Margaritaville
Grand Turk Cruise Center, Grand Turk
The Grand Turk Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett’s trademark dining establishment, is the main restaurant at the Carnival Cruise Center on Grand Turk.
This expansive restaurant, bar, and tourist shop is the largest Margaritaville in the Caribbean and is located alongside the giant swimming pool at the Cruise Center. Onsite is the Trading Post shop, a swim-up bar, and the iconic and popular giant parrot statue.
The Food and Menu
Margaritaville serves an expansive menu of American favorites with a Caribbean and Mexican flair. There’s a wide variety of appetizers, soups, and salads.
Mains include burgers, sandwiches, seafood, jerk fish and chicken, volcano nachos, combo platters, and of course their famous Chef’s Special ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’.
Desserts include chocolate cake, key lime pie, and the Bananarama, a fried banana and ice cream dessert.
Trading Post Shop
Also part of Margaritaville is the Trading Post, a gift shop that offers tourist souvenirs and Margaritaville branded items such as beer koozies, T-shirts, hats, flip-flops, and more.
Opening Times
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is only open when a cruise ship is in port at the Grand Turk Cruise Center.
If grabbing lunch at Margaritaville is on your vacation checklist, we advise heading to the restaurant directly from the ship, as it can get crowded quite quickly and chairs and tables can be difficult to find.
Guests that are staying overnight on Grand Turk at one of the island’s inns or hotels are welcome to visit the Cruise Center, yet the shops and amenities of the complex largely only operate when a vessel is in port, and pedestrian and vehicular traffic into the complex may be restricted on off days.
For information on other island eateries, see Grand Turk Restaurants.
Drinking Age
The legal age for consumption of alcohol in the Turks and Caicos is 18. Alcohol may not be purchased in shops on Sunday, yet may be bought and consumed in restaurants.
Things to Do
Grand Turk offers quite a few interesting sights and attractions both inside the Cruise Center and elsewhere on the island.
Margaritaville is located steps away from the beautiful Cruise Center Beach, which features loungers that are free to use. The beach directly fronting the cruise port can get a bit crowded, so we advise heading north up the coast for a better quality coast and more room.
There’s also a huge swimming pool at the Cruise Center, a wide selection of shops and art galleries, the FlowRider surf attraction, and outdoor exhibits on the 1962 Mercury Space Mission and John Glenn’s touchdown near Grand Turk.
See Beaches of Grand Turk and Things to Do for some more great ideas on how to spend your day on Grand Turk.
Fun Fact
In the 1990s, Jimmy Buffett made many visits to the Turks and Caicos in his famous 1955 Grumman Albatross amphibious aircraft named the Hemisphere Dancer. This beautiful aircraft is now retired and parked at the Margaritaville in Orlando, Florida.
The Turks and Caicos has welcomed an impressive list of celebrities and famous people over the years. See Celebrities and Famous People in the Turks and Caicos.