LIVE! Mardi Gras on the Mardi Gras 2/26 - 3/5. Let’s Cruise!

[x lindsay x]

5 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Thank you; which itinerary will you take? 

 

We're doing the Western trip as the Eastern ports are very familiar to us. We were in Amber Cove this past October and your photos brought back a lot of good memories. 

[TravelBluebird]

Good morning! We are in Grand Turk and the internet is back and working well!

 

We are taking a lazy morning then mosey-ing down to Jack’s Shack on the beach.  A little worried about crowds (I heard the pool at Amber Cove was pretty crowded yesterday) but that’s OK; we’ve been burning the candle at both ends and just didn’t want to rush off the ship at 7 AM.

 

Our view from our balcony this morning is of the...Carnival Elation!  Like River boats. We are close!

 

[TravelBluebird]

3 minutes ago, x lindsay x said:

 

We're doing the Western trip as the Eastern ports are very familiar to us. We were in Amber Cove this past October and your photos brought back a lot of good memories. 

 

Nice; I’d like to do the Western itinerary on MG: I’ve done the ports but I like them and its been awhile!

 

Yes, really liked Amber Cove! I’ll be sharing more photos from there now that I can once again.

[ninjacat123]

Looking forward to pics of Jack's Shack!!  Thanks for bringing us along👍

[Knights on the Beach]

44 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Looking forward to pics of Jack's Shack!!  Thanks for bringing us along👍

 

Same!  I think that is our plan for Grand Turk two weeks from today.  

[TravelBluebird]

Ok this is our non-busy day and we agreed to go slow...we are now in bathing suits, have achieved our yummy Americanos from Emeril’s (no line!) and our plan was Grab and Go at Java Blue...and either we missed the hours for that OR all the early beach goers cleaned em out, because there was NOTHING left.

 

So ran up to Lido; tons of people up there. Grabbed protein and fruit. And awww the towel animal brigade was up catching the sun (no image; no phone with me).

 

Daughter is doing isometric exercises. Any minute now we’re heading to the beach!

[SNJCruisers]

11 hours ago, Pirate46 said:

Do you know if the Cucina de Capitano is open or offers anything for breakfast?  I thought I’d heard they have omelette and such there. 
 

Don't believe so.  There is a mini buffet set up at Pig n Anchor, and there are take away sandwiches heated to order at Java Blue Cafe.  Of course there are the usual suspects of MDR and buffet.  Also Big Chicken is open.  

One of the areas that was supposed to have breakfast and even had a menu posted online before the inaugural was Guys Burgers, but it never came to fruition.  Emeril's has a few breakfast items for 5.00 each.

Edited March 3, 2022 by SNJCruisers

[SNJCruisers]

34 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 either we missed the hours for that OR all the early beach goers cleaned em out, because there was NOTHING left.

Port days breakfast ends at 900.  Sea days at 1100. (at JavaBlue)

Edited March 3, 2022 by SNJCruisers

[Hogladyrider]

Grand Turk was a favorite of ours BEFORE they built Margaritaville.  While the pool is huge, it gets VERY crowded and the drink prices IMO are very expensive for what you get.

 

We enjoy the snorkeling from the beach to the right of the dock, but water shoes are a must.  We purchased some really nice wall hanging glass fish plates at Grand Turk years ago.  We have them with us in our RV.

[richbum]

I have an old high school friend on this cruise with you! Sounds like everyone is having a blast!

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Port days breakfast ends at 900.  Sea days at 1100. (at JavaBlue)

 

Well that explains it. Hard being a night owl on a cruise ship sometimes; all you get is Pizza in the night hours and then they pull your breakfast early on a lazy beach day! 😂

[SNJCruisers]

5 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Well that explains it. Hard being a night owl on a cruise ship sometimes; all you get is Pizza in the night hours and then they pull your breakfast early on a lazy beach day! 😂

That's why I made the suggestion about getting a Piazza Panini sandwich and putting it in your frig.  We too are night owls and miss breakfast more days than not.

[WECRUISE4US]

Did you eat in Cucina at all?  It was open for breakfast and lunch on certain days when we cruised in October.  The Ass't Maitre'd Simona was a sweetheart.  Any chance she still there?  We are cruising

again in April on Mardi Gras.

[TravelBluebird]

We had a fantastic time at Jack’s Shack! Photos and info on the day to follow, because now is our time to ride the BOLT! 

 

I’m not going to lie; I’m definitely a bit terrified!  

 

[TravelBluebird]

23 minutes ago, WECRUISE4US said:

Did you eat in Cucina at all?  It was open for breakfast and lunch on certain days when we cruised in October.  The Ass't Maitre'd Simona was a sweetheart.  Any chance she still there?  We are cruising

again in April on Mardi Gras.

 

We are planning on Cucina for our last night; we will let you know!

[TravelBluebird]

24 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

That's why I made the suggestion about getting a Piazza Panini sandwich and putting it in your frig.  We too are night owls and miss breakfast more days than not.

 

That is an excellent suggestion; last night our Teppanyaki dinner was 9pm so we were OK. Tonight we are going to eat late in between the Mardi Gras show and Voodoo Moon.

[TravelBluebird]

Before getting on the BOLT:

 

Me:  Don’t sit on the throttle and use the boost

Daughter: What? You say you want it at maximum speed??

Me:  Oh no

 

Me on the BOLT:   Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhggggggh!

(yes, daughter is a speed demon and sat on throttle entire time (well except at one or two curves)

 

WOW I did want to see how high up we were, so I opened my eyes a few times and we were WAY up there over the water. Once or twice I felt like I was going to go sideways off, but it was a momentary sensation.

 

Came off with QUITE the adrenaline rush! We went around 2x.  

 

We had an appointment but absolutely no one else was up there before or after and they could have taken walk ins (we were surprised; since I’d heard at some of the recent full sailings it was hard to find a slot toward the end of the cruise).

 

So I’ve done it; rode the first roller coaster at sea! 

 

Didn’t see the photographer up there so there is no proof; just as well as I was screaming my head off!

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Before getting on the BOLT:

 

Me:  Don’t sit on the throttle and use the boost

Daughter: What? You say you want it at maximum speed??

Me:  Oh no

 

Me on the BOLT:   Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhggggggh!

(yes, daughter is a speed demon and sat on throttle entire time (well except at one or two curves)

 

WOW I did want to see how high up we were, so I opened my eyes a few times and we were WAY up there over the water. Once or twice I felt like I was going to go sideways off, but it was a momentary sensation.

 

Came off with QUITE the adrenaline rush! We went around 2x.  

 

We had an appointment but absolutely no one else was up there before or after and they could have taken walk ins (we were surprised; since I’d heard at some of the recent full sailings it was hard to find a slot toward the end of the cruise).

 

So I’ve done it; rode the first roller coaster at sea! 

 

Didn’t see the photographer up there so there is no proof; just as well as I was screaming my head off!

Sounds awesome!  Check Pixels just in case the photographer was sneaky😎

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

We are planning on Cucina for our last night; we will let you know!

Tomorrow you must go to Chibang at lunch for their noodle broth bowl if you haven't yet.  If you did already, go to Cucina for their pick your pasta.  You choose pasta, protein, sauce, veggies.

Edited March 4, 2022 by SNJCruisers

[TravelBluebird]

4 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Sounds awesome!  Check Pixels just in case the photographer was sneaky😎

 

We will! There is a photo of us from first formal night we want to purchase, so Pixels is on our list of “last day must dos” tomorrow!

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Tomorrow you must go to Chibang at lunch for their noodle broth bowl if you haven't yet.  If you did already, go to Cucina for their pick your pasta.  You choose pasta, protein, sauce, veggies.

 

Oh no I’m running out of time! We have not yet done the noodle broth bowl; will have to give that a try! We are going to do Cucina for the final night.

[TravelBluebird]

So here is all you need to know about Jack’s Shack!  A quick aside about how dumb I can be sometimes in that “older person using technology“ way. I was complaining about how hard it was to get my photos from my phone to my iPad when both can’t be on the internet at the same time.

Daughter cocks her head to one side and says “you know you can air drop them WITHOUT both being on the internet, right?”

 

Um..no, no I did no know that but I know that now! 😂 Wish I figured that out at the beginning of the trip!

 

OK back to Jack’s. You get off your ship, through the port area, and take a left directly onto the beach.  We were sad that the Starbucks was closed because we both have a collection of Starbucks mugs from different places, and a Grand Turk one would have been nice (I got a Curacao one on my September cruise!). 

 

You walk for roughly 12 minutes once you are at the end fo the pier (quicker if you are young and spry, longer if you are not. We ran into people last night who said it was a really long walk; if you are at all active or fit it is not). You’ll need to get to the wet part of the sand just above the waves to make walking easier.  You’ll pass Margarittaville. There was a gauntlet of vendors today, but most were polite and not pushy; they want to sell you chairs and umbrellas at their corner of the beach, trinkets, tours etc.

 

You’ll see Jack’s from the beack; has a sign, easy to spot. 

 

Once we got there, we asked at the bar if we could rent chairs and umbrellas. If you want a chair and umbrella, don’t be us and arrive late on the beach afer a sleep-in past 10am. Because all the chairs will have been rented by then. The nice older woman (I think the owner?) said we’d have to wait till someone got back from refilling the beer and we could have an umbrella in the sand (we brought our Carnival beach towels just in case).  

 

This took awhile, but this is Jack’s Shack so sitting up at the tables talking to people and meeting them was fun. We each ordered a rum drink (our first morning drinks of the cruise!). I got Jack’s Shack rum punch (Coconut rum tropical punch grenadine & dark rum) and daughter had a Jazzy Cockatoo (Coconut rum, mango juice, and dark rum).

 

We met some nice ladies from Ohio. We were watching the beach dogs roam around; one of these ladies brought them crackers so the dogs came over for pats and hung with us for awhile! Daughter talked to one of the entertainers from the ship. A happening place!

 

We got our umbrella in the sand ( $11). I did absolutely nothing except stare at the multi-shade blue waters, take photos and walk along the beach a bit; daughter is a fish and was in the water most of the time (she said there is a current so just FYI; she is a strong swimmer). About noon someone gave us their lounge chairs and umbrella and we stayed there till a bit after 2. Lovely beach, and by walking the 12 minutes from the end of the pier you can have a view of the beautiful open water and not just of the ship at port.

 

I needed souvenirs for the grandkids so got them some t-shirts at Piranha Joe’s at port on the way back; we were back on the ship shortly before 3; back on boat time was 3:30.

 

Photos below, including how Jack’s looks from the beach beach dogs, their drink and food menu, etc. Cracked conch was also available for $24.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

The following is a true story. This is what my daughter created in the room tonight after we ran out of energy. And also what happened on the beach at Jack’s Shack today:

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

 

Yes its true; the energizer bunnies ran out of batteries tonight. Simultaneously. Right after dinner.

 

After Bolt we dressed up for 2nd Elegant Night. We got drinks at Brass Magnolia, sat at the bar and listened to the Jazz Trio (I got the Brandy Crusta and daughter got the Hurricane. She does not recommend it unless you like very sweet drinks.

 

We then attended the Mardi Gras shows that are put on every week (not specifically for  our holiday of Mardi Gras this week). Honestly I wished for this week  they had moved these shows TO actual Mardi Gras. But they were delightful and really bring the spirit of Mardi Gras home. The first part is a musical tribute to New Orleans (10 live musicians including the brass trio, and the 3 main singers from the Grand Central shows). Then a Mardi Gras “parade’ that ends up at Center Stage, with our Flying Scotsman leading the celebration. Lots of white handkerchief waving from the audience, Mardi Gras costumes and colors, and the King and Queen of Mardi Gras selected at the actual Mardi Gras deck party and their families took part.

 

Here is a taste of the festivities:

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

After the shows (there was a magic show after that but we didn’t wait) we  put in for our table at Palm for YTD dinner 1t 8:30. No wait at all; got a table immediately! 

 

We split the stuffed mushrooms appetizer (4; nice spinach stuffing yum!), I had a crab cake, DD had the pumpkin soup and we both got the filet mignon. The filet was excellent quality; mine was a perfect medium rare; daughter’s was a little more medium. We both ended with the Grand Marnier Soufflé; a bit on the cakey side for texture but we both agreed it was delicious.

 

And...after dinner I looked at DD and said “um...I know we’ve been looking forward to Voodoo Moon all week, and then planned to go to the deck party, but I’m tired...” Barely got the words out of my mouth when she enthusiastically agreed!  I did gamble a little (up and down and up and down a gain, not bad) but then here I am blogging and here she is sketching.  

 

Last day tomorrow! Now that i have very good working internet (best of the week!) I have some reviews to finish (Nassau and Amber Cove excursions, the actual Mardi Gras festivities on actual Mardi Gras, etc. I’ll also catch up some on Saturday when I have LONG layover time at the airports.