workers who share apartments with another worker aren’t allowed to do that. She said plans were in the works for more apartments so all of the crew who live and work there will eventually have private residences. She also mentioned them all having homes elsewhere so they must rotate workers somewhat like the crew on the ship does. She said they are well paid and in the event of a hurricane MSC evacuates them off the island. The majority of them are from other islands in the Bahamas, but some come from other countries as well.

ship, dock, and lighthouse show

She said MSC had planted coral on a nearby tiny islet called Brown Cay, where they take snorkel excursions, but there wasn’t any coral at any of the beaches where we went on Ocean Cay. Perhaps offspring of the coral planted at the nearby islet will settle there in the future, which would in turn attract more fish and greatly improve the snorkeling from the small populations of tiny juvenile fish that are mainly what live there now.

guide at a viewpoint on the way up

The guide did say there is a turtle nesting site on the island, and that they put the baby turtles into the island’s lagoon to eat the jellyfish that like to congregate there. Whether either the turtles or jellyfish stick around long I can’t say because she didn’t mention it.

posing between spotlights at the top

The views get better with each section of the lighthouse climbed. At the top the viewing platform is open all the way around, other than the backside of spotlights within the otherwise open area every few feet. The view is still fantastic though. You can see the ship, the island, and the open ocean as well as nearby islands.

looking down on a school of fish from the top of the lighthouse

You can also see to the bottom of the water next to the lighthouse. We could see a school of fish just inside the shark fence at the beach closest to the ship, which is called Lighthouse Beach. Those were bigger than any of the fish I had seen at the other beaches we went to on the island. Our guide said they feed those fish so that explains why the big ones hang around there. She said they are friendly and that is the best snorkeling spot on the island so I went out there early the next morning since our ship overnighted there. Those fish will follow you around if you swim into their area. Probably hoping for food, but I didn’t have anything for them. The rest of the area around the lighthouse other than the swimming beach behind the shark net is reef that is not open for swimming or snorkeling. I don’t know if there is any living coral there.

down the stairs

Climbing the lighthouse kind of reminded me of climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which also had a circular stairway, viewpoint stops along the way, and an open area at the top. Both were also an easier climb than the amount of stairs they have makes it sound like they would be. The lighthouse stairway was steeper and narrower – and metal rather than stone. The views were of course quite different, though awesome from either place.

end of the tour at the bottom of the stairs

Once everyone has all the time they want at the top the whole group goes back down together, which is done in one go without stops like on the way up. We hadn’t thought to bring money out to the island as you can buy things there with your key card, but luckily I happened to have a $20 bill in my camera case because the guide deserved a good tip and we were the only ones from the whole group who gave her anything. A lot of people probably don’t think about tips until they come down and then of course it is too late if you haven’t got any money with you. She was thrilled with our tip, saying it was the biggest one anyone had ever given her.

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