Canceling at HMC

[damdamsels]

How bad does the weather have to be to cancel HMC? Is it just wind or wind and rain.

[Pilot70D]

It is a combination of things that leads to the decision to cancel or not. It is the combined effect of sea conditions along with rain that leads to many cancellations for the stop at HMC.

We had chilly and quite windy weather for our recent stop at HMC. This led to all HMC excursions being cancelled. HA did refund all charges for these excursions of course. There was no refund for cabanas and clamshells though.

We went ashore for roughly 2 1/2 hours, did have lunch and did enjoy our clamshell. All of the cabanas were rented but roughly half of the parties renting them elected not to go ashore because of the weather. Sea conditions were mild - roughly five to six foot seas so tendering wasn't a problem. Wind that day was a steady 15 mph gusting to 22 or 23. The sky condiitons were a solid overcast and it was chilly. Everyone there was bundled up in long sleeves and jackets. Still it was an enjoyable visit to HMC.

[KSCnCA]

We missed HMC in December due to rough seas. They spent about 45 minutes trying to anchor the ship and finally made an announcement around 8:30 or so saying that it was too rough and that we were going to miss HMC. :( We were really sad, and so was the staff member working in the gift shop that I spoke with. He had to work all day when he was not scheduled to do so. They showed a movie in the Vista Lounge and also served champagne at dinner since to make it up to us for missing HMC. It didn't help! I was not even expecting that we would miss it. The weather didn't seem bad to me, so moral of the story: don't take anything for granted.

[Sage]

I agree that rough seas seem to be the most common reason for missing the stop at HMC. We were on the same sailing as Pilot70D, and we had a cabana. If we had not had the cabana, we probably wouldn't have gone ashore. With the cabana, we were very comfortable and were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the island.

[mattR]

Our stop was canceld on Dec 12th and I didn't really think that the weather was all that bad. The wind was comming in towards the beach so they had already canceld shore excersions which was understandable but was suprized they wouldn't let us go to the beach anyways:(

[Sailboater]

Wind blowing on shore would make anchoring hazardous for the ship. No captain is going to chance anchoring a big ship on a "lee shore" in anything more than a gentle breeze -- too much danger of ending up aground. These big behemouths of the ocean carry so much topside that they present a very large target to the wind. As a result winds that don't seem that bad to us can be very detrimental to keeping the boat afloat. If the wind is blowing away from shore then the captain can anchor in higher winds than if it is blowing towards shore. If the anchor drags it will be towards deeper waters and he just has to re-anchor rather than explain to Seattle how the ship got stuck in the sand.

[Islandbuoy]

The real concern is the nite 2 yrs ago when 2000 people had to sleep on the beach. Due to rough seas coming up while on the island , couldn't get them back thru that hole in the side of the ship. Since then much more cautious!!!!!!!!!

[RDWills]

What happens when you cancel a port? Do you linger off shore in view of the island you can't visit, proceed slower than usual to the next port or just arrive at the next port very early?

-Robin

[Esme]

The many times we have been on the ship when HMC was cancelled, we just proceeded slowly to the next port or back to FLL.

Captains do their best to get paxs to HMC, but they don't take chances. Passenger and crew safety are foremost in their mind.

[thulewx]

As far as HMC, they will possibly stay near the port for a couple hours after normal arrival time to see if they can eventually anchor, then head towards their next port, a litlle slower.
Usually.
Most of the time.
Possibly.
Maybe.
:D

[allen.crawford]

Sailboater is right. We had a brief discussion with the Captain about HMC on the same cruise Pilot and Sage were on. His biggest worry was the direction of the wind and the risk of running aground.

Thankfully, we were able to enjoy our time in HMC - thanks again to Sage and her family for inviting us into their cabana!!

We went snorkelling that day and found it a real struggle both going off shore and returning to the beach. The currents were strong, but seemed running parallel to the beach than onto the beach. I guess this is why we were able to anchor there for the day.

[CanadianMAG]

How's the weather and conditions in May? I would assume the weather is pretty nice, unlike winter time and the seas should be calmer?

[cruisinjudy]

Only one of our HA cruises has had HMC on the schedule and it was canceled! Someday I will get to experience it, I hope.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

we were scheduled to go to HMC while on the Carnival Pride and couple of years back. Like others have said, I didn't think it was too bad of a day but we got canceled. They took us to San Juan instead. We got there at like 6pm. I would have rather just cruised around the ocean.

Bill

[Himself]

Rough Seas, bad weather or swells will cause a cancellation at Half Moon Cay.
If the swells are bad and it would make tendering dangerous they will not tender. The Master's first concern must always be the safety of the PAX.
If the weather is bad on shore where you cannot picnic, go to the beach or do the tours, they will cancel.

Himself

[mattR]

Wind direction towards the island? Why don't the anchor on the other side of the island then?

[sail7seas]

They need the tender dock to bring in the tenders for loading/unloading. The other side of the island is not developed. The beach and bars and barbeque are all on one side of the island.

We have been turned away there on bright, sunny beautiful days when the seas were too rough to safely drop tenders.

[Krazy Kruizers]

For a while our we weren't doing well with being able to use HMC - either the seas were too rough or it was raining.

On our last cruise, the first week we had beautiful weather and most of the ship tendered into HMC.

The second week we had 40 mph winds and the seas were a little choppy. Only about 300 tendered in - many were still sea sick from the night before. When tendering did begin, an announcement was made as to the wind and tendering conditions. And they warned everyone that if they heard the ship's horn, they were to return to the tender area immediately and get back to the ship. They repeated this at least 3 times in a 2 hour span as they up-dated the weather conditions.