HMC -- Are they worth it?

I have noticed that on one of our cruises we will be at HMC from 8 AM - 2:30 PM. We used to stay there until 4.

Do you think it is worth renting the cabanas or beach villas is worth the price for the few hours you are there? Most of the time you don't get to your cabin/beach villa until about 9 and with leaving at 2:30 you would have to be back on the ship at 2. Thus you are using them for roughly 5 hours.

I certainly would not do it. Maybe one of the folding sunshades for $15.00 or so, but not much more. Even better, find a shade tree. There are still some around. IMO

Yes, it is only a few hours but we still book the cabanas as they are lovely. :)

In the past, we've always gotten a cabana. However, we opted for a shipboard one on the Nieuw Amsterdam for our upcoming cruise. The ones on HMC just don't provide the value they used to when you are only in them at Half Moon Cay for 4 hours.

We rented a clamshell shade once when we were there. It was a great spot to stash our beach stuff. Plenty of room for 2. We usually hang out about hip deep in the water. Great beach day.

Definitely - we live on the "frozen tundra" and a few hours at Half Moon Cay is like going to Heaven. Instead of hearing snow crunch under your feet for 7 months straight, listening to the squeak of the icing-sugar-like sand between our toes is pure bliss. Any time you can go into water instead of walking on it makes sense to us!:D

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Even when we were there until 4:00 it was barely worth having a cabana -- they started gathering up all our food and drink a couple hours before we had to leave :eek:

So no, I don't think it would be worth it with a 2:30 departure.

I have noticed that on one of our cruises we will be at HMC from 8 AM - 2:30 PM. We used to stay there until 4.

Do you think it is worth renting the cabanas or beach villas is worth the price for the few hours you are there? Most of the time you don't get to your cabin/beach villa until about 9 and with leaving at 2:30 you would have to be back on the ship at 2. Thus you are using them for roughly 5 hours.

No doubt the shorter stops at HMC have made the cabanas a bit less attractive to us. We started getting cabanas some 10 years ago and have always enjoyed them but now I'm not so sure. That said we have no plans to go back to the Caribbean any time soon so it's really not a concern or issue.

No way we would book a HMC! We never get off the ship to tender until about 10:30 so it would just not be worth it to us.

LuLu

No way we would book a HMC! We never get off the ship to tender until about 10:30 so it would just not be worth it to us.

LuLu

As more cruisers adopt this quite reasonable position, I wonder if Carnival Corp will realize that its recent build-up in HMC infrastructure made no sense in the setting of reduced time there, and as the regular and 2-story cabanas go unrented, the short stay times will be reconsidered.

Worth it is only something you can decide.

One person may think it's always worth it. Others may not. Totally subjective.

I think they are quite enjoyable... but there's a lot of other things that you can do with $250.

Some of the reports of HMC cabana experiences last winter/spring were the butlers/stewards started cleaning things away by 1:00 or shortly after. If they

start stripping everything down so early, the actually enjoyable time the cabana is used is very brief for a fair amount of money.

Everyone has to decide for themselves how many $$ the experience is worth to them.

We are long time HMC Cabana renters and I love the cabana (see avatar), but I don't think it is now worth it. The price has continuously gone up and the time on the island has lessened.

Of course, Sail7seas is right, the cost is a relative thing, but for us, better use of that $$$ can be found elsewhere.

Hard to say, I guess. We have always booked a cabana for our visits to HMC, and we have been fortunate to have never missed HMC due to weather. We will probably continue to book a cabana until such time as we no longer think it is desirable. What would cause that?? Definitely if the ships begin spending even less time on HMC. Have noticed on the past few trips that the time has diminished (cut by about an hour).

Still enjoy HMC. One of our favorite stops in the Caribbean.

Thank you everyone for responding.

It has been years since we rented a Cabana and know that we won't be renting one in the future. I use a walker/rollator and can't handle even the few steps at the cabana.

We rented one many years ago when there were about 4 of them and were only $50.

I just wondering what people are going to do as the time allotted on HMC is getting less and less.

Again -- thanks everyone who responded to my thread.

KK, it wouldn't be worth it to me, but like others have said you have to make your own mind whether it is worth it for that short period of time to you.:)

The price I saw online for a cruise that we are looking at is $299.95 for a cabana for 4 people. Wasn't that price higher last year?

We've rented a cabana and also a clamshell another time.

Next time we won't rent anything. The clamshell had nice shade but our view consisted of the rear of other people's free lounge chairs. We spend most of our time in the water and then go to the lunch. We brought our own snorkel equipment last time and had a great time. The cabana was a complete waste of money. We didn't even get enough Diet Cokes to satisfy....one each....and the people next to us didn't get any because we had taken the four that the steward had. Cost was way too much for little benefit.

Now if the $300 cabana came with drinks, it might be different, but probably not.

Definitely - we live on the "frozen tundra" and a few hours at Half Moon Cay is like going to Heaven. Instead of hearing snow crunch under your feet for 7 months straight, listening to the squeak of the icing-sugar-like sand between our toes is pure bliss. Any time you can go into water instead of walking on it makes sense to us!

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

7 months? That's it:D? Seems like we get about 10 months in Calgary. You're in the banana belt ;).

To reply to KK, the only cabana I would consider renting are the 2 story ones. The little playhouse cabanas don't do it for me. I LOVE the cabanas on the ship. I've got mine booked for my cruise 2 months from today:D. Sweet!

The price I saw online for a cruise that we are looking at is $299.95 for a cabana for 4 people. Wasn't that price higher last year?

Yes. It jumped to $399 for a while. We had one booked, but by the time we sailed, it was back to $299 and they gave us a $100 credit to our account.

Not worth it to us. We spend our entire time at HMC in the water, walking the beach or eating lunch. We have a good friend that gets a clamshell as she needs to get out of the sun.

Yes. It jumped to $399 for a while. We had one booked, but by the time we sailed, it was back to $299 and they gave us a $100 credit to our account.

Thanks

I thought the price was higher in the past.

I know that on our last couple of stops there, all the cabanas were not rented.

And they were trying to make deals for people to rent the big Oasis on one cruise. No one bit -- and it stayed empty.

Thanks

I thought the price was higher in the past.

I know that on our last couple of stops there, all the cabanas were not rented.

And they were trying to make deals for people to rent the big Oasis on one cruise. No one bit -- and it stayed empty.

Our last visit on the Maasdam only three or four were rented. Interestingly it was one of the nicer and warmer visits. Calm, almost glassy seas, so no reason other than cost and the short visit for people not to book. The Oasis was not booked despite some fairly heavy "advertising" before we got to HMC.

We would also agree that the benefit is not worth the cost. For any new folks worried about finding shade, there are plenty of palm trees a bit further down the beach with loungers already set up.