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In fact, there are bicycle rickshaws lined up to take anyone who chooses to ride down the pier to land. The riders provide this service on a tips-only basis.
Julie and I walked, easily getting to the resort area re-opened by Carnival Cruise Corporation ten years ago.
For people who chose the Margaritaville pool to spend their day in Grand Turk, this might be an even better port. The large pool is the main attraction, but there are also shops and eateries.
Long, parallel waterslides are available to ride all day for $6.
To me, this falls into the nickel-and-diming category.
I must not have been the only person who felt that way, because I don't remember seeing anyone go down the slides. Keep in mind that Island Princess is not a mega-ship, and on this voyage she carried mostly seniors not inclined to such exertion.
Julie and I did opt to pay $30 each for all-day zipline passes. This is not the longest or fastest zipline we've ever taken, but it had been a few years since we ziplined last, so why not? It was fun. I think the price of $20 guessed by our port presenter Jase based on his last visit would be the right price. After all, it has just one platform.
In the morning, I took the path up to the top of the zipline to take a first run and report whether it would be worth it for Julie.
It was. Julie and I took turns alternating between the zip line and relaxing by the pool with our beach bag containing credit card, $80 and Julie's iPhone.
It was not a rigorous hike up to the top, but the tropical sun was rapidly heating the air temp to 90 degrees, so getting in refreshing water sounded good after a few uphill treks to zip down. Spending the day in that large pool area with swim up bar would have been a logical option for us.
Instead, we walked to the parking lot to catch a taxi to Cofresi Beach, which we read is a good snorkel spot. It's located next to Ocean World Water Park, where they have snorkeling behind their walls for a fee.
I hoped for a day similar to one we spent in Tortola a few years ago. It also brought to mind another beach day on that same trip.
We went on our own to Coki Beach on St. Thomas to snorkel in the shadow of Coral World Water Park. While the snorkeling was indeed very good, that turned out to be a cautionary tale about wandering out on your own as a stranger in a strange land.
Despite flirting with danger, those days had turned out great. This time we did not have a parked car or a specific driver returning to a deserted beach to worry about.
Still, I would not advise doing this type of trip unless you feel prepared to deal with potential trouble.
The older I get, perhaps the more foolish this is. For now, I still feel enough like an action hero to go for it.
In the Dominican Republic, the snorkeling did not turn out to be nearly as good as what we had been led to believe.
It was a unique experience to swim repeatedly into sandbars covered in long grass that required a machete to swim through. We didn't have a machete.
I felt like Gulliver awakening after washing ashore on Lilliput to find himself entangled in the ropes of the tiny Lilliputians. I watched the Jack Black version of Gulliver's Travels on a plane ride recently out of a sense of nostalgia, remembering another movie about Gulliver that I watched with my mom as a boy.
There were a few fish along the craggy rock wall along the side of the water park. You might want to pay admission to the water park and possibly swim with dolphins rather than wading through seaweed as we often found ourselves doing, but we had a pleasant time on the beach overall.
When we had originally arrived, a local guy met us as we got out of our taxi to hawk a rental chair on the beach for $5. As it turned out, I think the lounge chair had probably blown onto the beach during the last hurricane and this guy simply showed up in the morning to retrieve it daily and rent it to tourists like us.
While not a pristine tourist beach where beach tractors clear away dead seaweed daily, it has nice views. The sea water was cool enough to be refreshing without being so cold as to feel startling to enter. Perfect.
He dragged the chair down the sand to a shady spot under a tree, which was a perfect spot to lounge with views of the ocean.
He also offered to get us anything we wanted from his nearby mini mart, for which he produced a weather-ravaged business card.
I ordered a Diet Coke, knowing it would taste good on such a hot day. He brought the soda and change for my $5 bill as promised.
My first foray to find fish took me much further than I should have gone.
When I returned, Julie said she was about ready to call for rescue services.
I should have come back after fifteen minutes to report how bad the snorkeling was, but ever the optimist, I kept moving further down the beach until I reached the wall for Ocean World, where there were a few fish.
I was so proud of myself for finding at least a few fish --- and saving Julie from the misery of those underwater Lilliputian-rope struggles --- that I hadn't realized how long I had been gone.
My only redeeming quality had been ordering that Diet Coke before beginning my travels. Now I could sip a little in the shade.
I relaxed in the lounge chair, taking occasional dips in the water like Julie had.
When Julie returned, ready to dry in the sun before returning to the ship, I walked over to the mini mart to check the price of beer.
Oddly, a dozen young local men were hanging out inside this store. It was actually more of a shack with beer cases stacked around the sides and a small cooler. I have no idea what they were all doing, but after I learned a six-pack would be $14, they let me walk out without hassling me, so I guess it doesn't matter.
When it was time to go, our chair guy asked if we needed a taxi. He called over one of his friends. His pal went to get his car after saying he would take us back for $20, or basically $5 less than we paid a real taxi to get us there. He turned out to be a safe driver, dropping us back by the gates of the port area.
Julie and I went back to the ship for lunch, but we weren't ready to go behind walls to eat on this beautiful day.
At the Salty Dog Grill on Deck 15, Julie had her usual burger and fries. On land, Julie and I often split an order like that, but we were cruising.
I ordered a Reuben Dog (think of 1/4-pound sausage instead of corned beef or pastrami) and Loaded Fries topped with chili. We dined at a table in the shade, overlooking the pool with the coast of Amber Cove as a background setting. Terrific meal!
Back to shore, we brought only towels. We carried no valuables that we needed to watch, intent on ziplining side-by-side on the two cables.
At the top, we were told that they no longer had enough staff to run two lines, although there seemed to be just as many workers as there had been in the morning when we saw others do this.
We went down one after another.
It was again fun, but with the temperature now in the low 90s, we were ready to enjoy the huge pool.
What I thought might be a "lazy river" did not have water jets to generate a rideable current. As to whether this was a design oversight or simply the operator thinking there weren't enough guests to justify the power consumption --- fair point considering there were only a half dozen others besides us in the huge pool --- I don't know.
Only one couple sat at the swim-up bar while we were in the pool area that afternoon.
This was a far cry from the vivacious scene at adult-oriented areas on some private islands.
With more ships in port or at least more passengers from our ship coming ashore, there would have been more of that electric vibe that younger adults crave. Had a Carnival ship also been in port, it probably would have been too much hubbub for Julie and me.
A bigger contingent of cruisers could have also helped sell their underutilized a la carte features, although many who came ashore took excursions.
Just because you can be DIY in Amber Cove doesn't mean you must be that thrifty. There are plenty of good excursions available at reasonable prices, including a ziplining course through the jungle, Dolphin Swim at Ocean World Water Park or snorkeling from a catamaran.
Whether you book with Princess or one of our preferred vendors on shore, that's a much safer way to go when you leave the comforts of the port resort.
We would take an escorted excursion the next day in Puerto Rico, but we were tired and ready to return to the comforts of our floating resort.
As we walked back to Island Princess, the idea of riding in a rickshaw was tempting, but we hadn't brought cash for a tip. We didn't want to stiff a driver pedaling in the hot sun.
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