Blogs from Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, Central America Caribbean

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Kamie woke-up at 6:02am this morning. He was awake, lights on, and out of bed before 7:30am yesterday. I cannot get this man out of bed before 3pm sometimes at home and this is what he chooses to do on vacation?? Eh. We arrived in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas today. Half Moon Cay is Carnival’s privately-owned island so it’s only Carnival employees and Carnival cruisers on the island. It’s one big beach party. Sand like flour. Aqua waters. Beautiful. We put on our swimsuits, lathered and sprayed 100 proof sunscreen everywhere, and caught one of the first water shuttles over to the island. I swam a lot more than Kamie. It was the kind of place I could stay all day if I had some sort of floaty and Kamie would stay with me. However, within ... read more
Half Moon Cay (the tip of the island)
Our Ship - Carnival Victory
Pirate Ship (Bar and BBQ) on Half Moon Cay


Half Moon Cay, Bahamas White, white, white, clean powdery sand in a crescent moon shape with palm trees ringing the beach. The sky is deep blue, the waters warm and turquoise. The perfect Caribbean island right out of Robinson Crusoe. We are spending the day in a fairy tale. The beaches are groomed, there are young, strong lifeguards every 400 feet, and our clamshell cabana awaits us. This island is owned and operated by Carnival Cruise Lines which also owns the Veendam, our Holland American ship. We settle in spreading our towels on the lounge chairs, shed our beach cover ups and head for a walk to the far reaches of the beach. As the small waves lap at the shore, our feet hit what seems like cold water, but that’s just because we are so ... read more
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas,
OUR CLAMSHELL FOR THE DAY
Sea Grapes


It's not the alarm that awakens us at 7. It's the whirring of motors and clanging of metal against metal that brings us out of an otherwise restful night's sleep. Just below our window sits a 50' commercial vessel, bobbing up and down, with a small crane swinging about. Several workmen are moving some materials on or off the ship through the access door on Deck A, two levels down. Now the alarm clock sounds and, while the commotion below is over, there is no return to "dreamland" so we're up. Our ship is scheduled to moor off Half Moon Cay at 8am where we have reserved another clam shell, the same thing we had last week. Since we're free to come and go to the island at any time between 8-4pm, we take our time ... read more
Welcome to the Island
Half Moon Cay From Our Ship
On the Ferry to Half Moon Cay


Today our stop is Half Moon Cay. Holland America Line’s Half Moon Cay was named for its long crescent beach. Both HAL’s vessels and Carnival Cruise Lines ships stop at this privately-owned paradise. Located on 55 acres of the 2,400-acre Little San Salvador Island, It is an international bird sanctuary in The Bahamas and only two percent of the island is developed. We've been here several times before and participated in some of the activities offered. There's a variety to choose from: horseback riding on the sand and through the surf, a stingray adventure,a visit to the Half Moon Lagoon Aqua Park, maybe a hike on a nature trail or simply relaxing in an air-conditioned, private beachfront cabana. That doesn't make sense for us at $500/day but a group could rent one complete with butler service ... read more
Sunrise Over the Caribbean From Balcony
On the Tender Toward the Island
Beach at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Central America Caribbean » Bahamas » Half Moon Cay February 16th 2016

I gave Sharon a hard time about how she pronounced “Half Moon Cay” (she’s been calling it Half Moon Key) after Simon referred to today’s destination just the way it’s spelled (“Half Moon Kay”); but, she insisted that she was right, and Simon, the all-knowing Cruise Director and master of our Team Trivia later this afternoon (you know the one… who’s always right), well she was adamant that he was mis-pronouncing our beach spot! Sharon doesn’t like to be wrong, especially since she knows everything (and I have my Google T-Shirt to prove it). The seas were pitching pretty well during the night and we could feel the swell in our forward berth. As I opened the drapes to let in the sunlight, massive sea-sprays were visible at our Main Deck level. Sharon doubted that we ... read more


I'm heading for the Southern Caribbean and Panama Canal to escape the Arctic vortex. Boarding at Ft. Lauderdale was a piece of cake and it was great to see the crew's smiling faces and be able to head to my cabin before the Mariner's Luncheon. The location of the Vista Dining Room as at the stern, not to be confused with the Vista Show room at the bow. My cabin is far forward so I get to burn a few calories before each meal? It's my first cruise on the Ziederdm and I am impressed with the decor and the condition of the public rooms. Unfortunately, the furniture in my cabin has been loved to death and the hide-a-bed sofa's spring has sprung and looks awful. My dinner mates are "happy people", I'm too old to ... read more
The gangs all here!

Central America Caribbean » Bahamas » Half Moon Cay November 19th 2013

HALF MOON CAY, BAHAMAS AND ONE DAY AT SEA PASSING HAITI—Tuesday and Wednesday, November 19-20, 2013 Half Moon Cay--I woke up when the ship dropped anchor this morning. This small island in the Bahamas is owned and operated by Holland America Cruise lines. Valerie’s shoulder was bothering her this morning so decided to first soak in a hot tub before disembarking the ship. Tendered to shore with Christina and Paul about 10:30 and then walked up a path to the information desk. The information we had gotten on-line said that there was a nature trail that went out to a bird sanctuary and we thought that would be a good thing to look into. The woman at the desk said that storms had decimated the bird sanctuary but that there was still a nature trail and ... read more
1311-21 Half Moon Cay from 10th floor Observation lounge and Library
1311-22 Taking the tender to the island
1311-23 The crew practicing Man Overboard drill

Central America Caribbean » Bahamas » Half Moon Cay September 30th 2010

“Winter 2010 - Island Hopping North to the Abacos” We are a bit late with this addition of the blog. My apologies. We left Georgetown on March 14th after a very successful Regatta in Georgetown. A predicted NW breeze at 15-20 knots gave us a beam reach from the Ocean Cut at the South end of Exuma Sound to the North end of Long Island called Cape Santa Maria. This famous cape is one of many landfalls made by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the new world. From this landfall we jibed and reached down the West side of the island until we arrived our favorite harbor of Thompson Bay. We were soon joined by at least 20 other boats that left Georgetown that morning. Some were staging for trips to the remote Jumentos ... read more
Ocean Beach on Long Island
With Jim & Liz on Long Island
Blue Hole 800' Deep


(2nd stop on the cruise) We tendered from the cruise ship to the private island owned by Carnival Cruiselines; Half Moon Cay. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we could have stayed on this island for a couple of days. There was nothing there but beach, a bar, beach, some hammocks for rent, and did I mention beach?! We walked along the long strip of pristine white sand, climbed over rugged rock and laid our towels down on our own private cove. It was such a relaxing, peaceful day! ... read more
the "path" that lead to the private beach
through the eyes of Choado
snorkling!


Mel and Jess are here cruising with me and today we had a fantastic beach day! Today’s port of call was Half Moon Cay, a private island owned by one of our sister lines. Though we come here every two weeks, I’ve only gotten off on the island once! It’s a tender port and of course, guests come first, so us crew members have to go back 3 hours before sail time. When I don’t finish work until at least 1am the night before, it’s difficult to drag myself out of bed early enough to make the day worth going out and coming back by 1pm - and then still have the energy to work the rest of the day and night. But rules like that get loosened when you have family cruising - thankfully! - ... read more
The Beach
The Beach
Mel Posing




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