Blogs from Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, Central America Caribbean

Background: We began our trip in style with a limo trip to the airport (courtesy of Deb, our travel agent) and processed through the ignominious TSA experience in good time leaving plenty of time to wait for the flight to Miami. We flew in one of the smaller jets with our seats in the row in front of the exit row. Lesson learned on this experience: the near vertical, non reclining seat was not good for the backs – next time ask questions of our cruise line booking person, if possible. Our stay at the Hyatt Pier Sixty Six hotel was uneventful except for the acquaintance with resort prices in a “past its prime” facility. The room views were marvelous of the intercostal waterway on a beautiful afternoon and we were close to the pier to ... read more

As beautiful as it is, Grand Turk was a difficult island for me to visit, in large part, I believe, because it was signalling the end of our trip. We rode bikes a little bit around the island, and that was fantastic. The trees and foliage that grew from crowded front yards only 20 yards from the ocean were beautiful, and I enjoyed imagining what it would be like to live there, live on one of thsoe homes, and be surrounded by that every day. As we rode we were "guided" by two locals, however, and that didn't help to improve my mood. They were truly inept. They continued to repeat some combination of brochure platitudes: "This is a truly historical part of the island" "As you can see" "As far as the eye can see" ... read more

Well, we have reached our final port before Fort Lauderdale! We arrived at our Grand Turk dock about 1:00 this afternoon and are scheduled to sail toward Fort Lauderdale at 6:45. Grand Turk is only 7 miles long and just over 1 mile wide and is the capital and seat of the Turks and Caicos government. It has been a longtime favorite destination for divers to explore the 7,000 foot-deep pristine coral walls that drop down only 300 yards out to sea. On shore, the tiny, quiet island is home to white-sand beaches, the National Museum, and a small population of wild horses and donkeys, which leisurely meander past the white-walled courtyards, cute churches, and bougainvillea-covered colonial inns. Although it has the 2nd largest population of all the Turks and Caicos, Grand Tusk’s permanent population is ... read more

Well today unfortunately didn’t go as planned as we had some bad news this afternoon. We arrived in Grand Turk early in the morning. Lin didn’t have any tours booked but I had a 4x4 Safari tour that didn’t leave until 12:30. So we had a leisurely breakfast in the Lido then headed off to do some shopping (Lin’s idea not mine). She was trying to find some shoes (she forgot her walking shoes) but the shops right at the dock don’t have that type of thing. It was very hot (someone said over 100 and it seemed that way to me) so we decided to stop by Margaritaville to cool off (ok I had a coke and Lin had an Ice Tea). We were the only ship in port so it wasn’t very crowded. Lin ... read more

Today we’re in Grand Turk. As part of my teen program, every cruise I offer a shore excursion where the teens get to go on a tour in port with their friends and me - no parents. Gin, who is cruising with me, and I had had plans to go on a tour of the island and hang out on the beach afterwards. But with such a high teen count, of course I had enough teens sign up to run the tour this cruise, so I had to work. Ginny went off on the bus tour on her own and I met my teens to take them ashore. I had 8 teens today - the largest teen tour I’ve ever run! We didn’t have far to go; our tour was right on the beach at the ... read more

We were in Grand Turk today, but only from 7am - 2pm which sucked. After a long night of work, we were also out at the disco late so getting up this morning was difficult. Brooks & I were lying on the beach by 11:00. I promptly fell asleep - until it was time to get back on the ship for lunch and work! It felt a bit like a waste of a port day, but I’ve already seen all of the island, so there wasn’t much to do besides lie on the beach. We were in port with another Carnival ship, the Elation, today. Didn’t go on the ship this time, but we had good views of their Lido Deck from ours. I’ve been having a good cruise with my teens. I think they’re having ... read more