best way to get to Trunk Bay

We are going to be in St Thomas for a day in November. Im trying to figure out what is the best way to get to Trunk Bay vs. doing a tour with cruise line.We are docking at 8 and leaving at 5.

Is a cab ride to Red Hook and then catching the ferry from there the best way? Will I need to take a cab from Pier in St John to beach?

My questions:

1) What is the Cab fare to Red Hook and riding time from docking pier to ferry?

2) What is the Cab fare between ferry pier in St John and trunk bay? What is the riding time?

3) Am I better off taking a tour from cruise line? It only spends anout 2 hours at trunk bay but goes to other areas. We r mainly interested in Trunk Bay. Cost of tour is 60/person.

Thanks!

Yes most people prefer going on their own for the maximum freedom, flexibility, and time on STJ. You would indeed taxi (20 - 25 minutes, $10pp each way) to the Red Hook ferry terminal and get tickets for the ferry to Cruz Bay (15 - 20 minutes, $7pp each way) where you will find taxis lined up waiting to take folks to Trunk and Cinnamon Bays ($6 - 7pp each way). They also offer an island tour before dropping you at the beach for about $25pp.

So without the tour it's about $48 + tip.

An alternative option is taking a ferry from Charlotte Amalie through the ship, that's a longer time on more open water and the price is similar but some folks prefer the group tour option.

We went to Trunk Bay by booking the Self-Explore St. John's option offered through the cruise line. This provided our water transportation to St John's and then we were on our own to do whatever we wanted for 4 hours.

Although you mentioned you would like to go to Trunk Bay without going through the cruise line, this option was a very convenient and hassle way to get there. The water taxi was docked on the other side of the pier from the cruise ship, so there was no taxi required to get the ferry at Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie. Once at St. John's, it cost $6.00/person for the taxi ride to Trunk Bay and another $6.00/person to get back again. The cost of the water taxi was $35.75/person.

We were in port from noon to 7:00. Our excursion departed from the cruise ship by 12:30 and the water taxi departed St. John's at 5:30. With a 6:30 all aboard, we arrived back by 6:15 pm.

Does the water taxi take you to Cruz bay then? That price seems pretty heafty for just a transfer to red hook.

Does the water taxi take you to Cruz bay then? That price seems pretty heafty for just a transfer to red hook.

The water taxi departed right from the cruise ship and went directly to Cruz Bay in St. John's. There was no additional travelling required to get to Red Hook to catch the ferry from there. Once in Cruz Bay we were able to take a taxi to Trunk Bay.

On Captain Jack's water taxi docked right by the cruise ship--very convenient!

The water taxi took us directly to a private dock near the Virgin Island's Visitor Centre in Cruz Bay, St. John's. Along the way, Captain Jack provided narration and explained sites during the 40-45 minute ride to St. John's.

The cost of the water taxi through the cruise ship was $35.75/person. If you add in the taxi fare from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay and back again at $6.00/person each way, the total is $48.75. Blue_water outlined the rate to travel to St. John's on your own in post #2. From this you can see that the rate travelling through the cruise line or going on your own is basically the same. As for us, our cruise ship was only in port for 7 hours and this ended up being a 6 hour excursion. We really couldn't have stayed longer on St. John's than the time they allotted to us. We also found catching the water taxi right by the cruise ship and not having to deal with grabbing a taxi back and forth to Red Hook to be very convenient. The ferry at Red Hook runs every hour on the hour so you need to keep that in mind if you decide to go that route.

We went to Trunk Bay by booking the Self-Explore St. John's option offered through the cruise line. This provided our water transportation to St John's and then we were on our own to do whatever we wanted for 4 hours.

 

Although you mentioned you would like to go to Trunk Bay without going through the cruise line, this option was a very convenient and hassle way to get there. The water taxi was docked on the other side of the pier from the cruise ship, so there was no taxi required to get the ferry at Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie. Once at St. John's, it cost $6.00/person for the taxi ride to Trunk Bay and another $6.00/person to get back again. The cost of the water taxi was $35.75/person.

 

We were in port from noon to 7:00. Our excursion departed from the cruise ship by 12:30 and the water taxi departed St. John's at 5:30. With a 6:30 all aboard, we arrived back by 6:15 pm.

Thanks everyone!

DZ63: We have the same Self Explore St John option through our cruise line and it is the same price as yours. After I read the cost of doing it on your own vs. the cruiseline, we are leaning towards taking the excursion. It also leaves at 10 and gets back right before boarding so at least I will have peace of mind if we are running late!.

Quick question, was Trunk Bay crowded by the time you got there? I am not sure if you mentioned going there but I am making an assumption! That is what we are now thinking. On our own we can get there earlier and leave earlier but not sure is worth the hassle.

What cruiseline did you take?

Another advantage of going on your own is exactly that, you generally get there earlier than the other ferries from town. You can then either spend more time on STJ and do some shopping in Cruz Bay, or leave earlier and shop around the dock. Just more flexibility with the self-excursion via Red Hook. Another thing to note is if there are sea swells, coming from Charlotte Amalie is a long, rough 45 minute ride on the ferry. From Red Hook it's a 15 - 20 min ferry in more protected waters.

So either way works, obviously, just depends on the experience you want. Many returning visitors always hop a taxi and the RH ferry just because of the added time and flexibility and not beiong tied to a group. STT (like Bermuda) is one of the easiest islands to do self-excursions because of the excellent taxi and ferry systems.

Enjoy your day! :)

EDIT: You can probably tell that I'm one of those biased toward the self-excursion option. On our first cruise to STT we did take a ferry from the ship to STJ. From the 2nd cruise on (we now stay on STT) we've always just hopped a taxi or rented a car to have the most freedom. Very easy!

If you're still pondering the options cruise critic dot com and vinow dot com compare the options too

Thanks everyone!

 

DZ63: We have the same Self Explore St John option through our cruise line and it is the same price as yours. After I read the cost of doing it on your own vs. the cruiseline, we are leaning towards taking the excursion. It also leaves at 10 and gets back right before boarding so at least I will have peace of mind if we are running late!.

 

Quick question, was Trunk Bay crowded by the time you got there? I am not sure if you mentioned going there but I am making an assumption! That is what we are now thinking. On our own we can get there earlier and leave earlier but not sure is worth the hassle.

 

What cruiseline did you take?

We were on Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas and booked the Self Explore St. John through the cruise line. Our ship arrived at 12:00 noon and departed at 7:00 pm. The water taxi departed from the cruise ship at 12:30 and by the time we actually arrived in Trunk Bay it was after 1:30 pm. Even though the Norwegian Getaway and Disney Fantasy were also in port that day, Trunk Bay was not crowded. Actually shortly after 2:00 most of the people left giving us a very quiet and uncrowded beach to enjoy.

Here is an idea how busy Trunk Bay was.

I have looked everywhere and can't see a captain jack tour of any kind on the NCL site. What am I missing? How did you get that rate thru the ship? When I did a search for captain jack st thomas I got a web site called independent sea tours an fits more of a tour and costs more. Please forgive me for not knowing but we sail next week!

I have looked everywhere and can't see a captain jack tour of any kind on the NCL site. What am I missing? How did you get that rate thru the ship? When I did a search for captain jack st thomas I got a web site called independent sea tours an fits more of a tour and costs more. Please forgive me for not knowing but we sail next week!

Through Royal Caribbean this excursion was called: Self-Explore St. John's. This excursion gives you up to 4 1/2 hours of free time on St. John's. The cruise line hires Captain Jack from Independent Sea Tours to do this excursion for their passengers.

I just checked the NCL site, and I did not see this particular excursion offered. They did have the St. John Beach Escape and Snorkel but that one only gives you 90 minutes at Trunk Bay.

We did it a couple years ago on our own. We just got off the boat right away made the 830 ferry to Cruz and had a good 6 hours on STJ. Very easy to do. I prefer not to do it from the cruise port as I get sea sick. Not on the cruise ship (thank goodness) but the smaller vessels in swells. NO THANK YOU!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums