Spring Break 2023
Monday, March 13th
Grand Turk
We woke up and got around early today in anticipation of another full day of fun and sun. We quickly got ready and jumped into lines to get our breakfasts and left the ship as soon as we could. Like most Carnival ports, we were checked off the ship onto a cruise ship pier that funnels passengers through a duty-free gift shop. I couldn’t tell you whether the ports came up with this first or Disney, but it’s an amazingly effective tactic to shake down people for more money before they leave. They had a very poor selection of men’s flip flops.
Would you believe it? Once we were off the pier, we found the mystical unicorn: STARBUCKS! I mean, never mind that there’s iced mocha frape overly caffeinated coffee type beverages on the ship, we gotta go to the Starbucks to get the good $9 a drink stuff. We ducked our heads into a few shops looking at the souvenir selections but decided we would come back later after our excursion.
Wasting Away Again
After our quick look around, we decided to spend a little time in or around the water. We walked into the Margaritaville complex in the port area. I could have built my own flip-flops in the gift store but decided I wanted something built for comfort and speed, not a Dollar Store build a flop. The girls went to the beach while I grabbed a nice spot to sit and put down the items we had brought with us or already purchased. During this time I noticed a second Carnival ship was pulling up to the pier. This place would be getting busy soon.
I had started getting on the Wi-Fi to check email and sports news (gimme a break, it’s tournament time!) when the girls decided to move to the pool. We walked around a bit and found a nice location on the far side of the pool away from the bustle and noise. Amy bought a local beer and brought it back to me to let me try. The beer was called ‘I Soon Reach’ and was delicious in the island heat.
Tour De Turk
It was soon time for us to meet up with our tour guides and get the Island Golf Cart Tour started. We collected our belongings and made our way out of Margaritaville just before the crowd from the second ship began filing in.
The sun sure is bright and warm here. I drank a bottle of water. A LITER bottle of water within an hour. Luckily, the guys leading us on the tour had brought a cooler full of ice and water. I may have downed 4 or 5 more of those before our three-hour tour was over.
Our tour first passed by the James Alexander George Smith McCartney International Airport was named after Grand Turk’s first Chief Minister and only national hero after he tragically died in a New Jersey plane crash in 1980. Yeah, I had to open my big mouth. I’m glad I did, otherwise I would have never learned that he was their only national hero.
Donkeys and Babies
There are several bodies of standing water on the island’s land. At first it was a little gross to us, but we hadn’t realized that there had been a good deal of rain over the past few days that caused these areas to pool up. There are also several donkeys on the island – like three hundred of them. We would see them here and there and about everywhere. Our tour guide explained that the pits were where salt was mined for most of the early 20th century. The donkeys were brought to the island to move the salt around as it was mined. When the salt companies left, both the pits and the donkeys were left behind. After explaining this all out, our guide said “Now, the only thing the island produces is donkeys and babies.”
We made a stop at a church which doubled as a bar. I had some more water (it is really hot and bright here), Amy had another I Soon Reach. On the route back to the port, we passed by a replica of Friendship 7 which had splashed down nearby in 1962. There was another one back at the port with the entire story on display. We then stopped at another beach for a few minutes, then made our way back to the port.
Shopping!
After completing the quick tour of the island we returned to the port. We went to every store that wasn’t jewelry and Starbucks (we had already been there), but we dropped the most at our favorite – Ron Jon’s where I got some appropriate flip-flops (finally) and a hat to protect me from the sun which had already turned me purple. We also stopped at Piranha Joe’s and then headed back towards the ship through the duty-free store.
I bought a Dr. Pepper … maybe two. They didn’t have Dr. Pepper on the ship and I was having withdrawal. We also ended up with some Pringles, candy, and some other stuff. By the time we finally got out of there, it looked like we were the proverbial 12-year-olds on a road trip.
Back on Board
We returned to our room, showered, and took naps then went to dinner. We were there by 6pm. I ordered a steak and a wedge salad, trying to keep it simple so our dinner might arrive quicker. Bingo started at 7:30 and I was worried our dinner would be slow again.
Bad News – Good News
Aaaand it was. My salad finally arrived at 6:45. Seeing how things were going, I chowed down on my lettuce, tomatoes and blue-cheese and ran to get my free bingo cards. Now I was stuck in a lengthy line for the cards and worried I was going to miss a steak. Sadly, it turned out I didn’t need to wait in this line as they informed me that I won the $30 in casino credit instead. Knowing the girls were excited about bingo, I bought cards anyway and rushed back to find my steak waiting for me and everyone else finished with dinner.
I gave the cards to the kids and let them head out to start playing while I ate. The steak flank carpet thing was terrible. I’ve had much better on other Carnival cruises, but the whole dining experience on this one was leaving a lot to be desired. I left much of it unfinished, and Amy and I joined the kids at bingo.
We didn’t win, but the girls had fun. The people in front of us won TWICE!
Making Friends
We went out to the atrium bar after bingo and ordered some fun drinks for the girls. A young lady from St. Louis began talking to us at the bar. At first, we didn’t notice it, but she was waaay out over her skis and began talking to us about all kinds of things we didn’t want to know. The bartender began giving her sideways looks and the girls quickly got embarrassed and left to get some ice cream. I probably should have too…
After we somehow extracted ourselves from that situation, we made our way to the Red Frog Pub. The Sunrise Band was playing 80’s requests all night tonight and they rocked it. They knew every song requested and knew it well.
80’s Glow Party
Back on the Lido deck (this being the main attraction area where the pool and most activities are), the cruise director started up an 80’s Glow Party. Emma and Cooper jumped right in but what started out as just a few people quickly grew to 100-200 people dancing and having fun with glow sticks and 80’s clothes.
The cruise director taught everyone how to do each dance step quickly and so everyone would remember it. By the end of the night, the girls knew how to do the dance to “Thriller” and several other songs from the eighties. The best part of all of this was how fun the director made this party. We have had some good cruise directors in the past, but this one was the most active I have seen.
After the Glow
Once the glow party was over, we went back to the bar to watch the end of the band’s performance. They finished up after another hour or two and then sent us all away. They deserved their rest. We headed back to our cabin and ended the day.