alternatives to beaches or party boats

We will be in St Thomas on the Viking Sea in November. We are not really beach people, nor do we care so much for snorkeling or catamaran rides and such. The ship offers an excursion to the St Peter Great House and Botanical Gardens and the Mountain Top. Has anyone done those? Were they worthwhile? Any other suggestions? We appreciate any advice.

Go over to St. John and take a tour. There is a foot ferry and folks with vans who will tour you around.

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We will be in St Thomas on the Viking Sea in November. We are not really beach people, nor do we care so much for snorkeling or catamaran rides and such. The ship offers an excursion to the St Peter Great House and Botanical Gardens and the Mountain Top. Has anyone done those? Were they worthwhile? Any other suggestions? We appreciate any advice.

Mountain Top doesn't exude the same charm the original version did (that burned down in 2009), but the views of the north side and Magens Bay are spectacular from there.The Great House and Botanical Gardens are interesting if you like that kind of thing, and you can find more information by googling and watching youtube videos. The historic area with the 99 steps and the Gov't House is also interesting, along with Blackbeard's castle. You can find more on the vinow dot com site.

http://www.**********/stt/stt-a/charlotte-amalie/99-steps/

An island tour is one way to accomplish this, and rather than an excursion though the cruise line, you can hire a private driver to see everything, or take one of the cookie cutter tours to see some of these places and hit a beach. You can also taxi to the 99 steps and see much of the historic area there and in town.

An island tour of St John is also an option, you would taxi to Red Hook and ferry to Cruz Bay, STJ and hop a safari taxi taking folks to the beach. They offer an island tour before dropping you at the beach or back in town for about $25pp, round trip cost is about $64pp. Mostly a tour of the beautiful north shore beaches from the hill, and a stop at a sugar mill ruins.