I love the beautiful welcome sign to Grand Turk!
View of the beach from the ship.
Grand Turk is a port owned by the cruise lines. You have to go through shops to get to the beach. If you purchase alcohol, make sure you are either headed back to the ship or someone in your party is able to run it back. They will not allow you to take it beyond the exit into the port/beach.
The main attraction at this port is Margaritaville. There is a large free-form pool that all ship guests can use. At one point I couldn't believe how many bodies were in there! Everyone looked like they were loving it though. There is a full service restaurant, bar and gift shop. For $30 per person, you can experience knee or body boarding on FlowRider. There were many places to sit and relax around the pool. There was also music pumping throughout the grounds of Margaritaville.
The main attraction at this port is Margaritaville. There is a large free-form pool that all ship guests can use. At one point I couldn't believe how many bodies were in there! Everyone looked like they were loving it though. There is a full service restaurant, bar and gift shop. For $30 per person, you can experience knee or body boarding on FlowRider. There were many places to sit and relax around the pool. There was also music pumping throughout the grounds of Margaritaville.
There were two ships in port on the day we visited. Our ship docked at 8am, the other at 9am. We were looking forward to a relaxing day and took our time getting off of the ship. Since we waited, it took awhile to find a chair. The cruise line offers tons of chairs, but with 2 boats in port they fill up fast. You can rent a clam shell that fits 2 chairs inside for $20 if you need some shade. You have to find your own chairs and they will move the cover to your seat for you. There was a hut that had a variety of things to rent such as umbrellas, rafts and snorkel equipment.
When you leave the shops after getting off of the pier, there are 2 sides. majority of the people turn left and head to the larger beach (pictured above) in front of the ship or Margaritaville. If you turn to the right you will walk by a NASA exhibit and hit a smaller beach area that has a lot more rocks along the shore but was much quieter. That is where we found the chess board.
If you take a little walk down the beach you will see tons of boats eager to take you out for a ride! There is also a large floating water slide before you get to the pier.
Massages right on the beach! Turn right after you leave the shopping center towards the rocky beach. When we walked by it was around 2pm and the area was very quiet.
I really wanted to snorkel on this cruise but my husband is not a fan, and neither of my kids are able to snorkel yet. I was so excited that I was able to snorkel right off of the beach! I didn't see a ton of fish but enough to make me happy! I snorkeled right in front of the ship. I know the snorkeling was better to the right of the pier but I didn't have time to try that side. It is a beautiful island with lots of natural beauty to explore. When we were getting back onto the ship a woman showed me some giant seashells that her and a friend had collected while walking along the beach.
Don't forget to check out the NASA exhibit that commemorates the Mercury Space Program and the 1962 splashdown of the Friendship 7 capsule.
Just in case anyone needs help determining the weather when they get to the beach!
A few things to think about. Since it is a small port and run by the cruise lines bottled water is not cheaper on the island. Think about taking a piece of fruit or something that travels easily off of the ship if you don't want to eat at Margaritaville. Since the beach is right at the end of the pier, it was easy to hop back on the ship for lunch and then get back off to explore some more. We played on the beach most of the morning, had lunch on the ship and then dropped the kids off at Camp Carnival so my husband and I could do some shopping without the kids!
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