I’m three days into this 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Carnival’s Mardi Gras and today we find ourselves in Grand Turk, the capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It’s a small island, just about 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide but to find the beauty you have to travel beyond the cruise terminal, because as you’ll soon see… it’s been Margaritiville-ized.
Once you arrive at Grand Turk, you’ll pass through the obligatory Duty-Freea nd into the central hub where you meet for your shore excursions and can shop from the same stores and brands you see all over the Caribbean ports – Effy, Diamonds International, Ron Jon, and of course… Margaritaville.
The Jimmy Buffet-themed restaurant/bar in Grand Turk is billed as the “Caribbean’s Largest” and features pools, a beach, a Flow Rider surf simulator that wasn’t running, and of course plenty of “booze in the blender.” The pools were packed with people cooling off and getting lit in the hot Caribbean sun.
In addition to the pools, there are cabanas you can rent, as well as loungers around the pool area or on the beach. If you’re not into “chilling” in a large pool of human soup, if you venture a short way from Margaritaville, there is another beach with loungers that is far more serene and quite devoid of people. The area is small, so there isn’t a lot of walking from beach to beach.
As you wander around, you’ll see a small exhibit that highlights the fascinating history of Grand Turk and the United States space program beginning with Project Mercury in 1962. John Glenn’s Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down in the waters off the island’s western coast. Later, during the Apollo program, Grand Turk was in the spotlight once again. After their historic missions to space, the Apollo astronauts splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and were subsequently picked up by U.S. Navy recovery vessels. The astronauts and their precious cargo of moon rocks were then transported to the closest U.S. base for quarantine and debriefing, which happened to be on Grand Turk.
NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force Atlantic was stationed here, and the island served as the first point of landfall for astronauts returning from space. This includes the crew from Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the moon. The Grand Turk’s National Museum has a larger exhibit dedicated to the island’s role in the Apollo program. The exhibit includes a variety of space-related artifacts and illuminates this often overlooked connection between the tiny Caribbean island and humanity’s first steps on the moon.
If you choose to venture outside the terminal area, there are other beaches to check out which are known as great spots for snorkeling and checking out the variety of marine life that lives in these waters. Grand Turk also is part of the third-largest coral reef system in the world, making this a hot spot for divers.
If you’re into history, you can check out Cockburn Town, which is home to the National Museum I mentioned above as well as the Grand Turk Lighthouse.
Of course, my time ashore was short so I headed back on the ship which was pretty empty. On sea days you won’t find too many activities going on until later in the day when people start coming back on board. Also, a few of the food outlets curtail lunch service on port days, but the buffet, Guy’s Burgers, and Shaq’s Big Chicken were open, so grabbed some freshly cooked chicken tenders from Big Chicken which were juicy and not loaded up with a ton of breading.
Big Chicken also serves up chicken sandwiches in your choice of white or dark meat that is served with fries.
All aboard was 5:30 pm and just after that time, ship-wide announcements were made saying, “We are looking for one guest by the name of … please call Guest Services immediately.” Our departure from Grand Turk was delayed until about 6:15 pm and word around the ship was that this guest did not come back on board. So here’s to hoping he’s enjoying his time trying to get back to the U.S.
The evening’s entertainment consisted of the cruise ship version of the classic game show, Family Feud, in the Mardi Gras Theater and Viva! Variety in the three-level Grand Central Central Stage area. I started off the night by trying to grow my casino winnings, but I’m beginning to think the winning only happens on the first two days of the cruise, as Lady Luck wasn’t on my side, so I called it quits pretty quickly and headed off to the Brasss Magnolia bar.
The Brass Magnolia has the same layout as the Golden Jubilee on Carnival Celebration. But instead of the art deco decor and nods to Carnival’s 50-year history, the Brass Magnolia features a decor that takes you to New Orleans Garden District and a cocktail menu that features favorites like the Hurricane, Sazerac, and Brandy Crusta.
P.S. The Sazeracs are great, so it that’s your thing, be sure to try one!
My intent was to check out the variety show in Grand Central, but as I was sipping the aforementioned Sazerac, a couple struck up a conversation with me. As we chatted about where we’re from, it turns out they used to own a few bars and nightclubs in Fort Lauderdale and currently own a nudist resort in the central Florida area.
For about two hours we discussed South Florida, shared spots we all like to frequent, got educated on what it’s like to run a nudist resort (rule of thumb, ALWAYS focus on the guest’s eyes, and their eyes only), and then the topics switched to Ron Desantis, COVID, and the election.
Time for dinner.
Since I only had about ten minutes to get to a restaurant before service was cut off, I made it over to Chibang! the Chinese / Mexican restaurant that made its debut on Mardi Gras and was brought over to Carnival Celebration and will also be on the Carnival Jubilee when it launches later this year from Galveston, TX.
The menu breaks out both the Chinese and Mexican items separately, and the food from Chibang! on Carnival Celebration was average, so this was a pretty safe bet. I did remember that the portions were very small, so I made sure to order a bit more this time.
I started out with Lettuce Wraps and Chicken Spring Rolls, the wraps were a bit clumsy to eat and had more lettuce and crunchy rice noodles than chicken, but they were ok. The spring rolls were your typical “buy ’em frozen and heat ’em up in toaster oven” variety and were nothing noteworthy.
For mains, I picked two, beef and broccoli and sweet and sour shrimp. The beef and broccoli literally had TWO pieces of broccoli in it. The beef was tender and the brown sauce was tasty, no complaints there other than “Where’s the broccoli?” The sweet and sour shrimp were mostly breading that hid very small shrimp.
For dessert, I went with the Coconut Tea Tres Leches which cake made with three different types of milk soaked on a coconut cream, it wasn’t bad for a light way to end the meal
Overall, if you’re looking for something different and are fine with Panda Express or Pei Wei, Chibang! is a good option. However, the bean counters in the accounting department at Carnival have decided to try something with Chibang! Unlike Carnival Celebration where you can eat at Chibang! every night of your cruise for free, they’re experimenting with
making your first to Chibang! free, but subsequent visits will set you back $8 per person. This is currently only the case on Mardi Gras.
After dinner, I made one final attempt at winning in the casino. I’m still ahead of my initial donation, but it’s not looking good! It’s kind of like that Disney stock I bought at $120 and $130.
Tomorrow we dock at Amber Cove, Carnival’s cruise destination in the Dominican Republic. For this port day, I’ll be venturing out into the DR to visit my company’s team of programmers that are based here. A few I have met in person previously, but many just through web meetings, so it will be great to finally meet the entire team in person!
More on that tomorrow!
Fun Times for Day 3:
The Fun Times for May 15, 2023 can also be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.