St Thomas / St Johns Recommendation?

Hey all! Need some advice/suggestions. My wife and I will be stopping on a cruise on Dec 13 (10am-7pm) at St Thomas (Crown Bay) and we're looking for a nice beach to visit.

I'm a little overwhelmed by the choices. I think we're looking for something that isn't over crowded and we don't need a lot of amenities. Obviously we would need enough time to travel to/from the location so we don't miss the ship. We're not adverse to some hiking or any other activities if they are nearby the beach or necessary to get to the beach.

I've heard good things about Magens Bay and Sapphire Beach, but I'm worried with 4 total cruise ships that day, would it be just overrun with people? We're not generally a fan of the cruise sponsored excursions, but it seems like any time I find a place to go on our own, the cruise line already has a sponsored one for the same place. I know there are a lot of options, but are there any you would highly recommend?

I've also read that St John's is beautiful. Someone recommended Honeymoon Bay beach at Caneel Bay. There's a hike involved which sounds nice, but again I'm worried about time.

Thoughts?

There are many beaches fairly close and completely diy. Megans bay is top of most every list. Sapphire is nice too. I would grab a cab and go.

How many in your group?

With 4 ships Honeymoon Beach on St John will be crowded, too.

Magens or Sapphire are your best bets because they're the largest beaches.

Getting to and from STJ on your own is very easy with the great taxi/ferry systems so you could do Honeymoon Beach on STJ and have a little time to see Cruz bay after. Ideally you'd hop a taxi from Crown to the Red Hook ferry terminal and easily make the 11AM ferry to Cruz Bay. Ferries run on the hour in both directions and if you took the 4PM return ferry you'd have a good 4 hrs on STJ. You could take the 5PM return and be fine but to be conservative the 4PM would be better.

NOTE: We've been to Caneel Bay in winter months on daysails and Honeymoon Beach is all but gone with the heavier sea swells and tides. So just something to be aware of...

Sapphire doesn't get as crowded as Magens and Coki. There will be day visitors there, but if we were choosing a St Thomas beach with amenities and some room to spread out with lounges it would be Sapphire. For a beach with only restrooms and room to spread out with towels in the sand Lindqvist is gorgeous.

$20 round trip taxi to Sapphire or Lindqvist. Add another $14 for the ferry and 1.5 hrs transfer time (ferry, hiking) for STJ.

[EDIT] After seeing the previous reply I didn't think HB in Caneel Bay got that crowded but I have only been there on daysails and saw just one or two couples there.

Thanks! We were thinking Virgin Island EcoTours, but I think we may end up just going to Sapphire Beach on our own (just 2 of us).

Thanks for the feedback! Still accepting suggestions if anyone else out there has any! :)