Grand Turk to open, or not?

[Daniel A]

The Marine Traffic Map shows the Nieuw Amsterdam docked at Grand Turk this morning!  😊

[crewsweeper]

GT is open.  HAL was in on Tuesday.  Another ship scheduled today.  And one tomorrow.

 

[GonzoWCS]

5 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

GT is open.  HAL was in on Tuesday.  Another ship scheduled today.  And one tomorrow.

 

Yes  YAY!!

[RhinoMomIL]

We are supposed to be there in March on the Mardi Gras and I wanted to book one of the cabanas right at the club at the port and they aren't listed on the shore excursions. If anyone who stops at GT can report back on the situation at Margaritaville I would appreciate it!

[crewsweeper]

17 hours ago, RhinoMomIL said:

We are supposed to be there in March on the Mardi Gras and I wanted to book one of the cabanas right at the club at the port and they aren't listed on the shore excursions. If anyone who stops at GT can report back on the situation at Margaritaville I would appreciate it!

I thought that you had to go to the Margaritaville or GT cruise port sight to book these.  Take a look there.

[NengEuis]

We were there on December 21. Most people stayed at the beach...we were on the Nieuw Statendam, which only had 1400 onboard. The Margaritaville Pool was pretty empty, and none of the Cabanas were rented. I suppose on a day with a larger ship or two ships there it would be more crowded. I noticed that the beach looks much different than pre-Covid - the GT Cruise Center umbrellas and chairs (free) are the only ones on the beach. I think we were the 4th ship to visit since reopening. Everything was clean and beautiful, as you would expect. We saw Jack's Shack as we were sailing away. We chose not to walk down there since the area around Margaritaville was so sparsely occupied. The Flowrider was not running. 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by NengEuis

[mondello]

We were there on Carnival Sunshine 12/28. Enchanted Princess made a very late appearance. I thought Jack's Shack was well worth the walk down the beach.

[crewsweeper]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:08 AM, mondello said:

We were there on Carnival Sunshine 12/28. Enchanted Princess made a very late appearance. I thought Jack's Shack was well worth the walk down the beach.

Glad to Jack is back!!

[tlund]

I keep getting an e-mail from Holland America that we need to comply with visa/COVID requirements for each port of call.  I checked all of our other ports and US citizens are exempt (plus we have our passports), however T&C has a COVID pre-approval requirement that requires those arriving in T&C have to submit a request and pre-approval ahead of time.  Sounds like just arriving via airlines but it is not clear.  For those that went to T&C recently, did you have to submit the pre-approval request for T&C?  I'm thinking not but one never knows the every changing requirements these days.

[Bostonjetset]

4 hours ago, tlund said:

I keep getting an e-mail from Holland America that we need to comply with visa/COVID requirements for each port of call.  I checked all of our other ports and US citizens are exempt (plus we have our passports), however T&C has a COVID pre-approval requirement that requires those arriving in T&C have to submit a request and pre-approval ahead of time.  Sounds like just arriving via airlines but it is not clear.  For those that went to T&C recently, did you have to submit the pre-approval request for T&C?  I'm thinking not but one never knows the every changing requirements these days.

I was there on HAL two weeks ago and we didn’t need any special forms. HAL has been gangbusters with those visa emails the past month or so though as we got like 3 of them before our cruise. I think there is a system issue. 
 

As an aside we were pretty disappointed in Grand Turk. The port area is quite nice but the “downtown” of Cockburn Town was a complete waste of time in our opinion; I’ll stay polite and leave it at that. We usually like to explore more local areas in a port and not just the Disney-fied cruise complex but if we ever go back to GT we’ll just stay in the port area. 
 

Enjoy your cruise!  If you’re on Rotterdam be sure to check out Grand Dutch Cafe onboard; it’s wonderful. 

[Daniel A]

13 hours ago, tlund said:

I keep getting an e-mail from Holland America that we need to comply with visa/COVID requirements for each port of call.  I checked all of our other ports and US citizens are exempt (plus we have our passports), however T&C has a COVID pre-approval requirement that requires those arriving in T&C have to submit a request and pre-approval ahead of time.  Sounds like just arriving via airlines but it is not clear.  For those that went to T&C recently, did you have to submit the pre-approval request for T&C?  I'm thinking not but one never knows the every changing requirements these days.

 

8 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

As an aside we were pretty disappointed in Grand Turk. The port area is quite nice but the “downtown” of Cockburn Town was a complete waste of time in our opinion; I’ll stay polite and leave it at that.

I'm booked on a Princess cruise to GT next Thursday and Princess says all my paperwork is in order, it must be a HAL issue.  @Bostonjetset we plan to explore Cockburntown right after we do a 2-hour tram tour.  I'd really appreciate it if you were to expand on your opinion.  TIA

[Bostonjetset]

51 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

 

I'm booked on a Princess cruise to GT next Thursday and Princess says all my paperwork is in order, it must be a HAL issue.  @Bostonjetset we plan to explore Cockburntown right after we do a 2-hour tram tour.  I'd really appreciate it if you were to expand on your opinion.  TIA

This is Cockburn Town. There was nothing really there except a few rundown shops that sold tourist tack at higher prices than in the cruise port. There was a place serving food as well. Maybe I just had unrealistic expectations because so many rave about GT but I found it kind of unattractive. The beach in the port area is lovely though; that much is true. 
 

We called at Puerto Plata on the following day (but it was a sub for San Juan so only a half day) and it was great; several people on our cruise said they wish we had the longer day in the DR and the shorter day in GT. 

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Bostonjetset said:

This is Cockburn Town. There was nothing really there except a few rundown shops that sold tourist tack at higher prices than in the cruise port. There was a place serving food as well. Maybe I just had unrealistic expectations because so many rave about GT but I found it kind of unattractive. The beach in the port area is lovely though; that much is true. 
 

We called at Puerto Plata on the following day (but it was a sub for San Juan so only a half day) and it was great; several people on our cruise said they wish we had the longer day in the DR and the shorter day in GT. 

 

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

 

I'm booked on a Princess cruise to GT next Thursday and Princess says all my paperwork is in order, it must be a HAL issue.  @Bostonjetset we plan to explore Cockburntown right after we do a 2-hour tram tour.  I'd really appreciate it if you were to expand on your opinion.  TIA

Gotta agree with Bostonjetset about little to do in Grand Turk as we have been there a couple of times.  We also did the tram ride the first time.  Glad we did , but wouldn't do it this time.

 

We'll just eat breakfast on board, then head out, do a walk thru the port shops, then head down the beach, past the Buffet bar, and go to Jack's Shark for a few beverages.  Drink local.  Go to the Jack's Shack website and print a coupon for a couple of free rum shots.  

[tlund]

13 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

I was there on HAL two weeks ago and we didn’t need any special forms. HAL has been gangbusters with those visa emails the past month or so though as we got like 3 of them before our cruise. I think there is a system issue. 
 

As an aside we were pretty disappointed in Grand Turk. The port area is quite nice but the “downtown” of Cockburn Town was a complete waste of time in our opinion; I’ll stay polite and leave it at that. We usually like to explore more local areas in a port and not just the Disney-fied cruise complex but if we ever go back to GT we’ll just stay in the port area. 
 

Enjoy your cruise!  If you’re on Rotterdam be sure to check out Grand Dutch Cafe onboard; it’s wonderful. 

Thanks for clarifying.  Was reading your review on the HAL threads.  Notices were just giving me concerned. Looking forward to Rotterdam.