The Future of Half Moon Cay

[kryos]

 

 

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

 

 

Don't laugh ... but I am almost sure I read that Radisson might be using it. I'm trying to find the article or the post where I read that.

 

I think Princess is pulling out of the Caribbean during those summer months too ... not sure if it's this year or next, though.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Yep! It's Raddison that's using Princess Cays. I knew I read this somewhere ... and was praying I wasn't going nuts.

 

Here it is ... an itinerary from another website ... I took out all the pricing and TA identifying information since this is from an online TA site. There are probably other Radisson sailings that are using it too, but I didn't bother to look for every one.

 

 

11 days departing November 20, 2006 on

Radisson's Seven Seas Navigator

 

ITINERARY

 

Mon Nov 20 -- Fort Lauderdale, FL 5:00pm

Tue Nov 21 -- Princess Cays, Bahamas 9:30am to 4:00pm

Wed Nov 22 -- At Sea

Thu Nov 23 -- San Juan, Puerto Rico 8:00am to 11:00pm

Fri Nov 24 -- St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00am to 6:00pm

Sat Nov 25 -- Roseau, Dominica Noon to 6:00pm

Sun Nov 26 -- St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles 8:00am to 6:00pm

Mon Nov 27 -- St. Barts, Guadeloupe 8:00am to 6:00pm

Tue Nov 28 -- Tortola, British V.I. 7:00am to 3:00pm

Wed Nov 29 -- Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 3:00pm to 7:00pm

Thu Nov 30 -- At Sea

Fri Dec 1 -- Fort Lauderdale, FL Disembark

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Grumpy1]

Yep! It's Raddison that's using Princess Cays. I knew I read this somewhere ... and was praying I wasn't going nuts.

 

--rita

From CruiseCal.com, listings for ships calling at Princess Cay:

 

Radisson Navigator: 3/30/06, 11/21/06, 12/05/06

Radisson Voyager: 12/05/06

P&O Arcadia: 11/07/2006

 

Again, these have not been verified by checking the cruiselines iteneraries... Grumpy is too lazy... and CruiseCal does have some errors.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the information.

 

Whatever they do at Princess Cay is fine by me :). Not likely I'll ever be there. Being perfectly selfish, the only one of these islands that interests me is HMC. I do enjoy seeing the Princess ships sail there though as we are dropping our anchor at HMC. The islands are so close to eachother.

[Pudgesmom]

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.

 

 

This one occurence was enough to send me out to try another cruise line. We were at Half Moon Cay on the Oosterdam at the same time as the Rotterdam. People were actually fighting over the clamshells, many of which had been reserved in advance, and were not available.

 

Tendering took forever due to the one way nature of the channel into the dock, two sets of tenders and assorted other boats operating in the channel. We waited over an hour and a half to get a tender, and then sat on the tender for 45 minutes to get to the island.

 

On arrival, despite our prereservation, no clamshells. Also, no chairs. We walked half a mile down the beach, and sat on the sand. Never again.

 

As a beach person, this was the stop I had most looked forward to. It was not anything like I expected. If HAL cannot provide more facilities and a better tendering situation, they should not put two ships at Half Moon Cay.

 

By the way, Windstar occasionally uses the island as well.

 

Beth

[sail7seas]

They have built (are building) new large size tenders which will be at the island. These new, much larger boats will facilitate getting guests on and off more smoothly. The Henry Hudson is at HMC now but I'm not sure if it is yet in service.

 

 

[jhannah]

We've been there with another ship. (Zuiderdam and Zaandam.) There was no problem with people or getting lunch. Maybe from time to time they just have a bad day ... but HAL has handled it well when we were there.

[Pudgesmom]

We've been there with another ship. (Zuiderdam and Zaandam.) There was no problem with people or getting lunch. Maybe from time to time they just have a bad day ... but HAL has handled it well when we were there.

 

Jim, I'm glad you had a good experience. As far as "from time to time" goes, I was only there one time. And it wasn't good.

 

I don't know about you, but I know S7S always travels in a suite, and maybe she and others have the priority tendering that would alleviate at least some of the transportation problems. As far as space on the island goes, did you try to find a chair the day you were there? Were you on the first ship to arrive?

 

Beth

[sail7seas]

We've also been there a number of times when there were two ships in.

 

We didn't have any problems. Lunch was a bit busy but they kept the line moving very well. If there are two ships and you don't want to deal with a line, either go to lunch early or wait a while until most of the crowd has gone through.

 

There were plenty of seats. We didn't have difficulty getting everything we wanted and fully enjoying our day. I will say the tendering can be a little annoying. We get on them smoothly enough (especially as we are "S" passengers) but sometimes we have sat for a long time waiting while tender after tender comes out of the channel and we have to wait our turn to go in. Sometimes it calls for a bit of patience......which is hard to come by when eager to get to that pretty beach.

 

[sail7seas]

:) Funny, Beth. We posted at exactly the same time and that is what I was speaking about.

[Pudgesmom]

We've also been there a number of times when there were two ships in.

 

Sometimes it calls for a bit of patience......which is hard to come by when eager to get to that pretty beach.

 

 

Sorry, sail, but a 2 hour+ to get to a "private" island requires more than patience. I found the whole experience very frustrating. I think people on this board should know how the rank and file experiences Half Moon Cay whn two ships are in port.

 

Beth

[Coolcruise02]

Now you have me concerned. We have a clamshell rented for our day. How do I find out if another ship will be there on the same day as us? (3/19) If both ships sell clam shells and cabanas, is it a first come first serve basis?

 

Thanks

[Pudgesmom]

:) Funny, Beth. We posted at exactly the same time and that is what I was speaking about.

 

Interesting! I'm not trying to stir anything up, we were just sooooo disappointed with Half Moon Cay.

 

I know you have had good experiences there. I would not travel on another HAL ship that stopped there, unless I knew that it would be the only ship there that day, or until the proposed improvements have been completed.

 

Beth

[Pudgesmom]

Now you have me concerned. We have a clamshell rented for our day. How do I find out if another ship will be there on the same day as us? (3/19) If both ships sell clam shells and cabanas, is it a first come first serve basis?

 

Thanks

 

 

There is a way to find out, but I don't know what it is. The clamshells kind of are first come first serve. You will have a reservation slip, but its only good until the clamshells run out. Just try to get to the beach early.

 

The beach staff doesn't really seem to communicate with the shore excursion desk on this one. I think the cabanas are better organized.

 

Beth

[sail7seas]

It will be getting less and less likely that only one ship will be at HMC on a given day as the fleet continues to grow.

 

I agree that two hours is excessive and I, also, would be unhappy about that. We have never experienced that and this is the first I have heard that others have had to endure such a long wait. I imagine this is why HAL has built (is building) these large size tenders. These boats will carry far more people than the normal ships tenders and should be able to get guests from ship to shore much faster. The Henry Hudson is at HMC now and one would expect will be put into service as soon as safety tests etc are completed.

 

There are supposed to be at least two of these tenders and maybe more.

 

The best way I know of to check about how many ships at HMC on a given day is cruisecal.com. It is a really good site but not always completely accurate. They are very good about adding/correcting information if you find information that is not correct. But, it is a generally very good resource.

 

[Coolcruise02]

Do you mean if I have my reservation slip I still need to be on the island early?

How early? Are they numbered or do you just pick one out? Thanks

[Grumpy1]

Now you have me concerned. We have a clamshell rented for our day. How do I find out if another ship will be there on the same day as us? (3/19) If both ships sell clam shells and cabanas, is it a first come first serve basis?

 

Thanks

 

From CruiseCal.com, no other ships will be in port with Zuiderdam on the 19th

[jhannah]

As far as space on the island goes, did you try to find a chair the day you were there? Were you on the first ship to arrive?

Yes, we found chairs for both of us. No, the Zaandam was already there when we dropped anchor.

[Pudgesmom]

Coolcruise,

 

You'll be fine with only one ship. You'll have a reservation slip, which you give to a shore worker at a little cabana, then you'll be escorted to a clamshell.

 

Beth

[Gardendog]

One way to beat the rush and make sure you get to the island fast and first thing in the morning, is to sign up for a shore excursion that starts early in the morning. You will then be on one of the first tenders.

 

The sneaky person within me comes up with this scenario:

One person signs up for a shore excursion, doesn't go to the shore excursion and instead heads for a clam shell. The other join as they are able. But, then perhaps you might as well sign up for the Cabanas.

 

Do the Cabana people have priority tendering?

[kryos]

Thanks for the information.

 

Whatever they do at Princess Cay is fine by me :). Not likely I'll ever be there. Being perfectly selfish, the only one of these islands that interests me is HMC. I do enjoy seeing the Princess ships sail there though as we are dropping our anchor at HMC. The islands are so close to eachother.

I'm just hoping that HAL doesn't start letting other lines use HMC ... at least not during the times when a HAL ship is there. As other people have said on this thread, HMC can get really crowded when there are two HAL ships there. Imagine being there on the same day as one of the larger Carnival ships ... especially when that Carnival ship gets to the island first. Forget it. You won't be able to get any prime beach space ... even enough to spread a blanket on the sand, let alone chairs.

 

No, I don't even like it when two HAL ships share that island at the same time, even if they are two of the smaller HAL ships. I certainly don't want to share HMC with another line's megaship. That would totally ruin the experience.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks everyone! :)

[sail7seas]

One way to beat the rush and make sure you get to the island fast and first thing in the morning, is to sign up for a shore excursion that starts early in the morning. You will then be on one of the first tenders.

 

The sneaky person within me comes up with this scenario:

One person signs up for a shore excursion, doesn't go to the shore excursion and instead heads for a clam shell. The other join as they are able. But, then perhaps you might as well sign up for the Cabanas.

 

Do the Cabana people have priority tendering?

 

The rental of a Cabana is considered an excursion and they have priority tendering.

 

In your 'sneaky person' scenario, if that person doesn't go on the shore excursion, they have wasted the price of that excursion.

??Perhaps you consider that price is simply buying a seat on an early tender??

[K&RCurt]

When we were on HMC on the Westerdam the Maasdam was also there. We were on the Kayak tour fairly early and did not go to get our clamshell until around 11:00 after the Maasdam had arrived. We had no difficulty getting the clamshell. The lines for lunch were not bad at all and we didn't think the beach was too crowded. One thing we did notice, however was that the bars had "Westerdam" drinks and "Maasdam" drinks. There were drink menus sitting on the bar and DW ordered some kind of fru-fru drink and then was asked which ship we were on. The bartender said "You can't have that drink...It's only for those on the Maasdam". What? I could not understand how what ship you were on dictated what kind of drink you could order. No one ever gave me a logical explaination of this.

 

HAL has put alot of money into the various changes to HMC and it would be a shame if the island sat idle all summer. If other Carnival owned lines use HMC it only spreads out the cost of the upgrades and of the continuing maintainance of the island. As long as two lines do not share the island simultaneously, I can't see an issue.

[infopaul]

Princess's private island is part of the equation in my eyes. Being part of the CCorp. family Princess can also find themselves playing host island to other shiplines. I believe at the present, CCorp can decide to turn these islands into destination ports for any of the cruiselines thus taking away something unique to those cruiselines who have used them to enhance their place among the others. As it is, they have HMC set up with excursions, something none of the others have at this point. With the market the way it is, this strategy is a cash cow waiting to be milked. The prvivate island monopoly is alluring for both investors alike. This vendor free oasis once it get's comercialized the relaxed, care free private island paradise will disappear. It could be the game plan to turn these places into family oriented meccas in expanding demographics, but it will mean the end to what was a great concept. Maybe i'm reading to far into a future that may become a trend sooner that we think. But someone has put the writting on the wall...Paul:)