First of all, what is a Caicos? I mean, we visited Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. What the heck is a Caicos?

OK – before I begin talking about Grand Turk, I must confess something. Nanni complemented me on knowing my streets in my San Juan post. Because I wanted to get them right, I had a tourism map up. There was actually an English version available, but it is Old San Juan and Spanish is the only way to go.

OK, back to Grand Turk. As this visit was the Carnival Liberty’s first stop at the island, John & Diane joined us for our voyage into the unknown – also know as the shopping district immediately adjacent to the cruise ship dock.

The ship docked for an 11AM to 5PM visit and we got off around noon. We wondered around and/or into virtually every store in the area – there are about 40 of them in all. I got a Pirana Joe’s hat and t-shirt combination, the Ms. also got a t-shirt that reads “The beatings will continue until moral improves”. Most everything had a pirate motif.

The area includes a swimming pool, but that seems to be superfluous. I mean, do you go to a Caribbean island for a swimming pool, particularly when there is a beach immediately adjacent to the cruise ship dock. Well, they call it a beach, but I called it hazardous. More later.

After about two and one-half hours of shopping, with very little to show for it (good for us, bad for the Grand Turk economy), we headed back aboard. The three of us planned on getting into our suits and head back out for some time on the beach, but John & Diane had some work to do, so they forewent the beach.

We slathered up with sunscreen, put our suits on and headed back out. Though the Welcome Center and a quick left leads you to the beach, or what they call a beach.

It appears that the beach is artifically created – there is a area of soft sand with a sudden, steep drop off down to the water’s edge. I can’t be certain, but I think they pumped all the sand off of the bottom of the ocean in the area to create the beach. We got to the water’s edge and started to wade into the Caribbean waters, only to discover that the bottom was so uneven and rocky, it was almost dangerous. I finally floated on my back out to deeper waters, where I could still basically stand up with my head out of the water.

We spent about thirty minutes in the water, then made our way back to the “beach”. Again, it was a struggle – it was so easy to put your foot down and discover an uneven surface. I finally had to float back out, then come over a ways to where the Mrs. had found a path that was reasonably “safe” into the beach. Thus ended our shore excursion for the day.

BTW – have you ever noticed that Carnival opens another line to get back aboard just as you get to the bottom of the gangway? It happened twice to us this cruise.

The rest of the cruise was pretty uneventful – the night of Grand Turk was the second formal night. I did not even wear a tie or a coat this time and felt no shame in doing so. We continued to enjoy John & Diane’s shows and the Mrs. and Ms. got good seats for the production show that includes “the full Monty”.

Friday was spent getting ready for debarkation. We slept in again – usually that doesn’t happen when we are on a cruise – and we packed over time. One thing about this cruise – there was no stress relative to packing for me. I slept while the Mrs and Ms packed to leave and the Ms took care of getting things together to come back.

Friday night was a time to say good-bye again to John & Diane. Friday night is the night for the Legends Show and they end their set early, as they use the Lobby stage to take pictures after the show, so they were done at 11PM. Afterwards, we got together and enjoyed a few minutes on our balcony before our final hugs and kisses. It was good to see them again and we look forward to another cruise with them before they retire from Carnival.

Saturday, we were faced with depressing fact that the ship was back in Miami and our home for the last seven days would soon belong to someone else. Bugger.

We got up early and went for a final breakfast in the Silver Olympian Dining Room. The Mrs. had her Egg Benedict (only one), while I had French Toast and the kid had pancakes. Then, back to our room to finish putting the last things in our bags.

Because we had our car, the Mrs. had gotten us a #2 debarkation ticket. We were told they would start calling numbers around 7:30 and they were not kidding. They called our number almost as soon as we got back to the room. We had put five bags out the night before, but still had a number of small backpacks and carry-ons to take with us, which proved to be a problem.

I realize that the staff of the ship have to get the rooms turned over in a very quick manner, but they tell you to be out of the room by 8:30AM. By the time we started our trek from the rear of the ship to the front for debarkation, it seemed like every steward had their carts out blocking the hallways. Are you kidding me? I mean, it must have taken us fifteen minutes to make our way from the back of the ship to the forward elevator, where, of course, you could not get an elevator because they were all full.

And talk about rude people – there was an older person there with a walker trying to get down the three flights. When one elevator arrived with space, a group “raced” to get on board, rather than doing the decent thing and allowing that person the space. Probably the same people who park in handicapped parking because “they will just be a minute”.

Finally, we gave up and carried our gear down the three flights, then got queued up to leave the ship. By now, they were calling #7 and #8, and we were #2! Get into a line, ping the Sign & Sail card one more time to prove that you have left your home for the last week, then through the new Cruise Center to the baggage area.

I learned after the transatlantic cruise to grab a porter as soon as I could and boy was I glad I did. We got to our carousel and no bags. Waited, still no bags. Waited some more, still no bags. Finally talked to a Carnival rep and discovered that the brainiacs behind the walls had put the #11 and #14 bags on the carousel, even though the numbers had not even been called, and there was now no room for the #2 bags. So, there we waited.

Eventually, our bags appeared and we were off to the Immigration & Customs area – we got a nice man named Miquel who asked a few questions, then handed us our passports and wished us a good day. Out to the curb to find a taxi, tip the porter $20 for his great services and we were off to pick up the car.

The last four or five paragraphs probably make it sound like it took forever, but it really did not – we were at our car by 9AM, ready to pack in our suitcases and get off on our journey home (see http://musingsofjustjon.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/home-again-home-again-jiggity-jog/ ).

Thus ends my recounting of the latest (eighth) cruise. I look forward to my ninth cruise – the Blogger’s Cruise and hope to see many of you there as we partake of John’s hospitality and wit.

’til then, I remain your

JustJon