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Margaritaville cabana rental or Jack's Shack?


brandi0727
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I looked online at the Grand Turk port website and it mentioned that one must book the Margaritaville cabanas through Carnival excursions. I don't see the excursion listed. I don't sail until June,  2020. Is it too early for Carnival to list it,  or could they have sold out and it has been removed from the choices? Also, we are only there until 3pm. Would it be better to just chill on the beach near Jack's Shack? Do they offer chair and umbrella rentals there? Not too much we are interested in doing there so thought a relaxing beach day would suffice and some shopping. Thanks for any feedback you can provide!:)

Edited by brandi0727
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Jack's does rent chairs.  Can't remember if they rented umbrellas or not.  It's a lot less crowded at Jack's.  It's further away from the pier so a lot of people don't wander down that far.  If nothing else, it's worth seeing Jack's dog Topher.  He interacts with the people and loves to swim and dig holes in the sand.  https://www.jacksshack.tc/topher/

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7 hours ago, brandi0727 said:

I looked online at the Grand Turk port website and it mentioned that one must book the Margaritaville cabanas through Carnival excursions. I don't see the excursion listed. I don't sail until June,  2020. Is it too early for Carnival to list it,  or could they have sold out and it has been removed from the choices? Also, we are only there until 3pm. Would it be better to just chill on the beach near Jack's Shack? Do they offer chair and umbrella rentals there? Not too much we are interested in doing there so thought a relaxing beach day would suffice and some shopping. Thanks for any feedback you can provide!:)

We were just there in GT.  We were walking to Jack's shack and it looked packed.  Found an alternate half way there:  Reef shack.  $25 for 4 lounge chairs and 2 umbrellas.  Front row right on the water.  We were like first ones there.  Nice set-up there. Other cruise people then joined us.  Very relaxing there. They have a bar and some food plus restrooms.  Food is ok.  Maybe later walk to Jack's to get  better food yet Reef shack is very good IMO.  Note:  the main cruise based location interlaced with all those local chairs and umbrellas was simply a mess yet good options down the beach like Reef and Jack's etc  Enjoy

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2 hours ago, nydney1 said:

Last time we were at Jacks (Jan 2018) it was either $10 or 20 for two chairs and an umbrella. 

 

Big fan of Jacks. Nice relaxing atmosphere. No crowds, good food and Topher.

 

It's changed tremendously since 2018. The whole "no crowds" thing is long gone. Too many people know about Jack's and its way beyond crowded now.


That being said, I would still go to Jack's over Margaritaville. You're paying for a cruise to these nice foreign ports with new things. Margaritaville is a chain restaurant based in Orlando. You can go to a Margaritaville in literally every beach city in the US. Do something you can't do everyday. It'd be like going to Italy only to go to Olive Garden to get your Italian food. 

 

Personally I'd go down to Governor's Beach if you want a nice beach day. Less people than Jack's. 

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4 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

 

It's changed tremendously since 2018. The whole "no crowds" thing is long gone. Too many people know about Jack's and its way beyond crowded now.


That being said, I would still go to Jack's over Margaritaville. You're paying for a cruise to these nice foreign ports with new things. Margaritaville is a chain restaurant based in Orlando. You can go to a Margaritaville in literally every beach city in the US. Do something you can't do everyday. It'd be like going to Italy only to go to Olive Garden to get your Italian food. 

 

Personally I'd go down to Governor's Beach if you want a nice beach day. Less people than Jack's. 

Bummer for us. Great for Jack.

 

I cant say enough good things about Jack's though. We have been going down to see him for about 15 years now. Our kids often play with his grand kid.

 

During our last trip I stayed on board with our 12 year old son had broke his femur and was in a wheel chair. The wife and daughter still went down to Jack's. She told Jack about the rest of the family not coming down as our son could not handle the beach in a wheel chair. Jack offered to send a car and a couple of his staff to get us and carry our son down to the water.

 

Crowded or not we will always have to go down and see them.

 

 

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We have done both and only get a cabana if someone really needs the shade or has mobility issues. When it is just the two of us, we start at Jacks and finish at the pool in Margaritaville. Great way to spend the day. 

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We walked right passed Margaritaville and stopped at Jack's Shack for a drink. Enjoyed our conversation with the bartender, grabbed extra drinks, and headed to Governor's Beach. We walked there (10-15 minute walk on the street). Great snorkeling and very quiet and relaxing. Beautiful beach! Took a cab back to the cruise center. 

 

Loved nydney1's story. Reason enough to stop by Jack's Shack!

 

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12 hours ago, cruzeluver said:

Jack's Shack, for sure. Far less crowded, and you  are spending your money locally, not with a US corporation.

So tell me how you got to the island, was it a local, or a big bad American corporation?   Maybe the focus should be what is most enjoyable as opposed to who takes your dead presidents. 

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23 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

Margaritaville was bought by a Brazilian conglomerate in 2014 International Meal Company. But your right, Jack's is locally owned

 

Margaritaville Holdings LLC 
International Meal Co. 50% 
Restaurants 
Coral Hospitality LLC 50% 
Hotels and Resorts

 

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida. 

 

Looks like they only own 50% of it.

Edited by teknoge3k
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For us, and this is a personal opinion, we enjoyed having the cabana last time we were there. We had 2 families, 7 people between us. So we did split the cost, which made it nice too. Us 2 moms and the adult daughter hung out at the cabana, going back and forth to the pool and beach. But the 2 dads and teen sons spent a lot of time at the beach.

 

And for us, it turned out to be a blessing because the other wife had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, so she was a little more limited in what she could/couldn't do. So she had to really limit her sun exposure and couldn't go in the water past her waist. The cabanas provided the shade we really needed and the ability to relax with the waitress service right to our front door.

 

But, if it was just the 3 of us going again, not sure we'd get it for just us. It was a nice thing, a little bit of luxury in a way. Not saying it's luxurious, just a little extra thing to have which was nice.

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On 7/14/2019 at 2:03 AM, brandi0727 said:

I looked online at the Grand Turk port website and it mentioned that one must book the Margaritaville cabanas through Carnival excursions. I don't see the excursion listed. I don't sail until June,  2020. Is it too early for Carnival to list it,  or could they have sold out and it has been removed from the choices? Also, we are only there until 3pm. Would it be better to just chill on the beach near Jack's Shack? Do they offer chair and umbrella rentals there? Not too much we are interested in doing there so thought a relaxing beach day would suffice and some shopping. Thanks for any feedback you can provide!:)

DeAR BRANDI0727,

 

IMHO with few choices Jacks Shack hands down.

 

His two main canines are like winning 13 tricks in bridge ( A Grand Slam). The youngest is so nice the elder one two. Many other local ones come in for a fllor meal as well a nice cat resides. AKA Jack is a P.E. an Amerrican, his wife a Canadian. One of his projects was the Pier in Grand Turk Carnival owns.

 

You may walk to it on the beach as well the road. Signage is in place. Donkeys and mules as well reside nearby.

 

You may go to Jacks SHack and on the way backl stop at your choices to shop, sun, see/sea..

 

 

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IMHO, if you like loud blaring rap crap music, then Margaritaville is for you.  If you want a quiet lay-back beach day with good drinks, good company, excellent jerk chicken and a show (Topher), then Jack's is for you.

Edited by Fla Senior
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28 minutes ago, Fla Senior said:

IMHO, if you like loud blaring rap crap music, then Margaritaville is for you.  If you want a quiet lay-back beach day with good drinks, good company, excellent jerk chicken and a show (Topher), then Jack's is for you.

 

It wasn’t just rap crap music. Thanks for your opinion. 

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