Free Port Activities
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 actually 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.
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 felt very safe walking around the port area. We took a picture with the Amber Cove sign. and 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 - 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 was 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 we brought from home enjoying the water. I highly recommend you bring your own float to this beach. I got a cheap one off at Amazon. So many people were asking me where I got it.
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 the bbq as soon as we got off the boat 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 exact 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.
