Half Moon Cay Cabanas

DW and I are thinking of taking a Carnival Cruise that would take us to Hay Moon Cay. Can someone tell me how the Cabanas work?

DW and I are thinking of taking a Carnival Cruise that would take us to Hay Moon Cay. Can someone tell me how the Cabanas work?

Not sure what you are asking. But you reserve them, select your location and get them for the day. You take a tender over like everyone else and they are furthest away from the dock.

From my understanding you purchase them ahead of time because they sell out. With your purchase you get priority tendering so you can get off before everyone else. You also are supplied with a cabana that has chairs/loungers, AC, snacks, a few bottles of water, snorkeling equipment and floating mats. I believe this can only be shared with a total of 6 people?? So if you meet some friends they could tag along and split the price with you. I have did some of my own research on these as this will be my first time at HMC and I'm getting a Cabana as well. When I went to Norwegians private island last year I had one and yes, they are worth every penny.

Maybe someone can chime in to make sure I am 100% correct.

I hope this is helpful.

Oh yea, you get assigned your cabana number once onboard so go straight to guest services. From what I hear the higher number cabana the better.

Yes, make sure to book them online WELL in advance, because they sell out! Then, as soon as you board the ship, go to guest services and choose your cabana. Lower numbers (1-8) are closer to the lunch pavilion and bars, but the higher numbers are in much less crowded areas. When you choose your number, they will ask for flipper sizes and pop choices. You'll receive water, pop, veggies and dip, fruit tray, guacamole, and chips. Everything is so nice! You will get floating mats, also. It's really just for 4 people, but there's enough food and space for 6, easily! We always book one and do not regret it. Number 10 (the green one) is our favorite!

You qualify to be on the first tender over, by the way! Sweet!

DW and I are thinking of taking a Carnival Cruise that would take us to Hay Moon Cay. Can someone tell me how the Cabanas work?

We rented a cabana back in 2014 and LOVED it. We are going back to HMC this August and already rented ours well in advance. Don't miss out, it's well worth the money.

If your ship has a Blue Iguana Cantina, take a large ziplock bag to your Cabana so you can bring back the leftover Tortilla Chips. Blue Iquana has a great salsa bar, but no chips.

We chose #10 also. Just far enough away to not hear the music inside, but still close enough to walk to everything.

We have had number 10 twice and it's a perfect location

It's an excursion. They are usually gone in a flash so watch. We had #10 and loved it. It has nice cushioned chairs, and a table and chairs. We took lunch back and ate there. Fresh water shower and mister fan. You get floaties, snorkel gear, snacks, soda, water. We took our corn chips back to the ship also. It's a HUGE bag! It's a lot of money and recently went up. We paid $229 last year.

Just back from the Elation this past week..had the green cabana...#10 I think...near a restroom...it was great..this is the 3rd or 4th time we've done a cabana...my only complaint is that there was essentially no bar service...we got one bucket of beer...some friends stopped by...but no bar waiters actually came by...we had to ask someone to send a waiter by...I guess we could have walked to the pirate ship:D but it was a lazy day...

We didn't even make it to the lunch...we had fruit, salsa, chips guacamole...plenty of snacks...plus soda and water...

Certainly worth the money...try to get on the ship early so you can pick out which one you want...we are Platinum..and by the time we got to the sore excursion desk...three or four had already been picked..

Yup, not once did we get asked for drinks. DH finally went and got us one.

We prefer the higher-numbered cabanas for the less-crowded beach. We had #5 one time (back before the pirate ship bar went in) and had a number of people coming up to use our shower.

DW and I are thinking of taking a Carnival Cruise that would take us to Hay Moon Cay. Can someone tell me how the Cabanas work?

You pick your cabana number after you board ship at the excursion desk and its first come first serve. We like the higher number cabanas because they're away from all the noise makers such as the bar, kids water park etc. last time we were 10th in line and had 5, 10, 15 to pick from.

We prefer the higher-numbered cabanas for the less-crowded beach. We had #5 one time (back before the pirate ship bar went in) and had a number of people coming up to use our shower.

:eek: We had #10...and while we were in the water..had a whole family come up on and shower:D Of course dh freaked out because all his "stuff" was in the cabana....have never had that happen before...

Ha Ha! Looks like #10 is the big winner for this group!

We rented one of the two story villas and LOVED it! It had a private hot tub, private bathroom with shower, 1st and 2nd floor decks with loungers! It was a perfect day. My only warning to those that book one in the future, I had read that when you do, you should bring some beach loungers and put them right in front of your unit and place your towels on them. I thought that seemed rude seeing as we wouldn't really use them, we'd be on our deck! Well, the afternoon sun came and created a nice shadow in front of our unit... people pulled their lounge chairs right up to the unit. Unfortunately they were loud, drunk, smokers!!! They were 4 inches from us on the lower deck. My mom has emphysema so she had to go into the villa inside (after all the smoke, she couldn't walk up the stairs to the upper level). Then, this person moved her lounge chair right up to the stairs to our unit. We literally couldn't leave our deck without asking her to move her chair (oh, another smoker). As we were contemplating sending someone to get a staff member to have her move, her husband came along and sat on the top of the stairs (which is on our deck)!!! That was all I needed to get the courage to fix the problem myself. I let him know that this was a private villa - he was upset, made a comment and moved to a lower step. I then said again that they needed to move and couldn't restrict our access to/from our unit. They were rude but finally left. I wish we heeded the advice to barricade our little oasis right from the start!

Regardless, having that space (whether it was a villa or cabana) was worth every penny! It's like a special treat you can give to yourself!!! HMC is such a beautiful place and having our home for the day just made it feel like a special day! I might not be able to own a beach house, but I had one for one beautiful day!

Not sure if this link will work...here is a short video....we had #15 ...the furthest away...VERY PEACEFUL....and expensive....the price has gone up to $279 and they are extremely difficult to get....start checking your excursions atleast 8 months in advance and check everyday....as soon as they become available...BAM...sold out....

https://www.facebook.com/jackie.lamb3/videos/10205821185437543/

If you book a cabana, you will be on the first tender to the island and there is a tram that will take you (close) to your cabana...One beach worker did check on us several times....finding a ride back to the tender was a little more difficult, but we did finally get one (husband cannot walk that far...and it is far)

I did notice some clamshell style cabanas on the beach....not sure if they are for rent or for free??? They are not listed on the excursion list, but maybe you pay for them when you arrive??

We had a gorgeous day...enjoyed the quietness of #15 until a group of girls (I believe ship employees) camped out right next to us and were very loud

Here is a short video of one of the villas...these will run you $499 for the day, but for a large group would be awesome...

https://www.facebook.com/jackie.lamb3/videos/10205823621818451/

We had Cabana #11 and loved it!

Here's a pic of it:

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Here is a short video of one of the villas...these will run you $499 for the day, but for a large group would be awesome...

 

https://www.facebook.com/jackie.lamb3/videos/10205823621818451/

I would absolutely love to view your videos, however, when you click on the link you get an error message. Probably because your social media page is set to private. Any chance you can upload to YouTube and share those links? Knock on wood, baring weather problems, we will be in HMC on 7/4, and I have a cabana booked. Would love to see your videos, particularly of cabana #15, for research purposes.

If they are still available on your cruise and your contemplating it just book it as they sell out FAST. I've been checking back every day trying to get one for my NYE cruise on the Pride.

Need help picking out a cabana please - cruise in 12 days

We need a cabana that is mostly in the shade all day (or most of the day) --- my elderly (89 years young) dad is cruising with us and he is not a water/sand/beach person .. but definitely a people watcher :) We would like a cabana that is higher up so we are away from the crowds too ...

All help is appreciated (pictures would be great too).

TIA - Marianne

We had cabana #11 and it provided shade all day!

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We had cabana #11 and it provided shade all day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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AWESOME!!! I think #11 will be my first choice ... Thank you :)

Agree.. We had #11. It was our most favorite day on vacation, EVER.

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We snagged cabana #9 for the second time because the bathroom is directly behind. No traffic, but a long walk back to the lunch and tenders. As the usual CCL price increase goes, the $269 makes it debatable whether the cabana is worth it, or not.

That's your decision, of course!;)