jacksoncruisers

Is the water in the pool on Vision salt water or fresh water.

Info that I've previously posted about spending a day on St. John:

 

 

There has been an old (and very long) thread on getting to St. John. It's has lots of good information but after four years, much has changed. I've updated my "spending a day on St. John" and am posting it below so folks don't have to dig through bunches of pages. Feel free to ask questions. I love St. John ... it's a special place. If you've never been, consider it.

 

Getting to St. John on your own is pretty easy.

 

When you disembark the ship, there will be plenty of open air taxis filling with passengers heading to St. John. You'll take the taxi from here to Red Hook where you'll catch the ferry to Cruz Bay. Ferry rates are currently $7 each way. The ferry runs every hour on the hour from Red Hook to Cruz Bay and then back from Cruz Bay to Red Hook.

 

There will be plenty of taxis waiting for you when you get to Cruz Bay. They'll take you to one of the many beaches -- Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho have restroom facilities while Trunk and Cinnamon have snack bars, chair rentals and snorkel gear rentals. Trunk Bay has a $5 per person entry fee. There is an underwater snorkel trail here that is well marked.

 

There will also be plenty of taxis at Trunk and Cinnamon to take you back to Cruz Bay. If you head to one of the other beaches be sure to arrange a pick up time with the taxi driver who drops you off. They always come back if you pre-arrange a pick up time.

 

If you’ve never been to St. John, you might want to consider taking an island tour. They run about $25 per person and you can ask to be dropped off at one of the north shore beaches after the tour for an hour or so. We've done this frequently when we have guests with us who haven't been to St. John before. The history, views and people of St. John are wonderful. It’s definitely worth learning more about this very special place that is 2/3rds U.S. National Park.

 

Cruz Bay is filled with lots of great beach bars, restaurants and shops. It's a great little town. Two main shopping areas are within close walking distance to the ferry dock. Wharfside Village is to our right as you walk out of the ferry dock area. Beach bars line the area with a variety of nice shops behind them. About a five minute walk to your left when you disembark the ferry is Mongoose Junction. This is an upscale shopping area also with a wide variety of restaurants and shops.

 

For those going on their own, if you’ve never done this before, I’d recommend catching the ferry back to St. Thomas three hours before your ship sails. So if you ship leaves at 6:00, take the 3:00 PM ferry. If you have done this trip several times, you are most likely safe taking a ferry 2 hours prior to your ships’ departure. It all depends on your comfort level. Traffic from the Red Hook ferry back to the ship can be heavy. If your ship is docked at Crown Bay, always allow three hours for the return. Most of the time, a two hour window is fine getting back to the ship if you are docked at Havensight.

 

APPROXIMATE PER PERSON COSTS TO GO ON YOUR OWN

Roundtrip taxi from ship (Havensight) to Red Hook: $20

Roundtrip ferry cost: $14

Roundtrip taxi cost to Beaches: $14

TOTAL APPROXIMATE COST: $48

 

Fares could vary slightly depending upon your taxi. If you are docked at Crown Bay, add approximately $4 roundtrip for the taxi to Red Hook.

 

Note: Check out excursions with your cruise line as well. Some are essentially offering ferry service to St. John. Doesn’t give you as much time on the island typically, but it is a nice alternative if you don’t want to go on your own and the prices have been reasonable.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions! ENJOY!!!

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Thank you for all the help.

We will be cruising to St Thomas in January and would like to do a day trip to Trunk Bay in St John.

1) Do they rent snorkel equipment there?

2) How long a trip back to Cruz Bay

3) How long of a trip from Red Hook back

to Havensight Pier

Thanks for your help

Our first cruise was on the Brilliance on a trip to the Panama Canal in 2006. I fell in love with Royal Caribbean and cruising instantly. I've watched countless videos over the years on the building of new ships and the evolution of Royal Caribbean. Over that period I've heard Richard and Adam tell how customer satisfaction and service is so important to RC. As a business owner myself I understand how important it is to grow and be competitive with all the other Cruise lines. The problem is if you lose touch with the people that have helped you achieve this growth and prosperity along the way you begin to have trouble. We achieved Diamond status for this cruise and felt pretty honored. The saying "We are loyal to Royal" in my opinion is quite a statement. Sadly I feel Royal has lost it's loyalty to it's customers. It was the lack of communication and total failure of upper management to be honest and open with the problems on this cruise. And a slap in the face with compensation differences with the cruise before and after the Jan 25th cruise. One more thing. Move your ships out of New York in the winter months. Not to good for the bottom line as I see it.

Last year we left Bayonne on Quantum of the Seas in January and ran head first into a storm coming up the east coast. We had to change course and cut speed in half and missed our San Juan stop. On the way back we hit the backside of another storm. Docked on time but disembarked in a freezing ran, sleet and snow storm. 5 hr delay at the airport. This year Jonas hits the day before we are to leave on Anthem and the ship is stuck out to sea and arrives a day late. For some reason leaving a day late caused an itinerary change from Western Caribbean to Eastern to all the stops we were at last year on Quantum. No problems with getting back this year and now on the next sailing these poor people have had their entire trip ruined. My advise is never ever cruise out of New York in the winter months

That's because fish are afraid of Wolverines. :)

Ha Ha We are pure blood Spartans

Snorkel'd at the money 2 years ago and was not impressed. Did'nt see much at all.