Our S2S Adventure - Freedom / Spirit (with pics) - 1/7/23

Jamman54 · February 16, 2023

We are approaching the pier. The Carnival Sunrise has been here since 7am. However, their debarkation has stopped, and the pier cleared of all passengers until we are fully docked and tied up……

Here are a few views of the upper decks of the Carnival Sunrise……

The Spirit is slowing gliding into her berth. You can see that the workers have made a lot of progress in the last six days on the pier repair…..

To be continued……

Jamman54 · February 16, 2023

We continue to watch from our balcony as the Spirit eases into her berth…..

The dockworkers secure the bowlines…..

We are docked at 8:15am. Debarkation resumes on the Sunrise…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

The Spirit is cleared for passengers to go ashore at 8:45am. We are in no hurry to get off the ship. We figure to spend two to three hours at Jack’s Shack, and with the Sunrise leaving at 2pm, and we leaving at 6:30pm, it will be less crowded this afternoon. We decided to head up to the Lido for a leisurely breakfast.

Afterwards, I decided to head over to the Red Frog Rum Bar, and Patti was going to take pictures from on top of the bridge all the way forward on Deck 9……

This is the ship's bell.....

Patti’s camera has an amazing zoom so she’s going to have some fun with it. Here’s a view of the island on the right side of the pier…..

She zooms out to the conch graveyard…..

Here are a couple of views of the beached whale…..

Here are a few of the Friendship 7 exhibit…..

To be continued…….

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

Here is the pier leading to the island…..

Here are a couple shots of the beach in front of Margaritaville…..

Patti zooms into the pool in Margaritaville, and right into our Grand Turk vacation home…..

Here are some views of the pier from the bridge wing…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

Patti makes her way down to the Red Frog Rum Bar to retrieve me and we make our way back to the cabin. There we find that the laundry that Patti sent out yesterday has been returned……

We hung out for a while, and around noon we left the ship…..

Patti had taken a gazillion pictures when we were here on the Freedom just six days ago, so she won’t be repeating that today. If you need a refresher, please go back to post # 195. As we passed through Margaritaville on our way to Jack’s Shack, she took this picture of our Grand Turk vacation home, which today is unoccupied…..

Patti and I are heading down the beach to Jack’s Shack…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

We have made it to Jack’s Shack……

Again, Patti took a multitude of pictures here six days ago showing all the improvements that the new owners have made here. They have really done a great job of upgrading the place. For a refresher see post # 203.

We pay $23 for an umbrella and two loungers. We got settled in and immediately noticed that there were still dogs hanging around here…..

Here’s a view looking down the beach towards Margaritaville…..

Here we see the Sunrise and Spirit docked in Grand Turk…..

The beach here is much nicer than by Margaritaville as there aren’t any rocks. Here I am enjoying the water…..

Here are a few views of me and the ships…..

To be continued……

pirate4me2 · February 17, 2023

Ahhhhh, Grand Turk! My favorite port, that water is so beautiful!

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

Patti gets me a beer and brings it down to the edge of the water to me. This process was repeated a few times over the next hour or so…..

We noticed that the place was now pretty empty since the people from the Sunrise had to get back to their ship. We thought that this was a good time to order our lunch. The process here is to order your food at the bar, pay for it, and then you pick it up at the window. That seems easy enough, but this is where we began to run into a problem. Even though there were only a couple of people at the bar, the two bartenders were completely inattentive. I practically had to beg them to put our order in and get us a couple of drinks. Even with that, I gave him a good tip, which he never acknowledged or said thank you for.

Both guys spent the whole time with their faces buried in their phones. Plates and glasses from people that had left a while ago were left on the bar. I had to clean two spots for Patti and I to sit at. Jack and Janet would not have put up with this! Anyway, here are the drink and food menus…..

For lunch Patti had a cheeseburger and I had the jerked chicken and conch fritter combo. The food was very good……

While we were eating, the Sunrise backed away from the pier, spun around, and headed out to sea…..

To be continued….

VictorWI · February 17, 2023

I can't wait to get back to Grand Turk. Looks even better than I remember it.

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

Once again I had to pull some teeth, but I was blessed to receive another beer. I was done when the two of them started drinking shots while other people were trying to get drinks. We don’t think we will return here unless we read some glowing reviews in the future. We decide to head back to the ship. Patti poses with the sign…..

Here are a couple of views of the Spirit as we walked back to Margaritaville…..

We still have three hours before we sail but Margaritaville is becoming a ghost town…..

As we walk out on the pier Patti looks left and takes a couple of pictures of the beached whale…..

We have made it back to the Spirit. Our cabin is on Deck 7 in the middle of the second picture…..

To be continued…..

300dtc · February 17, 2023

Jeff, thanks for this double review…great as always! Do you remember the beer prices at Jacks? We are getting on the Spirit next Saturday 🥳

Edited February 17, 2023 by 300dtc
Cheers, Maryann

pirate4me2 · February 17, 2023

That is so disappointing about the service at Jack's! We have always loved that place. I'll probably walk down and try it out at least once, but if I get the same level of service as you and Patti I probably won't return.

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

We showered and relaxed in our cabin until sail away. Here are a couple of shots of the deserted Grand Turk Cruise Center……

The workers repairing the pier are done for the day……

We did have a couple of pier runners…..

Tonight, we started with Deal or No Deal hosted by our Cruise Director Todd. As usual we got our 3 for $50 cards…..

We didn’t get selected, but this contestant had the worst luck. We wound up winning a $25 bingo package…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

Patti loved the Egyptian décor…..

We were hungry so we went up to Lido and made ourselves some plates…..

From there I went to watch the Cowboys / Bucs playoff game on the Lido screen…..

Patti walked around the ship taking pictures of all the musical acts before heading back to the cabin. The Art Shake Violin Trio is playing in the Spirit Lobby…..

Danilo is playing his guitar at the Alchemy Bar…..

Martin is holding court at the Shanghai Piano Bar…..

Music Power is rocking the Red Frog Pub…..

I watched the football game until halftime, and then headed down to the Alchemy Bar where Giovanni makes me a nightcap. Here is tonight’s towel animal and our Diamond Lunch invitations…..

Coming up next: Another relaxing sea day!

Hogladyrider · February 17, 2023

That is really sad about the poor service at Jack's Shack, but unfortunately I think it is more the "norm" in today's society.

Workers today do not seem to have the same work ethic that we "mature" older adults had when working.

The water down there is definitely much nicer than closer to the ships and so very relaxing!

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

32 minutes ago, 300dtc said:

Jeff, thanks for this double review…great as always! Do you remember the beer prices at Jacks? We are getting on the Spirit next Saturday 🥳

Thanks for reading Maryann! I was drinking Turks Head and I believe they were $6. By the bucket is probably cheaper. Enjoy your cruise on the Spirit!

25 minutes ago, pirate4me2 said:

That is so disappointing about the service at Jack's! We have always loved that place. I'll probably walk down and try it out at least once, but if I get the same level of service as you and Patti I probably won't return.

Hey Stephanie! I've been reading recent reviews online, and the biggest complaint by far is the service by the bartenders. One person stated that they waited for twenty minutes before getting up and leaving. The second biggest complaint says that per the website chairs are free and the umbrellas are $10. Everyone stated they were charged $23. We were too, but I didn't know about what was stated on the website. I didn't think that was too much, but they should change it on the website.

matt082600 · February 17, 2023

On 2/16/2023 at 10:21 AM, Jamman54 said:

Yes, they do the Sea Day Brunch. On port days they have lunch in the MDR. The day I just finished reviewing was supposed to be a Princess Cay day. 😎

Got it. Thanks!

pe4all · February 17, 2023

Will be interested in what you thought of the Diamond Lunch. We did not attend ours on Spirit.

Jamman54 · February 17, 2023

7 minutes ago, pe4all said:

Will be interested in what you thought of the Diamond Lunch. We did not attend ours on Spirit.

That will be coming up in the next segment. Really, they are all the same with the same menu, which I understand is going to change every several months in the future. We did meet some Cruise Critic people this time which is always fun.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Jamman54

nybumpkin · February 18, 2023

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Hey Stephanie! I've been reading recent reviews online, and the biggest complaint by far is the service by the bartenders. One person stated that they waited for twenty minutes before getting up and leaving. The second biggest complaint says that per the website chairs are free and the umbrellas are $10. Everyone stated they were charged $23. We were too, but I didn't know about what was stated on the website. I didn't think that was too much, but they should change it on the website.

Jeff - Thanks so much for making your way down the beach to Jack's! It has always been our "go to" place in Grand Turk - the beach and the water are so much nicer than by Margaritaville. When we visited back in August, I think two chairs and an umbrella were $23.

We had no service issues - but then, Jack was still there. In talking to him, it sounded as if he wasn't sorry to leave - many of his friends had already left Grand Turk.

We don't have another cruise right now that's going to GT, but it sounds as if the new owner needs to get their act together. There's a fair amount of competition on the beach between the cruise center and Jack's. As much as I love that stretch of beach, I may not walk that far next time....

Jamman54 · February 18, 2023

37 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

Jeff - Thanks so much for making your way down the beach to Jack's! It has always been our "go to" place in Grand Turk - the beach and the water are so much nicer than by Margaritaville. When we visited back in August, I think two chairs and an umbrella were $23.

We had no service issues - but then, Jack was still there. In talking to him, it sounded as if he wasn't sorry to leave - many of his friends had already left Grand Turk.

We don't have another cruise right now that's going to GT, but it sounds as if the new owner needs to get their act together. There's a fair amount of competition on the beach between the cruise center and Jack's. As much as I love that stretch of beach, I may not walk that far next time....

Hey Kathy! It's really a shame since the new owner(s) have fixed the place up nicely, which it needed. Now if they can fix their staff, we'll head back there again. I'll keep an eye on the reviews in Trip Advisor. Otherwise, we'll stick to our "vacation home" at Margaritaville.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Jamman54

Jamman54 · February 18, 2023

Day # 14 – (January 17^th) – Fun Day at Sea # 3.

We woke up just as the sun was rising in the east…..

It’s going to be another warm and sunny day, and the seas are fairly calm. Here are the views from our balcony as the Spirit makes her way to Bonaire……

Because we are going to the Diamond Lunch later, we are going to skip breakfast today. I head down to the Fountain Café Coffee Bar for a coffee and to pick up today’s “Fun Times”…..

At 9am we made our way to the Pharaoh’s Palace Theater for “The Wave” Morning Show…….

Patti loves the curtain with the Egyptian Hieroglyphics on it……

To be continued…….

Jamman54 · February 18, 2023

Cruise Director Todd opens the show with a member of the Fun Squad, whose name I forget, and Marc who is the Playlist Cast Manager…..

Todd interviews Fuzzy who is the Effy Ambassador on board the Spirit…..

They are joined on stage by Fernando who is the Shopping Expert on board the Spirit. We’ve seen him before…..

Todd’s version of “The Wave” isn’t even mildly entertaining, so we won’t be attending the last two sea days.

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · February 18, 2023

After the show Patti went up to browse around the shops, and I went to the Red Frog Rum Bar for a couple of Thirsty Frog Wheats. I met Patti back at the cabin and at noon we went to the Diamond Luncheon……