Our near disaster in turks. Lessons learned.

We were on an eastern carribean new years eve cruise on the zuiderdam. Yesterday we were at Grand turks. We almost a disaster.. First the ship time was 1 hour different than local time. Don't know why but it was 1 hour ahead of island time. The correct time was announced and on clocks on the ship but what wasn't announced is that the local time was different. Anyone see a disaster coming here?

The next problem was that I booked a great excursion with a 3rd party online tour organizer. I didn't realize it and they didn't advertise it but the website was just an agent and not the provider. Big mistake.

Before leaving home i wasn't sure we were going to make the boat due to possibly weather so I didn't book our reservations til I got on the ship. So I booked online on my smart phone after we got on board while still in port the first day. Well as we pulled out I hadn't heard anything so I called and they said they would email everything the next day. Come to find out the booking wasn't really a booking at all. It was a request and they had to go out and find a vendor to accept our request. Didn't know that from the website until we paid a 20 percent deposit. ViA PayPal on their site. I called the tour place told them I was at sea and could get my emails and they said they would call me which they never did. I could have gone to the Internet cafe but I don't recall my email password and even then I didn't know if they had sent anything. Looking back I wish I had done this and printed their instructions which did mention a possible time change issue.

Advice: if you don't do a ship tour don't deal with a non local tour agent. Only deal with the provider. Having no info about our tour or if our reservation had “been accepted” i had my brother call the resrrvation place and get the details. Since texting on biard the ship is only a nickle to recieve i had my brother text me the info of where to meet and time while we were at sea after he called the middleman. They didn't quite tell him everything and the middleman staff didn't speak great English. We were excited to learn that on the first sea day that our reservation- which they called a request-had been accepted. Since we didn't have any idea of the details i had my brother call in again and ask eat we needed to know and he texted me eat they told him. We had a time and location and company name. What could go wrong? Well a lot. As said above the time was 1 hour off. The location was wrong. And the 3rd party booking company had a thick accent and my brother heard a slightly different company name. So I was looking around for wet monkey tours and it was suppose to be wet money tours. I am sure the locals I asked must of smiled behind my back at this dumb american. And the most important detail we didn't know is that we had to pay the balance due in cash! For 5 of us that was $425. I brought my visa card but don't carry that much cash anywhere.

We almost didn't bring much cash on the trip as everyone takes a credit card right? Well the website I booked on said nothing about requiring cash only payments but the email after our reservation was accepted did. Problem was we didn't get the email until waiting at the cruise plaza on shore an hour early and there was free wifi. I had a ton of emails and glanced over the entire email missing the cash only part. More on that later.

To continue we barely found the meeting place. The casino we were to meet in front of had closed and the signage removed. Again we didn't know we had to pay in cash - we later saw that after we got our emails from free WiFi on beach, and we almost missed the boat cause our driver thought 230 meant local time and 230 ship time was really130 local time… more on that later...

Lesson learned is if things are iffy on anything I would either book with the ship or wait til you are in port and deal with the supplier directly.

The good news is that yes, In turks there are cheaper local tours both right on beach and then outside the terminal gates.

Now the good part about our day is that we went with wet money tours. They offered what I was looking for. You can get them online directly. We went to stingrays then the wall then shallow reef then an island tour. Suprisngly the island tour was awesome. The island has No taxes a, small jail where if the prisoners work pick g up trash each day around the island they get TV and internet, saw all the churches and etc.

Some customers joined part of our wet money tour from buying a tour right at the dock. The tricky thing there is timing. Be there when the tour is leaving. I choose this tour specifically because they had 4 parts to their tour.. I really wanted to do the wall, stingrays, tour, and shallow dive.. The wall was awesome.

It seemed the other tours i found from the ship or online did not do the wall and the stingrays and city tour. I guess what I am saying is I would book with Wet Money tours but do it directly. Just be clear what local time is vs. Ship time is and learn exactly where to meet.

So we finished the snorkeling and such and then we had the city tour and had a few minute break. They asked for payment then. Cash. What? I opened my email and sure enough. Again I don't carry that kind of cash. We were on the beach. Our island tour was starting In 20.

Luckily we had brought more cash than I ever travel with and so I made a bee line to the ship. Down the beach past Jacks shack and through the shops and down the dock. Got to the room and counted out the money. Then recounted and got something different. Counted again. Then ran down the ships stairs. Down the pier. Through the shops. Down the beach to the meeting place. Out of breath. Probably took 30 minutes as my family stayed behind as collateral.

We learned later that because we started the tour on ships time and not local time they were planning on giving us the island tour first but since we showed up early we were put on their little boat to do the stingrays first. So when we finished the water part the tour company had some delays getting us our Isla d tour part. I want to be clear it wasn't their fault. We did have to wait a bit more and the driver had his uncle pick us up and take us to him. This was actually kind d of cool and added to the local flavor.

The scariest part dealt with the island time being different than the ship time. No one told us that.

Thankfully my wife had the time under control or I would be swimming to San Juan for our next stop. Lesson leaned. Serious untold the driver we had until 230. But we actually had til 130 local time. My wife had set her cell phone to ship time and thankfully the local cell phone service had not auto updated her phone time to island time. So she kept us on track and got us to the ship at 230. They untitled the stairs as we were getting on. I think we were the last ones on. Scary. Scare if the cell phone had changed times automatically as they can do as she specifically had set her cell phone clock to ship time and so we were thinking we had to be back when her phone said 230. Again local time, local cell phone time also, said 130. God's hand was with us this day.

Had we missed the ship I don't know what we would have done. There is no ships or daily ferry service anywhere at least to our next stop. They fly a little puddle jumper a few times a week over to providence. We had no cash. No clothes. And a visa card. And my son's diabetes supplies and insulin and insulin pump were on the ship. Missing the boat could have honestly been a life and death situation for us unless this tiny island that was 2 miles by 7 Miles had insulin and needles and supplies they would sell us with our visa card…. More importantly I have no idea if and when we could have gotten out of there to reach our ship and at what cost. 5 of us with expensive walk up fares at the airport. Again no clothes except our swimsuits. Wow… it's got me awake at 2 am realizing the gravity of how close to disaster we came. Had my wife's phone reset to local time we would have been sunk. And we learned never cut it so close. God has saved me many times from disaster. My family was saved again and it is obvious to me God was with us this day

What a horror story for you. :eek: Glad you were able to get back on board. Yes, you need to have all your ducks in a row before boarding including knowing the difference between time zones and excursion/port time. Usually when putting down a deposit, the confirming email will indicate how the remaining balance is to be paid. Sometime that's on the reservation form too, but not always. While many tour companies are savvy with on-line bookings, not all are fully up to speed. I think Wet Money is a relatively new outfit thus the use of a 3rd party to handle reservations. Lesson learned indeed.

That's not a near disaster.

That's a near unfortunate incident.

Thank goodness for that.

It is best to organize excursions in advance and not while on ship. A lot would have been avoided if you had done so especially with a juvenile diabetic.

So glad it worked out and you made the ship; but your story is a cautionary tale for all. My DH criticizes me for over planning and checking reviews on providers, and all details but it helps. So many things can happen unexpectedly that the things you can control you have to.

Have a great rest of cruise!

My wife can't understand me bringing a watch with me when we both have our cellphones. But cellphones can change time when traveling even when the ship time doesn't change and cause problems like you encountered.

I set the alarm on my travel clock because the cell phone alarm may go off an hour early or late.

My wife can't understand me bringing a watch with me when we both have our cellphones. But cellphones can change time when traveling even when the ship time doesn't change and cause problems like you encountered.

 

I set the alarm on my travel clock because the cell phone alarm may go off an hour early or late.

Neither my Dh or myself ever wear a real watch-except while cruising. We also make a deal to be back at the ship ready to board no later than 90 mins to 2 hrs before ship is scheduled to leave.

And my son's diabetes supplies and insulin and insulin pump were on the ship. Missing the boat could have honestly been a life and death situation for us unless this tiny island that was 2 miles by 7 Miles had insulin and needles and supplies they would sell us with our visa card….

Glad it worked out in the end.

As a T1D I have to ask...Why would a diabetic leave all of their supplies behind on the ship?

Stuff happens, the dive boat could have broken down, the van for the tour, any number of things. I don't go anywhere without at least my pump on and full, a vial of insulin, a new infusion set, a new insulin cartridge, a new CGM sensor a few alcohol wipes, my glucose meter and a few syringes as double back up. All of this fits in the smallest front pocket of my backpack. There really is no reason for a travel delay to end with even a remote possibility of a diabetic coma due to lack of insulin supply.

Neither my Dh or myself ever wear a real watch-except while cruising. We also make a deal to be back at the ship ready to board no later than 90 mins to 2 hrs before ship is scheduled to leave.

Same with me.

Only time I ever wear a watch is on cruises or international trips due to cell phone time being unreliable when in airplane mode.