st thomas dock to red hook

[Robbie6]

If the Zuiderdam docks at Crown Bay at 8.00am, how long does it take to get to Red Hook? Can you get there by 9.00am. Thanks

[RichardK]

I'd say "No"!

After docking you still need to go through Customs; and, unlike docking at Havensite, Crown Bay means that you have to go through "downtown" to get to Red Hook. 1 hour just isn't enough time..........

[stever]

We were on the Zuiderdam Nov 13th. I believe that they are going to have outer anchorage from now on. Customs cleared about 9:00am. I liked the view from there since we stayed on the ship. But others did complain about the tender ride. The tender drops you off downtown. Also we set sail that evening at 9:00pm.

[Krazy Kruizers]

When was this decision made? - About the HAL now anchoring instead of docking in Crown Bay?

It is a long ride to Red Hook from Crown Bay and you do have to go through town. Sometimes it takes a while before the ship is cleared. Returning from Red Hook may take even longer than an hour as everyone will be trying to get everywhere at the same time.

[johnnycruise]

I suggest you take the ferry from downtown Charlotte Amalie to St. John ($7, 45 minute ride) rather than from Red Hook. There is a good chance you could make the 9:00 a.m. ferry on that route. When I was on the Zaandam and docked at Crown Bay the taxi to the downtown ferry dock only took 10-15 minutes. You'll have nice views of the south coast of St. Thomas en route and avoid the windy drive to Red Hook altogether.

[MandyGirl]

We were on the 11/20 sailing of Zuiderdam. Here is our experience of St Thomas (getting to Red Hook for 9:00 ferry to pick up wedding cake at 9:20 in Cruz Bay):

~ on Saturday - embarkation day, the new scheduled in our stateroom showed tendering as opposed to Crown Bay (********** had showed Crown Bay)
~ on Monday (day at sea) the announcement was made we would be at Crown Bay (woohoo!!)
~ posted time of 8AM arrival. We got in line for Immigration at 7:15ish (no Customs - you don't do the Customs form - just show your self for Immigration). Crew had told us they would start around 7:30 and they were close - 7:40. Very quick and painless in the Queen's Lounge. Went back upstairs to put passports in safe, grab our prepacked bags for St John, and headed directly to the gangway on A deck with our green cards in hand (they show you can get off)
~ Gangway was not ready so they had us all wait one deck up at edge of stairs
~ Starting at 8:00 we would send someone down every five minutes to see "is it ready yet"
~ Finally when one person went down at 8:15 they noticed the crew had started letting people off who were coming from the elevators but neglected to tell the many dozens of people waiting at the top of the stairs as instructed, so we finally started disembarking (swipe ship card, pick up towel, etc)
~ Bypassed the ship photographers who were wanting to hold up the line to take pictures
~ Went immediately to taxi area to ask for cab to Red Hook and explained we were hoping for the 9:00 ferry. Placed in red van, then moved to white van, then moved to front of taxi line to discover those were for shore excursions, then directed back to red van (all of this direction coming from the taxi dispatcher person).
~ Finally at 8:27 (according to my watch) we were able to go. There were six in our van. The driver was either just disgruntled or not happy about making the trip to Red Hook (after having taken a land vacation on St Thomas/St John as well as other cruises I learned that the trip to Red Hook is less desireable by drivers because it is not as profitable). Paid $9 each.
~ We made it to the stand to purchase the $3 tickets with two minutes to spare.
~ The ferry departed about ten minutes late, met the chef at 9:30 on ferry dock (we were returning to our wedding beach on St John for the first time and had said we would have another wedding cake since we only got to split one slice when marrying there last year).
~ We had also reserved a dinghy from Noah's for the day, and the clock on that starts running at 9:00. We were in our dinghy and on our way to the first of several beaches before 10:00. Dinghy due back by 5:00. Highly recommend Noah's - he has new dinghies (bright yellow) and the orientation video only takes 11 minutes.
~ Visited in this order: Hawksnest (shared wedding cake and looked for the exact spot on the beach we had exchanged vows), Waterlemon Cay for snorkeling, Cinnamon for a quick re-visit, Trunk (to grab lunch - Hamburger and Hot dog for $8.50 - half hour wait in line while hubby stayed with dinghy), and then lounging on Honeymoon Beach.
~ Hoping to get some quick shopping in (since shops all seem to close on both islands at 5:00) we returned the dinghy at 4:30 and did some browsing in stores. Got on the second 5:00 ferry (rush hour) and were placed in a cab with others from the first 5:00 ferry who weren't happy about having to wait (the driver wouldn't leave with only 6 of them so he waited until more arrived). The driver took us a different way back to Crown Bay (over some overlooks we had seen on a previous Godfrey tour with great views of Charlotte Amalie from above). The routing helped us avoid the congestion at Havensight and part of downtown.

Yes, I know we could have taken the 9:00 from downtown (have taken it several times) but we were wanting to be on St John as quickly as possible for the dinghy rental and also because we knew the chef would be meeting us there. Luckily I had my Sprint PCS phone to use should there have been a change of plans (and their phone numbers).

Not sure of the CrownBay versus tendering change, but did hear on board that the 11/13 Zui sailing had to tender. 11/20 Zui sailing did have CrownBay.

Later that week at the R-rated adult comedy show (which, by the way, some parents still brought their kids wearing their Club Hal bracelets), one couple had raised their hands that they had married on St Thomas while in port. With all the changes of St Thomas since we booked the cruise, I'm really glad their wedding went well for them (thinking back to the Tues vs Wed delimna, some Zui sailings having 6:00 departure time that could affect a sunset wedding, dock vs tender, etc - so many unknowns have played out in reading these boards about the Zui cruises since this summer). But luckily our plans of wedding cake and dinghy rental for the day turned out as planned. :)

[drk]

Mandygirl,

Been following your saga for months. Glad to hear that it all went well for you. We too want to max our time on St. Johns on our upcoming 12/11 sailing and appreciate the latest on Zuiderdams St. thomas schedule. Thanks.

[MandyGirl]

Yes - we too were very glad it went well. :) When we left our wedding beach in 2003, it was on a dinghy to the awaiting catamaran (Calypso) in the bay for the reception (ending at St Thomas). Tears came to my eyes as we returned on a dinghy bringing a replica (smaller) wedding cake to Hawksnest. The extended time in St Thomas was definitely the number one reason we booked the Zui and were so happy things worked out. A little stressful at times, but it all worked out in the end.:)

One more thing you might have noticed in a post I made this morning... for Tortola the next day, it had been advertised as 7A-6P. Once on board, the new schedule showed until 5P. Because I booked with Patouche (TWO THUMBS UP!!) I emailed them while on board to make sure we'd definitely be back by 4:00ish so we could be back on board by 4:30. Julie ended up hopping in her van to run Curt and I back to the ship to be extra sure (it was a good 20-minute walk). Also, the gangway was not ready until 8:15 that morning (announcement made at that time) and we were to check in with Patouche between 8:30-8:45. We walked off the ship at 8:25 and made it there about 8:50 but a cab would have been faster than us walking (it was down past the ferry dock). So that made it a cramped day timewise and we didn't get to make it to Pusser's after the catamaran sail, but that was okay. Gives us something to look forward to next time! :)

[drk]

Thanks for the Tortola update also as we are booked with Patouche!!

[MandyGirl]

You'll have a terrific time with Patouche! We were on Shamwari - 48' catamaran that is about 30 years old (didn't look it). They don't book more than 16 for the day so it was nice and relaxing. We used their fins but brought our own snorkel gear just because we had used it for St John. We enjoyed laying on the trampolines at the front and the back. Sodas and water were provided, as well as beer and rum punch. Lunch was excellent - came from a bakery in town they work with. Quiche, pasta salad, cole slaw, bread, and then yummy coconut bread for dessert. We snorkeled to the beach at the Baths, were led on a land tour through the baths (very informative! things we would have never known doing it on our own), then swam back out to Shamwari. Ladder going down from Shamwari to water (aft), and after our second snorkel (at Haulover Bay) we had a fresh water shower. Clive and Pierce were our crew for the day.

I really wish HAL would post correct times of their cruises - changing Tortola from 7A-6P to 7A-5P was no big deal (finding out the day of embarkation)... but then arriving at 8:15 created quite the rush in the morning. Not real sure why we were late since St Thomas is not far away at all (and since the 11P departure from St Thomas had been changed to 9P - that meant more time to get to Tortola).

When you are walking to Patouche from the ship, I'd say the ferry terminal was about the halfway point (or a little past halfway). Keep going down the road - it curves some - you'll pass the hospital, government house, etc - and then you will definitely see the big white Patouche sign on the left hand side of the road. There's a sidewalk all the way there.

It was definitely a wonderful, relaxing day with Patouche! Make sure you bring your water camera!!:)

[drk]

Thanks for the info on the location.

[Robbie6]

We've booked the Sailboat Winifred at Red Hook and departure time is 9.30. Has anyone "missed the boat" trying to get from Crown Bay to Red Hook for a day sail?