Welcome to Day 3 of my report from the Carnival Celebration, where I’m currently enjoying a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise. Today we made our first port of call—Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos.
Just as a reminder, since I’ve already written detailed day-by-day reviews of Carnival Celebration from previous sailings (including my most recent one at the end of June), I won’t be repeating every detail in these posts. Instead, this week’s reports will focus on the highlights and lowlights of the cruise. For those looking for full walk-throughs of the ship and past trips, check out the links below:
- Carnival Celebration Western Caribbean Cruise – April 2023
- Carnival Celebration Eastern Caribbean Cruise – June 2023
- Carnival Celebration Southern Caribbean Cruise – July 2023
- Carnival Celebration Eastern Caribbean Cruise – February 2024
- Carnival Celebration Western Caribbean Cruise – October 2024
- Carnival Celebration Eastern Caribbean Cruise – June 2025
A Little Background on Grand Turk
Grand Turk is the largest of the Turks Islands and serves as the capital of the Turks and Caicos. It may be small—about 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide—but it has an “interesting” claim to fame: its connection to the Mercury space program. In 1962, astronaut John Glenn splashed down in the waters near Grand Turk after completing his flight aboard Friendship 7.
At the port near the smoking area (yes! there is a smoking area with loungers not far from the beach), there’s a small display with plaques and informational signs that commemorate the island’s role in America’s early space program. It’s easy to miss if you’re rushing off to the beach or Margaritaville, but it’s a kitschy look at this slice of history.
One of the “plusses” about Grand Turk is how easy it is to maneuver around. You step off the ship and everything is right there—no taxis, no shuttles, no hassle. Just steps from the pier, you’ll find a long stretch of free beach lined with loungers. It’s one of the few cruise ports where you can literally walk off the ship and be in the ocean within minutes.
If the beach isn’t your thing but you want to eat and drink, Grand Turk is home to the largest Margaritaville in the Caribbean. It’s a very popular and busy spot that features a huge pool with a swim-up bar where you can sip (and, let’s be honest, probably pee) without ever leaving your barstool. Rows of loungers surround the pool, and rentable cabanas offer a semi-private space to spend the day soaking up the sun. This area gets very crowded, it’s quite loud as a DJ is blaring music poolside, and is known to get rowdy at times.
Beyond the beach and pool, the port also has a the typical Caribbean chain of shops and kiosks, plus excursions, snorkel gear, and water sports rentals. For those who are addicted to their favorite brew, fear not! There’s a Starbucks!
On paper, it’s the perfect setup: beach, pool, food, drinks, and shopping—all within easy walking distance of the ship. But there are a few important things cruisers need to be aware of before heading out for the day.
The Great Grand Turk Chair Scam
For years, locals at Grand Turk have been known to take advantage of visitors by “selling” free beach chairs. The beach chairs on the main strip are complimentary and available to all cruise passengers at no cost. But locals often walk up to tourists, claim the chairs aren’t free, and demand payment.
Some are polite about it; others can be more intimidating, pressuring guests into paying for something they don’t need to. Carnival has even started placing warnings in the daily Fun Times newsletter, reminding guests that the chairs are free and to remain vigilant.
It’s frustrating, and first-time cruisers in particular often don’t realize they’re being scammed until later. The best advice? Know your chairs are free, stand your ground politely, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
Now, there are loungers legitimate locals DO rent. These are often in a very specific area, are a different type of chair, and are marked accordingly. The easiest way to tell if a chair or a chair with umbrella is free, is to simply grab one in a non-roped off area on the main beach. When in doubt, ask someone who works for the port, not a vendor.
New Rules for Locals Aim to Improve the Grand Turk Cruise Port Experience
From Chair Problems to Drugs
Another issue that has plagued Grand Turk for years is drug sales at the port. It’s not unusual to be approached by locals offering marijuana or other substances, especially if you wander away from the main beach and pool area.
The situation is so prevalent that you’ll even see drug amnesty boxes placed around the port. These allow guests to drop off any substances “no questions asked” before returning to the ship. It’s a polite way of saying: if you made a bad decision ashore, here’s your chance to ditch it before you get into real trouble.
Cruise lines take drug possession extremely seriously, and the penalties for being caught trying to bring drugs back onboard can be severe. At the very least, guests risk being denied re-boarding and left behind in port, as cruise contracts clearly state that carrying illegal substances is grounds for immediate disembarkation without refund. In many cases, local law enforcement becomes involved, meaning an arrest and potential jail time in a foreign country—not exactly the kind of vacation memory you want to make. Even if charges aren’t pursued locally, the guest will almost certainly be banned from sailing with that cruise line again in the future. Simply put, getting caught with drugs on a cruise isn’t just a slap on the wrist—it can ruin your vacation, your record, and your ability to cruise again.
Today, as passengers returned to the ship, Carnival added another layer of security. Anyone carrying a larger bag—purses, totes, or backpacks—was directed into a separate line where drug-sniffing dogs were checking bags before boarding. It was clear that authorities and the cruise line are taking the issue seriously, and honestly, it was good to see.
A Night in Monte Carlo, or the Casino
For this cruise, I’m not traveling on a casino offer or any other type of comp—it’s a straight-up paid booking. I haven’t played much in the casino during Days 1 or 2, but tonight before dinner I spent a little time there. I dropped a couple hundred in the slots with nothing to show for it. I did see someone hit a hand pay for around $1,600, but as I always say: I couldn’t get lucky with a prostitute!
The casino on Carnival Celebration, as well as her sisters Mardi Gras and Jubilee, is one of the largest in the fleet. It’s split into smoking and non-smoking sections, each with a good selection of table games and plenty of slots. Carnival rotates out the slot machine games fairly often to keep the mix current, so there’s usually something new to try.
One nice feature of the Excel-class ships is the casino bar, which includes plenty of seating and tables. This has been removed from some of Carnival’s older ships, so it’s great to see it here.
When you sit down at a machine or a table, you insert or present your Sail & Sign card. This tracks your play and earns you points. The math is simple: you earn 1 point for every $2 cycled through. For example, if you bet $1 on a slot machine and spin it twice, that’s $2 cycled—even if you win and re-bet your winnings, it still counts toward your play. It’s not about what you win or lose; it’s about how much money passes through the machine.
As you rack up points, the perks kick in. The big milestone most players look for is 2,000 points, because that’s when you unlock free drinks in the casino. But to hit that level, you’d need to cycle a whopping $4,000 through the machines ($2 x 2,000 points = $4,000). For heavier players, that might come quickly, but for the casual gambler, it’s a lot of spins.
At the end of your cruise, Carnival reviews your play and, if you’ve accumulated enough points, you’ll often be rewarded with a “Come Back & Sail” offer. Nobody really knows the exact thresholds Carnival uses, but these offers typically include a free or deeply discounted stateroom, some free play, and sometimes a drinks package. The more you play, the better the offers tend to be.
Additional casino offers will also show up in your email and in your Carnival.com account after the cruise, so if you’re a player, make sure you’re opted in to Carnival’s marketing emails—you don’t want to miss a good deal.
Check out the video below for a walkthrough of the casino on Carnival Celebration to get a better feel for the layout and what’s inside.
Carnival Celebration Casino Tour
Main Dining Room Dinner Menu
Dinner at Rudi’s Seagrill
Tonight was a casual night, and before dinner I stopped at one of my favorite spots on the ship—the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse bar. Why do I like it so much? For starters, it has one of the best people-watching locations on Deck 7, right near the entrance to the Festivale Restaurant (one of the main dining rooms). It’s never crowded, either, mostly because the bar isn’t really designed as a destination—it’s more of a waiting area for those dining at the steakhouse. The drink menu is small, there are no frozen concoctions, and it has a much quieter vibe than the busier bars scattered around the ship – including the Alchemy Bar right down the hallway.
But here’s the secret: it’s the only bar onboard where you can get a bespoke gin and tonic. You choose your gin, pick garnishes like lime or cucumber, and then pair it with your choice of Fever Tree tonic—which you can’t get anywhere else on the ship. On top of that, since this is part of the steakhouse, pours here are a generous 2 ounces instead of the standard 1.5 ounces served shipwide—and all for the same price. Needless to say, after a couple of those customized G&Ts, I was feeling pretty good.
For dinner, I decided to head over to Rudi’s Seagrill.
This venue is the brainchild of Chef Rudi Sodamin, a well-known figure in the cruise dining world. He’s associated not only with Carnival, but other Carnival Corporation brands including Holland America and Princess where his name is on restaurants on several ships in those fleets. On Carnival’s Excel-class ships, Rudi partnered with the line to create Rudi’s Seagrill, a seafood-forward specialty restaurant that will set you back $52 per person, and is well worth it.
The restaurant is known not just for its food, but also for its quirky and artistic plating—Rudi’s famous “Food Faces,” where place settings and sometimes even the food is sometimes presented to resemble playful faces, have become a signature touch. The menu leans heavily into fresh seafood but also includes options for those who land over sea.
With that in mind, and my G&Ts now finished, I made my way in for dinner at Rudi’s to see how it would stack up this time around.
Dinner at Rudi’s never disappoints, and it remains one of my favorite spots onboard. For all the times I’ve enjoyed meals here, I’ve always gone the seafood route—but tonight, I decided to change things up and give the 14oz New York strip a try.
As a side note: if you book Rudi’s on embarkation day, Carnival has a deal where they give you a complimentary bottle of wine for every two guests. So if you’re curious to try Rudi’s and haven’t locked in specialty dining yet, the first night is a great time to do it – and get free wine.
Sitting on the table when you arrive is one of Rudi’s whimsical “food face” plates, a fun little detail that always gets a smile. From there, service begins with a welcome from the server, drinks are ordered, and crispy buttered crostini bread arrives to get things rolling.
For my starter, I went with the fried calamari. Lightly battered with a crispy coating that had just the right crunch, it was served with a side of marinara.
Next up was one of my longtime favorites—Cioppino, or fisherman’s stew. This dish is loaded with seafood: head-on shrimp, a lobster claw, mussels, clams, whitefish, and more, all in a flavorful broth. It comes with extra crostini, which is perfect for sopping up every last bit. I find myself ordering it again and again.
Then came the main event: the steak. The New York strip was a thick, hearty cut cooked to a perfect medium and topped with a few crispy onion rings. And here’s where I have to admit something—this steak was better than the strip at Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse. I love Fahrenheit but Rudi’s hit it out of the park tonight. Juicy, tender, well-seasoned, and perfectly cooked, it put tonight’s dinner in the running for the best meal of the cruise.
Of course, I couldn’t skip dessert. The warm bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream is always delicious and it didn’t disappoint.
Service throughout the evening was flawless. Mariia, the restaurant manager, stopped by the table and, as always, was the perfect host. The servers were attentive and everything ran seamlessly from start to finish.
All in all, it was exactly what I’ve come to expect from Rudi’s: consistently excellent food, fun presentation, and top-notch service. If you’re sailing on one of Carnival’s Excel-class ships and debating where to book a specialty dinner, Rudi’s should absolutely be on your list.
After dinner, I did a little walking around the ship before calling it a night. Tomorrow we’ll be docking at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, one of Carnival’s private ports. For the first time in a long in all the cruises I’ve taken that stopped here—it’s going to be a two-ship day. Carnival Celebration will be joined by Carnival Sunshine, which means the port is going to be more packed than usual.
Stay tuned to see how it all plays out!
FunTimes for August 26, 2025:
The Funtimes for August 26, 2025 is available as a PDF and can be downloaded by clicking here.