HALF MOON CAY, Bahamas

Named Best Private Island many times by Porthole magazine, it is easy to see why when you arrive here on a clear sunny day and get your first glimpse of this stunning crescent shaped beach with crystal clear water.

Holland America Line, part of Carnival Corporation, purchased the island in 1996 and began to slowly develop the beach side of the island. The vast majority of the island remains untouched, left alone as a wildlife habitat.

Whilst there are longer term plans in place to build docking facilities on the island, as of right now, and the foreseeable future, due to the shallow waters surrounding the island, Half Moon Cay remains a tender port. The good news is, rather than using ships tenders that normally have a 70–90 person capacity, you will often use island tender/tour boats, which can hold close to 200 guests, making it a quick tender operation in comparison to other tender ports in the region. It usually takes 10-15 minutes each way from ship to shore.

Once ashore you make your way through a welcome square area, where you’ll find restrooms, shops and a bar. It is also where organized tours meet. You might think this is just a beach day, which it can be, but you can also go horseback riding, jet skiing, have stingray encounters, or go on glass bottom boat rides, just to name a few options.

Important to note here, all of the bars on the island are run by your ship’s beverage department, so just like you do onboard, you simply use your stateroom key cards for beverage purchases. The one exception is the shops in the welcome square. They are run by locals from a neighboring island, and are cash only.

Once you do make your way along to the beach, you’ll find beach chairs all the way along. They are available for anyone to use, however just check with your ship as you may need to bring your own ships beach towel from your stateroom over to the island with you.

For more information, check out our video on Half Moon Cay here.