HMC Cabana rental with a 2 year old

So I'm not going till next year but I am a narcotic planner. We will be renting a cabana and want thoughts on choosing a cabana with a little one (26 months when we cruise). Do I get as close to the playground to keep him entertained, or go further down for quiet? I personally hate crowds but will take one for the team to keep the little one happy. Also, have there been any improvements to the kids play area? I went maybe 7 years ago with my other son and the play area was pretty lame back then.

We are going to HMC and have a cabana for the first time with our two year old in two weeks. I will let you know my opinion when we return.

With that said, I will tell you our preference is to be farther away from the crowd. We would ideally like Cabana 11 with 10, 12 and 13 as our next choices if limited when we get on the ship.

I am less concerned with the entertainment aspect of the kids area knowing our daughter will be entertained by us and the water closest to us. We are bringing sand toys and she loves the water. We would rather stay away from the crowds and be able to walk to the kids area and return to some type of quiet area for a nap / shade / lunch / break, etc.

Just my two cents and again I will let you know if we choose right for us when we return.

I thought on this a long time. I am travelling with my 2 year old daughter and my 5.5 year old son (with special needs).

From reading reviews, looking at pics and asking a few questions - I finally decided to try and get a cabana farther away from the kids area. We have a lot of climbing/park like activities in our yard, and it is likely to be screaming hot, so I am not worried about going to the playground. And with the addition of waterworks and slides to our ship - the kids water area - is not likely to be missed.

We too are bringing sand toys and there will be floats with the cabana.

Aiming for cabana 7 or 10. Somewhere in between would be okay too. Near to the bathrooms and close enough to the bbq.

Will try to remember and pop in after the cruise and let you know how it worked out.

Since our cruise leaves one week from today and I know we need to pick the actual cabana once we get on board, I have read more reviews, looked at more photos, watched more YouTube videos and compared more actual photos to maps, of half moon cay then I care to admit to, lol. This is by far the one part of the cruise that I am looking forward to the most

I've searched , all in attempts of finding the perfect cabana. I know they all are perfect, but we all bring our own definition of what perfect is. I looked for shade and the "away" factor without being so far away if I need to carry a two year old and all her stuff.

Taking all that in mind here is our official order of choice

11, 10, 8,

Hello -

We are back from our cruise and Half moon cay was the highlight. The cabana was simply amazing and I cant imagine going there without one. Here are my two cents knowing we had a two year old with us.

1) Cabana pick - We wanted #11 as our first pick and it was already taken, so we took #10. I wish I had more shade and #11 really does get shade. But 10 was still a good place for our daughter to take a nap we just moved the lounge chair into the covered part so she got more AC and shade. I was happy to be further down the beach with less people because our ship had a ton of older kids 6-12 on it. As such the kids area was crowded on the beach. We stayed the entire time close to our cabana and had a ton of fun in the sand and water right in front of us. Which leads me to...

2) ) Beach toys and activities - I brought with us some beach toys and a coloring book. Both were well used and I was happy to have them. We actually purchased for $25 the kids pack from the room decorations that includes a teddy bear, activity book and beach toys. They were the perfect size and our daughter loves Boat Bear has he has been named. :)

Final thought.

3) Stroller or no stroller - The sand leading to the cabana is soft and difficult to get through. We took the tram to our cabana from the tender area and then just carried our daughter. The stroller didn't work and was really in the way. BUT at the end of the day when a return tram wasn't to be found, we walked back and was so happy to have it with us. I don't know if next time we would bother with a stroller, but at the same time I couldn't imagine walking back and her being in one of her "Pick me up mommy" moods.

I hope this helps and I will try to post photos.

Here is a video of our cruise including lots of shots of our cabana time at half moon cay.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Only 12 Days before we leave on our cruise - also to Grand Turk and HMC.

Loved your input and your videos. Realized that I hadn't taken shade into account enough. Will be looking for 11 or 8 now, before 10 or 7.

Looks like you had an amazing time. Really appreciate you sharing it with us!

Andrea

Absolutely. It was our first cruise with our daughter or any kids for that matter, so the entire cruise was an adjustment from our previous and took some getting used to.

Our daughter was just too much younger than the rest of the kids in the Camp Carnival. she only went once just for an hour and hated it. We kept her with us the whole cruise and just took turns doing things when it was time for her naps or nighttime.

Some "free" things she absolutely loved!!! Walking up and down the atrium stairs, the glass elevator going up and down and running around on deck 9 on the enclosed balcony at the front of the ship. We literally spent more time on the elevator than I care to admit to, lol.

Enjoy your cruise!!!!