Half Moon Cay Cabana Question

[MistyRo76]

We have booked our first Half Moon Cay Cabana for our upcoming October cruise. A couple of questions - 

 

* I see there is a 4 person capacity. We were planning on sharing the space with the other family we are sailing with which would give us 4 adults and 2 kids. Does anyone know what the extra surcharge per person over 4 people is? Is that applicable to children (both 12 and under)? And how do they assess that fee? Will that happen on the day we are in HMC? 

* we don't want to be right on top of all the action right by the port area, but we don't want to be all the way at the end either. What cabana number should we shoot for? I think I read 7-9 were great locations. How far is that from the food pavilion? 

* We're also thinking of taking our kiddo on the stingray excursion here. Any feedback on that from those who have done it before? 

 

Thanks! 

Edited August 24, 2023 by MistyRo76

[pcvtmom]

Everytime I've booked a cabana at HMC we share with our traveling "group" (usually 8 of us). We don't need extra floats, snorkel sets, food, or drinks, so we just book it "as is", without accounting for the extra people. We all just hang out in front of the cabana, on the plentiful loungers which are open to everyone, and share the food, drinks, and equipment.Truthfully, we usually have leftovers, which go to waste! I highly recommend cabana 10 or 9.  They're far from the action, but somewhat of a hike to the food pavilion.  Restroom are behind them, so it's very convenient.

[MistyRo76]

8 minutes ago, pcvtmom said:

Everytime I've booked a cabana at HMC we share with our traveling "group" (usually 8 of us). We don't need extra floats, snorkel sets, food, or drinks, so we just book it "as is", without accounting for the extra people. We all just hang out in front of the cabana, on the plentiful loungers which are open to everyone, and share the food, drinks, and equipment.Truthfully, we usually have leftovers, which go to waste! I highly recommend cabana 10 or 9.  They're far from the action, but somewhat of a hike to the food pavilion.  Restroom are behind them, so it's very convenient.

Thanks for the feedback! I thought that might be the case as far as the cabana capacity requirements. So, good to hear that's been your experience. 

[Drazil65]

Of all the cabanas we have tried in the past, #9 turned out to be our fav.  Convenient to restrooms, the food and bar but far enough away from the very crowded end of the beach.   Enjoy!

[MistyRo76]

1 minute ago, Drazil65 said:

Of all the cabanas we have tried in the past, #9 turned out to be our fav.  Convenient to restrooms, the food and bar but far enough away from the very crowded end of the beach.   Enjoy!

Awesome - I had thought I had read #9 was the best! Thankfully, we'll have priority boarding, so we can head right to the shore excursion desk to try to snag it! 

[Buckeye_Siggy]

Hello.   Adding people to your cabana has been a wasted charge in my experiences.

You are only paying for extra food, drink, and rental equipment.   If you can get away with the stuff provided for 4 people, no one should hassle you if you have more than that in your area.

 

i have always been partial to cabana 5 and 6.  But in fairness, i have not tried any past 6.  havent needed to.

[nybumpkin]

We've had cabanas 5, 9 and 10. I prefer 9 or 10, since the beach is less crowded. One problem we had with #5 was people sitting on the steps and coming into the cabana to use the shower; they ignored me when I tried to tell them where the open showers were.

[ninjacat123]

3 hours ago, nybumpkin said:

We've had cabanas 5, 9 and 10. I prefer 9 or 10, since the beach is less crowded. One problem we had with #5 was people sitting on the steps and coming into the cabana to use the shower; they ignored me when I tried to tell them where the open showers were.

We have had a cabana (usually #9) at least three times.  One time, we were coming back from lunch and a boy that looked around 12 years old was dragging our floatie mat from inside our cabana to down to the water where his family was.  I yelled out "hey, that's our mat" and my DH walked down to the kid and the kid handed over the mat.  The parents acted like they were oblivious to the situation. 🤷‍♀️

[Haljo1935]

The stingray excursion is great and kiddos who like the water and the creatures living it should enjoy it. How old are the kids? Younger ones may be a little uncomfortable around the stingrays as some are quite large. I had one playing w/me - continuously going in and out between my legs and circling around me - the trainer said she (the stingray) weighed over 300 lbs!!

They are very gentle - you can pet, feed and kiss them. You can also snorkle in the same area w/the stingrays, so there's another view of them.

We had a small group, I think maybe less than 10 people. 

[momin05]

Just agreeing there is no need to pay for extras. I think it is $60pp and you do it when you pick your cabana at the excursion desk. But it isn’t necessary. We just had 9 people and it was no issue. We always get #5.  I think it is closest to the food. But it is near the action at the pirate ship bar. 

[MistyRo76]

17 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

We have had a cabana (usually #9) at least three times.  One time, we were coming back from lunch and a boy that looked around 12 years old was dragging our floatie mat from inside our cabana to down to the water where his family was.  I yelled out "hey, that's our mat" and my DH walked down to the kid and the kid handed over the mat.  The parents acted like they were oblivious to the situation. 🤷‍♀️

I've heard of stuff like that happening with the cabanas fairly regularly. People astound me sometimes. How can you not know that people pay for the cabanas and the amenities that come with them?? I guess alot of people live under the premise of ask forgiveness, not permission! lol 

[MistyRo76]

13 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

The stingray excursion is great and kiddos who like the water and the creatures living it should enjoy it. How old are the kids? Younger ones may be a little uncomfortable around the stingrays as some are quite large. I had one playing w/me - continuously going in and out between my legs and circling around me - the trainer said she (the stingray) weighed over 300 lbs!!

They are very gentle - you can pet, feed and kiss them. You can also snorkle in the same area w/the stingrays, so there's another view of them.

We had a small group, I think maybe less than 10 people. 

Thanks for the feedback. My daughter is 9 and she LOVES to swim and isn't freaked out by sea life or other creatures. She loves playing by the creek at her grandparents house and is always bringing back little critters she insists she must keep as pets! LOL And she's on a kick now where she says she wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up (I think EVERY kid wants to be a MB at some point during their childhood lol). So I think she would love this! I've swam with the stingrays a couple of times in Grand Cayman and am always amazed at how friendly and docile these creatures are. Such a fun experience! 

[MistyRo76]

11 hours ago, momin05 said:

Just agreeing there is no need to pay for extras. I think it is $60pp and you do it when you pick your cabana at the excursion desk. But it isn’t necessary. We just had 9 people and it was no issue. We always get #5.  I think it is closest to the food. But it is near the action at the pirate ship bar. 

Thank you! Appreciate the feedback! I think we'll just roll with our 6 peeps as is! 🙂

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, MistyRo76 said:

I've heard of stuff like that happening with the cabanas fairly regularly. People astound me sometimes. How can you not know that people pay for the cabanas and the amenities that come with them?? I guess alot of people live under the premise of ask forgiveness, not permission! lol 

The kid was old enough to know better and the parents watched but didn't say or do anything.  I think parents that don't monitor their kids bug me the most.  Especially when it comes to their kid's safety, like walking through a parking lot.😬

[Haljo1935]

10 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

Thanks for the feedback. My daughter is 9 and she LOVES to swim and isn't freaked out by sea life or other creatures. She loves playing by the creek at her grandparents house and is always bringing back little critters she insists she must keep as pets! LOL And she's on a kick now where she says she wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up (I think EVERY kid wants to be a MB at some point during their childhood lol). So I think she would love this! I've swam with the stingrays a couple of times in Grand Cayman and am always amazed at how friendly and docile these creatures are. Such a fun experience! 

Oh for sure have her do this at HMC - the girls (trainers) do a great job of encouraging interaction and are very knowledgeable so she can ask them probably anything. It's a very good learning environment as well as fun - not to mention pretty. Remember to pack your underwear camera so she can snap some memories. 

Excited for you!

[oakridger]

On 8/25/2023 at 4:48 PM, Haljo1935 said:

Remember to pack your underwear camera

 

🫢

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

🫢

Gotta love auto correct - I will not pack that camera and bring an underwater camera instead!! 🫣

Oh my...

[MistyRo76]

On 8/28/2023 at 7:47 AM, Haljo1935 said:

Gotta love auto correct - I will not pack that camera and bring an underwater camera instead!! 🫣

Oh my...

We just got the kiddo an underwater camera for her birthday! She's going to LOVE taking pics of everything she sees under the sea and everywhere else! 

[Bob NC]

We've had cabanas 4 times.  Every time has been a range of #5 on up to probably #12.

 

Our favorite was probably #7, near the restrooms and close to the lunch spot.  Though the time we picked #7 to be close to lunch we had way too many buckets and completely missed lunch.

[ElCrapyTan]

Just putting this out there so some are aware. I have heard, and experienced myself once just a few months ago, that CCL is enforcing the person limit for cabanas on Half Moon Cay and Princess Cay.

 

During our April 2023 cruise, we had a cabana at Princess Cay for our family of 4. Another friend group was traveling with us (2 adults, 2 kids) and I let them know we had the cabana, and they could use it for stroller parking, baby changing, etc. as they needed throughout the day as they were fine using the chairs on the beach.

Not more than 2 minutes after our friends initially arrived at the cabana, a Carnival employee walked by and stopped at our cabana and asked how many were in our group since there is a 4-person limit. I said 4, and the other couple was just visiting. He said the other couple had to leave immediately, and he was letting the island employees working with the cabana know that if they saw more than 4 people at our cabana at any time that day, that they would charge us an $100 per person.

 

It was already a mediocre cruise that left a bad taste in our mouth with CCL, so to have that poor customer service experience on top of it, was enough for us to say we won't cruise CCL anytime in future.

[Bob NC]

2 hours ago, ElCrapyTan said:

Just putting this out there so some are aware. I have heard, and experienced myself once just a few months ago, that CCL is enforcing the person limit for cabanas on Half Moon Cay and Princess Cay.

 

During our April 2023 cruise, we had a cabana at Princess Cay for our family of 4. Another friend group was traveling with us (2 adults, 2 kids) and I let them know we had the cabana, and they could use it for stroller parking, baby changing, etc. as they needed throughout the day as they were fine using the chairs on the beach.

Not more than 2 minutes after our friends initially arrived at the cabana, a Carnival employee walked by and stopped at our cabana and asked how many were in our group since there is a 4-person limit. I said 4, and the other couple was just visiting. He said the other couple had to leave immediately, and he was letting the island employees working with the cabana know that if they saw more than 4 people at our cabana at any time that day, that they would charge us an $100 per person.

 

It was already a mediocre cruise that left a bad taste in our mouth with CCL, so to have that poor customer service experience on top of it, was enough for us to say we won't cruise CCL anytime in future.

 

 

Yeah, not allowing 8 people at a cabana you reserved for 4 is pretty heinous.  

[Amare06]

• we were just there and had cabana #6 purple.  We had an extra person and paid the $36 for him.  

[ElCrapyTan]

22 hours ago, Bob NC said:

 

 

Yeah, not allowing 8 people at a cabana you reserved for 4 is pretty heinous.  

 

I see reading comprehension is not one of your strengths Bob...

[Sarmiento2]

From the little map picture farther up, there are no washrooms but cabana 9 but yet its seems popular. We are going next year and I love the thought of a cabana but definitely want quiet for me and my husband. Not sure if the image is incorrect. It shows washrooms between 6-7 and behind 13-14. Is that accurate? Also, the trams can take you to the farther cabanas? Do they run fairly regularly if we wanted to use them to travel to any activities at the far end?

[MistyRo76]

40 minutes ago, Sarmiento2 said:

From the little map picture farther up, there are no washrooms but cabana 9 but yet its seems popular. We are going next year and I love the thought of a cabana but definitely want quiet for me and my husband. Not sure if the image is incorrect. It shows washrooms between 6-7 and behind 13-14. Is that accurate? Also, the trams can take you to the farther cabanas? Do they run fairly regularly if we wanted to use them to travel to any activities at the far end?

We just returned from our cruise last weekend. We ended up getting cabana 10 and it was a great location. There were restrooms just right back behind our cabanas. And the food pavilion was just a short walk. We walked over there and brought plates of food for our group back to the cabana and ate there. It was not super loud or crowded down in this area at all. We could hear music from the bars in the distance. 
 

we did not use the trams except for the one that took us to our stingray excursion. But the cabana attendant sent a ride to pick us up and take us back to port. Not sure if that is normal or not. But she asked what time we wanted to leave and then came back just before that time and told us a tram would pick us up on the road just behind the cabanas. 
 

we loved having a cabana and would do it again in a heartbeat!