I don’t usually leave Trip Reviews, however I felt compelled to leave one as A. There is not a lot of information in this thread and B. I have so much to say!
I went together with DW and flew United from EWR (3.5-hour flight, need to pay for luggage even though it is International). As noted up thread, lodging on Grace Bay is generally expensive here ($850 + a night). The currency is USD (even though it is officially part of the UK), and almost everyone speaks English. We decided to stay at the Venetian resort because I wanted to stay on Grace Bay (deemed the nicest beach in the world by Trip Advisor and others), and I wanted a room with an ocean view. Almost any other rooms at the hotels or resorts that fit those criteria were starting at over 1k a night, and I was able to get the Venetian for around 750 a night (staying for 3 nights). The Venetian is not part of a larger chain, and so I used Chase UR points to book. The two cons of the Venetian ended up being two massive pros for us, and I cannot recommend it enough.
A. It is farther down Grace Bay than most of the other hotels are, and is therefore further away from all the action. This ended up being a huge plus for us as the beach was super quite, with only a handful of other people at the beach at any point while we were there (the Venetian only has 24 units, and the neighboring resorts were fairly small as well).
B. The Venetian is not all inclusive, and does not have any food on premises. Instead, every room has a full sized kitchen fully equipped with a full sized fridge, freezer (with ice maker), (electric) stove, oven, microwave, coffee maker, glasses and much more. Room service fully restocked the coffee, sweeteners and creamers daily (all with a hechsher).
So instead of paying a premium for “all inclusive” accommodations with food you can’t eat, at the Venetian you get a fully equipped kitchen at a discount. Every unit comes with a washer, dryer, dining room (table chairs), living room (massive L couch) and a screened in porch with ocean view off of both the living room and Master BR, fully furnished with table, chairs and other porch furniture. The actual accommodations are luxurious, comfortable and spacious.
Day 1
We got thru security and customs pretty quickly, and although cabs are pretty expensive here (no Uber charge PP) we decided to just take cabs as we would not be doing much driving (and the cars drive on the other side of the road. Also the venetian offers bikes which we could use to drive into town (there are sidewalks connecting the venetian and the rest of the hotels). While you can get a ton of kosher food in the super market here (Graceway is the main one), it is all at least double the price of the US and figured we might as well bring in everything ourselves, besides eggs and veggies. After getting to the resort (costed $20 a person), we settled in (we were blown away by the views), and biked to the supermarket. After a quick and enjoyable ride, we were back on went down to the beach. Grace Bay is truly exquisite and beautiful, with the turquoise water and all. The water is super clear so bring goggles. On our first day I spotted a few schools of small fish, and DW even spotted a ray. We also had fun collecting Conch shells off the ocean floor, which are cool iconic souvenirs. As always pictures will do far from justice. Grace Bay is West facing, so the sunsets are definitely a highlight.
Day 2
The next day we headed down to the beach before heading out for a Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) tour of the mangroves. We booked through SUP Provo, and costed $125 pp. We had to take a taxi to get there, however it was only a few minutes away ($12 each way for both). The mangroves were really cool, and we got see plenty of baby lemon sharks, turtles, barracudas, conch and even some jelly fish. Your experience can definitely vary based on the weather and tide. We were fortunate to go on a calm day, however the SUPs can be more challenging in windier conditions. The mangroves are pretty shallow for the most part, so falling off is not a big deal just go on your knees by the occasional deeper parts if you are nervous. The water is super clear so you can see everything.
Day 3
On day 3, the weather acted up a bit as we got a little rain and some thunderstorms. We still need Covid tests within 24 hours of our flight in order to fly back into the US, and the Hotel had someone come once a day in the morning to give the tests (cost $50 pp.) Went super quick and got our results about an hour later sent to my email.
We had a snorkeling tour of the Turks and Caicos Barrier Reef booked for the afternoon, and it was still raining and thundering, however the tour went on as scheduled. There are a couple of boat tours that take you out to the reef, as well as stop off at iguana Island and the boats have a couple pick up points along the bay, so if you are staying at Grace Bay there is no need to travel to it. Costs for the tours are also in the $125-$150 range. The boats offer unlimited drinks, including beer and rum punch, so in terms of experience YMMV depending on the crowd (40 – 50 people per a boat). The snorkeling itself was without exaggeration one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. The boat took us to the reef which is a solid ride from shore, and supplied all the snorkel gear and floatation tube. I put my head underwater and was instantly transported to another world. It was literally like finding nemo coming to life, just way cooler. Schools of colorful fish of all shapes and sizes swimming around the endless coral was absolutely breathtaking. I was totally caught off guard by how beautiful it all was. There were a bunch of other tour boats (larger public and smaller private) along the reef as well. We had a guide that we followed as we swam around, however at certain point we broke off and explored ourselves. Keep in mind you are in middle of the ocean with pretty turbulent waves pushing us around. And then I got the shock of my lifetime when DW calls out “Look! Shark” and I looked down and saw a full sized 6 foot shark less than 20 feet away. Most of the people were back on the boat (they let us swim around for an hour), but for those of us still in the water it took the experience to another level. Again, depending on weather, season and fortune, YMMV.
Day 4
Our last day on the island, we had a 1:30 flight, so we had the front desk order us a taxi for 11:15. They said we could technically stay as late as we wanted which was super nice (and par for the course with our entire stay.) While Providenciales itself is essentially a third world country, we were basically shielded from seeing any of that aside from the airport, which is bursting due to the rapidly increasing number of tourists, and is the poorest looking airport I have seen. We got to the airport at around 11:30, and got thru security around 30 minutes before boarding which was fine. I wouldn’t recommend getting there any earlier, and getting delayed would not be fun. Thankfully we took off on time.
All in all was an incredible trip!!
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