Mitsugirly takes great PRIDE in bringing her Spring Break extreme review

I am excited to hear about your day in HMC!

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By this time I was hungry again and Guys Burgers it was.

 

 

CAN YOU ORDER MORE THAN ONE BURGER AT A TIME at GUYS?:)

Ahhhh. Thanks for the pics of Grand Turk! I can't wait to be back there in a few weeks! We always venture down to Jack's Shack, which in my opinion, is a better atmosphere, but maybe not with kids. We don't have kids, so notmuch help there!

 

As far as the towels, I've noticed on the heavy beach days (Grand Turk and HMC especially) that laundry sometimes has trouble keeping up with the demand. We didn't get towels on the Fascination after HMC, but had them the next morning. Our steward told us they were behind in getting them clean :)

You are very welcome.

The towels situation could be true. He later tells me (on another day that we were missing towels) that they did not have any clean towels the night he cleaned our room.

 

 

Please tell me you added your pictures to it?. Once you get the flask drive they will add all your pictures for $1 a picture. We did that on our last cruise and since next one will be DH first cruise I plan on getting some family shots done.

I did not. I didn't even know that was an option. :confused: They didn't mention it and just handed it to me. You would think if they want to make more money, they would try to promote this. Can you download ALL of the pictures they took of you? Or just the ones that you purchased? How do they download them on there since they are printed pictures? I don't think they keep a copy of them anywhere in the system since they LOST all of my daughters pictures and she was unable to get anymore. :( There's no face recognition on this ship or anything.

I really wish I could go on a cruise right now!!

 

I don't see Bermuda listed in your tag line. I can't wait to read your review when you go. Bermuda is my favorite destination and I don't think I will ever tire of it.

Hmm, I have something in my signature line that shows the ship picture and it says : 1 month 1 week and 6 days until our Dawn to Bermuda cruise on it. :confused:

Great update! I enjoyed seeing a bit more of the Pride, this time with you and your family in the pictures. Sakari was really cute in her Thing 1 outfit. I also enjoyed hearing about your day in Grand Turk. We did not spend any time on the beach or in the pool when we were there. I think we may have to plan some time on the beach in Grand Turk on a future visit. I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise.

Thanks for commenting and glad you are enjoying the review. More coming up later today. :)

Nice pictures. I trust everyone seeing these will understand just how flat and how small the island is. You've captured about 7/8ths of the island here and if you squint or zoom in you can even see the top of the lighthouse.

You're right, I do see the lighthouse. I didn't pay attention when we were there. It is a very small island. That was my first thought as we were pulling in. I guess I pictured it to be bigger.

I find it hard to believe I really didn't get pictures of the other side of the island from the ship. I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time. The only other picture I have of that side is one as we were pulling out and it was taken from our balcony.

I am excited to hear about your day in HMC!

 

 

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HMC coming right up later today. :)

CAN YOU ORDER MORE THAN ONE BURGER AT A TIME at GUYS?:)

I would say yes you can because I would go up and get me and my daughter one and they didn't ask questions and another time when we were swimming in the pool (not the main pool located right there in front of Guys), I sent the hubby to get us all a burger and fries and he came back with 3 plates of them. :D

Thank you...loving your review. Your daughter is so precious and full of life.

As we pull out of Grand Turk, I reflect on my thoughts of this place I had waited years to visit.

 

I have seen pictures of this place. I had watched a show once talking about it was one of the most gorgeous places in the Caribbean to go. I did not think so.

 

Yes, it was nice. Yes the water was beautiful and a decent beach, but it did not blow me away that's for sure. I have been to much better and prettier beaches.

 

Was it because I stayed within the beach area at the compound? Maybe, but I hardly doubt it. Looking down the rest of the beach, it pretty much looked about the same just more spread out and probably less crowded...although I didn't really feel our area was too crowded to begin with. Does a crowd make that much of a difference? Well to some it may, to me, not really. I'm not referring to the people, the crowd, the food or anything of the kind when I talk about how I felt about the place itself. I'm referring to the surroundings, the atmosphere, the beauty of the place. It just wasn't what I thought it would be...that's all. Maybe I hyped it up to be more than what it actually is and I set my expectations too high. I'm really not sure.

 

 

I haven't visited Grand Turk yet (anxious to go in October), but from what I have seen it looks like to me that the Turks and Caicos island Providencials is more commercialized than Grand Turk and also has the famous Grace Bay Beach. Unfortunately the cruise ships do not go to Providenciales, but it does look like a gorgeous island to maybe try a land vacation one day. I thought maybe the shows and pictures you have seen were more of that island instead of Grand Turk.

Enjoying your review and anxious to read about Half Moon Cay - we will also be visiting there for the first time in October. We went to Bermuda for the first time last summer on NCL Breakaway; we loved the island & I think you will also!

We find the water at Grand Turk very rocky and needed beach shoes but your pictures didn't seem that way. Was it rocky?

LOVING the pictures. What type of camera do you have?

Love your review. Just booked this itinerary for next summer (like you I have three cruises booked right now within the next 15 months - a record for me) my kids will be 6.10 and 14 on the cruise so I like to see what you did in ports. We are really looking forward to a 1 hour drive to port and cheap/free excursions on this itinerary!

How long did it take you to walk to the "graveyard" from the port area? I don't have any mobility issues but apparently am a sloooowww walker! I want to do an excursion and then go to the graveyard and am trying to figure out how much time I will need to do both. Thanks!

Once again, have to give credit where credit is due...

 

When searching for a hotel, it was suggested to look up Trinity Reservations. They have excellent hotel/park/fly/shuttle services. I'm just sorry I had not learned about them prior to now. They are wonderful and so cheap. You really can't beat the prices.

 

I really struggled over which hotel to pick. I had read terrible reviews on 2 of the hotels I wanted. There seem to be issues with the shuttle service. Since we were flying in, we needed a place that had some type of food within walking distance for dinner that night (even if it was fast food) and also a place (whether it be a gas station, grocery or pharmacy) to get pop (yes POP, I'm from the north, we call it pop...for all you southern "soda" people that don't understand-hehe) for the cruise.

 

Everyone suggested staying at the Best Western Elkridge, which seemed to be located around...n-o-t-h-i-n-g! Ugh. Perfect place, highly recommended, good reviews, but nothing close by.

 

I contacted the person at trinity and they gave me direct numbers to all of the places and the contacts he works with. That way I could ask all the questions I had directly to them and get the answers I needed first hand. I was very grateful for this. The first 2 places (with the no-so-good reviews) was Comfort Inn and Best Western. The issues with these places seem to be the shuttle service. The way things are done there are...you don't sign up for the shuttle service until THE DAY OF the cruise and you MUST be checked out of the hotel AND put on a waiting list. The other problem is that the airport people coming in and leaving take priority over the cruise ship people. So you may be sitting around and waiting for them before they can shuttle you. (There were reports of people waiting as long as 6-7 hours and not leaving the hotel until 2pm). The other issue is that the hotel waits until they received a call from the cruise port saying "we are letting people board now" before they'll even put you on the shuttle. Well, we had purchased FTTF, so that was unacceptable!

 

Now, time for the interrogation with BW Elkridge. You sign up for the shuttle when you arrive and check in. You can leave whenever you want. They have several shuttles as well and someone to drive you 24/7. Also, they informed me that there was a restaurant on the premises in the parking lot if we wanted to eat there AND they would shuttle us to the local mall at any time we wanted day or night. They also told us that there were plenty of places to eat there and also a Walmart for our "soda" needs. I think I found the place! Something told me this was a good decision and I'm 100% satisfied I chose it.

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

So back to the airport.

 

We gathered our luggage and called the hotel for the shuttle at 12:25. The shuttle arrived at 12:39! Just 14 minutes later and we had our luggage in the shuttle, piled into the van and on our way at 12:41. Now that's service.

 

 

 

We arrived and checked in quickly and the place looked great. You could tell it had just been remodeled.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the area off to the side of the entrance and where they served the free hot breakfast the following morning.

 

 

 

 

They also had lemon water you could get during the day.

 

There was a nice fireplace in the lobby.

 

 

 

We did a quick check of the area and took a quick look at the indoor pool. This would come in handy with trying to entertain 2 kids during the rest of the day and it was still chilly outside.

 

 

 

It also had a hot tub, which was good for us cold-natured people as well.

 

I will also be staying at BW elksridge! !! Can u please elaborate more about your check in experience?

You were in fact able to sign up for a shuttle upon check in? And had no problem leaving to the port at the time u wanted?

I'm enjoying your review. I had told you over on NCL forum that I was looking forward to it. Since dh and I have only sailed NCL, but with all of their recent changes we plan to try Carnival.

The ship looks beautiful. Would love to try her.

Your daughter is cute. So is your grandson. I absolutely love his free, creative spirit!!!!

Thank you...loving your review. Your daughter is so precious and full of life.

Thanks so much for the compliment. I really appreciate it. :)

I haven't visited Grand Turk yet (anxious to go in October), but from what I have seen it looks like to me that the Turks and Caicos island Providencials is more commercialized than Grand Turk and also has the famous Grace Bay Beach. Unfortunately the cruise ships do not go to Providenciales, but it does look like a gorgeous island to maybe try a land vacation one day. I thought maybe the shows and pictures you have seen were more of that island instead of Grand Turk.

 

Enjoying your review and anxious to read about Half Moon Cay - we will also be visiting there for the first time in October. We went to Bermuda for the first time last summer on NCL Breakaway; we loved the island & I think you will also!

Maybe that's what it is...the show I watched in the past could have been a different place at Turks and Caicos. I sure don't see it being this place that they showed.

I can't wait until Bermuda. Actually, I can't wait until I can finish this review so that I can get back to "planning my strategy" while in Bermuda. I can't wait to hit up all the beaches.

We find the water at Grand Turk very rocky and needed beach shoes but your pictures didn't seem that way. Was it rocky?

 

LOVING the pictures. What type of camera do you have?

Oh no. It wasn't rocky at all both in the water and on the beach. We didn't see anything like that. The only place we found it rocky is toward the right way after you go past the beach and at the conch graveyard. :)

Love your review. Just booked this itinerary for next summer (like you I have three cruises booked right now within the next 15 months - a record for me) my kids will be 6.10 and 14 on the cruise so I like to see what you did in ports. We are really looking forward to a 1 hour drive to port and cheap/free excursions on this itinerary!

Honestly, since this was such an expensive cruise, we didn't really do anything this time around other than the beach. :D (Which works PERFECT for our family because that's what we really love).

How long did it take you to walk to the "graveyard" from the port area? I don't have any mobility issues but apparently am a sloooowww walker! I want to do an excursion and then go to the graveyard and am trying to figure out how much time I will need to do both. Thanks!

Ok, I'm going back and checking the times on my camera's from taking pictures while walking to the graveyard. I don't want to steer you wrong because I'm terrible with estimating time (or height or length and especially portions :D).

The first picture I took as we left the shopping area at the port was at 11:54. We walked along as I stopped and snapped pictures along the way and arrived at the "whale" in the sand at 11:57. Checked it out, took a few pictures and on we went. Most of the pictures I have after we arrived there were around the time 12:11 give or take. We didn't stay long. We picked out our shells, I took more pictures and the hubby started heading back so I eventually got the hint he was tired of being in the sun. :p We were walking along the beach at 12:19 and stopped to take more pictures and did the pictures with us and Sakari at the wedding area then kept heading back and arrived back at the beginning of the shopping area at 12:25. So, as you can see, it didn't take long. However, we didn't go all the way to the end (at least I don't think we did). The beach area we were at got really rocky with tons of conch shells everywhere and it wasn't really an area to be walking along. From the pictures that I have seen others posted, I believe there must be a path somewhere "above" where we were walking that would probably take you on down further. But if you are just looking to grab some conch shells and head back, it can easily be done in a good half hour. :D If I go back, I'll probably attempt to take the "high road" and see how far I can go. :p

I will also be staying at BW elksridge! !! Can u please elaborate more about your check in experience?

 

You were in fact able to sign up for a shuttle upon check in? And had no problem leaving to the port at the time u wanted?

Our check in was quick and super easy. No issues at all with booking using Trinity. They had everything in their system. They just ask you for a cc for incidentals and give you your room key. They let you know what time breakfast is the next morning and they have a sheet sitting on the desk that you sign up for the shuttle. They have 1/2 hour slots. If you want to shuttle to the mall, just let them know at any time that you are ready by either calling down to the front desk or just head down there and they'll pull the van up as long as they're not out on a run. Everything from the airport to the cruise port is very close and it doesn't take long to get around so there wouldn't be a long wait. :)

No problem leaving to the port AT ALL. They were actually sitting outside waiting for us when we came down on the elevator. No issues after calling them when we returned from the cruise either. Actually, they are faster than I am. :D

I'm enjoying your review. I had told you over on NCL forum that I was looking forward to it. Since dh and I have only sailed NCL, but with all of their recent changes we plan to try Carnival.

 

The ship looks beautiful. Would love to try her.

 

Your daughter is cute. So is your grandson. I absolutely love his free, creative spirit!!!!

Thanks so much for your comments. Live a little, try new things...I did am I'm glad I did. I wouldn't hesitate to book again and I'm hoping to for this November or next year. There's definitely more similarities than differences IMO.

My grandson...free/creative spirit...ah yes, that's a nice selective choice of words to describe him. :p :D :eek: hehehe

Hi all!

mitsugirly ~ I was sorry to read on the other thread that you didn't get to see the towel animals around the pool. That would have been fun for the kids & even for big kids like myself!;) I came upon it by chance once & wonder why they don't post it in the daily paper.

Nice that they had Dr Seuss on this ship & the Fuzzie/Furries? on the other one. Fun for the kiddos.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you like Dawn & Bermuda too. I took Breakaway there & loved it (Bermuda not the ship) & have been on Dawn twice on different itineraries.

I can't wait to see HMC in your pictures either, it's such a beautiful place.

~ Jo ~:)

So back to the review...

Here we are...HALF MOON CAY DAY! WOO HOO.

We were up at 7:45am this morning and I couldn't wait for this day to begin.

We headed up to the buffet area for breakfast, me and my little ducklings (hubby and child)...I say this because they follow me around like little ducklings and I like to mess with them. Sometimes I will turn left...they follow then back a sharp right, they do the same, and back left again until they catch on. HEE HEE HEE. Yes, that's the type of relationship we have...always laughing, joking and messing with each other. It keeps us on our toes.

I had my normal breakfast and added a few things.

Now I do have to mention that there's something with all the "toppings" on this cruise. Everything was so "watery". The syrup poured like water, the butter the same almost...then there's the (what is supposed to be) cream cheese????? YIKES. I have no clue what was up with it but it wasn't cream cheese as any person I've ever come across knows it as. wow.

Sakari loves bagels and I just KNEW when I was "spreading" (and I use that term lightly) the unknown "cream cheese" consistency of I don't know kinda topping on her bagel that it just might go off too well. Yep, I was right. The face she made after one bite I couldn't help but totally laugh...like out loud to the point the people behind us turned around. I grabbed my camera and only managed to capture her tongue still sticking out...but the facial expression was gone. DARNIT!

Like before, the muffins and sweets were good...what a pleasant change from NCL's tasteless "goodies" section.

We were due to arrive at Half Moon Cay at 9am and we were pulling in and "parking" at 8:45am. Time to get a move on it and grab our beach bags and head to....get this...customer service to put our FTTF to use!!!

As soon as we arrived at the FTTF customer service desk and told them we were ready to head over to HMC, they immediately told us to "follow me" and off we went, down the back way, around the crowd and onto the boat. Pretty cool.

Now I had pre-warned Kendra that we would not be waiting on them to get their tender tickets and wait to be called...since we had the VIP FTTF and all...yes, I rubbed it in since she had been rubbing in the slot win. Hey, I'm allowed right? I told her to get off the tender and head left toward the "ship".

When we got on the tender, they were calling tender tickets 6-11 at that time. So, no we were not the first off the ship, but I was ok with that. Hey, we were busy getting our bellies full at the time.

The ride was very short and we were pulling in to this little area that looked like it had been a canal carved out for their entrance. (NCL has the same thing now since they have re-vamped their private island).

They had canon's pointed toward us...I'm not sure if this is welcoming or telling us to behave while there or they'll feed us to the pirates. Let's just say that I DID NOT BEHAVE.

Me glancing over at the beach area while pulling in.

Taking a peek at our beautiful Pride waiting on us in the distance.

Pulling in. There were several boats in the area.

Now the tender ride over took us 3 minutes to get there and get this....it actually took them 5 MINUTES TO PARK!!! Like seriously. Longer to park than the ride over. I just had to laugh.

You can tell they are still working on the island and also improving it (not that I personally know what the island looked like before...but what private island isn't always getting constant improvements)?

The entrance with the actual name of the island on it.

Now I just wanted to give you all a little history lesson... maybe??? Half Moon Cay is actually called Little (or Fort) San Salvador (as shown in the picture above when you enter). This island was actually owned by NCL and use to be their private island until it was purchased by Holland America in 1996... or at least that's what I read online. Anyone know this to be true? It really has me wondering since the first time I ever cruise was back in 1989 and it was with NCL and I SWEAR that the private island they have now (Great Stirrup Cay) seems nothing like it is now...and by nothing I mean I remember soft beautiful sand (and it does not have that now) and I definitely do not remember any type of huge rocks sticking out of the water as it is now (and I mean rocks that couldn't have been just placed there). It makes me wonder if I have been to this place before? Or maybe they didn't use this place back then even if they owned it? I have no clue. Just wondering if anyone actually knows other than reading it online.

We had our pictures taken after we got off the tender.

We got off and headed into the port shopping area.

It was small and to me seemed like it had just been developed recently...or either they planned it that way.

Can anyone confirm if you are allowed to walk up these steps at this building to get pictures of the area? Just wondering. I didn't do it for fear of being shot by one of the canon's coming in.

I did like the building and the color they used. It kinda reminded me of the Costa Maya port with the architecture and color.

Ok, so let's be honest here...I really did not spend any time here at the shopping area when I arrived. Seriously...most of you know me around here and I'm a beach/water freak (and so is Sakari)...we got off the boat, passed all the up and headed straight for the beach!!!

However, for the sake of the review, I will go ahead and give you the pictures of this small shopping port area now just to get it out of the way. We visited it on the way back to the ship (kicking and screaming I might add) and that's when a majority of these pictures were taken.

This would be the tiny shop that I visited to grab me a HMC tee shirt and NO MAGNET!! Gasp! Sigh. Ok, this would be the first time I was not able to get Sakari a magnet for her collection with the name of the place.

I must have really liked this conch shell wall thingymabob...I took enough pictures of it. I guess it was the only neat thing there to begin with.

Palm tree shadows, because everyone loves a palm tree right?

There's another reminder for me...this had to be a sign.

Ok let's get to the nitty gritty and head out toward the beach where we (I) all wanna be.

We stepped out onto the sand and ahhhhh, it was so soft and fluffy and the water was so beautiful.

The beach was absolutely stunning.

We walked toward the pirate ship and looked for a place. The hubby got a little burned yesterday, so he wanted the shade. Now...I will state this...we hardly ever rent anything when we are on a beach. We hardly even get beach chairs if they are not free. I can put my beach towel down on the sand and be perfectly happy sitting or laying there. I know some people have to have a chair or lounger and some have to have an umbrella...not me. I could care less. I'm not going to spend any amount of time there to begin with so why bother. We have rented a chair and umbrella and shared it once I believe and that was only because Kendra and her bf was with us and insisted. So, we don't know the first thing about how this works with the rentals.

However, the hubby was insisting shade and he knew that he wanted a clam shell. We stopped and ask a staff member that was running up and down the beach about renting one and if we did that with him. He said no, that there would be someone that came by to rent it from and pick one. So pick one we did.

We set up shop and daddy was happy for his shade and Sakari could care less and only wanted to head to the water.

Since Sakari was chompin' at the bit to get in the water and driving me nuts about it I lathered her up with the slimy cream cheese wannabe spread from the ship...just kidding, spf 9084 and then laughed and told her I needed to take a picture of my masterpiece first before we went down to the water.

We touched the water and yikes...cold.

The water was absolutely GORGEOUS!