Govenor's beach, Jack's shack or area clost to port?

[vmom]

Looking to spend a day at the beach with some snorkeling and swimming.

 

Looking for recommendations.

 

When we went to Grand Turk a few years back, there were a lot of posts recommending Governor's beach, but lately I haven't seen too much mention of that beach. Wonder if it is not as nice as it used to be? Or is it just that other places have become more popular?

 

Thanks

[Peace2U]

I'm curious too. I want to see Governor's Beach.

[fran128]

Hi everyone:

 

We are Fran and Stan and will be cruising on January 28th (my birthday) on the Holland America Eurodam. We have not been on a cruise for the last ten years, but we have been on Celebrity, Princess-2x and Royal Caribbean. This is our first on Holland America. Any suggestions or tips on where to eat (which restaurants you may love or hate on the ship), beaches in San Juan, Turks and Caicos and St. Thomas as we love to go to the beach, or anything you can think of, would be so helpful to us. We have a guaranteed stateroom, but don't know where. So any suggestions about decks or rooms (with balcony) would also be so helpful to us. It seems some of you know all about Half Moon Cay and even know there are cabanas. We are from New Jersey, but have recently retired and also have a home in Florida. Also a big question for me as I love lobster is when do they have a lobster night if they do on the Eurodam. I wouldn't want to make reservations at one of the speciality restaurants and miss my favorite food - lobster. :)This is all new to us, so any help is appreciated. People like you can make this cruise better and nicer for us with any suggestions.

[slabeaume]

We were on Grand Turk the first week of Nov. and the locals recommended Pillory Beach. We did take a taxi there and it looked like a great beach for lounging and snorkeling, but the surf was too high that day. We had hoped to go to Governors on the way back to the port, but figured the surf would be just as rough. In fact, all the snorkel excursions were cancelled that day. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad right by the port, so we snorkeled there and it was better then I expected. Not great, but still a fun day. I have a picture of Pillory and some from by the port in a link displayed in another message in the Grand Turk forum in case you're interested in those 2 beaches.

[Peace2U]

Will check into Pillary.

[cibaygirls]

I was in gran turk last year and did a horseback riding tour and I believe we were on Governor's beach.. there was a construction zone in between it and the pier so I don't believe you could walk down to the beach to it. It was beautiful but no one was on it, so I am not realy 100% it was in fact that beach. we were right behind the governor mansion so can't see how it wasn't

 

I would recommend Jacks over staying at the pier.. less crowded and you get a little bit more of a local flavor. Great food, great people! I was not initially a fan of GT the first time i went there but after going this past time and seeing that beach and Jacks I want to book another stop there

[mystone99]

Looking to spend a day at the beach with some snorkeling and swimming.

 

Looking for recommendations.

 

When we went to Grand Turk a few years back, there were a lot of posts recommending Governor's beach, but lately I haven't seen too much mention of that beach. Wonder if it is not as nice as it used to be? Or is it just that other places have become more popular?

 

Thanks

 

If you want to stay close to the ship, I would go to Jack's Shack. Very nice people, good food and drinks, not overrun like Margaritaville. Ocean good for swimming, but not great snorkeling. We had a great time.

We had tablemates go to Pillory Beach and said they loved it and snorkeled there.

[LDIdeals]

Based on recommendations on this board, while on a port stop at Grand Turk my husband and I ventured down the beach eager to hang at Jack's Shack for a brew and more. Have to say that prices were higher than another local establishment between Margaritaville and Jack's and more importantly, we saw some racist behavior happening at Jack's which totally made us not want to spend another cent there (we only bought 2 beers). Disgusted with what we saw we left and went back down toward Margaritaville and had a wonderful afternoon.

 

So, if you care about how human beings in general are treated, I wouldn't recommend going to Jack's.

[bgal31]

I enjoyed being down at Jack's Shack not because of the actual establishment, but more of the area. If you enjoy snorkeling, just swimming out to the end of the pier was really fun. There is a drop off there with quite a few fish and fun things to look at. It is a little bit busier out there with boats so you have to be a little more careful, but definitely prefer that area to the area in front of Margaritaville. I didn't find the people at Jack's to be all the friendly or the food to be all that good, but it was nice and definitely a good place to hang out for the day with less people.

[jdvmd]

We rented two golf carts and made our way all around the island last December. Stopped in at every beach. I found Governor's Beach to be superior to Pilleroy. Pilleroy was ok. The surf was too high and we couldn't even get in the water. Lots of vegetation on the sand. It is located in front of the Bohio Dive Resort.

[elcuchio24]

Governers is nice, pretty, not crowded and not loud like around Mville. Just hook a right off the ship, you can walk around the corner or just walk down the beach.

[jdvmd]

Governers is nice, pretty, not crowded and not loud like around Mville. Just hook a right off the ship, you can walk around the corner or just walk down the beach.

 

You cannot walk directly on the beach to Governor's Beach. You have to go out through the cruise center and turn left and walk along the roadway. We met people who walked and said it took them about 25-30 minutes. They ended up getting a ride back with us on our golf carts.

[lptazbear66]

Can you just walk out on to the beaches or do you have to pay to go on them? I have seen it both ways, depending on the port.

[jdvmd]

Can you just walk out on to the beaches or do you have to pay to go on them? I have seen it both ways, depending on the port.

All the beaches are free. Chair rental at Governor's Beach is $5 or so. We didn't bother and just put our towels down in the sand.

The beach and pool at the cruise center are also free.

[WNcruiser]

I know we are in the minority, but we did not care for Jacks. It was a little longer of walk than we thought (no big deal), but when we got there it was unimpressive.

 

Jack and his wife were not that friendly and the food was just okay. It was $30 for 2 jerk chickens and 2 beers. We stopped at Margaritaville on the way back and it looked much better with a large pool, live music, and people really enjoying themselves.

 

Jacks was way over rated in our experience.

[EatonDoolittle]

I know we are in the minority, but we did not care for Jacks. It was a little longer of walk than we thought (no big deal), but when we got there it was unimpressive.

 

Jack and his wife were not that friendly and the food was just okay. It was $30 for 2 jerk chickens and 2 beers. We stopped at Margaritaville on the way back and it looked much better with a large pool, live music, and people really enjoying themselves.

 

Jacks was way over rated in our experience.

 

 

I completely agree..way overrated and disapointing.

WiFi (which is why lots of people claim they go there) is so poor, and it is in a small, dingy back room, not even at the bar or outside.

 

I found nicer peple, cheaper drinks and way better WiFi at the beach bar place closer to Margaritaville. I could sit outside under a palm tree and take care my emails from work.

 

I have read other "realistic" posts about Jacks recently, so you are not alone. Maybe people remember their rum buzz on when posting reviews, not the reality

[jdvmd]

I completely agree..way overrated and disapointing.

WiFi (which is why lots of people claim they go there) is so poor, and it is in a small, dingy back room, not even at the bar or outside.

 

I found nicer peple, cheaper drinks and way better WiFi at the beach bar place closer to Margaritaville. I could sit outside under a palm tree and take care my emails from work.

 

I have read other "realistic" posts about Jacks recently, so you are not alone. Maybe people remember their rum buzz on when posting reviews, not the reality

 

We were able to pick up wifi from our balcony on the Crown Princess. We were docked right in Grand Turk.

[w8ing2cruz]

Did One Love Cafe just open (or re-open)? There used to be a circular type bar that was made of beautiful wood RIGHT when you leave the Margaritaville property but last time I was in GT (October, 2010) it was closed. That was a cool place - hope it is the one.

[edmusic]

This was my review of Jack's after our March 2011 visit. I got flamed big time for posting our honest, truthful experience:

 

After reading all the reviews here and on Trip Adviser, my wife and I decided to fore-go Margaritaville and venture down to Jack's Shack. What a BIG disappointment. Where do I start? First, no one greeted us and made us feel welcome. There were some locals sitting at the bar and gabbing with all the help. Finally, a young gal came over to us to see what we wanted to order/drink. We told her we had read fantastic reviews about the jerk chicken. She replied "It won't be ready for another hour". Are you kidding me? Our ship pulls into port at 12 noon and we walk over by 12:30pm and they just fired up the BBQ? You'd think that they would have lunch ready to go by noon when a ship full of people pulls up at that time. So, we decided to wait as we had nothing else to do. She took our order for a diet coke and deserted us for the next 45 minutes. We finally placed our order for the chicken and by 2:00 were eating lunch. Chicken tasted great, but was chopped up very differently and most pieces had bone splinters sticking out from them. A little bit of chicken and a cold roll from the grocery store was all we got for $8. The whole time there, we felt like we were intruding on their little party as not one worker ever engaged us in any type of conversation. Now, I don't need to have my hand held or ego stroked, but if your business is dependent on cruise ship tourists, you would think that Jack's staff would go out of their way a bit to make the tourists feel welcomed and try to show some interest in them and appreciate them walking past many other food and beverage stands to go to them. The only redeeming part of the visit was watching their cute dog, Topher, digging his head in the sand time and time again. I can not recommend this place. In fact, a few other competitors have opened up on the sand nearby and we should have tried one of them, but had read nothing but great things about Jack's. After spending 3 hours of being bored and ignored, we headed back to the ship and decided to stop by Margaritaville. It was lively, colorful, full of people, good music playing, great swimming pool and lots and lots of folks having a good time. Should have gone there instead. Final HIT or MISS review of Jack's:

1. Location = MISS

2. Atmosphere = MISS

3. Friendliness = MISS

4. Customer Service = MISS

5. Food = HIT

6. Topher the Dog = HIT

7. Overall = MISS

[madaamt]

Edmusic, I appreciate you posting your honest opinion about Jacks I think Dh and I will stay at Mville. This will be our second time there and we loved it before..

[TLHB70]

Did One Love Cafe just open (or re-open)? There used to be a circular type bar that was made of beautiful wood RIGHT when you leave the Margaritaville property but last time I was in GT (October, 2010) it was closed. That was a cool place - hope it is the one.

 

 

I hope someone can answer this. We will be in GT in just over a month. I am trying to find a great beach spot to visit. We are not interested in MVille because we want a relaxing, peaceful beach time. We do want loungers and umbrellas available. We would like to have access to food and drink as well. We do not want a loud, party atmosphere. Music is fine, but we do not want a party scene, just a beach bum scene. ;)

[EatonDoolittle]

I hope someone can answer this. We will be in GT in just over a month. I am trying to find a great beach spot to visit. We are not interested in MVille because we want a relaxing, peaceful beach time. We do want loungers and umbrellas available. We would like to have access to food and drink as well. We do not want a loud, party atmosphere. Music is fine, but we do not want a party scene, just a beach bum scene. ;)

 

 

There are 2 beach bars that would meet your criteria (same as mine) between M'ville and Jacks.

 

Not sure of the names. Just walk through / past the M'ville beach - one is right there, one is a bit further.

[TLHB70]

There are 2 beach bars that would meet your criteria (same as mine) between M'ville and Jacks.

 

Not sure of the names. Just walk through / past the M'ville beach - one is right there, one is a bit further.

 

Thank you! We look forward to experiencing it very soon!

[EatonDoolittle]

One thing to note M'ville beach definately has the most trees if you want some sun protection.

[jsbellisle]

Are there any other bars or food establishments on Grand Turk beside Mville and Jacks? :(