Half Moon Cay-Cabana Question

[SueW]

How soon after you board the ship can you reserve a Cabana from the excursion desk?

 

I have been using the Search tool, but never saw this question answered.

 

Thanks,

Sue

[gail811]

I don't know, but I would head there IMMEDIATELYto find out when they start taking reservations! The year we rented one (our best decision ever!) my husband almost came to blows with a guy trying to step in front of him when he heard there was only one left!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

How soon after you board the ship can you reserve a Cabana from the excursion desk?

 

I have been using the Search tool, but never saw this question answered.

 

Thanks,

Sue

 

We sailed on the Fantasy in July - immediately after boarding the excursions desk is closed. Ask around - or in the capers it will say when it opens.

 

Be there ASAP, and you will have your pick of them (there are several to choose from) - some closer to the ship, some closer to restrooms, some far away from the crowds who are closer to the ship and restrooms!!!

 

We were the first there, so booked our pick - then, UNFORTUNATELY, we had to skip that stop due to the weather (that next day, the day we should have been there, was very nice... ). We ended up going to "beautiful" Freeport instead...:rolleyes:

 

Tom

[SueW]

Thanks for all of the replys, I thought as much about getting to the excursion desk as soon as it opens.

 

Leaving tomorrow for Orlando and Port Canaveral for the Sister's Fantasy Cruise. I hate flying in the same day of the cruise, too many things can happen. I had no choice, hopefully everything will go ok.

 

Thanks again!

 

Sue

[sail2day]

I would have suggested reserving the cabana prior to boarding the vessel with Carnival Reservations---Customer Service Desk....We reserved ours with Holland America when we went on the Zuiderdam at least several months prior to the cruise....

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I would have suggested reserving the cabana prior to boarding the vessel with Carnival Reservations---Customer Service Desk....We reserved ours with Holland America when we went on the Zuiderdam at least several months prior to the cruise....

 

While there are many (most) excursions you now book ahead of time (with Carnival) - they do not pre-book the cabanas. Also, unlike HAL, Carnival does not offer the butler/meal service with theirs as an option. Perhaps in time - but who knows!

 

Since we were "robbed" of our stop at HMC in July, we booked the Elation for next May to TRY AGAIN.. keeping fingers crossed!!

 

Tom

[Fun, Fun 44]

We didn't reserve the cabana (purple!)until 3:00 the afternoon before and there were still seven left. Guess folks figure they are in the water and can clamshell it and use $ elsewhere. We had a great time......yes in the water alot but we thought worth it.

 

Enjoy!

Kat

[cruizinrican]

We rented cabana with 2 other couples the same moment excursion desk opened which I think was around 1pm. But you can always check the capers, there are several Elation Capers available just search.

 

Also FYI, we were given the beige cabana even though we were booked into the turquise one so be careful on this. When we passed the turquise one and went to the furthest one the beige one, I pointed out that this indeed was not turquise but beige, inturn he responded, no it is turquise! I said maybe here in Bahamas that is turquise but in the rest of the world that would be called beige!!:mad: So not wanting to go back and forth with him about it we just let it slide. The only problems we had with this beige one is that the sidewalk ends directly into our deck!!:eek: So everyone that was coming down sidewalk would assume it was a public area! About 20% of the day was spent shoowing away strangers that would wander onto our deck and start helping themselves to our area! We had people sitting on our lounge chairs, walk across our deck to get to sand and even waiting in line behind me to use our fresh water shower?? It was becoming annoying so after awhile we used one of the lounge chairs to block off the deck from the sidewalk, forcing those that came down sidewalk to jump off other end into the sand.

 

There is a sign posted on the outside of the deck that states it is a private cabana but no one ever noticed it until we pointed it out first to them. So be careful you don't get stuck with this one.

 

Also, since we were to originally been given the turquise cabana, all our provisions were set up over there for us. The veggie tray, cooler filled with soda and water, fruit tray, towels and floating mats were all at the other cabana along with our cabana boy. So after about an hour, they realized the mix-up and moved all our stuff to the beige one for us.

 

It was expensive if done alone I think but when split 3 ways it came to $70 a couple which in MHO is worth it. We really enjoyed having a private area to sit in the air condition for lunch. This cabana was close to bathrooms and not so far from buffet area. But once the cabana boy moved all our stuff over to the correct cabana, we never saw him again until it was time for him to clean up at the end of the day. Others felt obligated to give him a tip of some sort but I on the other hand felt it was not earned so I did not tip him at the end of the day. He surely did nothing for us that whole day. Good luck with yours.

 

All in all, I would never go to HMC again and not book one of these cabanas again. We really did enjoy our time in it.

 

We were on the 9/10 sailing of the Elation.

[RonnieS]

I can certainly understand why it may come to blows. We think Half Moon Cay is heaven on earth and the cabana makes it pure nirvana.

 

We were fortunate with HAL in that we could pre-book the cabana. I jumped on it the first day it was available. I think they all sold within a few days. When we arrived at the island I told the person at the excursion booth that we have a cabana.... he almost died laughing, he misunderstood, he thought we wanted to rent one.

 

We had the sky blue cabana. Definately well worth it.

[martind42]

Just back from the 10/5 sailing of the Fantasy. We booked a cabana on HMC. Very much worth it, and I'll explain why. Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but it has been a long day.

 

With the rental of a cabana for 4 people, we got 2 BIG bottles of water, 8 sodas, a basket of chips, some hot sauce, a veggie tray with ranch dressing, a fruit tray (melon and pineapple), and a basket of fruit (apples, pears, bananas). You also get two floats to use throughout the day, as well as snorkeling equipment for each of the 4 guests. You also have 4 chairs, a table, and 2 lounge chairs. Admittedly, you could get the same fruit at the buffet line when it opens.

 

The clamshell is almost as wide as the cabana, so you don't get any more shade. The back half of the cabana is covered, while the front half is kind of like a raised deck. The part that is covered has the air conditioner. And, there is a tarp you can pull down to close up the back half which allows for a significant amount of privacy. There are cabinets in the back for storage, and a counter for food service. There was a mini-fridge, but all of our stuff was in the Carnival provided cooler, so we did not even see if it was working.

 

If you rent a cabana, Carnival will let you go on the first tender that takes passengers. Once you get off the tender, they will have a driver take you to your cabana. The island is MUCH larger than I expected it to be. And, it is a significant walk to the cabanas. We were in the Orange cabana, and immediately adjacent to it was a hammock with shade. We thought about claiming it for ourselves, but decided to let someone who did not book a cabana have it. It was claimed VERY quickly.

 

We never saw a cabana boy. Though we did have a waiter who checked on us consistently for bar drinks.

 

When you add up the cost to rent snorkeling equipment, the cost to rent the floating mats, the cost of sodas and water, it is about $80 more to get the cabana than it would be to rent or buy those things individually with one clamhell. For the four of us, it was very nice to have the a/c especially after we had been on the island for the better part of the day. We closed the tarp and it was significantly cooler inside than out. We also used it the cabana to change into and out of our swimsuits without having to go to the restroom to do so. We also liked having the shower right there to rinse off the salt water and sand. We kept the inside of the cabana fairly neat.

 

The Orange cabana is "centrally" located for the cabanas. But, they are all fairly far away from the kids area, and where the only real snorkelling area is. But then again, none of the cabanas are that close to the kids area.

 

As for how soon you need to rent one, it varies from trip to trip. We rented ours about 3:00 on embarkation day. There were roughly half of them left. The shore excursion desk was not supposed to be open until 6:00 according to the Carnival Capers, yet when we were walking by we noticed it was being manned by a young lady. She was answering questions so we thought we might ask if we could rent the cabana right then. She said, "sure." So, my advice would be to disregard the Capers and just check every 30 minutes or so after you get on the ship. They did eventually sell out on our cruise -- some time after the shore excursion talk.

 

Hope this helps.

 

martind42

[bahama daydreamer]

We're just back from the 10/9 Fantasy. We rented the sky blue cabana and loved it. There were 4 of us and we had 2 large bottle of water, 4 cans of pop, fresh cut melon, fresh fruit, chips and salsa, and veggies and dip. When we got on the ship we were told that the shore excursion desk would be open at 5 pm but we checked back around 12:20 and it was open. I was the 3rd to rent a cabana and chose the central location. It was fairly close to the restrooms and the bbq. It was well worth the money, especially if you like to get out of the sun for awhile like my dad. He got a pretty bad burn on his legs the first day so getting out of the sun was great for him. I would definately get one again.