Half Moon Cay is located in the middle of the Caribbean and only has about 4 inhabitants year round, the rest actually commute from other islands by boat. This glorious island is owned by Carnival and can only handle one cruise ship at a time. My family and I took this specific cruise just to come spend an entire glorious day on this island, and thankfully it was our first port.

As soon as the ship drops anchor the first tender out is the crew with the food. You see this port is unlike any other. The crew goes ashore to start preparing an island barbecue for all of the passengers at no additional charge! After they are settled ashore the tenders start for all of the passengers, starting with those with excursions.

Although this island is uninhabited there is still plenty of shore excursions such as a glass bottom boat around the reef, horseback riding on the beach and swimming with the stingrays of course. My recommendation? Head to the beach, and stay there all day. You wont be sorry.  By the way yes, they do have crew members whose specific job is to make sure that you stay well hydrated, and they spend all day taking and delivering your drink orders.  Yes you can start to smell when the barbecue is ready indicating that it is time for you to take a break from the sun. This beach is not like any I have ever been too. The water is clearer and bluer than any other body of water that I have ever seen. I’m not going to lie; this is the private island from your fantasy and the least you can do is enjoy the couple hours that you get to spend on it.

When we were at Half Moon Cay on a past cruise I did do the glass bottom boat tour of the reefs and lagoon. It was a great tour and I loved every bit of it, however I didn’t bring my swimsuit ashore, and afterwards I realized that not bringing my swimsuit with me was a big mistake.

For me, this particular trip was all about relaxing. The first day of the cruise upon boarding, I scheduled myself a hot stone massage before we even left port! The second day, we tendered into Half Moon Cay where I spent the majority of my day laying in a lounge chair on the beach; the other part I was playing in the water enjoying my time on the private island. We had pina coladas, followed the chickens (their wild here) to the barbecue and most of all I took time out and was able to just relax and breathe.