Carnival Splendor Journeys Review: Day 8 – Grand Turkfeatured
A few years ago, we started treating Grand Turk as a kind of bonus sea day.
We don’t wake up early.
We don’t rush off the ship.
We don’t book tours.
Any time we’re in Grand Turk, we set a later alarm, we have breakfast and we get off the ship once everyone else has already left.
The first two or three times we docked in Grand Turk, we bellied up to the bar at Margaritaville. Then, they built that pool. And everyone ended up at the pool at Margaritaville, so that ended that.
We don’t do the beach thing. Everyone goes to the beach. And if everyone is at the beach, you know where they aren’t? At the pool onboard the ship. And if you could sit on a crowded beach or at an empty pool, doesn’t the empty pool sound really nice on a hot day?
That’s a lot of words to say, we don’t do much in Grand Turk, and when we woke up as the ship was pulling into dock, we went back to sleep. We didn’t sleep in too much – Carnival’s new port day breakfast was our new jam. I couldn’t decide if it was because it was our proverbial shiny new toy, or if it truly was that much better than the Lido breakfast (which was either pretty mediocre on this voyage, or we were bored with the offerings). Either way, they were only serving breakfast in the dining room until 10:00 AM. We strolled downstairs to the Gold Pearl restaurant and found a pretty massive crowd. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who woke up thinking about those short stack pancakes.
The dining hostesses stood outside the restaurant, maintaining a waiting list. As each party came up to put their cabin numbers down, the hostesses also asked for a table preference (shared or private). We requested a private table and were seated within 15 minutes. We weren’t in any rush, but our food came out quickly for how busy the restaurant was.
Smoked Salmon
Broken Egg Sandwich
Short Stack Pancakes
As we were eating breakfast, MarQ came over the loudspeaker to announce that while our ship had docked and was given the all clear, the Holland America Westerdam was pulling up to the dock alongside us, and all ashore would be delayed until the Westerdam had been tied up and cleared. We didn’t want to be caught in a mad rush of people trying to get off the ship and into a beach chair, so we waited it out on the deck three promenade. Grand Turk may not be my favorite island, but it sure is a beautiful one. My favorite part is the size, and how it’s so small that you can see to the ocean on the other side of the island from just about anywhere on the ship (but the view is better the higher you go!). And the water. You guys. Can we talk about how perfectly blue the water is in Grand Turk? Put me anywhere in the Caribbean and I’ll marvel over the color of the water, but Grand Turk really has something beautiful.
Once we made our way off the ship, we started our usual path through the island. If you’re looking for a beach day, they offer free loungers, clam shells and umbrellas on both sides of the beach. Walking straight towards the Welcome to Grand Turk signs, there is a beach on the left and a beach on the right, with the Dufry Duty Free shop in the middle. If you want to swim, you’ll go to the left – that’s the side you can swim on. If you just want to lounge under a palm tree, you’ll veer to the right. You can’t swim on the right, but you can lounge. There are also some nice rock structures you can take pictures of (…or on. If you’re so inclined. Like me). We always start on the right side. The beach is super clean, with powdery, white sand. Against the lush green palm trees and the turquoise waters, it’s really beautiful.
Sometimes, we’ll stop at the Beached Whale for a mango marg. This time, we just kept walking. Next stop: shopping. We start at Ron Jon. We almost never buy anything anymore. The merchandise isn’t entirely different now than it was when we started visiting eight or so years ago.
A short-lived sun shower started dropping some liquid sunshine while we were shuffling from Ron Jon to the general souvenir shop on the other side of the sidewalk. We didn’t buy anything there, either. We stopped in a few more shops (including the Dizzy Donkey, which is usually our favorite) and the craft market, and not one of us bought a single thing. The merchandise was all the same as it had been on our last visit the year prior.
I wasn’t ready to go back so we just kind of sat out in the plaza, looking at the Christmas tree as reggae holiday tunes played in the background. Back at home, three inches of snow was falling over the Chicagoland area – a true white Christmas. I’d be lying if I said I missed it at all – give me sunny and 85 over snow on Christmas any day.
We mustered a couple of hours out on the island before we headed back to the ship, disappointed in our lack of purchases. Do you ever just feel like you just want to buy something? And maybe nothing in particular. You just want to buy something? We wanted to buy the things. I’m not sure what the things were. For Mom, it was probably a dress, for me, it was probably something long sleeved and tie dyed and Stephanie – who even knows with that girl. But I couldn’t even find a tie dye shirt I didn’t already own. We took our time, taking pictures along the way so we could commit Christmas 2017 to memory. We don’t celebrate Christmas, but we do love the festivity of the season and appreciate the spirt of the holiday.
It was lunch time back onboard, and we were all in the mood for some BBQ. That barbecue tucked away at the top of the Lido Marketplace was really like the hidden treasure of the lunch offerings. Everything we tried was just so tasty, and no one knew about it so there was never a line.
We split up after lunch – Stephanie was coming down with a respiratory infection that was making its way through the ship, so she went to take a long nap, and Mom and I changed into our swimsuits and went up to the adults only pool for a few hours of sun time.
When we were sufficiently bronzed (well, me…I measure myself on a scale of Mom to Jersey Shore and I was definitely leaning more towards Jersey Shore), we did a few laps around the outer decks to give Stephanie a little more time alone for a peaceful nap. Back onboard wasn’t until 5:30 PM, which would run after dark in the winter months, so even though the afternoon hours were running long, the ship was still blissfully empty.
When we got back to the room and got our pre-dinner showers in, I got out to the balcony just in time to watch the Westerdam sail out into the horizon. We followed about an hour later, after all of the pier runners were back on the ship and everyone from Margaritaville had safely made their way back onto the ship.
After watching a beautiful sunset, we made our way down to the Black Pearl for dinner. Even though she wasn’t feeling well, Stephanie rallied to have dinner with Mom and I, and we all got a kick out of the way every family was getting in the Christmas spirit. Some wore leis with flashing Christmas lights. Others wore matching outfits or funny shirts. We don’t have these kinds of traditions for Hanukkah, so we’re always kind of fascinated with the way other religions and cultures celebrate their holidays. And regardless, we were all eating off the same generic menu for dinner.
Flatbread
Baked Onion Soup
Beef Carpaccio
Caprese Salad
Flat Iron Steak
Ricotta Ravioli
Carnival Melting Chocolate Cake
Carrot Cake
There were a ton of activities going on around the ship: it was family night at the Dive In Movies, there were comedy shows and piano bar sing-alongs and Bingo. We started at the Spirt of the Season gathering in the atrium, where MarQ hosted an ugly sweater contest and led the crowd in some caroling.
There was a show, too – a Back to the 50s Show featuring some of our fellow cruisers singing and dancing to the hits of the 1950s with the Playlist singers and dancers. I thought this show, which was special to the Journeys voyage, was really a lot of fun. The Crew Connections events are exclusive to the Journeys cruises and allow guests to get to know the crew a little more. A Glee club was led by one of the singers, and the dancers did a Dancing with the Stars-esque recital with some of the guests who had attended dancing lessons earlier in the week.
After the show, we went back to the room to watch Love Actually on TCM. I was a little more than a little disappointed that on Christmas, they were showing Cars 3 and Despicable Me instead of a more traditional Christmas comedy, but TCM was playing movies all day long, and Love Actually is my favorite Christmas movie.
Later that night, after Mom and Stephanie were asleep, I found myself wandering around the ship and found myself outside the Splendor Theater, where they were holding the midnight Christmas service. I mentioned it earlier, but even though we celebrate Hanukkah, we still enjoy the spirit of Christmas, and I’m always fascinated by how other groups of people (religious or cultural) come together, so I took a peek in. MarQ was the host of the gathering, and man, he did not stop the entire cruise. In the morning, he was hosting the morning show and helping facilitate getting thousands of people on and off the ship. In the evening, he was hosting contests and game shows and at midnight, he was hosting the Christmas service. I could use his secrets on how to be more productive, that’s for sure!
But I only peeked in for a few minutes. And then I went to bed, because the next day would be our final sea day and that could only mean one thing: I had to pack.
