St. Thomas with Toddlers

We will be in St.Thomas in September and we will have a three year old and a almost 3 year old. Can anyone suggest idea or what you have done if you have had a toddler at this port. Thanks so much.

I would be interested in this information as well. We would LOVE to go to St. John where some of the adults would stay with the toddlers on the beach while others snorkel. However, all of the ship excursions have a minimum age of five. Any ideas?

I would be interested in this information as well. We would LOVE to go to St. John where some of the adults would stay with the toddlers on the beach while others snorkel. However, all of the ship excursions have a minimum age of five. Any ideas?

You can easily take a taxi to the ferry at Red Hook, then head to one of the beaches by taxi. It may be a difficult trip with a group with small children though, with 4 taxis & 2 ferry rides.

For both of you posters, I would suggest a taxi to Coki Beach. There is good snorkeling, & areas with calm water. It is adjacent to Coral World Ocean Park, where there are many aquariums, a turtle pool & a reef encounter among other things. Kids & adults would enjoy this.

http://coralworldvi.com/

Thank you!

I am going to be traveling there for my first time in November with my daughter who will be 20 months. We are planning to do a private sail boat tour. There are a few of them that we found, The Fury, Independence 44, High Pockets. We are going with the Indepndence. They all seem like they would bepretty good, but it didnt soun like the Fury had a dinghy to bring you to shore like Independence and High Pockets, and High Pockets is nt available for the date that we will be there.

They all offer good snorkeling with very small goups and the ones other than the fury also offer to bring you to a beach so that the little ones can swim. If you want to look into those you can just google each of them. They all had their own website.

Maybe it is the difference between being a grand parent and being a young parent but my grand daughters are 3 and 1 and I would NEVER even consider taking them out on the ocean on a day sail. You can have some rough seas, rain squalls, and rogue waves at any moment.

It is all we can do to keep them safe on a beach and just the idea of them going on a sailboat would really worry me.

I am not much of a worrier to begin with. I am sure it is safe enough as they are willing to take us fully knowing her age. Honestly a rouge wave could come and do some major damage to the cruise ship as well. Obviously that is safer than a small sailboat but could still happen. If the seas are so rough that we dont feel comfortable we can always cancel it.

To each their own. i can definately see why some people wont, and I am a little nervous about it, but think the experience of having her along with us will out weigh my nervousness. Its ike going on a rollercoaster. You know it is probably safe, but there is always that though that something bad might happen.

Children will wear life jackets and sail boats are safer than cars....:D

Children will wear life jackets and sail boats are safer than cars....:D

20 month old in a car would be strapped into her car seat.

We are talking about a 44 ft sailboat. As someone who sailed those waters a lot when I lived there, I've seen adults, even experienced sailors get hurt.

Toddlers are curious & lightening quick. It would not be a relaxing trip keeping her constrained & away from the ropes, cleats, turnbuckles etc. if she is like most kids that age. Ending up in the water with a life jacket on is not nearly as scary as getting tangled up in a rope.

Harp: Plenty of youngsters in the VI are raised on the water. Believe me. Not sure what your experience was...

20 month old in a car would be strapped into her car seat.

 

We are talking about a 44 ft sailboat. As someone who sailed those waters a lot when I lived there, I've seen adults, even experienced sailors get hurt.

 

 

 

Toddlers are curious & lightening quick. It would not be a relaxing trip keeping her constrained & away from the ropes, cleats, turnbuckles etc. if she is like most kids that age. Ending up in the water with a life jacket on is not nearly as scary as getting tangled up in a rope.

I don't think anything including relaxing on a beach would be a completely relaxing trip with a toddler. Anywhere you go there are things that could give them bumps and bruises. I'm not the type to have her live in a bubble until she is 30. There will be 3 of us to watch her. Plus if we give her a bucket of water she will be occupied for at least an hour.

If anyone wants I can report back to let you all know how it goes. I'm not overly worried about it.

Harp: Plenty of youngsters in the VI are raised on the water. Believe me. Not sure what your experience was...

Of course they are, & their parents are familiar with the hazards on their boat. I did not say don't take her , all I am saying is that If a sailboat is an unfamiliar environment, there are many hazards that a lightening quick toddler can encounter, & the parents need to be aware of that. My friends who lived on boats had methods of keeping little ones confined & away from danger just like most parents childproof their homes. It would not surprise me if a commercial operation that takes toddlers makes some provisions to keep the small ones safe, but I'd ask some very specific questions, including if they have life jackets small enough for a toddler, before I would book.

To answer your question, I've seen people knocked in the head with the boom, Stripped skin off a finger that got caught in a rope (line), one of my students who lived on a boat fell & caught her arm in a rail & broke it. Her brother broke his leg working on the same boat. Many of us ended up in the water unintentionally, & rope burns, sprained ankles & broken toes were common. I've also been caught in a squall & been capsized in smaller boats.

30 years in a public library taught me that many parents don't see dangers in unfamiliar places because they are looking at things from an adult perspective. I've grabbed little ones who were climbing on the balcony railing & running out the automatic door to the parking lot.

I don't think anything including relaxing on a beach would be a completely relaxing trip with a toddler.Very True That:D

I'm not the type to have her live in a bubble until she is 30. There will be 3 of us to watch her. Plus if we give her a bucket of water she will be occupied for at least an hour.

 

If anyone wants I can report back to let you all know how it goes. I'm not overly worried about it.

Let me know how it goes.

Just got back from St Thomas with my 3 and 5 yr olds and they absolutely loved Coki beach. The beach wasn't very crowded, had no drop offs and they loved that they could easily see fish while swimming/snorkling. I would definitely re-visit Coki beach. The only downside was the taxi drivers at port, of the 10 islands I visited, St Thomas had the worst ones for trying to rip you off on the fares.

Just got back from St Thomas with my 3 and 5 yr olds and they absolutely loved Coki beach. The beach wasn't very crowded, had no drop offs and they loved that they could easily see fish while swimming/snorkling. I would definitely re-visit Coki beach. The only downside was the taxi drivers at port, of the 10 islands I visited, St Thomas had the worst ones for trying to rip you off on the fares.

Great to hear that your kids had such a good time at Coki beach. We are thinking of doing the same (with Coral World). What is the expected taxi fare? Think it's about $9 or $10 per person? (which is still pricey when you have 4 and need to get there and back)

Great to hear that your kids had such a good time at Coki beach. We are thinking of doing the same (with Coral World). What is the expected taxi fare? Think it's about $9 or $10 per person? (which is still pricey when you have 4 and need to get there and back)

They started by quoting $12 each and there was 9 of us so no way we were doing that. We walked a short distance away from the terminal and was able to negotiate $6 each and the kids for free. We were happy with that deal but did find out others were able to get $5 and $4 each on fares. Of all the islands we visited, St Thomas had the most expensive taxi fares as we easily got $2 or $3 each with kids free at our other stops.

They started by quoting $12 each and there was 9 of us so no way we were doing that. We walked a short distance away from the terminal and was able to negotiate $6 each and the kids for free. We were happy with that deal but did find out others were able to get $5 and $4 each on fares. Of all the islands we visited, St Thomas had the most expensive taxi fares as we easily got $2 or $3 each with kids free at our other stops.

Thanks for the heads up. Good to know what it should cost (but sad they try to scam you)

If your ship allows it and your children are happy with the Kids Program, there are ports where they will have a much better time just staying on the ship.

When ours were young, we made every effort to find things to do in ports they would enjoy. Once, we were in Dominica and there was so nothing they would have enjoyed. They wanted to stay on the ship with their friends. Worked out great. :)

Not suggesting you do this in St. Thomas ... but it is always an option. ;)

LuLu

So I promised to report back. We ended up doing the private sail through Independance44. I have absolutely no complaints. Both Pat and Andy were great. In fact, Pat and her husband built the sailboat years ago lived on it with their 2 children for over 20 years. She is fully aware of what dangers there are and how to avoid them. She did give us a safety briefing befoehand as well.

Our daughter did great on the boat. We did not let her run around, but Andy made sure that she had whatever she needed.

Now I am not saying that all toddlers would be great on this. Ours was content sitting on our laps for most of it. We also let her stand by the side of the boat to look at the water and "bubbles" going by while we held on to her life vest.

They also took us to snorkel and they had a floaty thing that she could sit on and we were able to drag her along with us. Again, this might not be true for another toddler. Our daughter loves the water. Completely loves it and she was fine with being passed up down into the water to me.

On the way back from snorkeling they gave us some good snacks then we went up front and our daughter passed out for the hour long sail back. It was actually one of the more relaxing parts of our entire cruise and I would recommend it to anyone that thinks their toddler would be ok doing it. Also since the boat is yours for the day you can do whatever it is you like. So if you wanted to swim more they could do that, or if you just want to sail they would do that as well.

If anyone has any questions I'd be glad to answer them all.