Leaving kids on ship at Half Moon Cay--opinions??

[Loving My Life]

My kids will be 2, 4, and 6 on our next cruise (first with the kids). We will not be leaving them on the ship while in Grand Turk or Nassau but I'm wondering about HMC. We are thinking of taking them to the beach for half the day, then bringing them back on the ship (Miracle) for the afternoon so dh and I can do some snorkeling or jet skiing. Since only our ship will be there and there is NO RISK of missing the ship (small private beach), do think that is ok or would you not do it?

[CeleBrat]

You might want to check to see if Camp Carnival will even be open while the ship is a HMC. Sometimes its closed while the ship is in port.

 

CeleBrat

[crusinmama06]

This is the only time where I think it's *sort of* safe to leave the kids on the ship. I am trying to think what happens with Carnival on a private island. So do they move the camp on shore? With RCCL and Disney, they move the camps on shore. So you could put the kids IN camp but on shore.

 

What does Carnival do with HMC? Is the camp still on the ship?

 

Honestly, I think the kids would be fine on the ship in this circumstance.

[CeleBrat]

I honestly can't remember what happened on the Carnival Elation when we visited HMC. Obviously, our whole traveling party went ashore so we didn't pay attention to the Camp Carnival hours.

 

I *think* that Camp Carnival was actually closed while we were at HMC. Probably a great time for Carnival to allow their staff to have a few hours off.

 

I CAN verify that Camp Carnival was NOT available shoreside on HMC.

 

(I will see if I can track down the Capers from that cruise---I may have shoved them in our cruise "drawer of junk"...)

 

HMC has a cute kids play area, with 2 water slides, a water splash/fountain area, and several floating animals that the kids can climb on--so they are sure to have a great time there. Perhaps you and your DH just need to take turns doing the adult activities while the kids play?

 

Jealous you are going--but have fun whatever you do!

 

CeleBrat

[crusinmama06]

I have one. Geesh I should have just looked at my own links...lol.

 

Yes, Carnival keeps Camp open during HMC stops. Or at least they did in the capers I have

 

The complete collection is at the link in my signature if you want to see other ages/ships/itineraries

 

[mcfam5]

. . . when opinion questions are asked about leaving kids on board while parents are in port, I always respond that I would not do it. These circumstances would be a little bit different, so I would possibly give it a try.

 

You could take your kids to enjoy the beach the first part of the day and then let them enjoy Camp Carnival while you enjoy an excursion.

 

Have fun!

[dolphinwyo]

We took our 6 y.o and 3 y.o to HMC in February - and it was the best day of the entire cruise. We were one of the first families on the beach, and ended up staying until the very last tender back. They still didn't want to leave then. We rented a cabana - where we were able to eat our lunch, rest out of the sun as needed, use the float mats - had such a great day! There are big floating "island" toys they kids swam over too, it is such the perfect beach.

We took them off on Grand Turk - went to free beach right at end of dock and then to Margaritaville. They loved this too - plenty of family friendly spaces at Margaritaville. Nassau - they didn't want to get off, they wanted to do the camp activities for that day (blowing up a volcano in the 6 y.o. group...) so we left them and just walked into town to look at the town and have lunch at Senor Frogs, then back on board. Unless we were going to Atlantis, they wouldn't have had much fun walking through town. Play it by ear is my best advice for you - hard to say what everyone will feel like doing....I try to leave it open ended. I wish I was going back to HMC today - my favorite place!!!! Have fun!

[dolphinwyo]

Just thought of something - when we rented the cabana they provided snorkeling equipment, and we had brought my DD's own equipment she had practiced with before we left. We were able to snorkel right on the beach and see fish everywhere.....the water is so clear even the little ones can see straight down to the fish without snorkeling.