Ports of Call from Carnival Venezia: Princess Cays, Grand Turk, Amber Cove, San Juan, Miami, Nassau, Freeport

January and February 2024

Princess Cays on Carnival Venezia January 2024

Princess Cays, Bahamas: January 8AM - 4PM

Princess Cays is a tender port, and we received a printed paper with tender instructions the night before. The paper actually contained information about priority tender boarding for passengers with excursions. I presume they just used the same notice for platinum and diamond guests, too. After breakfast, we walked to the showroom boarding area, where boarding was already in process. We arrived on the island before 9AM.

Princess Cays January 2024

We walked to the right after getting off the tender boat, as we had heard this area is less crowded than the main side. It was definitely less crowded. In fact, we decided not to have lunch on the island after we saw how crowded and busy the main area was later in the day. The lines for lunch looked like utter chaos. Some in our group stayed; however, my husband and I returned to the ship.

Princess Cays January 2024 from the less visited side of the island

This was our first visit to Princess Cays. The water is beautiful; however, the island and beach area is much smaller than Half Moon Cay. If you just want to enjoy the beach and water, there are plenty of lounge chairs available on both sides of the port dock.

View from our pool chairs at Margaritaville in Grand Turk

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 11AM - 6PM

We have been to Grand Turk several times, and you can find more information about this port by clicking on the label at the bottom of the post. We have previously done beach days at this port, as well as the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion. This time, we decided to just have margaritas at Margaritaville. 

Carnival Venezia at Amber Cove January 2024
Below: Amber Cove pricing - visible if you click on it to enlarge

Carnival Elation 7 Day Eastern Caribbean Ports of Call: Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Nassau

January 2023

We have been to all of these ports more than once prior to this trip. We did not book any excursions this time, and you can find more information about any of these ports by clicking on labels of interest at the bottom of this post.

 Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023 

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

You are supposed to have had COVID-19 vaccinations to disembark in Grand Turk. We received a letter the day before our arrival, saying that we needed to go to guest services to show our vaccination cards, if we wanted to go ashore. This information was then linked to our sail and sign cards that are scanned when disembarking. When we disembarked, people in the line next to ours were not being allowed off because they had not done this. This caused a brief holdup in that line while they were taken out of line to return to guest services or stay on the ship. Different passengers on shore told us they had not received the letter, and that they had not shown proof of their vaccination to anyone. They said they are vaccinated, so I am not sure if this had been taken care of by their travel agent, or another way, and they just did not recall it.

Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023

Our experience in Grand Turk was peaceful, and we enjoyed it more than prior visits. We walked on the beach on both sides of the port, and not one person tried to rent us overpriced chairs or umbrellas. There is no charge to use lounge chairs at the cruise center or Margaritaville. You can find more information about this in my posts from February 2020 and 2022. The beach area to the right after you get ashore is less crowded; however, the swimming area on this side is also stonier, than the busier area on the left. You can read about the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion that we took last year in the February 2022 blog post.

Carnival Elation at Half Moon Cay January 2023

Carnival Magic 8 Day Eastern Caribbean Ports of Call: St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, Grand Turk

February 2022

Some of the ports on our cruise itinerary had paused cruise ship visitors before our cruise, so we were not 100% sure if any of our port stops would be changed. Locations were starting to reopen right when we left on our cruise, and Carnival Magic ended up stopping at all the original ports.

St. Maarten from Carnival Magic spa cabin 12038

St. Maarten 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

We love this island! The people are great, and the beach within walking distance is beautiful. You can take a water taxi ride to the beach area for $7 roundtrip, if you prefer. We wanted to walk through the shops first, so we did that, and then continued out of the cruise terminal, then down the sidewalk to the beach, which is an easy walk of about 1 mile, one-way. 

Beach in St. Maarten in front of Kalua Bar & Restaurant

We rented our chairs from a friendly guy with chairs in front of Kalua Beach Bar & Restaurant. We paid $15 for 2 chairs, and an umbrella right by the water. You could also rent chairs that came with rum punch (I do not know if it was unlimited, as we did not purchase that). The beach and water in this area is beautiful! When you walk farther down the beach, toward the shopping pier and downtown shops, the sand becomes more like the beach near the cruise port in Grand Turk with crushed shells. It is still a nice beach; the sand is just not as soft as it was where we were seated. You can enlarge any photo in this post by clicking on it.

Above: some of the crushed shells on the beach near the west end
Below: looking east from in front of our seat in front of Kalua

With the chairs we rented, we were also allowed to use the bathroom in the bar, and the wifi code. The wifi signal was not strong enough to use by the water. There are benches along the sidewalk by the bar, so we used it there before we left for the day. A bucket of 5 beers with ice from Kalua cost $12, and the guys renting chairs were eager to please. 

View while on our walk back to the cruise port in St. Maarten

We stopped at Amsterdam Cheese & Liquor Store on our way back to the ship for complimentary tastings. This store is just outside the cruise terminal, so it is not far to carry purchases back. There is a public restroom outside at this location. Everyone on this island is extremely friendly, and the prices are fair. Payment was not expected to use any of the restrooms. When we politely declined sales by people on the beach and when leaving the cruise terminal, we were not resolicited.

Two of the ships docked in St. Kitts February 2022

Southern Caribbean Ports of Call from Carnival Horizon: Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba

February 2020

We have been to all of these ports before, and only booked one excursion this trip. You can find previous posts with more information by using the search bar at the top of this page, or by clicking on any of the labels at the end of this post.

Grand Turk from Carnival Horizon in the afternoon, 
after we had gotten back on board.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

This was our first experience arriving in Grand Turk on the first cruise ship, and arriving so early. One time, our ship could not dock at all, another time, we docked a few hours late, and only had a short time on the island, and the last time, we arrived around 11AM after another ship. After our first bad experiences on the island, we have learned a few things: all the beach chairs with a green Cruise Center umbrella are complimentary at the Cruise Center, even the ones by the water. The Cruise Center is located left of the pier. Additionally, the chairs at Margaritaville are complimentary, unless you rent a cabana. Be aware that locals will come up to you and try to charge you for chairs. We went ashore about an hour after we had arrived, around 8:00 AM, and all of the complimentary beach chairs had already been taken. If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you can see that there is only one green umbrellas near the water, and it also looks like there are fewer chairs in the Cruise Center area than there had been the last time we were at this port.

Grand Turk from Carnival Horizon in the morning when we arrived.

Last time, we had been able to purchase a liter of local rum and then some mix to take it back to our seat for the day. This time, we were told we had to go to the ship, if we purchased a large bottle (smaller, non-local, more expensive bottles could be taken ashore). I am not sure if things have changed, or, if we took it back to our seats in error last time we were here.

Looking toward the [rocky] beach to the right of the pier in Grand Turk.

The beach area to the right of the pier and Duty Free shops is less crowded; however, the beach in this area is rocky. Although the water is beautiful in Grand Turk, the atmosphere on this island has been the same every time we visited--crowded, touristy, and locals who want nothing more than to take your money. I am already rethinking how we will spend our time the next time we visit this island; provided our ship docks there. I am writing this post during the Coronavirus pandemic, and our next cruise with a stop in Grand Turk is almost a year away. If things return back to normal, and we do visit Grand Turk again, I imagine we will take our time in the morning to enjoy breakfast and be relaxed, and then walk ashore with only our towels and no expectations. At the very least, we will walk the beach in both directions, swim, and maybe do a little shopping or browsing before returning to the ship.

Carnival Horizon in La Romana.

Carnival Conquest ports of call: Nassau, Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, Amber Cove

February 2019, ports from 6-day cruise on Carnival Conquest

Docked in Nassau; view from front of ship overlooking serenity deck.

This is a brief post about our ports of call from Carnival Conquest. We have previously visited most of these ports, and we did not book any shore excursions this trip. Click on the labels at the bottom of this post for more information about places of interest. You can also find additional photos with information in the Carnival Conquest Facebook album, and information about the cruise in the cruise blog post.

View from our balcony, cabin 7405, while docked in Nassau.

Nassau, Bahamas: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Nassau was our first port of call after one day at sea. Since this was a busy cruise with a port of call almost every day, and we will be returning to Nassau before the end of the year, we decided to enjoy the view and silence from serenity deck for most of the day. Later in the day, we got off the ship for a short time to look around. There were three ships docked during our visit, and it was easy to disembark and return to the ship. We observed an outdoor market with items for sale inside the port area, and the area outside the port was similar to other ports we have visited: shopping, dining, and vendors trying to sell excursions, and such. Returning to the ship, we noticed a sign for guests boarding Disney about bringing wine and alcohol on board. It said guests are allowed to bring one bottle of alcohol and wine on. Carnival guests are not allowed to do that at any of the ports of call. Carnival guests can bring one bottle of wine on only from the home port at the start of the cruise.

Carnival Splendor Ports of Call - Eastern Caribbean

February 2016

Following is information about our ports of call while aboard the Carnival Splendor. This was a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami. We stopped at four ports: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; St. Thomas, USVI; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos.

In addition to this blog post, you can find more photos and information in the Facebook ports of call album for the Carnival Splendor.

approaching Amber Cove - photo taken from the 
secret balcony (as my husband calls it) at the front of the ship

Amber Cove, Dominican Republic 

Amber Cove -
view from our balcony cabin 7434

Amber Cove is a new port that just opened October 2015. This was our first port of call scheduled for 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. My husband and I went on a safari type tour when we were in Puerto Plata a few years ago, which was fabulous. I have not been on the Carnival Outback excursion, although I imagine it is similar. I highly recommend this type of excursion, if this is your first visit to the area. The vehicle we rode in on our tour was similar to the one in the Carnival photos, and the description of the day sounds similar, as well. Most of the reviews posted on the Carnival website for this excursion have five stars.

view of Amber Cove from deck 12

We arrived before 8:00 a.m., and I do not know exactly what time guests started disembarking. We were walking on the jogging track on deck 12, and did not hear any announcements about disembarking. One of the first photos I took with guests walking up the pier was at 8:02 a.m. Some of the guests were already to the building at the start of the pier, so we must have been cleared before 8:00 a.m. It is a bit of a walk along the pier, and locals on bicycles pulled a rickshaw for passengers who did not want to walk.