Half Moon Cay (glass bottom boat question)

[pianopaws]

We are going to Half Moon Cay on the Carnival Pride, and we are trying to decide between 2 excursions there. One is called the Glass Bottom Boat tour and the other is called the Eco Lagoon Tour (which is also a glass bottom boat). Has anyone been on either of these tours? We would like to know which is the better choice.

 

Thanks!

 

Lois & family

[WillieD13]

We are going to Half Moon Cay on the Carnival Pride, and we are trying to decide between 2 excursions there. One is called the Glass Bottom Boat tour and the other is called the Eco Lagoon Tour (which is also a glass bottom boat). Has anyone been on either of these tours? We would like to know which is the better choice.

 

Thanks!

 

Lois & family

 

I don't want to discourage you, but,...... we took the Eco Lagoon Tour last year, and were disappointed with it. The problems were a) the boat was poorly handled by the driver, who kept overshooting and drifting off the mark, so spent half the time slapping the engine into reverse to reposition. Every time she did, the engine sent a wash of bubbles under the boat, so you couldn't see anything. By the time they cleared, we had drifted off the mark again. This happened a lot. b) the viewing window in the boat was not very clean, so any attempt to take a picture, unless you have manual focus is pointless, the camera keeps focusing on the the dirty window, not the object below. c) the water is for the most part, only a couple feet deep, so there was nothing of significant size to see, and what you do see, even at low speed, you see for only about 2 seconds before it is gone again.

On the up side, the girl guiding the tour did a really good job, gave a great talk, answered all questions, and pointed out a lot of good stuff, she was just limited by the fact that there is not a lot to see above the water, just the replica Arawak village, a distant view of the Stingray encounter pavilion and cage, some mangroves, and if you are lucky, a shark fin. We did see a shark, but could not get closer than about 100 feet from it, so all we could see was a dark shape moving along beneath the water.

Here is a link to the pictures I took at HMC. There are 12 pictures of the excursion. They are about half way through the album.

 

[cb at sea]

We've done glass bottom boat tours....waste of money. The water is so clear, just walk out, stand there and look! No need to pay for a boat trip!

[lovethesun40]

WillieD13....Thank you for posting your pictures! They are beautiful and finally I could show my husband & kids, exactly how close the cabanas are to the water!! :D:D And the white, white sand.......we just can't wait!!!! Thanks!

[pianopaws]

Thanks for all of the information & photos!

 

Lois