Allure to St. John Review

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Yes, you definitely indicated that there was poor service at both locations. Yet only one of these experiences rated pejoratives beyond poor ("It [Trunk Bay] was a good learning experience for our 17 YO DS. He got to experience government services and socialism in action"). In context I certainly felt that "socialism" was pejorative, or did I misread that and you were actually giving a compliment?

Ok, you are correct. I failed to rate the services at the bar pejoratively. I tend to opine pejoratively when services are poor, and this would be true of socialism, government, and the bar experience at St. John.

So what learning experience did your DS have at the bar? Did he get to experience private business and capitalism in action? What did you learn from the bar experience?

When someone takes pride in their job, works hard, and performs well, they will be rewarded. In this case, had the service been good, dinners and more drinks would have been ordered, and the compensation of the waitress would have quadrupled. Lesson – earning $20 an hour is much better than earning $5 an hour.

The message I would have gotten from these experiences is that employees without incentive tend to slack off. Even if they do have financial incentive (and I agree with you that the bar waitress had financial incentive), island time can trump incentive. If your bar experience was not an example of island time, how do you explain it?

Pretty simple. Some people have a good work ethic and take pride in what they do. Others do not.

I do think that given sufficient incentive, such as that of owner/operator entrepreneurs, things do tend to run much more on time. I think we may be in agreement that entrepreneur incentive can be a good thing in many cases, and turning the umbrella concession over to private business is probably a good idea (but your experience with a private business on St. John didn't seem to work very well).

Maybe others reading will take note, and in the same situation will opt to go to Mongoose Junction.

Thanks for posting a great review and helpful insights.

 

Lisa

Just be aware that this is based on taking the RCI sponsored excursion departing from Crown Bay.

One thing I think is important to note is the different pier that this excursion docks at, which I was not at all prepared.

Having done my research, I had a number of recommendations around the Red Hook docking pier. Docking at "The Creek" left me in left field with a catchers mitt.

So, hopefully, this will be of assistance to others planning this excursion.

We're taking this excursion in two weeks on Oasis, so thank you for the timely post! It's been very helpful.

How far is "The Creek" from where the Red Hook ferry dock/Cruz Bay? Is there much around there? Are there plenty of taxis available?

We're taking this excursion in two weeks on Oasis, so thank you for the timely post! It's been very helpful.

 

How far is "The Creek" from where the Red Hook ferry dock/Cruz Bay? Is there much around there? Are there plenty of taxis available?

Take a look at the map I posted from google earth.

As for what is around there, can't really say. I do know that when we returned from Trunk Bay, we passed Mongoose Junction, which is walkable. If you are coming back from Trunk, you will probably have others that are returning to the Red Hood ferry, and they get dropped off after those at "The Creek". If you wish to do Mongoose, I would tell the driver to drop you there on the way back.

As for taxis, I cannot say. All that I saw were the large open air taxis that held about 20 people. Maybe someone else would know about availability of "regular" taxis.

We did the same excursion last year from the Jewel. It was a great trip. Very informative, trunk bay was beautiful. We ate lunch back near the dock in a small outdoor restaraunt that was near some shops, unfortunatley I cant remember the name. Wear plenty of sunscreeen, we got very sunburned on the boat ride over and back. We were so preoccupied with the trip and sights we forgot to put on the sunscreen that day.

 

How far is "The Creek" from where the Red Hook ferry dock/Cruz Bay? ?

Its about a 5 min walk

Thanks you he shore excursion review. This is something we have been thinking about doing, so it had been helpful.

Thanks for the report!

Thanks you he shore excursion review. This is something we have been thinking about doing, so it had been helpful.

Ditto. :):)

Thanks for the review. :)

What is the name and booking number of this RCI excursion? How long does it take? Is the ferry service going all day, or is there a certain fixed time to be at the ferry quay to return?

Thanks for the review. :)

 

What is the name and booking number of this RCI excursion? How long does it take? Is the ferry service going all day, or is there a certain fixed time to be at the ferry quay to return?

Just go to the RCI site and look at the excursions. There are 2 or 3 different ones, however, from what I understand, all of them take the same ferry over.

Ours was the $40 one, just get on ferry at 11:30, return to ferry at about 4:30 to return to St. Thomas. This is for everyone no matter what excursion they bought.

Some people will arrive at St. John and go off on their own. That was us. Others that booked a tour will get on the tour taxi. Also, some will stay on the ferry and do a sailing tour. It is up to you which excursion you want.

He was experimenting with LDS and dolphins, authorities found out about it, .

Ah, an inadvertent Stark Trek Reference I assume :) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092007/quotes

Thanks for doing this. I hope to check out St John, my next time there.

Thanks for the info and pictures. We are actually booked on one of those excursions around Thanksgiving. Does the Allure always dock at Havensight?

If you had it to do all over again would you be concerned with getting to St. John or would you just pick a nearby beach to Havensight?

St. Thomas is the one day I just really can't figure out what to do. There are 5 ships in port that day. I'm like you in that I'm not a shopper at all in port. I like to hit the water in some way, shape, or form.

Thanks,

Debbie

Thanks for the info and pictures. We are actually booked on one of those excursions around Thanksgiving. Does the Allure always dock at Havensight?

 

If you had it to do all over again would you be concerned with getting to St. John or would you just pick a nearby beach to Havensight?

 

St. Thomas is the one day I just really can't figure out what to do. There are 5 ships in port that day. I'm like you in that I'm not a shopper at all in port. I like to hit the water in some way, shape, or form.

 

Thanks,

Debbie

Allure never docks at Havensight, to my knowledge. Allure docks at Crown Bay.

Oh. You are right. I actually meant to say Crown Bay and got the 2 confused but that does answer my question so thank you.

Debbie

Thanks for the info and pictures. We are actually booked on one of those excursions around Thanksgiving. Does the Allure always dock at Havensight?

 

If you had it to do all over again would you be concerned with getting to St. John or would you just pick a nearby beach to Havensight?

 

St. Thomas is the one day I just really can't figure out what to do. There are 5 ships in port that day. I'm like you in that I'm not a shopper at all in port. I like to hit the water in some way, shape, or form.

 

Thanks,

Debbie

If I had to do it over again, I would do the same excursion, however, I would not go to Trunk. I would go to Cinnamon.

There also some excursions to consider that you can take from Crown, such as snorkeling or the Kon Tiki, where you leave the Allure and walk to your catamaran or boat so you do not have to encounter any crowds on St. Thomas.

If I had to do it over again, I would do the same excursion, however, I would not go to Trunk. I would go to Cinnamon.

 

There also some excursions to consider that you can take from Crown, such as snorkeling or the Kon Tiki, where you leave the Allure and walk to your catamaran or boat so you do not have to encounter any crowds on St. Thomas.

Okay good to know on all accounts. I was mainly wondering if it was just worth the time to get over to St. Johns. If I remember correctly, we have from 10 am to 7pm that day. I will look into other excursions but I typically stay away from the cruise line excursions. Never hurts to look though.

Debbie

Great pictures! :D We did the same excursion, from the Allure. The only negative was that the Allure docked around 10. By the time we got to Trunk it was around 11:30. By then there was not a spot in the shade. There are shady spots under some of the trees lining the beach but they were long gone.

Also when you walk out the gate after taking the ferry, if you turn left, cross the street and walk up the street a bit there are some great little shops up in the back. ;)

Nice pictures!! Sorry you didn't like Trunk...I've never been there, but we're not beach people for long lengths of time. But the area looks quite beautiful.

Thanks for the review and photos, DW and I plan on taking the ferry over to St John this Oct when we are on the Allure.

We did this excursion about a year and a half ago on the Allure. In the past, we had done taxi to ferry when docked at Havensight. The RCI excursion is much more convenient and left us with more than enough time to enjoy Trunk Bay. I'll qualify by saying that we love Trunk Bay. We also rent the snorkeling equipment. I think it's only $3 or $4 for snorkel and mask and another dollar for fins. The underwater snorkel trail is outstanding. We ate at the snack bar. Burgers were pretty good. We'd do this RCI transportation again. I consider more transportation than excursion. They do provide a free drink on the ride back. Guess I should say drink is included in the price.

Thanks for the review and photos, DW and I plan on taking the ferry over to St John this Oct when we are on the Allure.

Consider the Royal excursion to St. John. Takes less time than doing it on your own.

I've done the RCL "excursion" three times to St John to go to Trunk Bay from Havensight. I highly recommend it. It was competitively priced and as someone mentioned it is really just transportation, not a real excursion. I don't know what the traffic is like getting back to Crown Bay, but I know that it can be gridlock around Havensight. This excursion removed all the stress of making the connections to get back to the ship at Havensight. Safari cabs are plentiful at Trunk Bay and there was no problem getting back to the dock at Cruz Bay. They will tell you what time to leave the beach.

I also felt much more comfortable being on an RCL excursion for this activity. Should there be an issue with the private boat, RCL would know about it and I believe measures would be taken to ensure everyone made it back to the ship. No such guarantees if you do a DIY trip via cab and public ferry.

Does RCI also do a ferry from Havensight?

Edit: Just saw the answer above.

Consider the Royal excursion to St. John. Takes less time than doing it on your own.

If you dock at Crown Bay, it is a no brainer to take the RCI excursion. You avoid that horrid taxi ride to Red Hook.

You just walk off the ship and get on the ferry, and away you go.

Cost was $40.

I don't think I mentioned this. We booked this online in advance. Time was supposed to be 10:30 ferry departure. When we got the tickets in our room, the time changed to 11:30 which kind of irritated me.