Our Own Fun

We would like to make our own fun in Half Moon Cay and St. Thomas - no excursions.

1. Half-Moon Cay - can you walk off the ship and find the beach by yourself? Is everything through Carnival - beach chairs etc or can you rent a chair or a clamshell with cash?

2. St. Thomas - can you take a taxi to Mountain Top?

yes and yes.

you can't 'make your own fun' on hmc aside from what's offered, they own the island lol.

HMC is all beach, plenty of lounge chairs, you can rent a clamshell. Ship brings a BBQ on shore, free for everyone. I think there are some excursions but it's an instant beach day, beautiful sand, gorgeous water. S & S card works at the bars, ship staff works the beach. Best day ever, wish if could have stayed there for a week. Can rent floats etc but said snorkel gear not for rent was for canna rental folks only. We went to the further part of the beach, so nice. Closer to the tender were playgrounds, water park stuff, pirate party etc. nice clean bathrooms, misting stations etc. really nice port.

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Here's Carnival's Half Moon Cay page.

At the bottom of the page, you can click on the 'Interactive Map' and mouse over the images on the map to see more info on all of the things that are available.

Half Moon Cay Interactive Tour

Never been to HMC but in St. Thomas there are open small red open air bus taxis that will take you on a little tour and all the way to mountaintop. Last October it was $25pp for about a 2 hour trip and you had a choice of being left in town or brought back to the boat. When you get off the boat they are straight ahead near the front of the port shops.

At Half Moon Cay, they have the long rubber mats for rent - I believe they are $20.00 (someone please correct me), or you can get a large round "raft" like thing for more money.

I purchased two small inflatable rings from the Dollar Store before our trip and we used those to lean on and float around. Passed them on to two kids when we left the beach.

Have since bought all that the Dollar Store had left and put in my cruise box for future trips!

In August HMC raft rental was $14.95.

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Bring your own snorkel gear and go next to the rocks to your left if you are looking at the water, lots of stuff to see.

Taxi transportation on St Thomas is excellent, $6 - 12 to get anywhere. But why Mountaintop? That's just a store with a view of Magens Bay. Nice view, but?

Take a look at posts here and on tripadvisor on Paradise Point. You could take a short taxi tour of Drake's SeT and MT and then enjoy a Bushwacker and the view at PP. Or you can taxi to MT.

We were in St. Thomas in April 2014. I suggest hailing an open air bus instead of the air conditioned vans. With the vans they literally squeeze ppl in and it's tight. We took the van up the mountain and to Magen's Bay beach. We were so weighed down with ppl that the driver had to turn off the A/C half way up the mountain because the van was literally struggling to get up it. It got overly hot with no air circulating and I wasn't sure we were going to make it up. He paused for photos at the top that overlooked Magen's Bay, however we had to take them from inside the vehicle. Magen's Bay beach was $4pp to get in (they have a bar and will bring food and drinks to where your sitting on the beach as well. they also have very clean restrooms and showers and lifeguards on duty). We took the open air taxi (which are stationed at Magen's Bay and easy to jump on) back to to town to shop. The open air taxis were a much better ride than the overcrowded van. It's easy get around the streets and shop, you can either walk back to the ship or there are plenty of taxi who call out to see if you want a ride (for a fee).

We were in St. Thomas in April 2014. I suggest hailing an open air bus instead of the air conditioned vans. With the vans they literally squeeze ppl in and it's tight. We took the van up the mountain and to Magen's Bay beach. We were so weighed down with ppl that the driver had to turn off the A/C half way up the mountain because the van was literally struggling to get up it. It got overly hot with no air circulating and I wasn't sure we were going to make it up. He paused for photos at the top that overlooked Magen's Bay, however we had to take them from inside the vehicle. Magen's Bay beach was $4pp to get in (they have a bar and will bring food and drinks to where your sitting on the beach as well. they also have very clean restrooms and showers and lifeguards on duty). We took the open air taxi (which are stationed at Magen's Bay and easy to jump on) back to to town to shop. The open air taxis were a much better ride than the overcrowded van. It's easy get around the streets and shop, you can either walk back to the ship or there are plenty of taxi who call out to see if you want a ride (for a fee).

Yes the safari truck type taxis are the most common mode of transport on both STT and STJ and they hold between 9 and 25ppl.

Correction on my typo earlier, Drake's Seat is the vantage point from which you have a gorgeous view of Magens Bay. That view is also available from Mountaintop, but the new MT version just lacks the charm of the original that burned down. It is a large store with many of the typical souvenirs that you can find in stores at the docks. But it's a popular stop on many tours and their banana daiquiri is popular.