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Magic - Half Moon Cay - Tender Boarding Process


BeakerR
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Sailing in three weeks on the Magic and just wondering if anyone can provide some insight/advice on the boarding process for the tenders going to Half Moon Cay?  I have heard that it can be a cluster trying to obtain a boarding number and they only have a couple of tenders available.  Any tips for getting early boarding numbers WITHOUT Priority Boarding or Faster to the Fun?  THANKS!!!

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MY GF and I literally walked off the elevator on 1st floor, walked down one flight of steps and through security and onto the boat with zero wait time at approximately 10:40 am.The tender boat that waited another 5 minutes and onto the shore around 11 am.  

 

The beach was filling up quick but plenty of lounge chairs further down the beach. 

 

 

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There are plenty of tenders available that are constantly going back and forth between the ship and port. The good thing about Half Moon Cay is it is a quick trip from the ship to the port, unlike some other tender ports like Belize. Unless there is a reason you have to be one of the first ones off the ship, I would wait an hour or so for the initial surge of passengers to subside. 

Edited by PhillyFan33579
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Remember, Half Moon Cay is only a very nice beach that will be there whenever you go ashore.

 

Unless you have an excursion (and then tender information may be provided) or you are a person that absolutely must be first to obtain that absolutely perfect lounge chair that is the only one that will do, relax.

 

Have a nice breakfast and let the stampede die down and make your way ashore in a leisurely fashion. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/29/2019 at 7:55 AM, BeakerR said:

Sailing in three weeks on the Magic and just wondering if anyone can provide some insight/advice on the boarding process for the tenders going to Half Moon Cay?  I have heard that it can be a cluster trying to obtain a boarding number and they only have a couple of tenders available.  Any tips for getting early boarding numbers WITHOUT Priority Boarding or Faster to the Fun?  THANKS!!!

Our two visits went smoothly but we waited for the early rush to die down. Walked right on to the tender. Coming back there was a short delay in line for the tender.

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If you are wanting to get off the ship early you will have trouble getting on the first or second tender or at least that's been my experience and I've been 4 times. If you aren't in a rush to get off wait until around 10 or 1030 and you should have no problem.  If you want to be off asap book an excursion and you will get to board early if it's an early morning excursion. 

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We were the first people on the first tender a few weeks ago on the Magic, but we had a Villa booked. If you want to get off of the ship early (and don't have a Villa or Cabana booked), here is what you do:  around 3 pm the day before, they will put out the tender tickets in Ocean Plaza.  You just need to get in line and snag the time that you would like.  I was there playing trivia and the #1 and #2 tickets were there for awhile, as not a lot of people were lined up initially.

 

 

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On 10/9/2019 at 12:40 PM, sjmbruce said:

Do clamshells, floating mats and snorkel gear sell out quickly? We have FTTF but not sure if we want to get up early to take advantage of it. 

They have lots of floating mats. Don't think they ever sell out of them. Don't know about the others.

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6 hours ago, jcearth said:

We were the first people on the first tender a few weeks ago on the Magic, but we had a Villa booked. If you want to get off of the ship early (and don't have a Villa or Cabana booked), here is what you do:  around 3 pm the day before, they will put out the tender tickets in Ocean Plaza.  You just need to get in line and snag the time that you would like.  I was there playing trivia and the #1 and #2 tickets were there for awhile, as not a lot of people were lined up initially.

 

 

Great Tip!!!  Exactly what I was looking for!!  THANKS!!!

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