First time in Grand Turk

[CarnivalLOU]

Hello Cruise Critic members,

 

Going on a cruise to Grand Turk on Carnival Horizon. My first time in Grand Turk going with adults and kids. What would you recommend for someone to do first time going to Grand Turk?

[Tigergenesis]

You can easily make it a beach day.  We took the short walk along the beach down to Jacks Shack where we enjoyed lunch and a quieter, less crowded section of the beach.

[mrpayroll]

5 hours ago, Tigergenesis said:

You can easily make it a beach day.  We took the short walk along the beach down to Jacks Shack where we enjoyed lunch and a quieter, less crowded section of the beach.

The beach is at the end of the pier. Free chairs if you don't mistakenly use those that the locals rent out. There is a LARGE pool ( Shallow ) nearby at Margaritaville. It is free to use also. 

[Organized Chaos]

There's a smaller area to the right of the pier (as you're facing shore) that has some loungers too. Every time we've been there, this area is empty, or nearly empty. Everyone likes to go to the beach to the left, out in front of Margaritaville. The downside to this smaller area is that there are some larger rocks you have to walk over to get out where there's flatter bottom. They're not sharp or anything, but sometimes a bit awkward to navigate over in the waves. The southern point of the island is in that direction, too. Still within eyeshot of the ship. There's some nice areas to swim & snorkel along this stretch and hardly anyone goes down there.

 

When you pull into port, you'll see a large shipwreck along the shore. It's called the Mega One Triton. That beach is Governor's beach. I've read that it's a good place to look for "sea glass." Glass that's been ground down and smoothed into pebble-like pieces by the waves over time, if that's something that interests you. We plan to go there next March, which will be our 3rd time in Grand Turk. You can't get all the way to Governor's beach by walking the shoreline from the pier, though. You can walk most of the way along the beach, but then you have to go up onto the nearest road by Jack's Shack to get to Governor's because of a small industrial pier. Be aware, this beach isn't used much anymore so there are no facilities here. No food and drinks anymore. Someone else who had commented and been to this beach recently said there are bathroom, but they didn't say how well they're kept. But they enjoyed this beach. They said they paid $4/person for a one-way taxi to this beach. Otherwise it's about a half mile walk.

 

There's a lighthouse on the north end of the island, but it's about 7 miles, so you'd have to take a taxi or rent a car or scooters.

 

The port area has the typical shops found at most port of calls. And there's a small NASA exhibit because this area is where John Glenn splashed down in the Friendship 7 capsule after becoming the first American to orbit Earth.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[CoW mAn]

Hit the free beach at the port. Bring $5 to rent a floatie
 

 

[Kate P.C]

Beach, Beach Beach...Jacks Shack, I think I said enough 🙂

[cpa cruiser]

Great video, Cow Man.  Farther down the beach towards, Jacks Shack, is there banana boat rides?

[SpaceCowboy9]

If you are not beach people, there's a nice museum that talks about the salt production (Salt House), from there, you can walk to Her Majesty's Prison.  At the cruise port, there's "Splashdown Grand Turk" it's an open air museum dedicated to the astronaut John Glenn - he splashed down near Grand Turk on one of the Mercury missions (though shouldn't take more than 15 minutes)

[marysb]

The  pool right at the Pier.     Beach, pool, and shopping all at the end of the pier.   An easy relaxed day. 

[kickboxrca]

If you do want to do something else, the snorkeling is great in Grand Turk - we've even just snorkeled out from the beach just to the left as you walk off the pier and saw lots of fish.  The wall was the best snorkeling I've done in the Caribbean.  If the weather isn't great or it's windy, the snorkeling trips will either be cancelled or changed - if they don't cancel, you might not see anything.

[kmp70]

On 12/22/2019 at 12:50 PM, marysb said:

The  pool right at the Pier.     Beach, pool, and shopping all at the end of the pier.   An easy relaxed day. 

Is this at Margaritaville? Do you have access to beach also or just the pool?

[marysb]

Yes, this is the Margaritaville pool.  Free access and free chairs.  Right at the end of the dock.  Yes, beach access is there too.   At the end of the dock:  go straight to shop,  go left or right to access beach,  and margaritaville can be accessed from the beach or the shopping area.

[marysb]

Here's a map of the cruise port.  We find this a relaxing inexpensive day and love this port. 

 

Do the Beach, the pool, snorkel off the beach in the area of number 5 on the map below, wander the shops and it's easy to get off and on the ship for a break or lunch.  

 

Tours, transportation, cabanas and planning are not really necessary at this port.  Jack's shack is left on the beach past the big pool. (chairs are free on the beach under or close to  the palm trees)