3 Ships at Half Moon Cay....

[kryos]

I was there when both the Maasdam and Oosterdam were using the facility. It was manageable, but the lines at for the barbecue were long. If it were three ships I would also consider it a sea day.:(

I'm in shock that HAL would schedule three ships there on the same day. Has anyone verified this information is accurate?

 

Half Moon Cay is not like other port stops; i.e., St. Thomas, which can handle the larger crowds that having multiple ships in port on the same day provide. HMC only has a set capacity for beach area, for excursions, for the bar, etc. They really are probably not equipped for these kinds of crowds and that's why I can't imagine HAL would schedule three ships there on the same day. Unless, of course, they cancel one ship's stop there at the last minute?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[twinkletoes4445]

Grumpy...

 

That sounds like Thurston Howell III wrote that. I'd sure hate for my sceney to be ruined by a pasty-white body in a ill-fitting suit. Oh...wait a minute...that describes me! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

The Zuiderdam carries 1848 passengers - double occupancy; Amsterdam carries 1380 - double occupancy; and the Maasdam carries 1258 double occupancy. Now everyone knows that there will be more than 2 people in some of those cabins on all the ships.

 

The Zuiderdam will be on HMC from 7 AM - PM - they get there first and will get the best spots. The Amsterdam arrives at 8 and has second choice. The Maasdam gets there at 11 AM - not much choice of anything left. And by the time they get their anchor positioned and get ashore, maybe around 11:30 - the lines for the BBQ will be out of sight.

 

Hope that HAL realizes this and changes the schedule of one of the ships.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The cabanas - in the past when 2 ships were scheduled to be there, each ship was allowed one half of the cabanas. One ship could not book all of them.

[sunflowerstarr]

i just looked on that site and found out there are three ships the say we are there too. how do you think it will work with the cabanas. i booked one and it went through i hope they dont plan to oversell them and leave us sol. we are really lookin forward to that and thinkin of doing the butler upgrade! we are sailing on the maasdam 11/30-12/11 so please let me know how this goes. im gonna hope that things change!

[Krazy Kruizers]

I have new HAL brochure book in front of me.

Good news for the Nov 10th people.

The Zuiderdam has an itinerary change. This is what is listed:

Nov 4 - Ft Lauderdale

Nov 5 - HMC

Nov 6 - At Sea

Nov 7 - St Thomas

Nov 8 - Tortola

Nov 9 - Grand Turk

Nov 10 - At Sea

Nov 11 - Ft Lauderdale

[Krazy Kruizers]

sunflowerstarr

 

I looked up your schedule as well - the Westerdam also has a schedule change and will not be be at HMC on your date. Hope this helps.

[sunflowerstarr]

thanks so much Krazy Kruiser! its a relief to hear that. its the one place i have heard not to miss around here and id be upset if it doesnt work out. tho i am still aware it could be canceled since its a tender instead of port. hopin for the best tho! btw where do you go to find the updates like that?

[wrp96]

I've got a question, would that HAL brochure be more updated than HAL's website since HAL's website still shows the Zuiderdam at HMC on Nov. 10th.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is hard to tell. We just got the brochure in the mail and it is newer than the previous one we had.

 

It is possible that HAL knows about certain dates where 3 ships were scheduled to be at HMC and are now trying to adjust the schedules. If you notice from what I wrote, it is the Vista class ships that have had the schedule changes.

 

You might want to check with HAL directly and see what they have to say. Ask them if it is really true that 3 ships will be at HMC on certain dates or if there have been schedule changes.

[whogo]

It's kind of funny. The two Carnival ships that visit Holland America's private island, the Fantasy and Elation, both carry 2044 guests. You would get a less crowded experience with Carnival than when two HAL ships are in port.

 

By the way, on HAL website http://www.hollandamerica.com/pdfs/media/factsheets/HalfMoonCay_FactSheet.pdf

you'll find the outdated "Half Moon Cay is accessible only to Holland America Line and Windstar guests."

 

And the scary "Accommodates up to 5,000 guests per day."

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL really does need to update some of their facts on their web site.

 

5000??? - Don't want to be on HMC with that many people!!

[kryos]

I would still go ashore early to enjoy the beach but return to the ship for lunch, or, alternatively, wait until after lunch to go ashore.

If your ship is the one staying at HMC the latest, going late to the island might work. Most of the crowds whose ships are departing at earlier times will be gone. If you don't mind not being able to do any excursions (they probably won't be offering any that late) and not having lunch on the island, going off the ship late might be a good idea.

 

But, as for getting to the island early to beat the crowds ... LOL, somehow I have the feeling everyone on those three ships will get the exact same idea. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

thanks so much Krazy Kruiser! its a relief to hear that. its the one place i have heard not to miss around here and id be upset if it doesnt work out. tho i am still aware it could be canceled since its a tender instead of port. hopin for the best tho! btw where do you go to find the updates like that?

Wonderful! Now we're making some sense on this thread.

 

I'm sorry ... but I just cannot believe HAL would be so stupid has to schedule three ships ... especially with one or more of them being a Vista ... on HMC the same day. That island is very small and capacity of the facilities very limited. I just don't believe it could handle three ships on the same day, and HAL must know that as well. Hell, personally, I don't think it can handle two ships in one day ... especially if one of those ships is a Vista ... but obviously HAL has found that it can ... and routinely schedules two ships there.

 

They'll tweak their schedules. I don't think you'll ever see three ships visiting HMC on the same day. HAL knows that island is a major, major draw with its passengers. They won't purposely create a lousy experience for people there ... not after all the money they dumped into it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

By the way, on HAL website http://www.hollandamerica.com/pdfs/media/factsheets/HalfMoonCay_FactSheet.pdf

you'll find the outdated "Half Moon Cay is accessible only to Holland America Line and Windstar guests."

 

And the scary "Accommodates up to 5,000 guests per day."

Yeah, accommodates up to 5,000 guests if you don't mind being in the water with a mob scene ... or standing in line for an hour just to get some barbeque.

 

As for the "accessibility" statement ... technically that is accurate. From what I understand, Carnival is only allowed to call there during those times HAL ships are not sailing the Caribbean. I think I read here that HAL has to have that island in use year-round so that there are people scheduled on-site to care for the horses and the stingrays. From what I understand, no one actually lives on HMC, but rather they come over from a nearby island only on those days when HMC will be occupied. If HMC was left dormant throughout the summer months when HAL ships didn't sail the Caribbean, those animals would have no one to take care of them for that long period of time. I guess it's simply cheaper to have other ships visiting the island rather than have to move those horses someplace else for several months, and then back to HMC again.

 

So, yes, while Carnival ships can use HMC, they only can do so during the season when HAL ships are not sailing there.

 

At least that's my understanding ... does anyone know differently?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

[quote name='Krazy Kruizers'][B]The cabanas - in the past when 2 ships were scheduled to be there, each ship was allowed one half of the cabanas. One ship could not book all of them.[/B][/QUOTE]
So what would happen, say, if there was a schedule change further down the line ... and a second ship was added? What if the first ship had already booked all the cabanas? I guess the last half of the people who booked them would get "bumped" in favor of bookings for the second ship?

Man, you'd have some really p.o.'d passengers then from that first ship who were counting on the cabana and found themselves SOL.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[debjo]

[B]For kyros...[/B]
That's a scary idea...getting bumped from your "reserved" cabana! Is it REALLY a policy of HAL to "allow" each ship an equal number of cabanas? I haven't seen that before. I wonder how that will affect my October 15, 2006 sailing? When I first checked on CruiseCal.com for the number of ships at HMC...my WESTERDAM was to be the only one. Later in my "planning" and prior to the HMC excursions being "open" for on-line bookings, I checked CruiseCal again and found that we'd be sharing the private island with another HAL ship...the AMSTERDAM. I looked at the ROLL CALL for that AMSTERDAM sailing and didn't see any "talk" about anyone wanting cabanas at HMC, so I wasn't too worried. When the bookings for HMC excursions opened up "on-line", I was very fortunate enough to get a cabana. In the course of one week all of the cabanas were "sold" out, with five of them being "caught" by active members on my cruise's Roll Call Board. I don't know if the other "five" went to people on the WESTERDAM or to people on the AMSTERDAM. I'd hate to think of someone being "bumped" if more than 5 of the 10 HMC cabanas were reserved for WESTERDAM passengers when someone from the AMSTERDAM wanted one. I think that if HAL is going to have more than one ship at HMC, they need to think about building more cabanas...10 just isn't enough for all of the passengers that want them!

Debjo

[sail7seas]

[B]Debjo........ There is no reason for you to think you would be bumped. You have booked your cabana. You have the confirmation. Look forward to enjoying it.

In the scenario you present, it is more likely that if all the cabanas have been booked by guests on Westerdam, unless someone cancels, none will be offered to Amsterdam guests.

I see that as more likely than them cancelling your booking.



[/B]

[shonuf]

[quote name='kryos']
As for the "accessibility" statement ... technically that is accurate. From what I understand, Carnival is only allowed to call there during those times HAL ships are not sailing the Caribbean. I think I read here that HAL has to have that island in use year-round so that there are people scheduled on-site to care for the horses and the stingrays. From what I understand, no one actually lives on HMC, but rather they come over from a nearby island only on those days when HMC will be occupied. If HMC was left dormant throughout the summer months when HAL ships didn't sail the Caribbean, those animals would have no one to take care of them for that long period of time. I guess it's simply cheaper to have other ships visiting the island rather than have to move those horses someplace else for several months, and then back to HMC again.

So, yes, while Carnival ships can use HMC, they only can do so during the season when HAL ships are not sailing there.

At least that's my understanding ... does anyone know differently?

Blue skies ...

--rita[/QUOTE]

In checking cruisecal.com for the fall and winter, the Elation or Fantasy will share the island with HAL ships (not same days).

[sail7seas]

[B]Carnival ships are using HMC now.....as stated.

No HAL ships are in the Caribbean between mid April and mid October. Would be a waste for that beautiful slice of paradise to lay unused for a full six months of the year.....

What a diseaster IMO for Carnival ship and HAL ship to call there on the same day.

[/B]

[ger_77]

[FONT=Arial]Okay, maybe I'm a total idiot or something, but when I use the cruisecal.com and put in the date we are to be at Half Moon Cay, the port comes up as: Puerto Montt, Chile. We didn't pay to go to Chile, but if that's where they want to take us, we're willing to go! Obviously I'm doing something wrong ... can anybody advise me? I'm thrilled to know that we're going to be the only ship at Half Moon Cay on Feb 14/07 ... what a nice place to celebrate Valentine's Day![/FONT]

[twinkletoes4445]

hmmmmm...I just tried cruisecal and I can't get anything to come up for the day we will be in HMC. There must be something going on with the site.

[peaches from georgia]

You might try it again now. I just did for my next cruise stopping at HMC and it was working fine.

[debjo]

[B]Thanks sail7seas...[/B]
...for giving me some reassurance and calming me down! Since today is the start of "hurricane season", I think that is the only thing that I'm going to "worry" about now! I'm so thrilled to have snagged a cabana, I'll be greatly disappointed if my cruise can't get to HMC so I can enjoy the cabana (and butler upgrade). But if it happens, I'll have my aft corner suite balcony to enjoy!

Debjo

[HeatherInFlorida]

Catching up, I just about died when I saw this thread!:eek: 3 ships at Half Moon Cay? I don't think so!!! That would mean the likelihood of almost 5000 people coming and going on that pristine beach. How to kill a really good idea.

We were there alone on the Maasdam a few years ago ... perfect.

In 2004 the Oosterdam was there with the Rotterdam and the beach was wall to wall people. Luckily we had a cabana so were unaffected, but otherwise the blissful experience many of us have described would have seemed like a big bad lie.

So 3 ships? Yikes! I'll sit on my verandah and enjoy the magnificent view!