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.
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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.
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| Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023 |
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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.
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| Carnival Elation at Half Moon Cay January 2023 |
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Half Moon Cay is one of our favorite ports. The water and beach sand is beautiful, and there are plenty of places to walk along the beach and on the interior trails. Lunch is served on the island, and drinks are available at the bars with your sail and sign card. Beverages on the island are not included with the Cheers package.
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| Map of Half Moon Cay Click photo to enlarge |
Half Moon Cay is a tender port. Since we are platinum guests, we did not have a wait to take the shuttle to shore. The letter we received with instructions for priority boarding, and another photo of the island map above, are posted in the Facebook album for this cruise. There are no VIP lines for the return trip, so there are a couple of things to consider, if you do not want to wait in line. Around 1:30 PM, many staff members will be boarding the shuttle to return with all of the lunch items that were taken to shore. If you wait for the last shuttle, you will most likely be waiting in line before boarding. There are queues for waiting guests, so the process is organized.
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| Port in Nassau from our porthole windows on Carnival Elation cabin R26 |
Nassau, Bahamas: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
We did a couple of new things in Nassau this trip, which we enjoyed. We walk frequently, so the information I am sharing was an easy day for us. We started early before it got too hot out. Our total walk was less than 2½ miles. There was a sidewalk along most of our route, and there was not much traffic in the areas that did not have a sidewalk.
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| Above: walk from cruise dock to Queen's Staircase Below: view from top of Queen's Staircase in Nassau |
We walked to Queen's Staircase, which you can visit for no charge. We walked the way google told us to toward the water tower and Fort Fincastle, because I did not know if we could get through from Sands Road. If you want to take a bit of the distance off your walk, you can get through from Sands Road. If you would like a narrated tour, however, the tour guides are standing at the top of the staircase near the entrance by the water tower. See the marked map above for details. The narrated tour is totally optional; it is local folks who do this for tips.
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| Queen's Staircase in Nassau, Bahamas |
Fort Fincastle, restrooms, and vendors, are also located at the top of the staircase, just past the tour guides. You can walk around this area for no charge, although there is a charge to go inside the fort. We observed tour buses coming and going while we were there.
We walked to John Watling's Distillery, next. The distillery opens at 10:00 AM, and tours are free. Again, we walked a bit farther than we had needed to, because there was no street sign on the corner of West Street and Meeting/Dillet Street. We turned right/north when we got to Augusta Street, and then walked back to the distillery entrance on Delaney Street. My husband and our son are both rum drinkers. They shared a 5 pour flight for $25 (in plastic cups), and purchased some rum. The rum bottle prices seemed fair; however, I thought the flight and cocktail prices were a bit steep.
Pirate Republic Brewing is located very close to the cruise port, and the sign outside said craft beer. We stopped in there to share a sampler before getting back on the ship. They did not have any seasonal beers, and they were out of Black Beer'd Stout. We got a sampler of 3 (IPA, ale, and wheat) for $7.50. We were not impressed with any of the beers we tried; we thought they merely tasted okay. I assume the stout is good, since they did not have it! 😃
Let me know if you have any questions or info to add!
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