swodog94

Great review. HMC is on our upcoming trip. You've provided some great information. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! Glad you found it helpful.

HMC (Cont.)

It was cloudy again, but I still managed to get a few cool shots.

Back in our room we found a new towel critter just hanging around. After a tiring but amazingly fun day, we turned in early. Tomrrow we would be in Freeport (yawn!).

HMC (Cont.)

Soon the last tender from the island was making it's approach.

Shortly after 4:30 the ship weighed anchor and we got underway enroute to Freeport. We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing in our stateroom. We had already decided that we were not going to eat in the MDR that night so we headed up to the Lido for dinner. It was fairly quiet up there, as I think many people were in the same boat as us...completely wiped out after an awesome but hot and sunny day at HMC. We both decided to get pizzas for dinner. The pizza on the ship is awesome. It is not some microwaved frozen hockey puck. The pizza guy takes your order, grabs a fresh ball of dough and spreads it out. Then he puts on fresh sauce and your toppings. Another guy takes the pizza into the back and puts it in the oven, and a few minutes later you get a hot, fresh pizza! My wife got the prosciutto pizza (with arrugula) and I got a run-of-the-mill pepperoni pizza. Both were delicious!

Fat, dumb and happy, we headed up to the Sun Deck to try and get some sunset pictures.

HMC (Cont.)

The RumRunners bar is the last bar before fleet landing a few folks were grabbing one for the road...errr, boat ride.

We went through security (i guess to make sure you're not bringing anything back with you on the tender?) and got in line.

It was hot in the sun, but luckily we were getting on the tender in a few minutes and we chose to sit on the lower level, which is protected from the sun.

A quick ride has us making a our approach to the ship withing a few minutes.

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The last tender back to the ship is scheduled for 4:15, so we had originally decided to start heading back around 3:30. But a long day in the sun really takes it out of you, even with a cabana, and when the crew started to break things down around 3:00, we decided to call it a day. We grabbed our stuff and headed up to the bus stop to catch a shuttle back to fleet landing.

After a few minutes a truck came a long and we climbed on.

A few hardy souls are still hanging on, but the place is quickly emptying out.

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The crew works hard to make lunch for everyone.

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After a few hours of playing around in the water and lounging in our cabana, we started to get hungry. Carnival brings lunch to the beach for you so you don't need to take a tender back to the ship to eat. It's a full cook out, including burgers, hot dogs and BBQ chicken. I wonder if this guy is on the menu?

I headed over to the picnic area to get our lunch. There are many covered areas with picnice tables.

There are any drink stations between the porticos, as well as a bar.

HMC (Cont.)

Next to the Pirate Bar is a hut where you can rent all sort of cool toys to play in the water, including masks and fins, floats, sailboats, and water tricycles.

My tour complete, I went back to the cabana, grabbed a float and headed for the water. And...amazing! Floating around the bright azure water, beer in hand with a clear blue sky above and the sun shining - it just doesn't get ay better. Now I see why folks are always raving about their day at HMC. I can't wait to come back!

HMC (Cont.)

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A bit down the beach is what appears to a pirate ship on dry land. This is the Captain Morgan "Pirate Bar". I headed down to take a look while not a lot of people were on the beach yet.

Outstanding SIT-REP Commander!

Thanks!

Just found your review....great job!! Really enjoying the photos and narration.

Thank you! Hope you get some good info from it.

HMC (Cont.)

Finally, they also provide a bunch of snacks, including cut fruit, oranges, chicps, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. You can also choose soft drinks (Coke, Diet Coke or Sprite).

Periodically servers will come down the beach selling beer in these very convenient insulated totes. I bought a bag of six and stuck them in the fridge!

The beach stretches out on either side, with rows and rows of chairs.

Some of the chairs have clamshells to provide shade. You have to pay for those, but I didn't really see anybody using them.

Along with the cabanas there are five villas. These are pretty big and can host a group of 8 or so.

HMC (Cont.)

The cabana also comes with four floaters (more on that later!) and your own outdoor shower.

I've seen other folks report on here that in the lower numbered cabanas, which are located at the end of the beach closest to the piers and therefore the busiest and most crowded areas, that somme people will walk right up into your cabana and use the shower. We didn't have that issue, although at one time when we were both in the water and I heard a girl tell her boyfriend to go up on cabana and take the floaters...thankfully he demurred.

There's also a fridge which we used to chill our drinks (beer and soda).

Next to the cabana was a hammock. I tried it out and it was very uncomfortable!

Since cabanas 9, 10 and 11 are further down the beach they tend to be quieter and less crowded, because less folks will walk this far down. Plus, they are very close to the bathrooms!

HMC (Cont.)

A cabana comes with quite a few amenities. There are two loungers, as well as a table with four chairs.

For me, two of the most important amenities (especially in July) are the mister fan and the air conditioner.

HMC (Cont.)

The tram drops us off at a bus stop and we can see our cabana from there.

We hike down a short trail and arrive at our cabana!

HMC (Cont.)

As you enter the gates you'll find yourself in a courtyard. If you have an excursion, your first stop is the Information Hut, where you give them your ticket and sign in.

There are also some shops and bars around this courtyard, as well as a unique fountain.

There are 15 cabanas, each numbered individually. The higher the number, the further down the beach your cabana is. Ours was #10. Luckily, we didn't have to walk there, because there's a tram that will drive you there.

HMC (Cont.)

Our tender boarded at the forward hatch. There was a tender loading at the aft hatch as well. Not sure if that was more people or where the crew was loading all the food. Everything has to be brought to the island, including food, drinks, booze.

It's not a very long ride to the island and by 9:14 we were entering the man made channel that leads to the pier.

Once you're there you disembark and find yourself at the entrance to a paradise!

HMC (Cont.)

The ship anchored right around 8:30 and the first tender was making it's approach shortly thereafter.

We headed down to the Taj Mahal to wait for our tender. The entertainment staff was diving us into two groups: group 1 was the 8:45 group and group 2 was the 9:15 group. The majority in there were in the 8:45 group.

By 9:06 we were on the tender. The boarding process was smooth, the special needs folks were the last to board, and we were pulling away right around 9:10.

Half Moon Cay

The day finally arrived! I had been wanting to come to Half Moon Cay (HMC) since I first read about it, and so we had booked a cruise last year that went there. Unfortunately, the weather had not cooperated, and we missed our HMC day. This time, we were going! And on top of that, I had managed to get us a cabana (see page 2 of this review to see the story). The day was beautiful and sunny and we were up and around by 7am because we wanted to get a real breakfast before catching our tender.

All the normal breakfasts foods were available, but y wife ust went some cereal, and I (shockingly!) got a burritto - sorry, I was hungry and had already taken a couple of bites before I remembered to take a photo!

Folks who were not Priority, have FTTF or a pre-arranged excursion were lined up on the Lido at 8am to get their tender tickets.

We had our excursion ticket for our cabana, which told us to be in the Taj Mahal at 8:45. Being suite guests and FTTF, we also had a letter that directed us to go to the Butterflies at 8:45. I asked the Entertainment rep who was there which was better...he said that although everyone in the Taj Mahal and Butterflies would be on the first tender, the folks in the Taj Mahal would board first.

Awesome review! Ashley (the wife) and I are trying to venture out and try new things in the cruising world, but as long as the Pride is in Baltimore it will always be our "home" base for cruising.

Yeah, It's very convenient and I know the ship like the back of my hand now. That being said, I think we will change it up for our next cruise, there are just too many great itineraries out there that we want to do. Thanks for following along!

We probably would have used the photo card, but I'm with you on the art - it's not our style and at this stage of our lives DH and I are thinking about downsizing, not adding to our possessionns. Besides, DS the SWO likes to shop for us - there's a Persian rug from Bahrain in a box waiting to be opened. :D

 

The other gift card we've received is for the spa. In all of our cruises, the only times I've set foot near the spa are when I want to visit the hot tub in the gym.

 

Enjoying your review - we've done this itinerary twice on Pride.

Bought my share at the rug flops in Bahrain! Glad you're enjoying the review.

Ha! That towel creature *is* laughing at you! So cute!

 

What all is involved in the process to get back on the ship at Grand Turk? Do you just walk on? Is there a security search again? This is our first cruise and I'd like to understand how difficult it will be if we need to get on and off several times cause of the kids while at GT?

A crewmember will scan your S&S card to check you in or off the ship. Yes, they will run your bags through the xray machine, checking for booze.

More menus!

I'd like to see the Margarittaville menu if you don't mind posting please! :)

Sure, here are all the menus!