Royal Caribbean’s personal island in The Bahamas has turn into the usual all different cruise traces examine their seashore days to, and it is clear Carnival is taking discover.
Ever since Royal Caribbean overhauled CocoCay, it appeared to leap all the opposite personal islands by going properly past a seashore and BBQ lunch providing.
Carnival introduced on Tuesday its plans to improve Half Moon Cay, which is shared with Holland America Line.
Similar to Royal Caribbean, Carnival is renaming its island. The brand new identify will likely be “RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay.” You wouldn’t be alone in noticing “RelaxAway” rhymes with “Excellent Day”.
Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy mentioned in an announcement, “Calling this piece of paradise RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay reinforces our dedication to protect the attributes that make the vacation spot so interesting as we broaden entry and welcome extra friends to the vacation spot’s crystal-clear waters, white-sand seashores and plush landscapes.”
“A lot of our 2026 and past itineraries will characteristic each RelaxAway and Celebration Key, offering friends with complimentary experiences having fun with each idyllic and supreme seashore days.”
The brand new enhancements will start to be accomplished by summer time 2026 and proceed via the tip of the 12 months.
What’s coming to RelaxAway
As a result of Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line share visits to the island, the upgrades will likely be a joint operation.
When the work is finished, the island can have an expanded beachfront expertise, lunch venues, a wide range of bars and, “different options that may reinforce the vacation spot’s pure magnificence and tropical attraction.”
One other web page out of Royal Caribbean’s playbook is so as to add a pier to the island. This can permit cruise ships to dock as a substitute of tendering to the island.
The newly-constructed pier will likely be situated on the north facet, and might accommodate ships as giant as Carnival’s Excel class ships. This would be the first time these dimension ships can go to the island.
When friends stroll down the pier, they’re going to get to the welcome plaza on the island’s south and north sides.
The south facet will “obtain a refreshing Bahamian touch-up”, a brand new seashore membership, an up to date lunch venue and renovated services.
On the newly developed north facet, there will likely be two lunch venues and a wide range of island-themed bars.
There may even be a brand new tram service to make it simpler for friends to get across the island.
As well as, lounging areas will likely be expanded, cabanas added and a brand new shore tour pier on the north facet will join friends with leisure actions.
Carnival says all of those upgrades are designed with nature in thoughts, “together with structure that enhances the island’s gorgeous authenticity.”
Anticipate additional particulars to be revealed within the coming months.
Personal islands are huge enterprise
Cruise line personal islands usually are not a brand new idea, however providing greater than only a swath of seashore is totally different.
All the main cruise traces have at the least one personal vacation spot, and plenty of traces are as much as two. Royal Caribbean has CocoCay and Labadee, with a 3rd coming to Mexico.
Personal islands make good enterprise sense. They seize extra of their prospects spending, the capability and facilities are instantly managed by the cruise line to make sure it matches up with their requirements, and it delivers excessive visitor satisfaction charges.
Royal Caribbean Worldwide President and CEO Michael Bayley mentioned their personal island is on the very prime of visitor approval rankings, “CocoCay is the primary vacation spot that Royal Caribbean goes to on the earth out of 100 world locations, as a result of it’s a curated expertise designed and constructed to ship a high-level expertise to the shopper. On the finish of the day that’s all that issues.”
With overtourism issues and votes to restrict cruise ships abound, personal islands are seen as a protected guess to make sure ships have a very good fallback if itineraries have to be altered.
Plus, it is generated further income for the cruise traces. At a time when all cruise traces are paying again hefty loans incurred throughout the cruise trade shutdown of 2020-2021, rising income anyplace doable is a brilliant transfer.
Carnival is not simply engaged on Half Moon Cay. They’ve already introduced a $600 million undertaking to construct its personal vacation spot at Celebration Key on Grand Bahama, which is ready to open in 2025.