Half Moon Cay Issues

[gusandgidgetsmom]

Honestly we have been there 8 times and not found it to be a problem but several on this board have mentioned it was for them. I can imagine once would be enough with ants in the food altho the areas are open.

If this was a regular problem they would probably be doing this as a matter of routine.

[mdwcruises]

Wow, that is not pleasant! And Carnival should be happy that you just helped them identify an easy improvement opportunity. It would be an easy fix by Carnival. Just put the dip in the fridge and cover the food somehow. Not hard.

 

And OP you have every right to arrive there anytime you please, early or late. It is not an excursion and there is no schedule. Don't listen to those who tell you somehow it was your fault because you don't cruise the way they do.

Edited December 8, 2013 by mdwcruises

[golfadj]

First off, I have had Cabana #8 twice...good choice and excellent location. However, I made sure I was in bed early enough because I would be up at 6am to get breakfast and get ready to go to the island. Yes, 6am wake up call. I would NOT miss a single second of HMC. Even when we booked the Grand Cabana only two of the 14 people were NOT waiting at 830am in the lounge, and they would have if she didn't have a slip and fall and was confined to a wheelchair for HMC. They came when they could have stayed on the ship.

 

If you are going to pay $225 for a cabana they will expect you to be waiting in the lounge at 830am to get on the first tender. Each time I went I would walk the beach to the cabana and by 945am everyone was at their cabanas! Cabana #8 is a bit of a walk to get to.........Leaving later means you lose out of a half a day of fun because to go back to the ship you have to leave the cabana at least an hour before the last tender, and then wait forever for the tenders. As you discovered, the later you leave the longer it takes to get back on the ship. Even leaving at 230pm we lucked out and didn't have to wait longer than 15 minutes for a tender, but then it took well over an hour to get through security....

 

On the flip side, be happy the ship went to HMC, occasionally it misses the island due to weather.....

 

I don't cruise to sleep, I can sleep at home.....I cruise to have fun, so that means a week of 4-5 hours of sleep max per night.....Gotta cram in a whole year of FUN into seven days. If I could get by on two or three hours a sleep a night on a cruise I would......I hate getting up early at home, but I am more than happy to wake up at 5am to get a 7am tender at Grand Cayman!!!!!!

 

My thought completely on HMC. GC not enough there that we want to be the first ones off the ship.

[Danacat222]

 

.........to go back to the ship you have to leave the cabana at least an hour before the last tender, and then wait forever for the tenders. As you discovered, the later you leave the longer it takes to get back on the ship.

 

Who told you you must vacate your cabana an hour before the last tender? We had a Villa in October and even though yes they came and collected the snorkel gear and cooler and such, we were never asked to leave and we caught the last tender back.

[golfadj]

Wow, that is not pleasant! And Carnival should be happy that you just helped them identify an easy improvement opportunity. It would be an easy fix by Carnival. Just put the dip in the fridge and cover the food somehow. Not hard.

 

And OP you have every right to arrive there anytime you please, early or late. It is not an excursion and there is no schedule. Don't listen to those who tell you somehow it was your fault because you don't cruise the way they do.

 

Certainly not the OP's fault and think they should be owed some compensation for the spoiled food.

 

Mt feeling is if I paid so much for the cabana I would be the first one off the ship.

[CruisingSoon88]

First off, I have had Cabana #8 twice...good choice and excellent location. However, I made sure I was in bed early enough because I would be up at 6am to get breakfast and get ready to go to the island. Yes, 6am wake up call. I would NOT miss a single second of HMC. Even when we booked the Grand Cabana only two of the 14 people were NOT waiting at 830am in the lounge, and they would have if she didn't have a slip and fall and was confined to a wheelchair for HMC. They came when they could have stayed on the ship.

 

If you are going to pay $225 for a cabana they will expect you to be waiting in the lounge at 830am to get on the first tender. Each time I went I would walk the beach to the cabana and by 945am everyone was at their cabanas! Cabana #8 is a bit of a walk to get to.........Leaving later means you lose out of a half a day of fun because to go back to the ship you have to leave the cabana at least an hour before the last tender, and then wait forever for the tenders. As you discovered, the later you leave the longer it takes to get back on the ship. Even leaving at 230pm we lucked out and didn't have to wait longer than 15 minutes for a tender, but then it took well over an hour to get through security....

 

On the flip side, be happy the ship went to HMC, occasionally it misses the island due to weather.....

 

I don't cruise to sleep, I can sleep at home.....I cruise to have fun, so that means a week of 4-5 hours of sleep max per night.....Gotta cram in a whole year of FUN into seven days. If I could get by on two or three hours a sleep a night on a cruise I would......I hate getting up early at home, but I am more than happy to wake up at 5am to get a 7am tender at Grand Cayman!!!!!!

 

 

And this is why everyone has their own idea of vacation. We go on vacation so that we don't have a schedule. My son has to be at school at 7 AM everyday. No way am I getting up early on vacation. We are night owls so sleep is a luxury that we only indulge in rarely. I can't sleep at home. That's what vacation is for. Normally we are in the casino until 12 or 1 and the kids are at camp. They usually go after dinner about 9:30 or 10. We usually get up at 10 or 10:30 the next morning and head out for breakfast.

 

I am happy that we got to go to HMC. I'm glad that we got to experience it and decide that it just simply wasn't our favorite place. Nothing bad about it, just not our favorite and that's ok. We left early to avoid the huge lines, but we still waited probably 20-30 mins to get on the tender. We did not miss out on any fun because getting to sleep in is fun for us. I don't regret that decision at all.

 

That's why cruises are great. There are plenty of options for everyone. Someone exercising the option to sleep later to go to your cabana should not mean that you are given spoiled food, however.

[TrinaLC]

you dont need anyone from guest services to escort you to the tendering area in order to get he priority tendering, just go to that deck and area when you want, show your SS card with the FTTF sticker or the excursion tix and they will get you on the tender that is currently boarding.

 

Who do you show your card to? There is often a very long line. Do you simply walk past people? We just turned platinum so would like to understand how this works.

 

Also, will be travelling with my daughter who is not platinum. We are in the same cabin. Can she accompany me on priority tender? Please, no flames, just trying for information.

[golfadj]

And this is why everyone has their own idea of vacation. We go on vacation so that we don't have a schedule. My son has to be at school at 7 AM everyday. No way am I getting up early on vacation. We are night owls so sleep is a luxury that we only indulge in rarely. I can't sleep at home. That's what vacation is for. Normally we are in the casino until 12 or 1 and the kids are at camp. They usually go after dinner about 9:30 or 10. We usually get up at 10 or 10:30 the next morning and head out for breakfast.

 

I am happy that we got to go to HMC. I'm glad that we got to experience it and decide that it just simply wasn't our favorite place. Nothing bad about it, just not our favorite and that's ok. We left early to avoid the huge lines, but we still waited probably 20-30 mins to get on the tender. We did not miss out on any fun because getting to sleep in is fun for us. I don't regret that decision at all.

 

 

That's why cruises are great. There are plenty of options for everyone. Someone exercising the option to sleep later to go to your cabana should not mean that you are given spoiled food, however.

 

Very true

[Danacat222]

Who do you show your card to? There is often a very long line. Do you simply walk past people? We just turned platinum so would like to understand how this works.

 

Also, will be travelling with my daughter who is not platinum. We are in the same cabin. Can she accompany me on priority tender? Please, no flames, just trying for information.

 

No you do not just walk past people, there are, in my experience, several Carnival Staff around, just walk up to one and say "pardon me, please, we have FTTF" and they will happily get you through. Happened to us on 2 different ships, Legend in March, and Liberty in October.

 

I do not know how old your daughter is, if she is a child then likely she can accompany you on priority tender, if she is 18 and in a difference cabin, perhaps not. I can only comment on my own experiences.

[MsTabbyKats]

After reading this thread....I'm probably wrong....but, if you have a cabana, do you get priority tendering back to the ship? Or, wait in line with "the masses".

[Danacat222]

After reading this thread....I'm probably wrong....but, if you have a cabana, do you get priority tendering back to the ship? Or, wait in line with "the masses".

 

Wait in line, there is no priority tendering with the return trip.

[golfadj]

After reading this thread....I'm probably wrong....but, if you have a cabana, do you get priority tendering back to the ship? Or, wait in line with "the masses".

 

You wait in line with the other peasants. Sorry.

[golfadj]

We are platinum and walk to deck 0 holding out our platinum cards and walk off ship or onto tender.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

Normally on a tender port we will be told to be in a certain lounge to get off on the first tender for platinum/diamond. If we don't wish to go on the first tender we then go to guest services and they normally have someone walk us to the tender. I am not one that will flash my card. That is just me. Also I have been told and read somewhere that if you have platinum/diamond status you can take up to 5 people with you on the tender.

[golfadj]

Normally on a tender port we will be told to be in a certain lounge to get off on the first tender for platinum/diamond. If we don't wish to go on the first tender we then go to guest services and they normally have someone walk us to the tender. I am not one that will flash my card. That is just me. Also I have been told and read somewhere that if you have platinum/diamond status you can take up to 5 people with you on the tender.

 

Unless our kids are with us we dont bring non platinum people with us off the ship.

 

We flash our cards to a crewmember and he puts us on the tender being loaded. Very easy to do it this way and dont have to bother anyone at guest services.

[CruisingSoon88]

I knew that we had missed the boat:D on our chance for the priority tendering with the cabana, but I thought we would still be ok with having FTTF. They told us that we still had to go to the lounge and wait with the others that had an excursion. If they just shuffled us all together with everyone else, how did we have priority? That's what confused me. The announcements never mentioned what to do if you were platinum or if you had FTTF. They only said that you went to Victoria's lounge if you had an excursion and to go to the main theater if you did not.

[momonthego17]

I knew that we had missed the boat:D on our chance for the priority tendering with the cabana, but I thought we would still be ok with having FTTF. They told us that we still had to go to the lounge and wait with the others that had an excursion. If they just shuffled us all together with everyone else, how did we have priority? That's what confused me. The announcements never mentioned what to do if you were platinum or if you had FTTF. They only said that you went to Victoria's lounge if you had an excursion and to go to the main theater if you did not.

 

I am usually first in line to go on a tender, but this is an interesting point about FTTF. If you have FTTF, or a Carnival excursion then shouldn't you be placed on the next tender promptly, no matter what time you show up? Isn't that what you paid for? What happened to CruisingSoon88 contradicts the benefits attached to FTTF or a Carnival excursion, in my opinion.

[JustCruiseMe]

I knew that we had missed the boat:D on our chance for the priority tendering with the cabana, but I thought we would still be ok with having FTTF. They told us that we still had to go to the lounge and wait with the others that had an excursion. If they just shuffled us all together with everyone else, how did we have priority? That's what confused me. The announcements never mentioned what to do if you were platinum or if you had FTTF. They only said that you went to Victoria's lounge if you had an excursion and to go to the main theater if you did not.

Ok we had FTTF and we didn't have a cabana so we weren't off the ship at 8:30 but when we went to the lounge to wait to tender I showed the crew our FTTF card and she said you guys will board first but since it won't be a full boat you wouldn't have to worry anyway, we'd get on. So I think you should have shown your card and you'd have been moved to the front as we were, and yes there were other people waiting to board the tender.

 

As far as the ants..I'd be a bit unhappy also. I think you make a good point about the fridge.

 

HMC is my very very very very favorite port!!! I had hundreds of fish eating out of my hand and almost my bathing suit top!!! Loved it much better than GT although it was nice too. Everyone likes different things.