St. Thomas to St. John on my own

[ucapike03]

Hey,

 

I am going on a cruise to St. Thomas with my wife and some friends...we are looking to get over to St. John and dont want to use the Ship tours as they are time restricted.

 

We are going to be in port from 10-8 but will be getting back around 5 for dinner...cant pass up the free food on the ship...

 

I just need some help from someone with a little more experience...What is the best way to get to Trunk Bay......

[Betsy's Mom]

If you look at the right hand screen in front of you as you log on to this board, upper right, there is a search tool. More information than you could ever need on how to go to St John.:)

B.

[golfer1966]

Is to take a cab to red Hook and take the Ferry over to St John. Then youd need to take a cab to th ebeach you want to go to, but this is the best bet for the buck ! You can google Red Hook to find out the fare prices, but I dont think its too much, plus you will get allot more time on St John this way !!

[The Islander]

STT to STJ...

 

There are two departure points on St. Thomas for ferries to St. John. First is the Charlotte Amalie ferry, which leaves from the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. The ferry area is just at the start of the shopping district, across from Vendor’s Plaza. The Charlotte Amalie ferry is about 1.7 miles from Crown Bay Cruise Ship Dock. It’s a short drive between them, but this is all in town and traffic can cause the short drive to take a while. More ships mean more traffic. A taxi to the Charlotte Amalie ferry is $4 pp, ow from Crown Bay. The Charlotte Amalie ferry takes about 40 minutes to get over to St. John.

 

The Red Hook ferry is on the East End of the island. The drive from Crown Bay about 35 minutes and a taxi is $11 pp, ow. More traffic it will take longer. The ferry takes 15 minutes to get over to St. John.

 

Charlotte Amalie Ferry: One-way, $12.00/Adults.

Red Hook Ferry: One-way, $6.00/Adults.

 

One vs. the other: time wise with shorter drive + longer ferry on the Charlotte Amalie ferry and longer drive + shorter ferry on the Red Hook ferry the commute itself tends to work out the same. Figure an hour to a little over an hour, depends on if you get a ferry right when you get to the dock or have to wait around a bit. When coming back to St. Thomas the Charlotte Amalie might help you avoid some of the traffic since its gets you closer to the ships.

 

In terms of schedule: the Red Hook ferry has more departures. The Charlotte Amalie ferry has been making several change to their schedule lately, keep an eye on it. Best bet is to double check schedule just before leaving for your cruise.

 

In terms of the trip: the Charlotte Amalie ferry allows you to see a bit more of the water and island along the coast but its longer and more open ocean so for someone that doesn’t like ferries or gets seasick easily you might stick with the shorter Red Hook ferry. With taking the Red Hook route you see a little of the island while driving to the ferry. For schedule and prices of ferries try: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=getting+to+st.+john&fr=yfp-t-305&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8.

 

Both ferries arrive in Cruz Bay St. John. Right at the end of the ferry dock there is a taxi stand and usually half a dozen to a dozen taxi drivers waiting around. They approach people getting off the ferry dock asking ‘beach’, ‘tour’, ‘where can I take you’ so they aren’t hard to find. Tell them where you want to go and get the price and be on your way.

 

Plan to be at the ferry for the return trip at least 15 minutes before departure. Best bet is not to take the last possible ferry that would get you back on time, take at least the one before that – just in case you don’t get on that one or something happens at least you have one more option. Also good to head to St. John first thing so you can do your visit there and get back to St. Thomas with time to spare.

 

--Islander

[ucapike03]

Islander,

 

great info and thank you so much.

 

Which beach do you reccomend?

 

I have wanted to go to trunk bay, but Id rather not deal with the crowds from the cruises...I have been looking at Honeymoon Bay...

 

What do you think is a quiet beautiful beach for me and the wife and our friends? We liked the fact we got to take a trail to the Honeymoon Beach.

[The Islander]

Both Trunk Bay and Honeymoon are very nice beaches; however they are different. Trunk Bay has amenities; food/drink, restrooms, chairs for rent, taxi stand, underwater snorkel trail, lifeguards. Honeymoon has none of the above but because of that and the trail or boat access, it tends to be quieter. That said it is popular for charters - so it gets various charter boats moored in the bay and people from the charter either snorkel or swim into shore.

 

--Islander

[cruzingduo]

Are there rest rooms at Honeymoon Beach?

[AlanAllyn]

We were at Trunk Bay on Dec 11. It was beautiful and very quiet. Of course, there was only one cruise ship in St. Thomas that day. We went on the ship's tour which left right from the dock and gave us an hour and a half at the beach, which was enough for us.

[The Islander]

Are there rest rooms at Honeymoon Beach?

 

Pretty sure there is a porta-john... but thats it.

 

PS: I saw you asked the same question on another thread. There is a Honeymoon Beach on St. John (which the comments in this thread apply to) and there is a Honeymoon Beach on Water Island (which the other thread is about).

 

--Islander

[elemon]

Great info, very helpful

How far is Trunk Bay once you get to St John ?

[morecruise4me]

We will be in St. Thomas on Feb 1 and are planning to go over to St. John's. We arrive at 8am and I'm wondering just how long it will take us to disembark and get to the ferry. If we get off early (like right at 8am) we could take a taxi to Red Hook and maybe catch the 9am ferry, if we don't then it probably isn't worth the cost and trouble and we might be better off just waiting for the 10am Charlotte ferry over. Can anyone tell me their experiences in getting off the ship and taking the ferries recently with the times and changes?

Thanks!!

[cpristash]

Is it possible to take the Charlotte Amalie Ferry to St. John and the Red Hook Ferry back to St. Thomas?

[cathisme2]

HI Islander,

 

Thanks so much for all of your great information. We have decided to go to St Johns and rent a jeep (or something). We are having trouble finding a place that wants to rent in advance for a day(they want a longer time) We really don't want to take a chance and do a walk in for a rental, any suggestions?? You can e-mail me directly if you like at Cathy@seniorplans.biz

Thanks again for taking the time to provide us with all of your knowledge.

[SonLuvr]

This is my first time on these boards. Everyone's comments and advice are so helpful, and I'm getting very excited for my upcoming cruise in less than 4 weeks!!!

 

My hubby and I went to St John for a day on our last cruise, even tho' we'd never seen St Thomas, and we plan to do the same this time too. It was totally worth it, as we are not big shoppers, but love the quiet beauty of St John. We took an island tour once we arrived in Cruz Bay...it was a great way to see the island, and with all the treacherous turns and switchbacks, not to mention driving on the left, we were very glad we weren't doing our own driving! There's so much to see, and whoever is driving would miss it for concentrating on the road!

 

We had our tour guide drop us off at Trunk Bay Beach at that point in the tour. We had a little while (maybe an hour & a half) on the beach, which was mostly empty at that point in the afternoon. We didn't have much trouble finding a taxi driver there at the beach to take us back to the ferry dock.

 

Cathisme2, If you aren't able to get a car, I hope this helps!

[cathisme2]

Sonluvr,

 

Yes I did find your info helpful. I'm thinking just grabbing a taxi can get us anywhere we want to go. I was worried we might not be able to find a taxi once we got dropped off and were ready to move on. After reading some more it sounds like taxis should be waiting at the most popular beaches and if we want to see more of the island I'm sure it can be arranged. There just is something about being in control( ie not missing the ship) that is comforting to us:)

[westcoastguy]

why don't you bring freezer ziplock bags and order room service in the Am and pack it? then you don't have to come back for teh free food on the ship?

 

you'll probably want to come back at 5pm anyways, Its winter, the days are short and night falls comes quickly after 5pm. In St Croix, the saying goes , if the villagers don't get you, the sand crabs will

[alphakitty]

Islander pretty much covered it all. One thing I'll add...bring cash! The ferries do not take anything but cash. My poor hubby had to make a mad dash for an ATM in Cruz Bay to get $$ to pay for the trip back to STT. We were lucky the Captain held the ferry for us. :)

[debmcq]

St. John is THE best island in the caribbean. We spend land vacations there all the time. When we cruise into St. Thomas we always make a mad dash for St. John. We take a taxi to Red Hook and rent a jeep on the other side, Rental people are waiting for you as you leave the ferry terminal. Taxi's are a;; over the place. Trunk can be crowded but it is a long beach and we always find a nice spot. There are plenty of beautiful beaches to enjoy, but it takes us a week to enjoy SOME! Trunk is a great place to start!

 

My two cents: Red Hook back to the cruise terminal can be 45 min or 2 hours. Twice we almost missed our plane because we did not anticipate the traffic backing up! The road is generally 1 lane. Depends on day of week and time of day. Most of the time it is fine, just leave "just in case time".

[einstein2]

Thanks to the advice on these forums, we took the taxi, rode the ferry, and took another taxi to Trunk Bay. It was beautiful. The taxi on St. John stops briefly for an overview look - have your camera ready!

 

It does take a while to get there and back, but in my opinion, it was worth it. There was some good snorkeling as well. The water is so clear.