Thinking about St. John and how to go

[Graysonlaw]

If you decide that this might be a viable option then I'll be glad (as I'm sure will others) to help you chart a course to get the most out of your time on St. John.

 

Augie: I am most interested in your thoughts on driving. We are a party of four going from the WICO pier in St. Thomas to St. John. It seems that it is most cost effective to rent the vehicle in St. Thomas and take the car barge. I do have some questions on this, though. Where can I find a schedule for the car barge -- and where does it leave St. Thomas?

 

As for St. John, I have never been there. We'd like to do some beach walking and swimming, but would also be interested in some hiking. Not really into snorkeling. Our ship docks from 8:00-5:30. What are your thoughts on a good tour? Thanks!

[Smileeface]

We have just decided to return to St. John for a weeklong trip next year to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I can't think of any place I'd rather spend it. We'll be back there in February on a cruise as well. For me, I can't get there often enough. Just starting to look at places to stay makes me want to hop on a ship today and go visit :)

 

Hi Anne, searching through the boards I found this post of yours. The reason for our June Allure trip is also to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and to celebrate our youngest daughter's 15th birthday (her "quince"). You have provided such wonderful information. I'm continuing to read. Hope you are still planning to celebrate your 25th at St. John. It really seems a magical place. Thanks for all the info and tips!

 

:) Helen "Smileeface"

[augie]

Augie: I am most interested in your thoughts on driving. We are a party of four going from the WICO pier in St. Thomas to St. John. It seems that it is most cost effective to rent the vehicle in St. Thomas and take the car barge. I do have some questions on this, though. Where can I find a schedule for the car barge -- and where does it leave St. Thomas?

 

As for St. John, I have never been there. We'd like to do some beach walking and swimming, but would also be interested in some hiking. Not really into snorkeling. Our ship docks from 8:00-5:30. What are your thoughts on a good tour? Thanks!

 

I'll be happy to try and help. Having a rental car will open up some options for you that most cruise passengers won't have (not that either way is better - a lot of folks would rather leave the driving to someone else). One thing I'd definitely take advantage of would be the ability to have a cooler with you. Get a soft sided cooler (make sure it's waterproof - not all of them are!) and, if you can, fill it with ice before you leave the ship, at least part way.

 

The car barge leaves Red Hook right next to where the people ferry does. Schedules can be a little fluid, but there are two or more companies that run the barges, so you'll never have a real long wait. One point that I think is important - unlike the people ferry, I would not buy a round trip ticket for the car barge. It only saves you five bucks or so, but then, on your return trip, you won't be waiting for the next car barge, but the next one from that particular company. Fees are collected after you're already on the barge, so there's no waiting in line to be avoided by buying a round trip ticket. When you get to the car barge loading area you'll have to pay a $3 fee to the port authority at a little booth you drive past going in. You may want to say "good morning!", then, after you get a reply, ask about how long before the next barge will be loading. If it's more than twenty or so minutes go ahead and pull into the parking lot (facing such that you will back up onto the barge) then send someone across the street to the Market Marina where you can buy drinks, snacks, sandwiches, or anything else you'd like to put into your cooler.

 

When you get closer to leaving I'll help you with driving directions from the car barge terminal out of town if you'd like. For now I'll skip that part.

 

If your party needs a beach with bathrooms, snack bars, etc. you're pretty much limited to Trunk or Cinnamon. Both great beaches, but both can get crowded when cruise ships are in port in St. Thomas. I'd consider going one beach further down the road past Cinnamon, to Maho. Nice, long sandy beach with clear and calm water - excellent for easy swimming.

 

From there I'd head to the sugar plantation ruins at Annaberg. If you felt like hiking a little more than that, once you get back to the Annaberg parking lot you could walk the flat trail alongside Leinster Bay to the beginning ogf the Johnny Horn Trail which takes you to a beautiful overlook of Leinster Bay, Waterlemon Cay, and off in the distance, Tortola.

 

From there I'd head down to Coral Bay and have lunch at either Shipwreck Landing, Skinny Leg's, Island Blues, or Aqua Bistro. Each of those have a little different vibe than the others, so while you really can't go wrong with any of them, you could pick the one that you think fits your style the best.

 

After lunch I'd take Centerline Road back towards Cruz Bay, but stop at the Bordeaux overlook. Great view of Coral Bay from there, and there's a little gift shop you can check out as well. Depending on how much time you have left you could then either proceed back to the barge terminal area, or stop in Cruz Bay and walk around until it's time to leave.

 

That would be an awesome day!

[augie]

By the way...here's a link to the pictures that I (finally) posted from our most recent trip, this past fall - enjoy!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N04/sets/72157625763082589/with/5382504555/

[Host Anne]

Smilee ~ GREAT to see you here! Thanks for the kind comments. You will love your day on St. John and want to return. We are definitely going back for our 25th. We've had it planned for about six months now. Four months to go :) Let us know if you have any other questions as you go along.

 

Augie ~ darn you! There you go again! Spectacular photos making me want to be back there RIGHT NOW! Thanks for sharing. SIGH!

[Graysonlaw]

Thanks for all the great info here. Augie: that trip sounds perfect. Thanks!:D

[parrotplay]

By the way...here's a link to the pictures that I (finally) posted from our most recent trip, this past fall - enjoy!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N04/sets/72157625763082589/with/5382504555/

 

Thank you for posting the link to your beautiful photos of St. John. Me and my husband enjoyed them and we can't wait for our trip in March.

[IMDORY]

I see by reading some of the posts about going to Trunk Bay first for a while then get a cab to Cinnamon Bay for the remainder of the time. About how much would the cab be to Cinnamon Bay from Trunk Bay? Any idea how much the cab from Cinnamon Bay to Cruz Bay is to catch the ferry back?

[Host Anne]

It's a couple of dollars to go from Trunk to Cinnamon and probably $8 per person to go from Cinnamon back to Cruz Bay. It's only about five minutes between Trunk and Cinnamon.

 

ENJOY

[travelpeon]

Hi Anne & Smilee - we were thinking about going to St. John as well but I'm a little concerned about timing with the Allure's docking hours. Not sure if we should chance taking the Charlotte Amalie ferry instead or a ship excursion.

 

The cruise compass states we'll be able to get off around 9:30 am ship's time, so it'd be 10:30 am local. Then I'm assuming we'd need to hustle through customs since we're coming from the Bahamas?

 

Would we even have a chance of making the local time 11 am red hook ferry? That only allows for 30 min to disembark, customs?, and taxi over to red hook. Perhaps we'd be better off aiming for the 11:15 ferry from from Charlotte Amalie? Is that still running?

 

Coming back, what ferry should we take to make a 5pm ship time all aboard? I was thinking the 3pm local time ferry back could get us back around 4:30 local, so we'd be able to be on the ship well before 5pm.

 

ship time|local time|

9:30|10:30|taxi over to red hook

10 |11 |ferry to st. john

11 |12 |

12 |1 |

1 |2 |

2 |3 |ferry back from st john to red hook + taxi to ship

3 |4 |arrive by ~3:30 ship time/4:30 local

4 |5 |

5 |6 |

[westmich]

We are debating between Coki and St. Johns for DH, myself and DS (12 and 14). We plan to take public transportation (cheaper and more cultural).

 

Our primary interest is in snorkling....

 

What do you recommend?

[Host Anne]

travelpeon ~ double check your time once you get on board. I cannot ever recalling any ship we were on (including Royal Caribbean ships) that isn't on St. Thomas time when they dock. We have been to St. Thomas many times over the years on a variety of cruise lines and the ship has always changed time so we were on island time. Have you read that Allure doesn't change time? Regardless, you will have plenty of time to visit St. John on your own.

 

Westmich ~ I've never been to Coki so I can't speak to the snorkeling there. But given the problems at Coki last summer, I'd vote for St. John just on that basis. I've read that they've tried to step up patrols at Coki and I honestly haven't read much about it lately but I much prefer St. John overall to St. Thomas so I'd be heading to St. John. Plenty of great snorkeling on St. John.

[milton333]

We will be traveling with a toddler, and had hoped to get off the ship to head to St. John. However, I'm hearing a lot about open-air "safari" taxis, which makes me nervous. Is it possible to install a child's carseat in one of these? Are there seatbelts? Are there more traditional taxis available for the both the ship to Red Hook and Cruz Bay to beach (probably Cinnamon) legs, which would have seatbelts?

 

I'm not one of those people who believe that the laws of chance and physics don't apply on vacation :rolleyes:, so I can't ride in a vehicle with my toddler without installing his carseat. It's okay if the answer is that St. John is out for us, I just want to know what to expect.

[travelpeon]

travelpeon ~ double check your time once you get on board. I cannot ever recalling any ship we were on (including Royal Caribbean ships) that isn't on St. Thomas time when they dock. We have been to St. Thomas many times over the years on a variety of cruise lines and the ship has always changed time so we were on island time. Have you read that Allure doesn't change time? Regardless, you will have plenty of time to visit St. John on your own.

 

Yes, Yvie posted some info about her Allure of the Seas cruise that didn't change over time zones. Evidently it is up to the captain and how he feels that week :) I confirmed it with the latest cruise compass posted for that itinerary that disembarkation is on "ship's time". In fact, it never switched over to local time.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=27734107&posted=1#post27734107

 

Maybe I should just channel some island attitude and "chill out".

[Host Anne]

Milton ~ All of the taxis we've taken from the ship to Red Hook have been safari type but I haven't made a point to really look. I'll be there in two weeks so I'll double check. All of the taxis on St. John are safari type. I'll confirm that as well. I'm a seat belt wearer but I don't think the safari taxis have them or a way to attach a car seat. But I'll double check that for you, too. When are you planning on going?

 

travelpeon ~ your post made me smile. The key thing is just make sure you know what time is ships' time and whether it's the same as local time. You'll be fine. Sending you some island vibes!!!! :)

[milton333]

Milton ~ All of the taxis we've taken from the ship to Red Hook have been safari type but I haven't made a point to really look. I'll be there in two weeks so I'll double check. All of the taxis on St. John are safari type. I'll confirm that as well. I'm a seat belt wearer but I don't think the safari taxis have them or a way to attach a car seat. But I'll double check that for you, too. When are you planning on going?

 

We'll be there in September. Thanks!

[TravelerThom]

Yes, Yvie posted some info about her Allure of the Seas cruise that didn't change over time zones. Evidently it is up to the captain and how he feels that week :) I confirmed it with the latest cruise compass posted for that itinerary that disembarkation is on "ship's time". In fact, it never switched over to local time.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=27734107&posted=1#post27734107

I agree that it seems to be up to the Captain, but there seems to be a reasonably strong correlation to how many days you are in the "new" time zone. If you are in time zone for only one day before heading back to the former time zone [true for Allure (whose other "Eastern" ports are Fort Lauderdale, Nassau and Labadee), and for a number of Cozumel cruises] they seem to often not change ship time. If you are in the new time zone for multiple days [with say stops in St Thomas, St Maarteen and San Juan coming out of Miami or FLL] then it seems they almost always change. Anyone have different experince?

 

Thom

[GypsyOBRN]

Milton ~ All of the taxis we've taken from the ship to Red Hook have been safari type but I haven't made a point to really look. I'll be there in two weeks so I'll double check. All of the taxis on St. John are safari type. I'll confirm that as well. I'm a seat belt wearer but I don't think the safari taxis have them or a way to attach a car seat. But I'll double check that for you, too. When are you planning on going?

 

travelpeon ~ your post made me smile. The key thing is just make sure you know what time is ships' time and whether it's the same as local time. You'll be fine. Sending you some island vibes!!!! :)

 

All the taxi's when we got off the ship in St Thomas were van type. They make sure it is full before they allow it to leave. Same when on our return from Red Hook back to the ship. On St John's they were all open aired safari type, no way of hooking up a car seat to them.

 

As for the ship/port times, we stayed on San Juan time the whole cruise (AOS). They make it a point to tell you in the compass every day to not change your time for any port.

[TravelerThom]

As for the ship/port times, we stayed on San Juan time the whole cruise (AOS). They make it a point to tell you in the compass every day to not change your time for any port.

Since I'm almost positive that every port Adventure calls in its two week winter cycle [san Juan, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Croix, Curacao, Aruba, Dominica, St. Thomas] is in Atlantic Time, it is not so surprising that the ship doesn't change time ;)

[milton333]

All the taxi's when we got off the ship in St Thomas were van type. They make sure it is full before they allow it to leave. Same when on our return from Red Hook back to the ship. On St John's they were all open aired safari type, no way of hooking up a car seat to them.

 

So, van type with seatbelts? Just want to be sure I'm understanding.

[Smileeface]

travelpeon ~ your post made me smile. The key thing is just make sure you know what time is ships' time and whether it's the same as local time. You'll be fine. Sending you some island vibes!!!! :)

Hi Anne! As it relates to taking the Red Hook ferry over to St. John...

As long as the ship time and the island time are only a whole hour different (as opposed to a half-hour portion difference) it should be easy to keep track of anyways, right? The Red Hook ferry comes and goes on the hour every hour, right? Though, I forget how late the last ferry leaves St. John...that's where you'd have to be super careful, not to miss the last ferry back because you had your time mixed up, lol! :eek:

[GypsyOBRN]

So, van type with seatbelts? Just want to be sure I'm understanding.

 

A regular passenger van, with seatbelts. They do fill up the van though... not much room!

[Host Anne]

Smile ~ yes, the Red Hook/Cruz Bay ferry goes every hour on the hour. You won't have to worry about the last ferry. It leaves Cruz Bay at 11:00 PM. I don't think your ship is in port that late, is it? :)

[Smileeface]

No, Allure is sailing out at 5pm, so no problem then. It should be easy to keep track of, yaaay :D

[travelpeon]

No, Allure is sailing out at 5pm, so no problem then. It should be easy to keep track of, yaaay :D

 

Hi Smilee - just wanted to mention that we're also hoping to do the same routing from Allure and I did the math comparing ferries vs STG4/5 excursion to see how long you get to stay on St. John. I'll post it here for your input and to solicit reviews on the excursion "Destination St. John: Guided Shopping and Leisure Time" STG4 or " Destination St. John: Historic Walking Tour and Personal Leisure Time - STG3" in case the tour descriptions aren't accurate.

 

Ferry

9:30 am ship's time disembarkation -

 

11 am ferry island time. (Ship time = ST Island time = IT)

11:30 am IT arrival - 3 pm IT dep = 3.5 hours in St. John. Arrive 3:30 pm IT + taxi to ship = ~4pm IT arrival / 3PM ST to ship

11:30 am IT arrival - 4 pm IT dep = 4.5 hours in St. John. Arrive 4:30 pm IT + taxi to ship = ~5 pm IT arrival / 4 PM ST to ship

 

12 noon ferry IT

12:30 pm IT arrival - 3 PM IT dep = 2.5 hours.

12:30 pm IT arrival - 4 PM IT dep = 3.5 hours.

 

If the ship does arrive at 9:30 IT (which doesn't look like it)

10 AM IT ferry

10:30 AM arrival - 3 PM IT = 5.5 hours in St. John. Arrive approx 3:30 IT + taxi to ship = ~ 4 IT arrival to ship

 

11 AM IT ferry

11:30 AM arrival - 3 PM IT = 4.5 hours in St. John. Arrive approx 3:30 IT + taxi to ship = ~ 4 IT arrival to ship

 

Excursion STG3 or STG4 - 6.5 hr excursion including at least 3 hours of self exploration (more if walking tour can be ditched)

10 AM ST departure + 6.5 hours = 4:30 ST returned to dock/ship

~10:45 AM ST arrival ~ 3:45 ST departure = up to 5 hours in St. John

 

Now I'm sure there could be delays either way, so give or take a half hour. Cost wise, the Taxi to red hook + ferry = 32 pp and excursion is 40 pp + tips if you want and includes a free rum/fruit drink on the way back. Taxi on St. John will be additional.

 

Of course doing it yourself allows better flexibility, payment when you take the ferry instead of pre-paying the excursion, and lets you leave when you want as well. Also a smoother ride and scenery from dock to Red Hook, plus taking public transport is a good thing. Going via excursion gives you peace of mind that they're expecting you back by a certain time and some convenience to not have to buy tickets.

 

Just thought this might help.

 

Anne - thanks for the island vibes :) Both transport methods work! Both allow for a few hours on St. John. It's a no lose proposition, they way I see it.

 

I might just book the excursion and cancel 24 hours + before if the ship times change over to island time or I'm feeling like ferry-ing due to rough waters. $40 pp into OBC is something pretty easily spent :)

Edited February 3, 2011 by travelpeon
fix noon IT ferry arrival times