Shore Excursions not Required at These Ports
On my Carnival Magic Cruise, we visited Amber Cove, Grand Turk, and Half Moon Cay. Not only did I love these cruise ports, but I was glad I didn’t pay anything extra for Shore Excursions. I did no prep work for this cruise. I didn’t even know which day we would be where. Luckily, these ports were great for those who don’t want to buy shore excursions or plan.
AMBER COVE
Amber Cove is a pier port, so you can walk off the boat when you are ready. We had no plans that day, so we weren’t in a hurry to get off the ship. If we had done any research, we would have realized they have a free pool at the port with chairs. We took our sweet time getting there, and it was more crowded than we liked. I have a very low tolerance for crowds. I felt very safe walking around the port area. We took a picture with the Amber Cove sign, then we headed back to the boat. We knew we would return next February, so we plan to get off the ship earlier and get a great spot at the pool.
GRAND TURK
Grand Turk - another pier port. We had a short port time at this one, and from our balcony, we could see the amazing, clear water, so we got off as early as they let us. We turned right off the boat and were quickly greeted by anxious locals trying to sell us chairs. We just kept walking and threw our towels down. If we had not been so focused on getting in the water, we would have noticed free beach chairs right behind us and a free pool. We spent the whole time on our floats, which we brought from home, enjoying the water. I highly recommend you bring a float (affiliate link)to this beach. I got a cheap one off at Amazon. So many people were asking me where I got it.
HALF MOON CAY
Last but not least is Half Moon Cay. This is a tender port, and you have to reserve tickets to get off the boat. We didn’t realize how early people would get in line for tickets, so we got a later ticket than we would have liked. However, it worked out great. We headed over to the BBQ as soon as we got off the ship and ate lunch. After lunch, all the beach chairs were taken, so we put our stuff by a tree. We blew up our floats and headed to the sea. We were out there until the sky was darkening all around us. We headed to get a tender boat back and barely beat the storm back.
I am doing Amber Cove and Grand Turk again in February. I plan on doing the same thing as the trip, except to the pool earlier in Amber Cove. I love that I can have a great time at all these ports with just a float I brought from home.
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