Bakincakes Posted August 10, 2009 #1 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I have friends who are going to Grand Turk on the Nov 1 cruise on the Westerdam. There are no "land" excursions listed. Holland tells me that they may not offer any as many businesses have not started up again after the hurricane. Has anyone gone lately and used a private tour company to get around the island? They would really love to sight see but it doesn't look as though Holland is going to offer anything other than water activities. I'd like a reputable company to steer them to. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boytjie Posted August 10, 2009 #2 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I have friends who are going to Grand Turk on the Nov 1 cruise on the Westerdam. There are no "land" excursions listed. Holland tells me that they may not offer any as many businesses have not started up again after the hurricane. Has anyone gone lately and used a private tour company to get around the island? They would really love to sight see but it doesn't look as though Holland is going to offer anything other than water activities. I'd like a reputable company to steer them to. Thanks. We were in Grand Turk in February and it seemed that excursions were up and running. I'd suggest calling HAL again and hopefully getting someone else to respond as it does not sound right what they told you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conniepo Posted August 10, 2009 #3 Share Posted August 10, 2009 The OP is right - no land excursions are listed. :( I'm going in January and I do not scuba or snorkel ... I'm interested in any other land excursions too. Connie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pms4104 Posted August 10, 2009 #4 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Last December, shore ex were up and running. Don't clearly recall what all was offered ... we did a short island drive that passed the salt flats and went to the lighthouse. Yes, there still was devastation and rebuilding ... but the hurricane is now about a year ago, and I imagine HAL still is negotiating contracts and excursions will be offered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsot Posted August 10, 2009 #5 Share Posted August 10, 2009 From what we saw in April, there did not seem to be a great deal of interesting "land" features around Grand Turk. There was an excursion with dune buggies that looked like fun. We also saw many people driving around the island in golf carts. We took the clear bottom kayaking HAL excursion and were not impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seacruise9 Posted August 10, 2009 #6 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Hi, I visited Grand Turk on the Eurodam in December. Most of the people seemed to stay at the excellent port facility. I got the impression that there is not much to see outside the port area. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhoon1 Posted August 10, 2009 #7 Share Posted August 10, 2009 We were also there in February, we did the "unlisted" island tour. It lasted about an hour and stopped at the lighthouse. I asked the Shore Excursions manager why it wasn't listed, and he replied, they were unsure what would be available after the hurricane. Be sure to check with Shore excursions, there are numerous tours, that were never listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakincakes Posted August 10, 2009 Author #8 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Thanks for the replies. I did call HAL again and got the same info from another representative.:( I'll advise them to keep checking but as of today there are no land excursions available through HAL. They had gotten the brochure and were interested in a carriage ride/tour around the city. I guess unless it is added pretty quickly they will be on their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklingBlonde Posted August 11, 2009 #9 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I am booked for two December sailings and our Grand Turk excursions have been available for at least two months. We were thinking about the glass bottom kayaking, but we are not sure if it is worth the money at this point. HTH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ma080448 Posted August 11, 2009 #10 Share Posted August 11, 2009 If your friends are on the Nov 1 Westerdam, hope you can get them to come to the M & G in the Crows Nest on the first sea day, Monday at 11 am. Marilyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willowoodf Posted August 11, 2009 #11 Share Posted August 11, 2009 When we were in Grand Turk this spring we just rented a golf cart (available just outside the port area) and drove around the island on our own. The island is very small and you can see the whole thing a couple times around on a golf cart - these golf carts go faster than your average golf course golf cart. Some other people at our dinner table rented a car and drove around. The trick with the cars, they said, was to haggle on the price. I think they said that they got the car for about half the original price. Personally, we liked the golf cart better, it was more fun than just driving around in a car. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keel_hauled Posted August 11, 2009 #12 Share Posted August 11, 2009 The golf cart is the most fun we ever had. Normally I do not like to drive in areas that are right hand drive, but it was not a problem on the cart. The island is small, and you can go about anywhere. The golf cart rental place said take it anywhere except in the water. Sure we wound up driving up some private driveways, but no one seemed to care. The light house was still closed in early March and the day we were up there they were just getting started to put the cell phone tower back up. They had been using a portable system since the hurricane. How many ship's excursions have you been on that take you to the island's "Horse and donkey pound"? We would never have know that the island does not have a problem with loose dogs, but the problem is wandering equine. I estimate they had at least 150 horses and donkeys in the pound. We never would have found it if we would not have been on the golf cart. Where else would see a copy of Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule, in the middle of the road on a traffic island? The end of the day was capped off with a couple of cold ones at Martguerita-ville. Grand Turk was a pleasant surprise, it is nothing like the big islands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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