This was our first cruise and we were a bit nervous but aside from being sea sick the first day at sea, we had an awesome time. Here's a breakdown:
Embarkation -- Standing in line for almost two hours was a real pain but we had no real issues here.
Cabin -- We got a balcony room and I can't recommend that enough! When everyone and their mother is on the lido deck, you can sit on your peaceful private balcony and watch the sunset and it is awesome. You can have room service bring your breakfast and enjoy it out there too! The decor of the cabin was surprisingly dated but the room was clean and the bed was comfortable.
We got an extended balcony room and I can't recommend that enough! When everyone and their mother is on the lido deck, you can sit on your peaceful private balcony and watch the sunset and it is awesome. You can have room service bring your breakfast and enjoy it out there too! The decor of the cabin was surprisingly dated but the room was clean and the bed was comfortable.
There's nothing to do here except board your ship. The port isn't near anything and doesn't have a great view of downtown so it's whatever.
So convenient that you walk off the ship and are at the beach. The shops here are overpriced tourist traps but if you pass through them and walk down on the beach, you can jump right in the beautiful water. I recommend heading to the "GRAND TURK" side of the beach which was way less crowded and just as nice as the "WELCOME TO" side. You can have food and drink brought to you while you lounge in the shade under the huge palm trees, there's volleyball and a huge chess board, and a NASA exhibit. You might consider water shoes here as the sea floor is very rocky and my husband and I both cut our feet.
For this port, you have to use a tender boat to get to the island since it is too small for a big pier. This was a bit annoying in the morning when everyone was trying to go at the same time and even with the number system, it was still super crowded. As the day goes on, less people are coming and going and it's much less stressful. The beach here is awesome, the water is super clear, you can snorkel right there in the swimming area and see cool fish, there are a ton of activities all over the island, lunch is served in a huge awesome BBQ buffet, it's very clean, and there aren't pushy local vendors as this is a cruiseline-owned island.
Honestly, I would have rather skipped this stop all together and just headed home early. It's just a small strip mall in a shipping port full of pushy vendors selling the same ticky tacky crap (but at least the prices are relatively cheap aside from the random Harley Davidson store). To go and do anything beachy requires an expensive excursion or taking a taxi 20+ mins. We weren't feeling this and hung out mostly on the ship this day as it was a short stop and we got a chance to do the things that were normally too crowded (e.g., mini golf, basketball, hot tubbing, the water slides).