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1st stop,Grand Turks, you have 6 hours, pros and cons, do's and don'ts?


LongHill44
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We head left from the ship to Jack's Shack. Chairs are free, there is a charge for umbrellas, but I don't remember what it was. There are fewer rocks in the water down there & it's fun to play with the golden doodles, Topher & Calypso. They also have a grill - we always have jerk chicken & fries and enjoy an adult beverage.

 

Also note that if you visit their website, there is a printable coupon for a free rum shot.

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Do you mean the little dilapidated souvenir shops that the locals sell from? I've noticed how nice (and un-crowded) the beach is there. I didn't know you could rent chairs and umbrellas there though. Cool. We're visiting GT again in a few months. I might have to check this out. I ha...um, dislike the area where the ship docks, Margaretville and all that.

 

 

 

No there are these 5 pink cottages next to Jack’s Shack. They look like a hotel or timeshare. We got our chairs from a lady standing on the beach.

 

 

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Some of the best snorkeling and scuba in the Caribbean. It's offshore so one must do an excursion but well worth it if one likes this sort of thing.

 

I have seen people give money to people there right next to Jack's Shack with boats and they went out from there. I don't know any of the company names or anything. I guess one could just walk down there and find someone with a boat. Everyone likes money, right? :)

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I have seen people give money to people there right next to Jack's Shack with boats and they went out from there. I don't know any of the company names or anything. I guess one could just walk down there and find someone with a boat. Everyone likes money, right? :)

 

 

 

With regards to this, are there also vendors as you get off in the cruise port in case we don’t precook White Sands or Exclusive Escapes?

 

 

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Oh yes, mustn't forget about the free rum shots! It took us 7 minutes to walk from the ship to Jack's and 14 minutes to walk from Jack's back to the ship. I guess the first direction we were excited to get there & still full of energy. By afternoon, we were reluctant to leave, hot, tired and possibly had a few drinks while we were there, which left us too relaxed to rush along the beach.

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Anyone doing non-carnival/cruise line excursions has to meet outside the port gates, at least officially. They didn't seem to check incoming like Amber Cove tho. I didn't see anyone advertising at the pier excursions tho.

 

With regards to this, are there also vendors as you get off in the cruise port in case we don’t precook White Sands or Exclusive Escapes?

 

 

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If you're unlucky enough to be the second ship to arrive at Grand Turk, then the area near the pier will be crowded. If you want some quieter beach time, walk to Governor's Beach; it's just past Jack's Shack and the small commercial pier (look for the half-sunken ship). It's seldom crowded there.

 

I've done the snuba excursion through Carnival and Oasis Divers twice at Grand Turk and had good experiences both times...and the excursion didn't take all day so there was still time to snorkel at the beach by Margaritaville. There is good snorkeling out by the safety line, where the bottom drops from around 15 feet (by the sunken anchors and cannon) to around 40 feet where it was dredged for the ship-channel. Saw lots of fish out there, and there's also a small tunnel/overhang you can swim through. (I didn't try, as I didn't have a spotter with me. :) )

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I have seen people give money to people there right next to Jack's Shack with boats and they went out from there. I don't know any of the company names or anything. I guess one could just walk down there and find someone with a boat. Everyone likes money, right? :)

 

 

How many people could these boats hold?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thinking about renting 2 golf carts or a car for the day when visiting Grand Turk. Is it easy to find parking when you visit the small downtown area and the lighthouse? One other question... if we want to go back to the ship for lunch is there somewhere we can park the golf cart or car for an hour while we do that? Thanks

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Thinking about renting 2 golf carts or a car for the day when visiting Grand Turk. Is it easy to find parking when you visit the small downtown area and the lighthouse? One other question... if we want to go back to the ship for lunch is there somewhere we can park the golf cart or car for an hour while we do that? Thanks

 

Don't think of "downtown" like a traditional downtown area. There really is not much there. There is PLENTY of parking anywhere you go, except at Jack's which there's still parking there. A golf cart is easier to park and get around though imho.

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Just back from Carnival Pride - stopped at Grand Turk on July 4th. We (2 adults, 2 17 year olds) got off the ship and headed to the taxi area, found a great guy/guide - paid $25pp for a 2+ hour tour around the island and dropped us off at Pillory Beach for a couple more hours, then came to pick us up. Money well spent! He showed us all around and made stops along the way for photos.

 

Pillory Beach was practically empty, donkeys walked up to us, we saw a couple get engaged, fun way to spend some quiet time away from the cruise crowds. When we got back to the dock, walked into Margaritaville and lasted 15 whole minutes amongst the mobs.

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You could park back at the pickup/dropoff point, just make sure the vendor knows you are doing that so they don't think you are done with it for the day and pick it up. You still will need to hike into the port area. The guards may let your drop someone off with a cart, but I doubt they would let you park it in the taxi area...

 

Thinking about renting 2 golf carts or a car for the day when visiting Grand Turk. Is it easy to find parking when you visit the small downtown area and the lighthouse? One other question... if we want to go back to the ship for lunch is there somewhere we can park the golf cart or car for an hour while we do that? Thanks
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Really interested in seeing the lighthouse. Are you able to go in it or get up close to it? Is it easy to get to?

 

It's on the opposite end of the island, grab a golf cart and head up there. You cannot go in it but you can go to it. It's like $2/pp to get into the little area where it's at, but then you get a $2 coupon off drinks, snacks, gift shop, etc.

 

It's very easy to get to though.

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It's not that exciting, but there's some neat photo ops in the same area and the donkeys like to visit the parking lot. It was $3 to get in, and you got either $3 in the giftshop or bar back (we traded ours in for a bottle of water each just to cool down).

 

Took us about 20 -30 mins to get up there in a golf cart once we figured out how to get there.

 

 

Really interested in seeing the lighthouse. Are you able to go in it or get up close to it? Is it easy to get to?
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  • 2 weeks later...

If you don't want to spend money, the beach is nice right off the ship and there is pretty good snorkeling there, too. I would recommend going in the morning because you could snorkel by the drop off. But, when we continued snorkeling after lunch the safety line/buoys seemed to have moved in further so you couldn't snorkel out to the drop off.

 

This video on YouTube shows part of the drop off with a barracuda and how close the ship is to where you are snorkeling at the end.

 

Watch the flounder that's hard to see:

 

Looks like general snorkeling:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Jack's Shack ? When you get off the ship & stand with your back to the ship & sea, is jack's shack to the left or right of the port buildings?

 

Jack's is to the left. We just walk down the beach to get there. Took us about 10 minutes going there & 15ish to go back to the ship.

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Jack's Shack ? When you get off the ship & stand with your back to the ship & sea, is jack's shack to the left or right of the port buildings?

 

 

As stated, it is to the left. When you look toward the end of the pier, it's the "Welcome To" side, instead of the "Grand Turk" side. :)

 

You can judge the distance to Jack's pretty easily while your ship is approaching the pier. Go to the port side of the ship, as ships ALWAYS dock facing forward at Grand Turk and the island will be on the left. As you approach you'll see a half-sunken ship, then a small commercial pier, and then the beach, loungers, etc. Jack's Shack is to the right of the commercial pier. You'll see it's not that far at all.

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