Travel Guide for a cruise to Half Moon Cay - Half Moon Cay Purple Travel Guide

Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas is an island that can only be described as paradise with its superb white sand beach and incredibly turquoise waters. It is privately owned and only accessible by cruise ship passengers. We tell you all you need to know about Half Moon Cay and we provide lots of photos so you understand what you will see when you visit Half Moon Cay.

The information on this page and much more (google maps locations, more reviews, website links, etc.) is available in our Cruising the Caribbean Guide.

Table of contents

General Information about Half Moon Cay

The climate of Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Beach

General Information about Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay, also known as Little San Salvador Island, is located about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Nassau about half the way between Eleuthera and Cat Island. It is a private Caribbean island in the Bahamas archipelago and owned by Holland America Line since 1996. Before that, Norwegian Cruise Line owned it. Holland America’s parent, Carnival Corp., uses it as a port-of-call for their cruise ships in the Caribbean. Half Moon Cay can only be visited on cruises and, sadly, cruise ships arrive in the morning and leave in the afternoon of the same day. There are no overnight stays.
About 2% of the 2,400 acre (9.7 sqkm) island are developed. Half Moon Cay does not have a deep water port, so cruise ship passengers take a tender (small passenger boat) to get on the island. Please also see Rudy's Cruise Guide.

The climate of Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay has a tropical climate with a dry season from November to April and a wet season from May to October.
Here are the temperatures and rainfall that you can expect:

Half Moon Beach

The island is known for its long white sand beach and turquoise water. There is some snorkeling, but as there is very little sea grass and there are no rocks where fish can hide, snorkeling is not something that Half Moon Cay is known for.

The gentle slope of in the water and low waves make swimming and enjoying water activities fun, even for non-swimmers. There is only one word that I can think of when I am asked to describe Half Moon Cay and that word is “Paradise”. This is where we need to be. Making Memorable Moments in paradise on Half Moon Cay.

While the beach is the main attraction in Half Moon Cay and using the beach is free of charge and so is the barbecue, there are several opportunities for you to give your money to the cruise line.

If you want to have a more comfortable beach day than lying on a towel in the sand or on one of the loungers with limited availability, you can pay up to rent a

Cabana

Beach Villa

Private Oasis

There are also several paid excursions that you can book:

Stingray Adventure

Bike & Hike Tour

Snorkel by Boat

Kayak Adventure

Horseback Riding by Land & Sea

Historic Nature Walk

Aqua Trax Watercraft Adventure

Other popular Purple Travel Guides you may be interested in:

Like this Backpack and Snorkel Purple Travel Guide? Pin these for later: