The Future of Half Moon Cay

[infopaul]

As another cc'er has posted CCL will now be using the once exclusive private island of Half Moon Cay. With CCL being the parent company of several other cruiselines including HAL, do you think the other cruiselines owned by CCL will be allowed to utilize this island in the future? Will HAL and the island lose it's once touted "best private island" visit because of the additional traffic. Does this diminish the HAL cruise clientele from the experience of knowing that what has in additionally been setting them apart from the other cruislines is the upper scale compliment of this island?

 

Presently HAL enjoys exclusive use of the island when visiting, so for the moment CCL will not be there at the same time...Paul:)

[sail7seas]

HAL will have no ships in the Caribbean from Mid-April through Mid-October. Therefore, there will be no HAL ships at Half Moon Cay for those months.

 

Why should that beautiful island sit unused during half of the year?

 

It is better that it be continuously used IMO as the local staff will be taking care of the island, the horses certainly need to be tended to......

 

As long as there are only HAL ships there on the same days and the island is not used by Carnival (or any other cruiseline) when there is an HAL ship.....I think it fine.

 

[Randyk47]

Doesn't bother me at all assuming HAL/Carnival Corp continues to take care of the island as they have so far. It was absolutely stunning for our visit two weeks ago. We were the only ship at HMC and I'd say 2/3 of what appeared to be an older set of passengers went ashore. Can't imagine what it's like with two ships or with one of the Carnival "mega" ships there....and don't want to be there when it happens. One of the downsides of our Veendam cruise next year is that we won't be going to HMC. :(

[Grumpy1]

This was discussed at great length a couple of months ago. Ships other than HAL have used the island on a few occasions in the past, but not on a regular basis. Checking the port schedule on CruiseCal.com, the only time that a HAL and a Carnival ship are shown being in port at the same time is on May 22, 2006, when Prinsendam and Elation are shown at HMC on the same day. I have not checked the actual schedule on the Carnival site to verify though. It looks like they are making an effort to schedule different cruiselines on alternate days. There are many days when 2 HAL ships are scheduled to be there at the same time, which often happens now.

[RevNeal]

I wish HAL would consider building a pier for the Island. I understand a much larger tender, stationed at HMC, is going to be introduced to speed up transfers to and from shore, but a pier was be VERY nice. It would also be VERY expensive.

[kryos]

HAL will have no ships in the Caribbean from Mid-April through Mid-October. Therefore, there will be no HAL ships at Half Moon Cay for those months.

 

Why should that beautiful island sit unused during half of the year?

From what I remember hearing, no other lines will ever use it when HAL ships are calling there. The same thing is being done with Princess Cays. I remember seeing something about another line that was gonna be using it during those same months when Princess, too, has pulled their ships out of the Caribbean.

 

Guess it would be foolish to leave a private island vacant for such a long block of time, but I can't help wondering what will happen when all of the lines pull their ships out of the Caribbean during hurricane season? From what I heard, this next hurricane season is supposed to be a particularly active one ... and if some of those other lines have a lot of problems with sailings during those months ... lots of cancellations, etc. ... they might just decide to bag the Caribbean during hurricane season as well. Then who will use all those private islands for over half the year? Will it even be worth it for the cruise lines to continue to pay for them? :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[jhannah]

I think it's fine. It won't interfere with my enjoyment of the island since no other non-HAL ship will be there at the same time. (And I'm confident they will keep it that way.)

[sail7seas]

I wish HAL would consider building a pier for the Island. I understand a much larger tender, stationed at HMC, is going to be introduced to speed up transfers to and from shore, but a pier was be VERY nice. It would also be VERY expensive.

 

 

The first of those tenders, Greg, I believe is named the Henry Hudson and I am fairly sure that it is currently at the island. Maybe they are just about ready to start using it??

[arzz]

I am confused -- when will Princess NOT have at least one or two ships in the Caribbean?

[sail7seas]

From what I remember hearing, no other lines will ever use it when HAL ships are calling there. The same thing is being done with Princess Cays. I remember seeing something about another line that was gonna be using it during those same months when Princess, too, has pulled their ships out of the Caribbean.

 

 

Another cruiseline that is part of the Carnival Family of Ships?

 

 

[infopaul]

Over the past year or so the island has seen marked increases and improvements benefiting the guests. I do like other ships coming in during the months when HAL positions their ships for the Alaskan market during the summer/ early fall months. However mega ships that use this island should be there one at a time. The recovery time for the island before another mega ship pulls in may carry some weight. This being the only private island with excursions available is also going to have an impact and effect the marketing strategy. This island is better than some destination ports. Last time I was there they didn't have any souvenir shops. When will they say lets tap that part of the market we have an exclusive on, what a huge windfall. What will CCorp do when Costa and Cunard or Princess want to use the island? Will we still feel the same!...Paul:)

 

Grumpy1, It sounds crazy to have two different shiplines in at the same time. Even if it was two of the same shiplines, logistically I can see the problems at this port. The arrangements for the BBQ and excursions will make this a mad house let alone tendering.

[Grumpy1]

HAL has had as many as three ships at HMC at one time. What I see on the schedules is Westerdam and an "S" or "R" at the same time, which is about 3000 total pax. They've done it succesfully in the past, and that was before adding the waterpark, a couple more cabanas, more excursions... I think the island is big enough to handle that size crowd or more if they expand the excursion capacity. Otherwise there would be way too much demand for cabanas and clamshells.

[RevNeal]

I was at HMC twice on the Westerdam last November. The first time we were there with the Volendam, and the second time we were there with the Zaandam. Both times the ship's probably put more than 3000 passengers ashore. The beach is PLENTY large for this, and the other facilities are certainly adequate ... though they do need to learn how to coordinate cooking and food service when that many people are ashore. Otherwise, the lines get too long.

[dwdowns]

I was at HMC Sunday the 5th aboard the Maasdam, and the Henry Hudson was definitely in the marina area of HMC. It was not yet tendering passengers, but I did see it go out and return to harbor about an hour later. The island was absolutely beautiful, I hope nothing changes, it is a fabulous place to spend a day.

 

David

[sail7seas]

When there are two HAL ships at HMC on the same day, one ship usually brings the food and the other ship bring does the bars.

 

[sail7seas]

I was at HMC Sunday the 5th aboard the Maasdam, and the Henry Hudson was definitely in the marina area of HMC. It was not yet tendering passengers, but I did see it go out and return to harbor about an hour later. The island was absolutely beautiful, I hope nothing changes, it is a fabulous place to spend a day.

 

David

 

Thanks for verifying about the Henry Hudson. Hopefully that will speed up disembarking guests from the Vista ships where it seems to take quite a while to get everyone ashore.

[AAAAmerican]

Yes it is called intracompany teamwork.. a Holland American best efforts basis...:D

[Sunshine91]

I wish HAL would consider building a pier for the Island. I understand a much larger tender, stationed at HMC, is going to be introduced to speed up transfers to and from shore, but a pier was be VERY nice. It would also be VERY expensive.

 

The last couple of nights, verrry late, the Travel Channel has had cruise shows. The first was a "Cruise FAQ." Last night was all about Disney's cruise line. At their private island they did build a pier for the ship to snuggle up to so that tendering is not necessary. Looks like only one of their ships can dock at a time, but the beach looked packed.

 

Sure wish HMC had been included on Noordam's itinerary. That's my "happy place." One of RevNeal's photos of Westerdam, taken from HMC's beach, is the background on my laptop. :)

[S.S.Oceanlover]

This was discussed at great length a couple of months ago. Ships other than HAL have used the island on a few occasions in the past, but not on a regular basis. Checking the port schedule on CruiseCal.com, the only time that a HAL and a Carnival ship are shown being in port at the same time is on May 22, 2006, when Prinsendam and Elation are shown at HMC on the same day. I have not checked the actual schedule on the Carnival site to verify though. It looks like they are making an effort to schedule different cruiselines on alternate days. There are many days when 2 HAL ships are scheduled to be there at the same time, which often happens now.

 

According to the CCL website the Elation is now scheduled for Nassau on 5/22/06 instead of HMC.

 

From what I remember hearing, no other lines will ever use it when HAL ships are calling there. The same thing is being done with Princess Cays. I remember seeing something about another line that was gonna be using it during those same months when Princess, too, has pulled their ships out of the Caribbean.

 

Princess has the Caribbean Princess doing th Caribbean year round. Have you heard they are pulling her out of the Caribbean in the summer?

 

This island is better than some destination ports. Last time I was there they didn't have any souvenir shops. When will they say lets tap that part of the market we have an exclusive on, what a huge windfall. What will CCorp do when Costa and Cunard or Princess want to use the island?

 

Princess already has their own private island which isn't bad. HMC is a notch better but Princess Cay isn't far behind.:)

 

Bill

[Krazy Kruizers]

JMO - it doesn't bother me that another cruise line from the Carnival Corporation will be using HMC during the summer months especially since HAL will not be there. I would hate to see that beautiful island not being used and taken care of for 6 months.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been to Princess Cay several times. I love the idea that they have decent walkways. But their sand is not as fine and beautiful as HMC.

[gizmo]

Doesn't bother me at all assuming HAL/Carnival Corp continues to take care of the island as they have so far. It was absolutely stunning for our visit two weeks ago. We were the only ship at HMC and I'd say 2/3 of what appeared to be an older set of passengers went ashore. Can't imagine what it's like with two ships or with one of the Carnival "mega" ships there....and don't want to be there when it happens. One of the downsides of our Veendam cruise next year is that we won't be going to HMC. :(

 

I have been there when there were 2 ships. It was horrible. :mad: The beach was very, very crowded. People were packed in like sardines. Putting 2 ships in HMC has ruined the wonderful experience it once was. Forget getting food at lunch time. It was a zoo.

 

The other thing that bugs me is no umbrellas anymore. :mad: Another nickle and dime gimmick. They want you to rent clam shells. I really dislike them since you don't get any air. I think they should bring back the umbrellas.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been to HMC a couple of times when there were 2 ships there as well. One time we got there about an hour after the other ship arrived. We stood out on our verandah and all you could see was a wall of people on the beach. Any decent chairs were all gone. We decided to stay on the ship.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I loved those old umbrellas that you could move and adjust on your own. And they didn't get stuffy like the clam shells.

[JohnR49er]

As long as there are only HAL ships there on the same days and the island is not used by Carnival (or any other cruiseline) when there is an HAL ship.....I think it fine.

 

I can't imagine them ever subjecting HAL cruisers to anything so devious !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D