New Pirate Ship Bar on HMC a TERRIBLE idea

Haven't noticed anyone here mention this and i know it is a relatively new addition at HMC, (we were just there yesterday on Nieuw Amsterdam) but I can't IMAGINE what HAL was thinking when they slapped this monstrosity in the middle of the cabanas at HMC. For starters, the scale is way out of kilter with other things on the beach and the NOISE from the place disrupts what used to be our favorite stop, relaxing in a cabana for the day. We enjoyed the sound of the surf, the ocean breezes and the general sense of tranquility that the cabanas provided.

All that is now gone w/ the talentless HAL cats screeching "play that funky music, white boy" and "pink cadillac" at volumes that defy understanding. It appears in general that HAL thinks their passengers are not only old, but deaf, as the volume of music in all venues (showroom, the lido pool, the ocean bar) was typically 2-3 X what it needed to be. Wrote a long note on our comment card and will be sending a letter expressing my concerns to HAL corporate as well. Stopped at the shore excursion desk to share my concerns on my return to the ship and simply got a look that said I was a crotchety old man (63).

In the meantime, be forewarned that unless you want to be regaled with this noise, plan to book cabana #9 or higher. For now, I'm praying for a targeted hurricane that takes this blight on our favorite place back to sea and buries it. (maybe with the Hal Cats in it).

Will do a more detailed review later, but do want to mention that I thought the food in the dining room was much better than has been the case on our past few cruises, we didn't experience any congestion or problems in the lido, thought Canaletto was OK but not exceptional and felt Tamarind was very good and far superior to our past couple trips to the Pinnacle.

One interesting note, we sat one afternoon near the terrace grill (outside hamburger.hot dog place) having a burger. Observed 2 kids sitting across from us (maybe 7 and 9), no parents to be found. They were taking the salt and pepper shakers and putting them completely in their mouths and then tipping their heads back and shaking the contents down their throats and laughing like mad. I wanted to go over and snatch the shakers from them and give them hell but wife begged me not to create a scene. So I noticed 2 security guards and went over and appraised them of the situation. One of them went over and talked to the boys and then stood there for a couple minutes, but made no effort to confiscate the shakers or find out where their parents were. The guards then wandered away.

Shortly thereafter, the boys left and we waited 10 minutes, thinking that the guards would come back and pick up the shakers and dispose of them. Nope.... one of the lido staff came along, wiped the table and placed the shakers at the corner of the table nicely aligned for the next unsuspecting guests.

At that point I picked them up and took them down to the front desk where I asked to speak to a security supervisor. The young lady on the desk listened to my story and asked if I had spoken to the lido mgr. I told her that it wasn't his problem, it was a shortcoming on the part of the security staff. I mentioned that it did little good to serve everyone in the lido for the first 2 days to prevent transmission of disease and yet to have the security staff ignore this issue. She assured me that a security supervisor would contact me. Nope.. no contact.

More later this week. Will be interested to see if any of you have been to HMC since the advent of the pirate ship bar and what your thoughts are.

The problem is that other lines besides HAL use HMC, and it is likely that the "pirate ship" will be a big hit with them. As usual, it is all about the money.

we were just there on the Maasdam.. again.. it sure is uglee.. but it's geared toward the Carnival ships that stop there...according to a number of staff I spoke with..

OH No, what have they done to this beautiful island!:eek:

that was exactly my thought.. designed to cater to the carnival crowd.. fine.. leave it dormant on HAL days

I'm going to have to agree- we were on HMC on Jan 5th, and the bar is quite the eyesore, in relation to everything else on the island.

My biggest problem was the same as OP, the noise issue. We did have cabana 9 (eggshell) and could in fact hear, quite nicely, the sounds from the HALCats for a good part of the day. Not exactly the peace and quiet we had expected.... :(

Hubby and I were on the NA just a month ago with a stop on Half Moon Cay. We had reserved a clamshell.....early in the week (B2B cruise). Good thing because our clamshell was a reasonable (but not far enough) distance from the pirate ship that was......still under construction. Nevertheless we were subjected to the pounding..sawing....racket.....as the workers were hurrying to get it finished.

I noticed that the one cabana...(#?) right next to the Pirate-Ship-Bar-Under-Construction. It was empty until about 11:00 a.m. when its occupants showed up. I wondered how they felt since the construction crew was carrying on with the pounding, sawing, and general construction racket. They paid awfully big money for that rental. I told my husband I would have been livid if we had rented that cabana and had to listen to all of that noise.

However, I wasn't aware that there would be live music featured in that bar. Guess I am naive.

I am not a cranky "old lady", either. I enjoy my loud music.....hip hop, rock n' roll to work out to., listen to music that the "kids" in their 20's listen to..but that is on my Apple I-Pod WITH myearbuds. At my health club or even out in my nice backyard, I keep my loud music to myself.

HAL really needs to reconsider the loud music aspect or at least give a discount/warning to those renting the closest cabanas and clamshells. I know money needs to be made, but there does seem to be a conflict of what kind of environment Half Moon Cay should embody.

As for as the security guards? I noticed quite a few of them on the island....and quite frankly.....they seemed to have an awful lot of time on their hands. Hubby and I were there quite a while and honestly...I didn't see them doing much...at least not even interacting with any passengers or walking the beach. What in fact, is their job description??? I did see them congregating and yakking and enjoying themselves quite a bit, though.....

This bright idea no doubt came from the same HAL pencil pusher that thought up the Retreat Poolette.

I HATE loud music. I'll wait to pass judgment when we are there in March but what we saw of the construction in December, was less than thrilling. I didn't much care either way until now reading they have the HAL Cats blaringly loud.

How can they ruin the wonderful HMC experience? I hope HAL Cats are needed 'elsewhere' the days we are at HMC.

12/5/10 cruise --- we were at HMC and saw the big ship. Heck, you can't help but notice. We actually sat near it. Lots of construction noise, which can be annoying but the guy next to our in his clam shell smoking his cigar was more annoying but that's another story. Anyway, originally I thought it was going to be a children's play area until someone said it was going to be a paying restaurant. I guess for those who don't want to do the BBQ. it is an eye sore.

Takes away from the calmness of the island.

Those kids...how disguisting. where are the parents. We cruise with 6, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 7M old this trip - 3 sisters and family. We would NEVER allow our kids to be alone and to do that. We come from a culture where you never shame your parents. Those kids. ICK. GROSS. Some parents think...go on vacation and some one else will watch your kids. We go on vacation to spend time with our family and kids. A ship is like a little city. All kinds of people travel, just because you're on a ship, doesn't mean it is 100% safe. Weirdo are everywhere. Never leave your kids alone in public.

we were on HMC Jan 6th...here it is... from up close on the beach.. and from the Maasdam

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamChristmas/Half-Moon-Cay-Jan-6-2011/DSCF1217800x600/1155876239_LANzb-M.jpg

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamChristmas/Half-Moon-Cay-Jan-6-2011/IMG7671800x533/1155878010_h69Ri-M.jpg

Uh-oh. That's not good. I didn't realize it was going to be that close to the cabanas and the beach. I thought it would be further back, a decent walk away. Ugly and out of proportion is bad enough, I can look at the water and not see it.

But noise? Screecher and the HAL Cats blaring? I have a whole different idea of how to spend a day at the beach, and it doesn't include going deaf.

I'm going to have to agree- we were on HMC on Jan 5th, and the bar is quite the eyesore, in relation to everything else on the island.

 

My biggest problem was the same as OP, the noise issue. We did have cabana 9 (eggshell) and could in fact hear, quite nicely, the sounds from the HALCats for a good part of the day. Not exactly the peace and quiet we had expected.... :(

Darn. :( We have Eggshell booked for March. I saw the bar in the first stages of construction, and hoped that this cabana would be far enough away. (We had Sky Blue (5) once and the bar is between 5 & 6, behind the water sports area, so I KNEW I didn't want that one.)

Maybe by then they'll have figured out that they should turn down the volume when a HAL ship is in port. However, judging by the volume of the production shows, this probably won't happen. I wear earplugs to the shows and that makes the sound just right. My husband wishes he could do the same without it being noticeable!

Maybe I'll just take those earplugs to HMC with me?

'Tis truly a shame ... the serenity of one of the finest beaches and ports in the Carib impacted by a pirate ship bar:eek:.

Wait for another HMC addition ... the Seattle gurus likely are looking at putting in a cement wading poolette with loungers mounted in it, a la the Veendam and the Rotterdam. After all, wasn't the rationale for ruining those ships based on the poolette popularity at land-based resorts?

we were on HMC Jan 6th...here it is... from up close on the beach.. and from the Maasdam

 

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamChristmas/Half-Moon-Cay-Jan-6-2011/DSCF1217800x600/1155876239_LANzb-M.jpg

 

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamChristmas/Half-Moon-Cay-Jan-6-2011/IMG7671800x533/1155878010_h69Ri-M.jpg

Oh No, I can't believe what they have done there..It's huge & takes away from the beauty of HMC..And then to add the blaring music from the HAL Cats it's horrible..

HAL, what in the world have you done to what was once considered one of the most beautiful private Islands of all the cruise lines?

We never went on the Island when we were on our Noordam cruise in Nov-Dec, as I wasn't able to do much walking & the others in our party wanted to stay on board..So we missed the hammering & sawing..

Thank goodness..

Betty

i'm not a big fan of the ship either. giant monstrosity, have to listen to the HALcats (which i had to do enough of on the ship), and if you *do* go in there for a drink the service is awful, they can't keep up with the crowds. there are rest rooms in there, so everyone goes there when they need to use one because they're close... except each one is a one-person bathroom, so there's a line snaking through the bar. plus, they have some poor guy dressed up as captain morgan (ah, promotional tie-ins) who wanders around awkwardly trying to chat up the people in the bar while in character. absolutely painful to watch.

We watched it being built in October and Nov/Dec -- didn't like the looks of it.

The island is no longer peaceful -- Carnivalized!!

We don't like loud music and if that is all we will hear - definitely will stay on the ship.

WHAT A TRAVESTY!

The pirate ship at Castaway Cay (Disney) looks appropriate. This "thing" on HMC does not.

HAL, what were you thinking? (Oh, never mind.)

Sometimes I wonder if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing at HAL headquarters.

First that mess of a retreat on Veendam. Now tacky has taken over at HMC with this silly pirate ship bar.

It was not quite finished when we were there in December on Maasdam. I'm glad.

On a similar issue....I wish HAL would completely rethink the issue of the HAL CATS. In several years of cruising with HAL, I've rarely heard them play anything very well. They provide lots of noise, but little else.

IMO

we were on HMC Jan 6th...here it is... from up close on the beach.. and from the Maasdam

 

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamChristmas/Half-Moon-Cay-Jan-6-2011/DSCF1217800x600/1155876239_LANzb-M.jpg

 

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamChristmas/Half-Moon-Cay-Jan-6-2011/IMG7671800x533/1155878010_h69Ri-M.jpg

What the heck have they done??:eek::eek: This was one of the highest rated private islands - I don't think it will be anymore.

Just does not go with HMC at all, at least not to me.

what a shame. thanks for the pics of the monstrosity

This was always my favourite stop on my cruise ----- now this! :mad:

I'll have the opportunity :confused: to experience this 'white elephant' tomorrow, on the Maasdam; and if it is as gaudy as reported here, and I expect it is, then I won't even get off the ship on our return trip on the second segment of our cruise!

This was always my favourite stop on my cruise ----- now this! :mad:

 

I'll have the opportunity :confused: to experience this 'white elephant' tomorrow' date=' on the Maasdam; and if it is as gaudy as reported here, and I expect it is, then I won't even get off the ship on our return trip on the second segment of our cruise![/quote']

When you report back could you post the colours of the cabanas which are farthest up the beach---like the last three? That would be very helpful as I am waiting for the cabana rentals to be posted for our Panama cruise next year and want to be sure to get as far away from the noise as possible.

I wished you a wonderful cruise on another thread but I will say it here as well. Have a great time.:) I'm envious.

When you report back could you post the colours of the cabanas which are farthest up the beach---like the last three?

This was posted by CC member skywalkervader a couple of years ago. Still the best HMC Cabana Map I've seen. Click on the pic once you get there and it will enlarge.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/296583013_6fa96f5e51_o.jpg

I was curious a couple of years ago when we were on the tender and as you approached there were cannons placed on the rocks at the entrance to the docking area what they were suppose to be. Now it makes sense -- they were already thinking about changing the island.

Haven't noticed anyone here mention this and i know it is a relatively new addition at HMC, (we were just there yesterday on Nieuw Amsterdam) but I can't IMAGINE what HAL was thinking when they slapped this monstrosity in the middle of the cabanas at HMC.

 

We did not get to go ashore on Friday because of winds. I would have been very thankful to have gotten to be ashore and happily put up with this new creation.