Half Moon Cay Marks 15 Year Anniversary with Upgrades

From Cruise Industry News, which I just received this morning:)

 

QUOTE: "Half Moon Cay Marks 15 Year Anniversary with Upgrades

 

on 30 January 2013.

 

Half Moon Cay, Holland America Line’s private Bahamian island, celebrated its 15th anniversary this Caribbean cruise season, and to commemorate the milestone the cruise line has enhanced island offerings and features.

 

Guests to the island will notice five new, colorful, two-story Beach Villas available for rent during each call. The luxury hideaways boast exclusive hot tubs on the second floor and provide private accommodations for guests while they relax and experience the island’s highlights.

 

Other beach cabanas were refreshed, and the Grand Cabana received new décor and a slide from the cabana deck straight into the ocean.

 

“For 15 years, Half Moon Cay has continuously been recognized as the most popular private island in the Caribbean, and to celebrate this milestone we have added several new features,” said Richard Meadows, executive vice president, marketing, sales and guest programs. “Our guests already rate Half Moon Cay as their favorite Caribbean port call, and these new enhancements will make the island even more enjoyable.”

A new glass-bottom boat that carries 290 guests also was introduced for tours and features underwater viewing of the island’s colorful reefs and sea life. The horseback riding tour is one of the island’s most popular, and six horses were recently added to the herd so more can enjoy the ride.

 

The enrichment of the island’s features extended to the Bahamian Church, which has been repainted and outfitted with new pews and interior artwork.

 

The island’s private chapel is nestled in a garden overlooking the sea and provides the perfect setting for cruise guests to enjoy a unique, romantic wedding ceremony or vow renewal.

Over the past 15 years, Half Moon Cay — with its beautiful, crescent-shaped white-sand beach and warm, blue-green waters — has evolved into an idyllic playground for cruise guests while retaining the scenic natural beauty of the 1,700-acre uninhabited Little San Salvador Island. Recently it was named best private island for the 12th consecutive year by Porthole Cruise Magazine.

 

On the island guests can find solitude just a short walk down the beach or rollicking fun at Captain Morgan’s Bar. Half Moon Cay offers shore excursions ranging from a swim with stingrays to a horseback ride and swim.

 

The 700-acre lagoon offers water sports on its protected waters. New amenities and shore excursions have been gradually added to Half Moon Cay over the years, always with an eye to protecting the island’s natural beauty and preserving its status as an important migratory-bird sanctuary." UNQUOTE

 

Article is Here: http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/8636-half-moon-cay-marks-15-year-anniversary-with-upgrades-.html

 

Joanie

Thanks Joanie

Sadly some of us have seen those new 2 story cabanas via pictures and -- JMO -- between them and the Pirate Ship -- the beauty of the island just isn't there any more for us.

Thanks Joanie

Sadly some of us have seen those new 2 story cabanas via pictures and -- JMO -- between them and the Pirate Ship -- the beauty of the island just isn't there any more for us.

 

I agree.

 

The article says “Our guests already rate Half Moon Cay as their favorite Caribbean port call, and these new enhancements will make the island even more enjoyable.”

 

I don't think HAL are really aware of why HMC was so popular. IMHO they have completely spoiled it and I am sure that it will no longer be the favourite it has always been in the past.

 

I first visited HMC a couple of months after it was first obtained by HAL (no cabanas, no clamshells, no pirate ship bar etc) and I now think it is quite sad the way it has developed.

 

If I am ever on another cruise that visits HMC I will stay on the ship. I never thought I would say that.

 

I agree. That island was special before they enhanced it. I no longer have any desire to leave the ship to go there.

I am more unhappy about the continued beach errosion than two story cabanas. There has been steady decrease in the amount of beach in the years since we have been loving HMC. We were the first people to ever use a cabana at HMC when they had just built the first (which no longer exists). We were on a summer cruise and no one had ever used the cabana before us. :) Since that time, we have seen considerable reduction in beach and that disturbs me though I doubt there is much or anything HAL can do about erosion.

I first visited HMC a couple of months after it was first obtained by HAL (no cabanas, no clamshells, no pirate ship bar etc) and I now think it is quite sad the way it has developed.

 

I think I must have visited HMC the first year it was a port stop for HAL - so pristine - I didn't know such places existed in the world anymore. 2nd stop was during our millennium cruise (1999/2000) - improvements amounted to a few walkways and a water equipment rental place or 2. Still beautiful and I thought that was all they'd do. Ha!

 

Now it looks like just another tourist stop, barely anything special anymore. Like so many corporations, HAL simply cannot seem to grasp that an appreciation of the unspoiled beauty of a place is a huge draw in itself. OTOH, there's no money to be made with "just a nice beach".

290 guests on the glass bottom boat??? Years ago we did this and there were about 12 of us on the little boat in the lagoon!

290 guests on the glass bottom boat??? Years ago we did this and there were about 12 of us on the little boat in the lagoon!

 

Hope that is some strong glass!

I agree that HAL has pretty much ruined HMC. The marketplace at the entrance is nice enough, and the original cabanas were fine, but cramming a bunch of two-story cabanas and a freaking pirate ship bar in amongst the trees was just too much.

 

And the cabanas are so overpriced now! I was never with enough people to make it worth the $$$ anyway, but now, there's NO WAY I would even CONSIDER spending the $$$ for a place you can only use for half a day. Just ridiculous.

 

I would still go ashore simply to walk far down the beach away from the madding crowd, and some friends from my last cruise said the personal watercraft excursion was worth a try...but as for the cabana/pirate ship area...HAL's ruined that part of HMC.

Thanks Joanie

 

Sadly some of us have seen those new 2 story cabanas via pictures and -- JMO -- between them and the Pirate Ship -- the beauty of the island just isn't there any more for us.

 

I agree.

 

The article says “Our guests already rate Half Moon Cay as their favorite Caribbean port call, and these new enhancements will make the island even more enjoyable.”

 

I don't think HAL are really aware of why HMC was so popular. IMHO they have completely spoiled it and I am sure that it will no longer be the favourite it has always been in the past.

 

I first visited HMC a couple of months after it was first obtained by HAL (no cabanas, no clamshells, no pirate ship bar etc) and I now think it is quite sad the way it has developed.

 

If I am ever on another cruise that visits HMC I will stay on the ship. I never thought I would say that.

 

 

I agree with both of you. Unless you were there on HMC from the beginning you really don't know how beautiful the island really was.

The first time I was there was in that Innagural Season 15 years ago. I was on the old Westerdam and it was our first stop on a relocation cruise which started in Ft. Lauderdale and ended in Vancouver B.C. seventeen days after the visit to HMC. It was great then and in my opinion it still is great!

HAL forgot to mention the price increases that went along with all the improvements.

The guy that was assigned to upgrade the Veendam was promoted to upgrade HMC - same result.

 

Bruce

I was not at HMC when it first opened, however I find the island beautiful. I really don't allow the things that they build on the island to bother me. I feel that they are building things there for a reason. I'm sure many people that complained about the first cabanas being built have rented them sometime but yet are now complaining about the new cabanas.

 

Honestly, I spend most of my time on the island in the water and looking out at the beautiful sea, not back at the island, so whatever they build really does not effect my enjoyment of the island.

 

 

Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wonder how much Holland is going to charge for a ride in their new glass bottom boat?

The guy that was assigned to upgrade the Veendam was promoted to upgrade HMC - same result.

 

Bruce

 

LOL Bruce:D I do believe you're right:D:D

I think there are some people that may like and enjoy the changes on the island.

We have always enjoyed the island, especially if it is at the end of our cruise. No better way to end a great cruise than relaxing with a couple of drinks while listening to the entertainment at the Pirate Ship.

I wonder how much Holland is going to charge for a ride in their new glass bottom boat?

 

Well, I guess they could continue using an old rink dink one instead... and get abuse for not providing a nicer ride. ;)

The guy that was assigned to upgrade the Veendam was promoted to upgrade HMC - same result.

 

Bruce

 

That explains everything. After the Veendam fiasco, he should have been demoted. It's his Veendam design that caused the beautiful ceiling in the MDR to be destroyed. That whole upgrade was a disaster.

I was there last week. There were two finished two storey cabanas, a third was under construction. They are quite ugly. They are painted multi colour and look like a duplex. I don't know who thought these were a good idea. The only saving grace is that they are on the other side of the Pirate ship.

 

Now as for the glass bottom boat!! Yikes! This old rust bucket was used as a tender last week. I was on it. Yep, it will fit nearly 300 people. It is so stinky with fumes most folks had to cover their noses. It was horrible. New glass bottom boat? Maybe last century on some other place. It was nasty. We wished we had waited for a real tender.

... though I doubt there is much or anything HAL can do about erosion.

They can pump sand from the ocean back onto the beach, but it's not a cheap process. It has been done a few times to the beaches near us after hurricanes have done major erosion.

I agree. That island was special before they enhanced it. I no longer have any desire to leave the ship to go there.

 

Carol,

 

We first visited in Feb. 1998 (note: 15 years ago, so like Himself we were among the first), and have been back about 10 times since.

 

In 1998, there was only the small "village", the "I Could Stay Here Forever" Bar, a small shack to rent water sports gear, the BBQ to share with the semi-wild chickens and geckos ... and a wide expanse of pristine white sand. There were loungers, and hammocks, and bar staff that circulated the beach and would actually bring you a drink to your lounger.

 

There were no horses, no parasails, no kayaks, no glass-bottom boats, no clamshells, no pirate bar, no Shreik and the HAL Cats blasting away, no cabanas either single or double-story... but there was a small reef teeming with fish, if you knew where to swim out a ways (a crew member showed me the way). In short, there was a very relaxing tropical paradise.

 

Some of the changes/additions over the years have seemed to enhance the experience. Others, especially the ones in the last few years ,,, not so much. It's not quite Milton's "Paradise Lost" but the HMC experience/ambience is not what it was. I think I prefer what it was.

 

Dave