Half moon cay question

[tigger54]

My husband and I were watching a utube video on half moon cay. I didn’t notice any umbrellas with the lounge chairs. Can you rent them? I cannot lay out in the sun for very long and really did not see any shaded areas. I did notice some small buildings ( looks like cabanas) and some blue shells. What is the price to rent one of these places for a day? 
Thank you. Our first Holland cruise in 3 weeks.

[seagarsmoker]

Hey neighbor! Sorry, could not resist, first time I have seen someone here who lives close by. 

Anyway, go to your account on the HAL website, select your itinerary, and select Half Moon Cay, they will have all the items you can rent for the day.  

[FlaMariner]

We were at Half Moon Cay in November.......

 

If you walk down the beach (away from the crowds, to the left) there are some great loungers and you can set up under the trees at the edge of the beach.  There is also a nice hammock if you are early.

 

Enjoy HMC, it is the best beach day ever. 

[Bostonjetset]

HMC is beautiful but as you noticed there is very little shade. I too am averse to roasting in the sun so rented a clam shell. Last Jan when I was there they cost $39.99. Not sure if that increased or not. Other than lack of shade, it truly is a wonderful port stop. One of the nicer private Bahamian islands I’ve been to for sure. 

[CruiserN1]

4 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

HMC is beautiful but as you noticed there is very little shade. I too am averse to roasting in the sun so rented a clam shell. Last Jan when I was there they cost $39.99. Not sure if that increased or not. Other than lack of shade, it truly is a wonderful port stop. One of the nicer private Bahamian islands I’ve been to for sure. 

For our cruise coming up in March, the cost of the clamshell is $44.99. That price covers two loungers.

[robotpony]

We visited Half Moon Cay twice this Fall and found that the shade loungers were nice, but not really needed.

 

We reserved one for our first day and sat in it for maybe 30 minutes. It was nice when we were in it, but value was pretty low given the fact that we mostly walked around, swam, and were offgrabbing drinks and lunch.

 

On our second day we instead walked around the island (wearing our sun hats and shirts), and ended up grabbing regular loungers after lunch. For the beach afternoon, we spent it in the water, which kept us cool, and mostly out of the sun (still wearing our sun hats). When we needed shade, the lunch spot was 100% shaded, and the trails had a good amount of shade and even some cooling stations. When worse came to worse, the island bars were all nicely shaded and served up tasty and cooling beverages. 

 

For us, and given how short the day is at HMC, the $40 is a bit steep. We can manage our sun exposure pretty easily for that amount of time with low tech wraps, hats, and sunscreen (and I am an especially light shade of un-tannable). 

 

 

[tigger54]

Thank you for the good ideas.

[CHOPPERTESTER]

Check the number of ships in port that day and when you arrive. It will influence if you decide to rent a clamshell or to get off the ship or not.

 

We were there (Rotterdam) on Jan 13 an hour after Niuew Statendam had arrived and  not a chair availble in sight. Walked the beach and left. A waste of time. What planner schedules two Pinnacle class ships at HMC at the same time.

[CruiserBruce]

49 minutes ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

Check the number of ships in port that day and when you arrive. It will influence if you decide to rent a clamshell or to get off the ship or not.

 

We were there (Rotterdam) on Jan 13 an hour after Niuew Statendam had arrived and  not a chair availble in sight. Walked the beach and left. A waste of time. What planner schedules two Pinnacle class ships at HMC at the same time.

Only been happening for a couple decades. There are logistical limitations. HMC is a short sail from Ft Lauderdale, so visits are scheduled the first or last full day of a cruise. HMC cannot be inserted into the middle of a cruise starting or ending at Ft Lauderdale. 

[Banditswife]

we were there in Nov & Dec,  there were chairs available in the shade, but just a few.  We did not think the clamshell was worth it for the short port day.  They are on the back row of the loungers & set at an incline, which we didn't find comfortable.  So we just used sunscreen & covered ourselves as others have said.

[CHOPPERTESTER]

26 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Only been happening for a couple decades. There are logistical limitations. HMC is a short sail from Ft Lauderdale, so visits are scheduled the first or last full day of a cruise. HMC cannot be inserted into the middle of a cruise starting or ending at Ft Lauderdale. 

Two pinnacle class ships (5,300 pax), decades no, only since 2018 (minus a couple of years for COVID). Space is still an issue when two Vista class (3,832 pax) are visiting and that would be decades since 2003. Yes, HMC is close but so are Key West (yes, big ship issues there), Freeport & Nassau. Or just skip it as a number go to Amber Cove for a "private" port day.

[Dismomx5]

17 hours ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

Check the number of ships in port that day and when you arrive. It will influence if you decide to rent a clamshell or to get off the ship or not.

 

We were there (Rotterdam) on Jan 13 an hour after Niuew Statendam had arrived and  not a chair availble in sight. Walked the beach and left. A waste of time. What planner schedules two Pinnacle class ships at HMC at the same time.

Strange. We were on HMC from the Rotterdam that same day. We weren't there right away, but when we got there, we chose the first entry onto the beach and we had our pick of chairs. Perhaps people had returned to the ships when it started to rain? When we had lunch, we found a pavillion with oodles of seats, again, not the closest to the BBQ, but close enough. The biggest issue I had was the tendering. It would have been sooooo much faster had the ship used its own tenders along with the boats from HMC.

[cenmn18]

On 1/19/2023 at 5:33 AM, tigger54 said:

My husband and I were watching a utube video on half moon cay. I didn’t notice any umbrellas with the lounge chairs. Can you rent them? I cannot lay out in the sun for very long and really did not see any shaded areas. I did notice some small buildings ( looks like cabanas) and some blue shells. What is the price to rent one of these places for a day? 
Thank you. Our first Holland cruise in 3 weeks.

I also limit my sun exposure and for me renting a clamshell was a good investment. When we were there, the further you went down the beach the more crowded and noisy it became. We turned into the first beach access, quickly found a clamshell and enjoyed a quiet afternoon alternating between the ocean and the shade. Like many other aspects of cruising, it depends on your personal preference. 

[robotpony]

18 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

HMC cannot be inserted into the middle of a cruise starting or ending at Ft Lauderdale. 

 

Unless you are on a B2B; we had 2 days in the middle of our itinerary at HMC on a 14, day. We loved it as a fantasy destination, as it was clean, sunny, blue waters, white sands, food was easy and tasty, lots of seating, lots of walking, and some interesting excursions. There were no buskers or fraudsters either, which was a nice change from some of the other unmanaged ports.

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, robotpony said:

 

Unless you are on a B2B; we had 2 days in the middle of our itinerary at HMC on a 14, day. We loved it as a fantasy destination, as it was clean, sunny, blue waters, white sands, food was easy and tasty, lots of seating, lots of walking, and some interesting excursions. There were no buskers or fraudsters either, which was a nice change from some of the other unmanaged ports.

Been there, done that.

[albingirl]

One of my favorite places and if it's crowded, we make do.  I try to drink in the perfect colors of the sea and sky and enjoy every moment.  We don't bother with the clamshells anymore,  As others have noted, no real need.  I like the barbeque, too, nice change from being on the ship.

[Banditswife]

In the early days of the restart, we were on Nieuw Amsterdam with a bunch of canceled ports.  We had an overnight there, it was a nice, almost free couple of days.

[RAS4331]

One thing I didn’t like about the clamshell is that it’s closed in at the back so there’s no air circulation.  It got hot in there!  We enjoyed the shade and the lounge chairs, but it would have been perfect if it was open-ended so the breeze could blow through.

[CruiserBruce]

6 hours ago, RAS4331 said:

One thing I didn’t like about the clamshell is that it’s closed in at the back so there’s no air circulation.  It got hot in there!  We enjoyed the shade and the lounge chairs, but it would have been perfect if it was open-ended so the breeze could blow through.

Commonly recommended here, and on the Private Island board, where HMC is discussed heavily, is to prop up the back of the clamshell with a book, shoe, etc, to improve air flow.

[PACD_JG]

Since you leave in three weeks, you might want to make sure the clamshells are not sold out already.  I got two of them at Thanksgiving only because of HIA excursion money.  There aren't as many clamshells as you would think (maybe 100?), so they do sell out.