Which is best for a beach day (Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Amber Cove)

[Sabalon]

I've been trying to search the boards, but I'm not having luck so I figured I'll just ask.   While not 100% Carnival related, we're on the Conquest in late June and hitting Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and Amber Cove.   My wife is wanting to do some excursions but I know she'll want a day to just have fun at the beach.  

 

Out of these four, which is the best one for getting off the ship and having a beach day?  That is one thing nice about the stops at Half-Moon and the like - built in beach time.

 

Thanks for any input.   

[evandbob]

*Grand Turk* has a nice beach right off the dock.  I like to go down to Jack's Shack at the end or a different local vendor along the way.  Some hang out right at the dock beach or Margaritaville, but that's not my style.

 

St Thomas has plenty of nice beaches, but you need a cab or an excursion to get to one.

 

I'm not a fan of San Juan beaches, they are a cab ride away from the port, but meh, something like Coney Island.

 

Amber Cove port doesn't have any beach at all, I stay on the ship there.  There are some beaches down a bit in Puerto Plata, but they are worse than Coney Island.

[scottydog123]

I Think Grand Turk is the perfect Beach Day.  Almost like Half Moon.  Nice Sand, Beautiful Water, Margarettaville pool if you get tired of the beach.   Walk to the the right of the ship and it is basically a deserted beach that they call the conch grave yard.  Walk to the left of the ship and there are lots of free chairs as well as Jack Shack which is a great place to eat drink and play with Topher.   Can't say too much for the snorkling as the only time I have snorkled in Grand Turk it was from a catamaran.  I think it is hit or miss from the beach.  But that would be my recommendation for a Beach Day.  

[brookeq]

Grand Turk is pretty much beach or snorkel.  Not much else there.  You can rent a golf cart and drive around but not much to see.  So I would definitely pick Grand Turk for a beach day followed by St. Thomas.   St. Thomas has good beaches too.  San Juan I would visit the forts and walk around town.  Amber Cove the beaches near the port aren't great at all.  We did the 27 waterfall hike.  

[mdin]

I did snorkeling and beach in Grand Turk and really enjoyed it. Very nice beaches. In St. Thomas, we did an excursion with a beach stop at Magen's Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches I've been too. I don't think you can go wrong at either place though.

[Sabalon]

Thanks.  Just looking on Google maps, Grand Turk looked like it had the best option.  I think San Juan we're going to do a fort tour.   Amber Cove - yeah...the reviews are not too friendly on a lot of the beach excursions.   There is a local restaurant owner from the D.R. so I'll have to at least get off the ship to say I did 🙂

 

The 27 waterfall hike sounds like fun, but my wife thinks it may be too much for her.   She loves snorkeling but I'm so over doing that as an excursion.  We may compromise and do snuba or something instead.  Just found a video that shows Margarittaville at Grand Turk, and the beach right off the pier.  NICE!!!!    I just imagine in real life there being 500% more people!

 

 

[coevan]

you do not need a "tour" to go to Margaritaville 

[purplephenom]

49 minutes ago, Sabalon said:

🙂

The 27 waterfall hike sounds like fun, but my wife thinks it may be too much for her.   She loves snorkeling but I'm so over doing that as an excursion.  We may compromise and do snuba or something instead.  Just found a video that shows Margarittaville at Grand Turk, and the beach right off the pier.  NICE!!!!    I just imagine in real life there being 500% more people!

 

 

 

 

You mentioned snuba- just wanted to say, it's awesome.  i understand the feeling of being "over" snorkeling excursions.  I love snorkeling but I was a little disappointed 2 years ago when i got home, and all my pictures were underwater.  Individually, all of the snorkeling was awesome, but together, it got to be too much. That's obviously not snorkeling's fault, or anyone's fault but mine, but that's how I felt.

 

This year, we went out of San Juan so we had 5 port days- we definitely mixed it up a bit more, and I was much happier.   Our ports were different from yours, except St Thomas, but we did snuba in 1 port.  I really liked the learning curve associated with Snuba- it wasn't hard, but I had to focus, and it felt like I was doing something different.  I was a little worried about being able to handle it, but it didn't require any more effort than snorkeling.  

 

We did a sea lion excursion in St thomas, but they also had snuba there.  The people who did it said it was great and they had fun. 

[RRLLAL]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

you do not need a "tour" to go to Margaritaville 

 

I think he meant the person takes you on a video tour of Margaritaville.

[Sabalon]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

you do not need a "tour" to go to Margaritaville 

 

That was a video tour on youtube of it that looked cool, showing it off.  If I go there, I just need some restraint and to loosen my belt. 🙂

[noleguy84]

2 hours ago, Sabalon said:

Thanks.  Just looking on Google maps, Grand Turk looked like it had the best option.  I think San Juan we're going to do a fort tour.   Amber Cove - yeah...the reviews are not too friendly on a lot of the beach excursions.   There is a local restaurant owner from the D.R. so I'll have to at least get off the ship to say I did 🙂

 

The 27 waterfall hike sounds like fun, but my wife thinks it may be too much for her.   She loves snorkeling but I'm so over doing that as an excursion.  We may compromise and do snuba or something instead.  Just found a video that shows Margarittaville at Grand Turk, and the beach right off the pier.  NICE!!!!    I just imagine in real life there being 500% more people!

 

 

 

I'd say you'd be a lucky man if you get there and it's this dead. A couple years back I took one look at that pool filled with kids an swim-up-bar adults and said NOPE.

 

But to answer your question, the best beaches are in St. Thomas/St. John. Take the ferry over to St. John and do Trunk Bay. You won't regret it.

Edited April 16, 2019 by noleguy84

[hotsauce126]

Grand Turk because that's pretty much all there is to do there

[Daddyfto]

Megan's Bay on St Thomas is worth the bus or cab ride.

[Sabalon]

I have just learned of a 7000' ft drop off at Grand Turk.  Ohhhhhh  🙂

 

[coevan]

1 hour ago, Sabalon said:

 

That was a video tour on youtube of it that looked cool, showing it off.  If I go there, I just need some restraint and to loosen my belt. 🙂

 

 

loosen your wallet as well for $8 beers and $15 hamburgers.  The wall at Grand Turk is an awesome dive. The best part of Grand Turk. We avoid Margaritaville, way too loud and crowded. The dive is done at noon, back to the ship for free beer and hamburgers.

[Haagendawgs]

Turks, Turks, Turks. Ideally, do the early Conch, Ray's, Snorkel and then spend your last couple hours where you start/end tour right by the boat.

 

St. Thomas is good as well, but the beach tours that don't specify Sapphire or Magen's take you to the beach at Water Island which is not nice at all.

[coevan]

no tours necessary in St.Thomas, all beaches are public, there are no AI's, just take a taxi to the beach you like. We love Coki on the east side by Red Hook and Coral World. If you know your way around, you can hop on a $2 Safari bus from Red Hook back to the ship. They run all the time and they are a cultural adventure. 

[Doggielover68]

5 hours ago, noleguy84 said:

 

I'd say you'd be a lucky man if you get there and it's this dead. A couple years back I took one look at that pool filled with kids an swim-up-bar adults and said NOPE.

 

But to answer your question, the best beaches are in St. Thomas/St. John. Take the ferry over to St. John and do Trunk Bay. You won't regret it.

I took this picture in December. It's all about timing

[coevan]

Living in St.Thomas for a while, Trunk Bay is played. Too many tourists and rising water temperatures have bleached Trunk Bay pretty bad. Cinnamon, Maho, Francis, Leinster, are all much better snorkeling.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Doggielover68 said:

I took this picture in December. It's all about timing

 

 

This was either early morning or close to sailing. There is no way to get around the fact. The place is packed during normal hours. We been to GT at least 5 times and never saw it that empty. 

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

Anyone tried this excursion at Amber Cove (or one like it)? https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/amber-cove-dominican-republic/dolphin-sharks-and-sea-lion-adventure-445128?b=4667524756713353496C764B6D62505062587A3766513D3D

[Doggielover68]

7 minutes ago, coevan said:

Living in St.Thomas for a while, Trunk Bay is played. Too many tourists and rising water temperatures have bleached Trunk Bay pretty bad. Cinnamon, Maho, Francis, Leinster, are all much better snorkeling.

 

 

 

 

This was either early morning or close to sailing. There is no way to get around the fact. The place is packed during normal hours. We been to GT at least 5 times and never saw it that empty. 

That's why I said it's all about timing. This was about 2 hours before we set sail. Anyone should know that if you go in the middle of the day, it's going to be packed. So is the beach.

[OCruisers]

Grand Turk is nice if there is only one ship.  When there are two ships, it's one too many!  

St. Thomas/St. John is a way better choice.  

[Joebucks]

We went to Grand Turk expecting a beach day. I don't know if we just came on a bad day, but we weren't overly impressed. The wate was murky and full of seaweed. It is probably one of the most convenient beach accesses of any port. It is super easy to get to. We stopped over at Margaritaville and had a great time.

 

If you want the nicest beaches, you take a ferry to St John from St Thomas. Blows everything else away. It is costly and a little hike though.

[Haagendawgs]

Grand Turk from boat.

 

Water was unbelievable.

 

[Squadleader]

Absolutely any of those ports CAN be great beach days. It's simply a function of how much time and effort to get to the beach you want. All of them will require a cab ride except Grand Turk, and my family loves Grand Turk!

 

There's simply no question Grand Truk is the easiest solution to having a great beach day. It's practically effortless. You walk down the pier to the beach, hang a left, and just keep walking until you're satisfied with the number of other people around you. Fewer ships just means you don't walk as quite as far. 

 

I've been cruising with my six children to the Carribean over about 25 cruises in the last 20 years, and after all this time, we've boiled the whole experience down to finding warm weather, clear warm water, some shade, and beautiful soft sand on the beach and in the water. Grand Turk accomplishes all these goals in spades with a simple walk off the ship.

 

One other thing, we had a great snorkeling experience snorkeling directly in front of the Grand Trunk beach, from a snorkel boat based on the beach. It was a local tour I booked a couple of years ago. The snorkeling will be down to what the locals call "the wall", the sheer several thousand-foot drop in the ocean bottom that was very impressive to view with lots of sealife. It's too far from shore to swim to (over a 1,000 feet offshore), and you also wouldn't want to swim out there without a boat because of the risk of being accidentally hit by a boat during that long swim, if you swam out there.

 

We couldn't care less about all the pool or excursions the islanders and cruise lines have tried to dream up for us throughout the Carribean, and don't do any of them anymore except snorkeling. We can do most of the other things those excursions offer at home, better and cheaper. Nope, like a great restaurant that just knocks one dish out of the park, the Caribbean has wonderful weather, water temperatures, and beaches, and we love her for that! We live in Virginia and count ourselves very lucky every year that Carribean cruising is so close, easy, and inexpensive from our home.

 

It's a hard days hike, but I can throw all my kids in the Suburban and be at any Florida port for the price of the fuel down and back, I've done the comparison many times and by the time I pay for accommodations and food, cruising is always half as much, and twice as fun! Any time I ask them if they'd rather rent a house or condo, against a cruise, they always pick the cruise.

 

So enjoy a great easy beach day at Grand Turk!