Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island) Port Reviews

Beach, water was perfect. Very crowded. Food was good.

Beautiful beach, crystal clear water. Be warned though that the Bahamas are incredibly hot in early October

Half Moon Cay is BEAUTIFUL! We took the Tram Tour right off the bat and saw a great deal of the island. That tour let us know what was where so we could plan out our day effectively. The biggest issue we ran into was with lunch at the Island BBQ. Because of the constrained timeframe (serving only from 11 to 1), the lines were exceedingly long. We stood in line for more than 45 minutes to get food.

The island itself was beautiful. We rented snorkel gear on the island, which we had to pick up when we arrived. The water was a little rough due to the hurricane so it took a lot longer to taxi people to the island, so we ended up not getting to the island until about 11:30. We had to go the rental place to pick up our snorkel gear. When we go to the rental place, the line was long and hardly moving. We were already frustrated because we didn't have much time on the island. Then we see in the rental place, 4 people in there and only 1 person was working! There were 2 windows where they could have been helping people and getting the line moving, but they were so slow, and half of them were literally not doing anything! So we finally get in the water to snorkel, and my husband's snorkel set was missing the piece that connects the snorkel to the mask. He was quite upset after waiting in that line, now he had to go back to get a new set. So I go ahead and put my snorkel gear on and go out, as soon as I put my face in the water, and breathe thru the snorkel, I suck in a lot of water. I take my snorkel off, and what do ya know, my snorkel is missing a piece on the end that keeps the water out of the snorkel!! My snorkel gear was bad too. We were so upset after that. Then we went to lunch on the island. They didn't have enough food for everyone, and once again, there was no ice. That was very frustrating because it was so hot!!

Getting to half Moon Cay was not fun. We had to be water taxied over to the island. Once we landed on the island, the stretch of Beach was beautiful and packed. The amount of rose of people we had to walk past and try to configure seats together was somewhat of a time consumption. Once we were set up The sand and water were absolutely beautiful. One major downside was that your drink package did not flow over to this privately owned island by carnival cruise line. Due to the water taxi situation we decided to leave early, which became the worst part of the entire trip. The disorganization of the staff in the herding of people such as cattle to place us all in a giant waiting area, so that we may board the water. Taxi was nothing but a hot mess. kids were screaming people were pushing one girl even passed out in the midst of the crowd to say that some organization at this point of the trip would have been the best thing for carnival to invest in .

The beach is very nice but must be tendered. It was calm in the morning but fairly rough on return making it tenuous for anyone with mobility issues on the tender. The beach was very crowded, and the chairs are literally packed side to side with no space between. And no umbrellas or shade (unless you pay for it). We brought our own snorkel gear and were able to see some pretty fish and a sea turtle near the rocks by the dock. If you can walk 1/2 mile down the beach you can get away from the crowds. The lunch was very good, it was fun to have ice cream as well. There were lines for the food, but they moved pretty well.

First, you need to know that ALL of the food and drink on the private island comes directly off the boat. How was the food? Read the remarks on the buffet and seafood place above. it was the same stuff. everything on Half Moon cay can be charged back to the cruise ship using your "sign and sail" card. nothing is free and drink and alcohol packages DO NOT WORK on the Cay. be prepared. we had the lobster and crab leg boil for lunch ($75 for two) and two strawberry daquiris ($45). nothing else.

The eco-bike and hike tour was fun and informative. The beach is terrific.

Half moon cay is awesome! Too bad the debarkation was a hot mess! I had priority tendering and it took 2 hours to get off the ship because they let anyone get with us and by the time we got to the usland we had about 3 hrs before we had to start the process of getting back to the ship. Really poor planning on their part.

Visited: Mar 07, 2022

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There were not enough lounge chairs to go around. Except for the picnic table areas far from the water, there is no shade!! The buffet wasn't organized. There were 2 lines for drinks (juices & water). I was on a line that had an empty water jug & had to cut in the other line to get water. The others on that line weren't happy (there were 4 who only needed water). No, we didn't do an excursion.