Just got back from halfmoon cay 5-17-09

[chenning]

THIS WAS by far the most beautiful island ive seen so far! the sand is like a white powder, barely any shells or anything where we were hanging out! of course we had to tender in, so the ship anchors a few hundred feet off shore and you have to get into a small ferry for transport, now they didnt start the ferry till about 915am, and we were group 10 and i didnt physically bored the tender till about 10am just to give you an idea how long it takes, its about a 5-7 min boat ride, the shopping there is EHH really there is nothing to buy besides shirts, and some shot glasses, they really dont have anything special...the food was great they have a massive outdoor enclosed barbecue grill with like 4-6 diff stations ( all with same food) so you dont have to wait to long for food it goes pretty quick, they hat hot dogs, hamburgers/cheeseburgers, jerk chicken (amazing), a chili fried rice (amazing) and some other things i dont remember, and your garden variety cold salads, and a huge thing of fresh fruits and desserts...the eating areas are nothing more then picnic tables under an enclosure, there are wild chickens that roam the island, and like being by the tables haha so if that bothers you take it into consideration and eat somewhere else! they also have ice tea, lemonade and water to drink! you CAN use your sail and sign on the island to purchase gifts if u want! the beach was so nice, its roped out i would have to say a good 100 feet and i swam out as far as i could go ( to the rope) and only had maybe a foot and a half under me to the bottom, its farely shallow....i did snorkel in the inclosed areas and could not believe when i could not see or find ONE single shell anywhere! no coral or nothing just the occasional very small plant, again i only stayed in the enclosed roped off areas, because i did not feel like exploring, the water is crystal clear and just amazing, saw a hand full of different kinds of fish, not to many tho...definetly my favorite stop the entire trip! if you have a chance to go here, do so, i garuntee you wont be sorry...they do have inner tubes and those blue mat things for rent i believe they were either 10 or 5 $ each...oh and after your done playing in the water, make sure ur dried off and wear your shoes walking back because i dont know what it is with carnivals obsession with having TILES only in the areas of places where people or things will be wet, and make them slippery, because i fell near the shops walking back to the ferry, yes i was barefoot, and ripped and ruined my favorite bathing suit in the process, and yes it hurt! and i still to this day, the only COMPLAINT i have about carnival is, what idiot thought it was a good idea to tile around the pools? and all the entrances where u walk intot he dinning room fromt he pools? couldnt they have just picked a non slip surface! ugh anyways, if u go here, u will enjoy the day trust me!

[eh2zed]

HMC is truly a preview of heaven

[rabbit72]

Chenning,

Thanks for your review of the island. I only have a couple questions, I was wondering how the bar service was? I have been to Princess Cay so I am assuming HMC is similar. Did you have a long wait to tender back to the ship?

Brenda

[Bermudamal]

I'm also wondering about the dining. Do they have trays so we can take the food out of the dining area (i.e., back to our cabana)? Hoping to rent one and would like to eat there instead of at a picnic table, so I'm wondering how hard it will be to carry food back. If they do not have trays to use, I may consider packing some.

[rabbit72]

I'm also wondering about the dining. Do they have trays so we can take the food out of the dining area (i.e., back to our cabana)? Hoping to rent one and would like to eat there instead of at a picnic table, so I'm wondering how hard it will be to carry food back. If they do not have trays to use, I may consider packing some.

 

When we were on Princess Cay they didn't have trays just plates but we brought our food back to our chairs. Not sure how this one is.