3 Ships at Half Moon Cay....

[Jen & Rich 2006]

I was looking forward to a relaxing day on the beach at Half Moon Cay. Well today I was checking other Holland America ships to see what other ships I might see during our cruise and I found out there will be 3 ships all stopping on November 10th at Half Moon Cay. :(

( Zuiderdam 7am to 5pm, Amsterdam 8am to 3pm,

Maasdam 11am to 5 pm ) Has anyone ever been there with 3 ships ??

 

 

Jennifer

[Toad]

Yikes! That sounds grim. Just walk a little farther down the beach an you might be ok.

[sail7seas]

Groan..........It was inevitable that would happen sooner or later. Three ships at HMC on the same day is impossible.

 

Two can be crowded but okay (as long as it isn't 2 Vistas) .........

three ships and I'd stay aboard for the day!!!

 

Sorry.......

 

[debjo]

OH MY GOSH!....

...and I was worried when found that the WESTERDAM would be sharing HMC with the AMSTERDAM on 10/21! I think the only thing one can do is secure their own little piece of HMC real estate by getting one of the 10 cabanas...at least you'd have a spot you could call "your own" then!

 

Best of luck to you! And, remember a "day in paraside" is still "a day in paradise" even if you are sharing paradise with oodles of other people!

 

Debjo

[the2ofus]

Maybe they are building and enhancing facilities like crazy over these next few months in preparation.

 

Just plan to go ashore early and stake out your space a good distance down the beach. Most folks seem to congregate right near the beginning of the beach or near the restroom areas.

 

You could even pack a portable sun shelter or big umbrella and a mat if you choose to forego the clamshells which are clustered together, or the limited number of more expensive cabanas.

[refman]

wow, what about tendering ashore, there is still only one place for that. even with the two permanent tenders its going to be a nightmare, good luck!

[ger_77]

I know there's a way to do this, but don't know how ... can somebody tell me how to determine the number of ships that will be at Half Moon Cay when we cruise? We're on the February 13/07 sailing of the Maasdam. Anybody???

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[wrp96]

According to www.cruisecal.com/dnn/ the Maasdam is the only ship scheduled to be there on 2/14/07.

 

 

Dec. 2nd will have 3 ships there as well. There are several days where 2 ships will be there.

[Starbright]

Funnily enough cruisecal says that the Amsterdam is at HMC on both 20 and 21 October. I think this must be a mistake as the brochure shows she is only there on the 21st.

 

We're there on the Zuiderdam on 20 October.

[CCCM]

Starbright,

 

I saw the same thing and had a glimmer of hope that she would not be there with us (Westerdam). Or perhaps Amsterdam got to spend two days (would love that). But it looks like she will be there on 21st. So it looks like the Zui is solo.

 

Celeste

[sail7seas]

Amsterdam and Westerdam together will be fine. A little busy but manageable.

 

We were at HMC when it was Zaandam with Zuiderdam and had a great time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been there when 2 ships were at HMC - but never three.

 

We got there so late one time we didn't even bother to get off the ship. All you could see was a mass of people.

 

I know that if 2 other ships were scheduled to be there on the same day as ours, we wouldn't get off the ship. Tendering would be a mess.

[gizmo]

KK,

 

We agree again. :)

[whogo]

OH MY GOSH!....

...and I was worried when found that the WESTERDAM would be sharing HMC with the AMSTERDAM on 10/21! I think the only thing one can do is secure their own little piece of HMC real estate by getting one of the 10 cabanas...at least you'd have a spot you could call "your own" then!

 

Best of luck to you! And, remember a "day in paraside" is still "a day in paradise" even if you are sharing paradise with oodles of other people!

 

Debjo

 

What are the odds of getting a cabana with three ships there? I will never again cruise to half moon cay when another ship is in port. Did anyone check to see if a carnival ship is there too?

[whogo]

I have to think it's an error. I can't believe HAL would schedule three ships. It's still a long way off. Hope for a schedule change.

[peaches from georgia]

There is nowhere near the proper facilities for 3 ships at HMC- not enough tender docks, lounge chairs, or BBQ area. It can get very crowded on a pretty day with 2 ships, but 3 ships could mean 5,000 pax! I would never get off the ship. It's a shame if they are doing this- all 3 ships would be disappointed with the island being so overcrowded.

 

Whogo- A Carnival ship has never been at HMC when a HAL ship is there to the best of my knowledge, so there should be no worry about that.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Peaches is right. A couple of years ago, Carnival did use HMC during the winter months but was never there on a day when a HAL ship was there.

 

Carnival will be using HMC this summer.

[sail7seas]

Peaches and Gizmo and KK all agree and they are correct. I also agree. :)

 

[doone]

Three ships at HMC, way too many. What a shame.

[Stevesan]

Three ships, Zuiderdam, Maasdam Amsterdam, at 1/2 Moon on Nov 10 is confirmed on HAL's web site.

 

Maasdam pax might as well take it as a sea day.

 

CruiseCal is a convenient tool, but it's occasionally wrong. I've found that when there's an obvious mistake, sometimes clicking on the erring date results in a correction page.

[Orcrone]

I was there when both the Maasdam and Oosterdam were using the facility. It was manageable, but the lines at for the barbecue were long. If it were three ships I would also consider it a sea day.:(

[Grumpy1]

Perhaps one of the ships is going to "the other half" moon cay that we learned about on April 1 in this post::D April 1st, 2006, 10:27 AM

ThurstonH3 vbmenu_register("postmenu_6253973", true);

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Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: New York, London, Paris, Lake Providence, LA

Posts: 22

 

 

HAL vs. Celebrity: Part 4, Volendam Review (Long, multipart)

YET ANOTHER PERFECT DAY AT HALF MOON CAY:

We just think that Half Moon Cay is the bee's knees. In my opinion, it is one of the prettiest spots anywhere. The Club HAL playground and the water park are new since we last visited HMC. The boys just loved it! Merri and the au pair spent the day on the main beach with some new friends they met at the spa. Their new friends are Swedish, as is whatshername, the au pair girl, and they're teaching Merriweather how to speak the language.

 

I'm not sure that our daughter Sloane would be happy to see her little Merri spending so much time with the help, but one of the goals of this trip was to help our grandchildren see how the other half lives, so I suppose it's fine.

 

Speaking of the other half.... The Neptune Concierge told Bootsy about the private part of the island that is reserved for suite guests. I like to refer to it as "The Other Half" Moon Cay. The private area lies south of the Stingray Adventure area, just past a jungle thicket. This area is served by its own tender dock and most people probably don't know it's even there. We were instructed to get into the elevator and use the "SuiteExpress" feature to get off one deck above the tender deck. (I think this was the Main Deck, but I could be wrong. The cabins were spaced quite close together on whatever deck it was. I took pity on the poor souls who were bunking down there. Our Springer Spaniel, Ch. Whittimore's Crest of Snootington Farms, aka "Whitty", would have felt cramped in these quarters.)

 

Upon arriving on the aforementioned deck, we had to show our gold suite key cards to a staff member who gave us hot towels with lemon to help us recover from our long journey down from the Navigation Deck. We were escorted down a private staircase to the tender station on the opposite side of the ship from where the regular tenders departed. We joined two other couples who were already waiting in the tender. (This was the same tender we mustered at during the lifeboat drill. It was quite nicely appointed with polished brass, teak, and safety orange Corinthian leather reclining seats. Aside from the orange color, which I assume was for safety's sake, the seats were quite comfortable, with a thickly padded headrest, 170 degree recline, and pneumatically adjustable lumbar support.

 

During the short trip to the "Other Half" Moon Cay, we were treated to a light snack of Quebec Foie Gras and Fig Roulade, Parmesan Reggiano Mousse accompanied by a Delicately Spiced Cheese Crisp, and a selection of artisanal European cheeses. Mother washed her repast down with a complimentary glass of the 1985 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame while I opted for a snifter of Remy Martin XO. Not surprisingly, our drinks were served in Riedel's chip-proof emergency stemware (the crystal glasses that use titanium in place of lead for strength and have the fluorescent, high-visibilty green stripe to aid in rescue.)

 

Upon reaching the tender dock, we were greeted by members of the Pinnacle Grill staff who were assigned to wait on us. If you are familiar with the regular beach on Half Moon Cay, you won't find a whole lot of differences between it and the private beach. The lounge chairs are teak instead of plastic and have somewhat thicker padding. There is no walk-up bar, since all of your drinks are brought directly to you. Instead of the BBQ lunch, there is course by course service from a limited luncheon menu. The day we were there we had our choice of appetizers (Lobster Bisque with Cognac Crème Fraîche and Lobster Ravioli - A Tropical Salad of Mixed Greens with Dried Cherries, Candied Pecans, Maytag Blue Cheese and Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette - or Pan Roasted Diver Harvested Scallops on Asparagus with Black Trumpet Sauce and Spring Pea Froth), a main course (Pan Roasted Potato Wrapped Halibut Filet on Sautéed Spinach, Seasonal Vegetables and Smoked Bacon Sauce - Seared North Atlantic Cod Filet on a Mushroom, Asparagus and Steamed Potato Ragout with Lobster Hollandaise - or A Grilled Sterling Silver Beef Tenderloin with a Horseradish and Goat Cheese Crust on a Potato Pancake and Merlot Shallot Sauce) and dessert (Grand Marnier Soufflé with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Creme Anglaise - Coconut Crème Brûlée with Pineapple Carpaccio and Lime Granité - or Fig Newtons and Peanut M&M's.)

 

The other difference is that there's a lot more beach for fewer people. It's not the least bit crowded at the private beach. Besides the suite passengers and the Pinnacle staff who were acting as our beach stewards for the day, the beach was also populated by members of the Volendam show lounge cast. Our beach steward told us that this was done intentionally so that we would have attractive people to look at while we lounged on the beach. He told us that focus groups of affluent travelers were quite put-off by having to look at pasty-white, ugly people in ill-fitting swim attire. I have to hand it to Holland America. They really do try to think of everything!

[the2ofus]

I would still go ashore early to enjoy the beach but return to the ship for lunch, or, alternatively, wait until after lunch to go ashore.

 

We have found that by early afternoon many people have abandoned their clamshells or beach lounge chairs and returned to the ship. I know that isn't helpful for the folks who sail away at 3:00 p.m.

[RedmondCruiser]

Tooooo Many People !! Luckly they do not arrive all at the same time or depart at the same time. Half Moon Cay was not designed for this large a crowd nor was the mooring basin where they load and off load. Luckly they do have the new landing craft style tenders that will ease some of the congestion. Can you imagine the food lines ??? Even though I love Half Moon Cay I think that I would stay on the ship.

[kryos]

Groan..........It was inevitable that would happen sooner or later. Three ships at HMC on the same day is impossible.

 

Two can be crowded but okay (as long as it isn't 2 Vistas) .........

three ships and I'd stay aboard for the day!!!

 

Sorry.......

 

I'm with you Sail. I wouldn't even bother getting off the ship. Zuiderdam is a Vista ... Amsterdam carries around 1200 passengers and the Maasdam carries what, about 1500. Yikes! Good luck finding a spot on the beach. It's gonna be wall-to-wall bodies.

 

No thanks. I'd just enjoy the ship for the day.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita