Half Moon Cay

[CSIMelissa]

Has anyone ever done any shore excursions to Half Moon Cay?

 

I'm considering taking a cruise with a stop there in November on the Imagination (my favorite ship!) and I was just wondering what anyone would recommend doing.

 

Thanks!

 

This is my first post here.

 

Melissa

[tinmanswife]

If you like the beach, this will be the ultimate beach day. No need to do anything else. Go to the HAL boards, and you will find numerous pictures and threads about HMC. Enjoy...I'm jealous; would love to go back there again.

[blackwing]

I agree. Great beach day. The water is so crystal clear. There is the food station (free) located a short walk away. Not a great selection of food (just burgers and the like) but it's nice that it's there and you don't have to find your own food or go back to ship.

[mysticalblues]

I was just there with HAL. We didn't do any excusion though. We just hung out on the beach. I don't know if the excusions would be exactly the same, but I would reccommend, if they have it, the horse back riding on the beach. I did this in Grand Turk (with HAL), but they offered it at HMC also, and you go into the water on the horse. It was very cool!

 

Our visit there was cut short because the water got pretty rough and then tenders were having a hard time staying against the ship.

 

Pam

[gypsyrose]

great beach day then we did the snorkle with the stingrays which was nice. It is a beautiful island.

[Yurita]

Half moon cay is my favorite port of call. When we went last year, we didn't do anything. We heard it was a beautiful island and we just wanted to explore a "virgin island" and have a great beach day. HEY, it has the most beautiful beach ever! I've been to Cuba, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and most of the Caribbean, but my friend, there's no beach like Half moon cay's. My advice? enjoy the beach while you can and save your excursions for the next port of call. Once you see the beach, you'll refuse to leave!!! like me... they had to dragged me,, and still yelled: "NOOOOO!!! LEAVE ME HERE!!!". By the way, my mom is right there today, on the Elation from 9:30am to 6:00pm... I never wished to be next to her so much like today!:D

[CSIMelissa]

Thanks everyone for getting back with me!! Beach time is my favorite way to spend time off the ship.... I have such a hectic job it's nice to just relax..... *sigh* It's making me wish I could leave for another cruise tonight!!

 

Melissa

[RjayB]

Half moon cay is absolutely gorgeous, but the beach fills up fast even with only one ship there! We did the "swim with the stingrays" excursion which was awesome, but when we got back to the beach there were no chairs or umbrellas left!

 

Also, we found the pina coladas and daquiries to be very very weak, but that was all they sold on the island besides beer.

[drumline]

Love the beach there. Reserve a "clamshell" ahead of time, it's only a few dollars and you'll need it for the shade.

[tomsmom]

Could you let me know how to reserve a clamshell? There are two of us. Also, do you know the price.?

[cruiseapril]

We were at Half Moon Cay two weeks ago. Great island.

 

We swam and sunned for hours and hours and then took the Eco Lagoon Tour in the glass bottom boat.

 

You get to see all kinds of sea life in the shallow lagoon, then they take you out to a coral reef area in the open ocean. Good tour.

[judyzoo]

We renewed our vows there several years ago in the little chapel; it was wonderfully romantic! I don't know whether HAL still does that, however.

[rotomu]

HMC was gorgeous, we were there mid-April. Below there is a review of the horseback and snorkle tour we did. We enjoyed both. Try to be on the first tender in the morning. My wife and I walked the entire beach up to the rocky point. No one else had been on the beach, fantastic!!! Found lots of small colorful shells, quite a few intact sand dollars. It is truly paradise! We were there with Carnival, they had excellent rumrunners

[cruisecat56]

it's very easy to do just go to the shore excurstion desk, it costs about $12

[gooselace]

great beach day then we did the snorkle with the stingrays which was nice. It is a beautiful island.

 

The beach is beautiful - enjoyed it when we were with 2 years ago, but this trip has more sea and beach days (Tortola has no excursions that appeal to us), so am looking at the excursions on HMC. Wondered about the snorkle with stingrays. The description refers to wading, which would be okay, but I can't swim, so I would that be a problem? How deep is the water where the sting rays are?

 

I'd also like to hear from anyone who has taken the Eco Lagoon Cruise.

[tinmanswife]

judyzoo--We did the same thing, renewed our vows with 2 other couples (that we met through Cruise Critic!). We were on Zuiderdam, 2004. The men surprised us; can't wait to go back to HMC again someday!

[judyzoo]

tinmanswife -- we were on the Maasdam; we did the renewal with one other couple, who we didn't know before. I was surprised, too, that DH agreed. He has even mentioned doing another renewal ceremony sometime. Silly me, I cried through the ceremony. After 30-some years of marriage!

[racyguy14619]

Just curious, where is there a place for snorkeling that I can find on my own ? I'm going to take my own mask and stuff on the cruise.

[cruisingclay]

Bring some bread from the ship or BBQ. You won't see the fish until you drop a few pieces in the water. It's alot of fun.