Day 128: Grand Turk

We were awake early today, watching from the front of the ship on Deck 8 as the Emerald Princess slid into its berth across the pier from the Celebrity Constellation, already in place. By 8am, the ship was docked and cleared and we were sitting down to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room, peering out the windows at the Constellation. On Tuesday, the Constellation will finish up a 10-night Bare Necessities nudist cruise. We had been next to the ship in Fort Lauderdale on February 6th when that cruise began, and saw nothing out of the ordinary on the open decks. Nor did we today. Sure, there were a lot of people on their balconies wearing robes, but that was the only unusual thing.

Another local time-ship time discrepancy

We had a surprising appetite this morning for the day after a Crown Grill dinner, and I had fruit and a egg white veggie omelet. By 9am we were walking off the ship packed for a beach day, but our intended destination today was not Margaritaville, nor Jack's Shack. Instead, we walked out of the Grand Turk Cruise Center and turned left down the island's main north-south road. After an easy 30 minute walk, we arrived at Governour's Beach, part of the Columbus Landfall National Park. It's just north of, and on the same stretch of beach as where the ship docks, but because of a fence on the other side of the freight dock, it can only be reached by walking out to the main road and back. 

We had two main goals for the day:  escape the noise and music and crowds of Margaritaville, and snorkel around the shipwreck that we could see from the Emerald Princess. We set our things on a large wooden picnic table, buried in sand so deeply that the seat was about 4" off the ground, inflated our floats and spent hours enjoying that crystal blue water and snorkeling around the shipwreck and the rocks in the water off the center part of the beach. 

The wreck of the Mega One Triton due to Hurricane Sandy at Governours Beach, Grand Turk 

https://www.visittci.com/grand-turk/governors-beach

The snorkeling was not impressive. Despite the fact that G later found a gorgeous purple sea fan washed up on the beach, there were no corals at all by the beach, and only a few types of fish (though I did see a few of my favorite wrasse). Mostly we just enjoyed the peace- there were fewer than ten cruisers and locals on the beach- and the sound of the waves...and seeing the sun. We didn't get a lot of that in our ports last cruise. But it was a good thing we'd gotten an early start to the day...by 1:30pm the clouds started to move in again and, by the time we packed up and began walking back to the ship, it started to rain. 

Leaving the beach, we returned to the main road until we arrived at the sign for Jack's Shack, and then cut back to the beach, walking back to the pier along the water. I think it was a shorter, but harder way to go, walking in the sand instead of on the road. 

Once back on the ship, we showered and rinsed out all of our snorkel gear and beach wear. And that was the first time I wished we were on the Royal Princess, washing things out in those much larger bathroom sinks. Actually, it's the second time. The first time was when I was trying to deal with our statement kerfuffle a few days ago at the Passenger Services Desk while Strings and Steel were playing in the Piazza just one deck below. Who ever thought that loud music near the front desk was a good system?  At least on the Royal Princess, the PSD is more removed from the main Piazza. 

It was 3:30pm by the time we had finished washing and rinsing and were at the Horizon Court Buffet. That's a tough time to be hungry. Eat too much and we'd spoil dinner; still, we were too hungry to wait until 5:30pm. I had just a small salad and a Bosc pear, and that was enough to take the edge off. We were up in Skywalkers when the Constellation sailed about 4pm, and then for our own sailaway at 5pm. Of course, we started to see some blue sky again just as we sailed (so typical).

Governours Beach is where the shipwreck is past the freight pier

An empty Margaritaville, just before the Emerald Princess sailed 

For dinner, I chose the ceviche starter and orange roughy entree. That is one of my favorite dishes, and not too dissimilar from how I prepare fish at home (though I often settle for tilapia for budget reasons). After pine-orange sorbet for dessert, we have returned to our cabin for G to take a power nap, but are shortly heading back out for the 8pm production show; Disco:  Blame It on the Boogie. It appears we won't be seeing Magic To Do this cruise; which is a surprise. The embarkation day Patter had it listed as one of this cruise's shows. Come to think of it, I wonder if something has happened to the magician, Erik Bryan. We were supposed to see him in his own show, too, and haven't yet. 

Whatever the reason, we always enjoy Disco:  Blame it on the Boogie. Other things this short cruise has not included:  the champagne waterfall, the Love Boat Disco Deck party, and lobster in the dining room. We also did not have an MTP or Captains Circle party. In their place, the top 10 couples (cutoff this cruise was 470 days) received a voucher for dinner at Crown Grill or the Crab Shack. We were the #2 MTP and received a commemorative crystal and a bottle of wine in lieu of Korbel champagne in our cabin last night. We also received one drink voucher each, though I'm not certain if that was for all Captains Circle members or just Platinum level and above. I won't bother Captains Circle host Melissa by asking her...she has been working 24/7 putting together the new member packets for all the first time Princess cruisers (over 1000 passengers!). 

One other noteworthy item...we have received four new bed pillows in our cabin since yesterday. They are wonderful, and must be part of the new bed rollout that Princess has undertaken.  Ambrish said new linens will be on board soon (I don't know if they'll be in place before we disembark). Once they are, the Emerald Princess will be among the first ships to have everything related to the new beds in place. They really are spectacular, and we are two happy cruisers. :-)

Day 119: Grand Turk

I actually woke up naturally at 6:15 this morning, and then quickly fell back sleep until 8:30am. Drinking too much and finishing dinner at 10pm is not a great recipe for making it to a 7am stretch class. Luckily, there is always another day...or at least a few more another days for us on the Emerald Princess.

It was actually quite nice to wake up, slowly and quietly get cleaned up for the day (G was still sleeping) and then lay back down and read until he started stirring. If I had been hungrier, I would have taken my iPad and read in the Horizon Court Buffet or the International Cafe, but I was not even the least bit hungry.  Ugh. I do not like feeling that sluggish when I wake up!  By 10am I was feeling the need for a cup of coffee, not the caffeine part, of course, as I have been caffeine-free since 1987, but the smell and taste of even decaf coffee goes a long way toward launching me into the day, whether it's at 6am or 10am.

The International Cafe was packed, but they do have a really good system of ordering specialty coffees on the Emerald Princess and, even with a wait today, it worked perfectly. There is a roped off queue where one waits to place an order, and then once it is ready, the passenger's name is called. 

Of course, you can still do what G does, which is take a seat and look fairly helpless until some lovely young lady comes, takes his order and delivers it to him with a smile. That won't work for him at home!  Oh sure, he has the helpless thing down pat, but I am not particularly lovely and definitely not young and sometimes not even all that inclined to smile at a helpless-appearing husband first thing in the morning. 

Once my coffee was ready (a salted caramel strata cappuccino, which, along with the vanilla bean cappuccino has become a favorite), I sat in the Vines area where it was a bit less busy and drank my coffee and read and listened to Strings and Steel play some great Motown hits in the Piazza. The plan was that I would return to the cabin to collect G at 11:50am, so we could go to lunch together in the DaVinci Dining Room. 

Meanwhile, Captain Forteeze made another announcement. Ruh-roh. I am starting to cringe when I hear his voice at unexpected times. Today's bit of unfortunate news was the propulsion system was still not working correctly, and, as a result, the Emerald Princess had to travel more slowly from St. Thomas yesterday to Grand Turk today. Instead of arriving at 1pm, we were now going to arrive at 2:30pm. 

Well...shoot. Again. 

But G and I had even more time now for a leisurely lunch. I was feeling the need to be very good today, and had just gazpacho and a chef's salad, less the ham and half the cheese. After the congestion in the international Cafe, it was nice to dine in relative peace in the dining room. I don't think most passengers realized it was open today. On port days, scheduled late arrivals and early departures usually mean it is. 

Our only firm plan for today was to, along with Andy, meet Phyllis in the Piazza and walk off the ship with her to give her some encouragement to purchase a piece of artwork she had seen in a gallery in the shopping area at the Grand Turk Cruise Center. We all walked off together about 3pm, at the tail end of the long line of passengers waiting to go ashore. The artwork was gorgeous, and it took no effort at all to urge Phyllis to make the purchase. Besides, helping others spend money is one of my favorite things to do!

By then it was nearly 4pm; an already short port day had gotten considerably shorter because of our late arrival. On board time was 6:30pm, but it was also formal night, and our assigned dining time is 5:30pm. We hadn't dressed for the beach, and instead hired a taxi to give us an island tour for $20pp. In all the times we'd been to Grand Turk, we had never ventured much further than the area surrounding the cruise ship pier. 

Driver Tony took us first to the only tiny town on this tiny island, Cockburn Town. On the way, he told us a little about the Turks and Caicos Islands. Part of the British Commonwealth, they drive on the left side of the road...not that it really matters. Most of the roads are single lane anyway. There are 40 islands in the Turks and Caicos, and only ten are inhabited. Grand Turk has 5000 inhabitants and Cockburn Town is the capital of the island nation. We saw the old jail, and the Prime Minster's house (The Yellow House). Aside from a few governmental buildings, Cockburn Town was mostly a collection of tiny souvenir shops. 

Grand Turk seems like quite an enigma. First, Tony said there are two cruise ships docked at the island every day in the winter, and at least two a week all summer. Every passenger pays $30 in port charges to visit the island. Conservatively, that's $150000 in revenue every winter day. There are no taxes in Turks and Caicos (income, sales or property) and land is free for citizens. Healthcare costs $10pp per month, and a college degree from any college in the world is free...with the stipulation that, upon graduation, each student returns to the island to work for six years. Most residents have bachelor and masters degrees. There were many beautiful homes with incredible views of either the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea, since the island is only 6 sq. miles. It sounds like utopia, right?

But there are still issues. Most crime (requiring the building of a larger jail) is drug related or a result of illegal immigration from Haiti or the Dominican Republic. Hispaniola is only 20 miles away, and illegal immigrants arrive easily by boat. And just last weekend, three teenagers sent fire to the island's only high school, causing considerable damage and leaving it unusable for the near future. The roads are in deplorable shape for an island with so much tourist revenue. But it certainly is a pretty place with gorgeous beaches. 

An island tour of Grand Turk doesn't take long. We stopped at Pillory Beach and the lighthouse on the northern end of the island and then Governours Beach just north of the cruise ship pier. We saw the international airport and the monument to John Glenn, who landed in the ocean near Grand Turk after his first orbit of the earth and was debriefed at the (then) US military base on the island. The military base is now the local community college. 

Pillory Beach

G's pet du jour

The free home sites (for citizens) on the beautiful Atlantic coast 

Gorgeous- and nearly deserted, even with two cruise ships in port- Governours Beach

We returned to the pier about 5:20pm...and made it to dinner at our table in the Michelangelo Dining Room at 5:45pm. We flew onto the ship and dressed not at all formally (which means we fit in with most of the few passengers who chose to eat in the dining room). I ordered my last bottle of wine from the 12-bottle wine package I had purchased exactly one month ago today, when we first boarded the Emerald Princess. Of course, I have three open bottles and one more in our cabin, so you can tell that, while I really enjoy wine with dinner, I usually have just one or two glasses. 

We finished dinner just as the Emerald Princess pushed away from the pier about 7pm, and went up to Skywalkers to watch sailaway, although it was pretty dark by then. The Carnival Valor was still docked, but I think they were sailing right after we did. I am a bit sniffly tonight, and am tucked into bed early, well medicated with Sudafed and guafinisan.  Magic to Do is the major entertainment tonight, and I know I'll be seeing that again soon!

Speaking of entertainment, a passenger contest called The Voice of the Ocean has arrived on the Emerald Princess this cruise. Now, do I even have to mention that this kind of entertainment is not our favorite?  We must be the only people in the US who don't watch those sort of competition shows on TV; we certainly aren't going to watch them on a cruise. It was harious; in the Welcome Aboard show on the first day of this cruise, a promotional video for The Voice of the Ocean was shown, lots of loud music and something about chairs and voting and...well, when it was done, G turned to me and asked "What did I just see?"  He had no clue, and I was only slightly better informed. I really don't think we are the intended audience, just as we aren't for most entertainment performed by our fellow passengers.  That's okay...as long as we have Ryszard Sulek playing piano and Strings and Steel and a few good production shows and guest entertainers, we'll get by. 

And, finally, I keep forgetting to mention that my shorts were returned two mornings ago, with a brand new zipper perfectly inserted. I am beyond thrilled with this repair by the ship's tailor. Coincidentally, on the Wake Show that day, Cruise Director Neil interviewed the laundry master in the ship's laundry and there was even a quick appearance by the tailor, and I captured it on my iPhone. 

Did you ever know that you're my hero??