HAL private islands.

[grest]

What/where are they and what do you think of them?   Thank you.

[oakridger]

One private island on Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.  Wonderful experience with soft sand and beautiful photo worthy beach!  Lunch BBQ was OK, but I prefer to eat on the ship.

 

Google it for pictures!

 

~Nancy

[HAL4NOW]

Half Moon Cay is a tender port, and weather prevented us from experiencing it during a Western Caribbean sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

[CruiserBruce]

If you look on the Private Islands board, there dozens of discussions, pictures, videos, etc.

 

Half Moon Cay is gorgeous!

[Daisyloo]

Love Half Moon Cay.  It is a beautiful beach.  Great place for a relaxing beach day.

[tkwbear]

I love HMC. Unfortunately it seems to be part of fewer HAL cruises, including TAs and Panama Canal cruises.

[canadianbear]

12 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

I love HMC. Unfortunately it seems to be part of fewer HAL cruises, including TAs and Panama Canal cruises.

Totally agree.  On the longer cruises like you mentioned they should be stopping more often at HMC.  

 

Luckily we have never missed HMC due to weather. Love that slice of paradise and wish they’d stay there longer! 

[tutumomickey]

HMC is my favorite place in the Caribbean. The sand is so soft and white, it is like baby powder. I love how the water sports are separated from the beach so the beach is quiet and peaceful. My favorite time was walking the entire island and visiting with the gardener (forgot his name) and the iguana he raised from a baby. We also enjoyed the snorkeling. Have to admit, the BBQ was not as good as the food on the ship. Still, we far prefer it to Castaway Cay( Disney's island) that has won many awards.

[sevenseasnomad]

We refer to HMC as "a little slice of heaven."  No matter how many times we've been we still enjoy it as a relaxing day to either begin a cruise or as a cruise's memorable last day.  My son loves to ride the horses.  Although he's participated in this excursion countless times, it always fascinates him.  I enjoy walking in the powder sand.  We stopped going to the bar-b-que years ago.  I hope HAL doesn't keep "developing" the island, such as the addition of the shipwreck bar, since it spoils the natural beauty, IMO.

Edited July 28, 2019 by sevenseasnomad

[HAL4NOW]

4 minutes ago, tutumomickey said:

HMC is my favorite place in the Caribbean... Still, we far prefer it to Castaway Cay( Disney's island) that has won many awards.

I hope to make it to HMC sometime. One thing Disney's Castaway Cay has going for it is that the ships can dock on the island; no need for tendering. We liked Castaway Cay, even on a very windy day when many of the excursions were cancelled due to weather.

[BarbinMich]

12 hours ago, tkwbear said:

I love HMC. Unfortunately it seems to be part of fewer HAL cruises, including TAs and Panama Canal cruises.

It's out of the way for a TA cruise and would add a day to what is otherwise already a 7-night crossing to the first stop (Azores).  We've done several TAs and did the Zuiderdam crossing in 2017.  There are 2 kinds of PC cruises as you may know.  There's a 10-day RT from Ft Lauderdale and a longer cruise that goes either west or east through the whole canal.  The only Caribbean island those cruises stopped at was Aruba when we did them.

[doone]

Love HMC, we find this island to be the highlight of our Caribbean cruises as we love the beach.

[CruiserBruce]

FYI, HMC is not in the Caribbean. It is in the Atlantic. 

[Randyk47]

Love HMC!  Biggest issue we have had is that HAL has cut back the time they stay there.  Can’t remember the exact hours but I think we had to leave the island between 2:30-3:00 PM last time.   Certainly wasn’t driven by weather as the ocean was like glass and no apparent storms or weather in the area.   

[cruzn single]

I probably am the one in 10,000 who does nor care for HMC or any other private island, for that matter.  I just feel it is a total wasted day.  Can you guess that I love sailing days.  Would rather stay on the ship and enjoy a nice lunch in the Lido which is air conditioned.

 

hope everyone else on my next partial PC sailing loves HMC!

[wwcruisers]

4 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

We refer to HMC as "a little slice of heaven."  No matter how many times we've been we still enjoy it as a relaxing day to either begin a cruise or as a cruise's memorable last day.  My son loves to ride the horses.  Although he's participated in this excursion countless times, it always fascinates him.  I enjoy walking in the powder sand.  We stopped going to the bar-b-que years ago.  I hope HAL doesn't keep "developing" the island, such as the addition of the shipwreck bar, since it spoils the natural beauty, IMO.

 

I hear you, on that one! HMC sounds lovely -- much like RCCL's Coco Cay was -- until they decided to turn it into one big amusement park! ☹️

[sevenseasnomad]

You can connect to this site to read more: http://the-bahamas.net/half-moon-cay-bahamas/