Thinking about St. John and how to go

[Froufie]

Wake2port - you can definitely find dive shops in Toronto that sell what you need (I found some in Ottawa!).....you want to try on various masks to see which fits and feels the best for you! Both my husband and I got snorkels and masks and ours are different due to 'personal' differences and choices...... It might take some time to find what fits you the best and I would not want to waste precious island time trying to find something that feels good (and possibly not finding anything at all that works?).

 

Once you make that investment/choice you know you will not have issues when snorkelling.....and they were not that expensive either - nothing top of the line - just basic but fits right!

[weluvlife]

We took a land vacation to St. John several years ago and its still one of our favorite destinations. Rented a car for the week and after adjusting to driving on the other side of the road, and dodging pigs, goats and other animals, we loved it. I love the island flavor, how laid back it is and just the atmosphere. We ventured to St. Thomas a few days but really, there was no reason to leave St. John. We went to Trunk Bay (very crowded), Cinnamon bay and a few other beaches.

 

On this cruise we plan to grab a taxi, head to the Red Hook ferry and get our butts over there for the day :D We've seen all the historic stuff last time. My hope is to eat at our favorite restaurant, Duffy's Love Shack and maybe Woody's, then head to the beach, probably Cinnamon Bay. The sand and water just don't get much more awesome....ok, St. Maarin is really close!! :-)

[TravelerThom]

We [two couples] were on the Mercury Farewell Cruise, and rented a vehicle in both St Thomas and St Croix. We were scheduled to arrive Havensight at 9am, but the ship was docked and cleared about 7:30am. Budget was right beside were we docked, and I was through the gate and at Budget about 7:50. Their starting time was 8am, but they actually opened a few minutes early, so we were on the road about 8:10am. Rush hour traffic into Charlotte Amalie was very heavy, but we had light traffic heading to Red Hook. Since the heavy traffic into town was moving at about 2 mph, it actually made getting on the road pretty easy as there were no speeding cars to judge. I have driven on the left in a number of locations before, but this was the first time driving in USVI and the first time with the steering wheel not where it is supposed to be [although driving is on the left, virtually all vehicles in USVI have standard US driving position, so the driver is next to the edge of the road, not the center]. Speed limits are low, and I found drivers to be courteous, so no difficulties. We just made an 8:30 ferry and pulled into Cruz Bay at 9am. After several wrong turns in Cruz Bay we finally ended up on Centerline Road and after a few view stops arrived at Annaberg Sugar Plantation. After Annaberg we stopped at Francis Bay, Maho Bay and Cinnamon Bay. About 1pm it started pouring so we caught the 1:30pm ferry back to Red Hook and enjoyed a sunny ride down the ridge road before heading back to town and Havensight. Cost for jeep, ferry and gasoline came to about $140, or $35 per person. Other than the road to Maho Bay, I thought the roads were sufficiently wide and in good shape - could have been easily done by a regular car.

 

In Fredricksted, St Croix we again rented from Budget and drove to Christensted, Udall Point, etc. Again a relatively easy drive. Total cost including gasoline for this rental was about $56 or $14 per person.

 

Thanks to all who made suggestions, especially Host Anne and Augie. We were very pleased with how the drives turned out.

 

Thom

[GioFamily]

Great informative thread, thanks.

Does anyone know where the EPIC docks in St. Thomas? We usually go "on our own" to most beaches or excursions, but seem to be losing our confidence in travel times. We are expected to be in St. Thomas at 8 AM. Does anyone have thoughts about going on our own? Also, we would have to leave Trunk Bay (if we choose that beach) by 1PM for a 4PM sailaway? UGH, see what I mean? From Host Ann's and most others, it seems worth the trip, but I don't know what our starting point is. Maybe we could do a ship excursion, and just skip the hiking part, and stay on the beach. Thanks for tips!

[Smileeface]

You can check this site for the cruise ship schedule in the two ports in St. Thomas, but they only have the schedule one month at a time. It says they update it at the end of each month, so only March is up now.

**********/general_usvi/cruiseship/ship_schedule.php

Just hit a search for St. Thomas Port Schedule or Virgin Islands Cruise Ship Schedule if the link doesn't show properly.

The "vinow" in the link stands for "virgin islands now". This particular link shows specifically the two docks in St. Thomas and also if the ship is tendered instead.

From what it says for March, The Norwegian Epic is docking in WICO (West Indian Company Dock) which is Havensight, but who knows if that will change in other months. Hope this helps.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Smileeface

[Host Anne]

Hello everyone ~ thanks to all for the kind comments. We've been on a cruise (with a stop in St. Thomas and yes, we went to St. John) so I haven't been on the boards much recently.

 

Glad to hear so many are giving St. John a try.

 

Thom ~ thanks for returning and posting your experience with renting a car. One item to note for everyone, the car ferry schedule that Thom was on differs from the passenger only-ferry that we took. Passenger only ferries run every hour on the hour to and from St. John.

 

Gio ~ if Epic docks at Havensight you can easily make the 9:00 AM ferry (under normal circumstances) and yes, unfortunately, you'd want to take the 1:00 PM return ferry.

 

An update on per person costs to do the trip on your own to St. John:

 

Taxi to Red Hook - $20 per person roundtrip (a bit higher than last year but gas prices continue to go up). You can probably knock a $1 off on the return if you have the same taxi come back to pick you up. We didn't this time but should have. If you do, you must walk across the street as the morning taxi isn't permitted to pick up inside the ferry parking lot. There are two different taxi associations on St. Thomas. While it's a pain to walk through the parking lot and across the street with 24 people, I think it would have been easier than getting the taxi in the parking lot.

 

Ferry ticket - still $12 round trip.

 

St. John taxi to the beaches - $12 round trip to Trunk; $14 roundtrip to Cinnamon; $25 for an island tour of about 3 hours.

 

We had lunch at a restaurant in Mongoose Junction, a short walk to the ferry with several nice restaurant options.

 

Can't wait to go back....next visit is a land vacation!!!! ENJOY!

[Host Anne]

By the way, to see where your ship is docking in St. Thomas, google St. Thomas Cruise Ship schedule and you'll find websites that provide the info!

[Smileeface]

Anne, welcome back! Which ship and were you docked in Havensight?

Wow, the gas prices, yes...I was wondering if the cruises will start charging the gas surcharge soon. What a pain.

 

I have to thank you again for everything you post. I have friends who are cruising in two weeks on Carnival Glory. They will dock in Havensight, and I forwarded all of the information I have glued together from your posts, and I am really encouraging them to do it on their own. None of them have ever seen Trunk Bay or been on St. John. Can't wait to hear about their experience when they come back!

[Host Anne]

We were on Celebrity Constellation, Smilee. I am sure your friends will love St. John. Let us know what they think! I sure hope they don't add the fuel surcharge back in but if gas prices continue to climb, I fear that could happen.

 

An interesting side note from our Captain on Connie....the Port does sometimes switch where you are docking on the spur on the moment so be sure to check when you get on your ship where you will be docking in St. Thomas. I don't think they move ships often from Havensight to Crown Bay but as our Captain explained, they do move ships from Crown Bay to Havensight sometimes.

[nibs07407]

Hello everyone ~ thanks to all for the kind comments. We've been on a cruise (with a stop in St. Thomas and yes, we went to St. John) so I haven't been on the boards much recently.

 

Glad to hear so many are giving St. John a try.

 

Thom ~ thanks for returning and posting your experience with renting a car. One item to note for everyone, the car ferry schedule that Thom was on differs from the passenger only-ferry that we took. Passenger only ferries run every hour on the hour to and from St. John.

 

Gio ~ if Epic docks at Havensight you can easily make the 9:00 AM ferry (under normal circumstances) and yes, unfortunately, you'd want to take the 1:00 PM return ferry.

 

An update on per person costs to do the trip on your own to St. John:

 

Taxi to Red Hook - $20 per person roundtrip (a bit higher than last year but gas prices continue to go up). You can probably knock a $1 off on the return if you have the same taxi come back to pick you up. We didn't this time but should have. If you do, you must walk across the street as the morning taxi isn't permitted to pick up inside the ferry parking lot. There are two different taxi associations on St. Thomas. While it's a pain to walk through the parking lot and across the street with 24 people, I think it would have been easier than getting the taxi in the parking lot.

 

Ferry ticket - still $12 round trip.

 

St. John taxi to the beaches - $12 round trip to Trunk; $14 roundtrip to Cinnamon; $25 for an island tour of about 3 hours.

 

We had lunch at a restaurant in Mongoose Junction, a short walk to the ferry with several nice restaurant options.

 

Can't wait to go back....next visit is a land vacation!!!! ENJOY!

Thanks for the great info. If I book through the EPIC it seems like I get about 90 min in St.John. If I take 9:00 & 1:00 ferry as suggested it seems I will get about 3 hrs, so much more worthwhile. My one question is would it make any sense on the way back to take the Charlotte Amalie Ferry so I am closer to the ship just in case there is traffic? We are there Easter week with apparently many other huge ships. With the boat leaving at 4:00 I thought that might make sense or am I missing something? Thanks.

[Host Anne]

nibs ~ the ferry ride from St. John to Charlotte Amalie is about 35 - 40 minutes versus the 15 minutes to Red Hook. The ride (in open water) is often very choppy and uncomfortable. I always caution people about the ride to Charlotte Amalie because if you are at all prone to motion sickness, I wouldn't recommend it. Time wise, it's probably pretty equal. The traffic gets bad within a couple of miles of the ships regardless of which way you are approaching them. I'd still take the ferry to Red Hook if it were me. have a wonderful time!

[augie]

Welcome back Anne! Isn't your land based STJ trip "soon come"?

 

Three weeks from today I'll be waking up on that beautiful rock! We're taking our son down for his senior year of high school spring break - our first trip "in season".

[nibs07407]

Thanks again for the insightful info Anne So glad I asked.

[nabby]

Update: I just got back from my cruise, and we did St. John on our own last week. Here are my observations.

 

1) This is very easy to do. You just need to keep track of time.

 

2) We were on the Caribbean Princess, so we docked at Crown Bay. Even though we were off the ship right away, we were not able to make the 8:00 ferry. If your ship is docked in Havensight, you might be able to make the early ferry since you are closer. We bought our tickets and took the 9:00 ferry.

 

3) Purchase the round-trip ticket. You can use the return ticket at any time and you don't have to worry about purchasing it when you come back.

 

4) When you get to Cruz Bay, it is a short walk over to the taxis. They have people there to direct you to the correct taxi. Tell them where you want to go. We went to Cinnamon Bay to avoid crowds, but at that time of the morning Trunk Bay was not crowded. Later in the day when we returned it was much more crowded. At both Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay, there are always taxis available to take you back when you want to leave.

 

5) I wanted to do a little shopping in Cruz Bay, so we left the beach at about 12:30. That gave us about 3 hours on the beach. We had the taxi drop us off at Mongoose Junction so we could shop there. It is a short (downhill) walk into Cruz Bay, where there are more little shops. We used our return tickets to take the 2:00 ferry back.

 

6) When you get back to Red Hook there are also people to direct you to the correct taxi. We had people on our taxi who were getting dropped off at different places: Havensight, downtown Charlotte Amalie (that was us, to do a little extra shopping), and Crown Bay. We shopped for about an hour, then hopped a taxi over to Crown Bay (an extra $4, but that was the amount we had saved by going to Cinnamon Bay instead of Trunk Bay). We were back to the ship shortly after 4:00, and it left at 5:00.

 

We had a great day. It was also flexible; if the weather had been bad, we could have changed our plans with no hassle. It also gave us time to do the things we wanted to do, in the time frame we wanted.

[MMOMOM]

Sounds like a great time .... thanx for the update. We plan to do it ourselves too and go to Cinnamon Bay since we've already been to Trunk Bay. Can't wait!:)

[BKLYNPONY]

Hello everyone ~ thanks to all for the kind comments. We've been on a cruise (with a stop in St. Thomas and yes, we went to St. John) so I haven't been on the boards much recently.

 

Glad to hear so many are giving St. John a try.

 

Thom ~ thanks for returning and posting your experience with renting a car. One item to note for everyone, the car ferry schedule that Thom was on differs from the passenger only-ferry that we took. Passenger only ferries run every hour on the hour to and from St. John.

 

Gio ~ if Epic docks at Havensight you can easily make the 9:00 AM ferry (under normal circumstances) and yes, unfortunately, you'd want to take the 1:00 PM return ferry.

 

An update on per person costs to do the trip on your own to St. John:

 

Taxi to Red Hook - $20 per person roundtrip (a bit higher than last year but gas prices continue to go up). You can probably knock a $1 off on the return if you have the same taxi come back to pick you up. We didn't this time but should have. If you do, you must walk across the street as the morning taxi isn't permitted to pick up inside the ferry parking lot. There are two different taxi associations on St. Thomas. While it's a pain to walk through the parking lot and across the street with 24 people, I think it would have been easier than getting the taxi in the parking lot.

 

Ferry ticket - still $12 round trip.

 

St. John taxi to the beaches - $12 round trip to Trunk; $14 roundtrip to Cinnamon; $25 for an island tour of about 3 hours.

 

We had lunch at a restaurant in Mongoose Junction, a short walk to the ferry with several nice restaurant options.

 

Can't wait to go back....next visit is a land vacation!!!! ENJOY!

I understand that the ferry is per person; are the taxi's and island tour per person as well? And is the island tour $25 per person for the whole three hours? Also what would you recommend the tour consist of? We are just mainly interested in seeing a few scenic sights and then hitting the beach (Cinnamon) for an hour or two. We will be in St. Thomas from 8am -6pm. Thank you for the wealth of information that you provide.

[Host Anne]

Steve ~ good memory. We still have a couple of months to go before our land-based visit. Can't wait! What a great spring break trip! Have a wonderful time and keep her in good shape for us!!!

 

Pony ~ all prices are per person. Taxis, ferry, island tour. You can tell the taxi driver you want a short island tour to see some scenic overlooks (Bordeaux Mountain, Annaberg Plantation) and then a stop at a beach. You could probably negotiate a lower island fair that way. If you are just going to the beach, it's $6 to Trunk and $7 to Cinnamon so figure an extra $15 or so for touring the island. You can be on the 9 AM ferry, do an island tour from 9:30 - 11:00 and then be at the beach for at least two hours if you'd like. Being in port from 8 - 6 makes for a perfect day to St. John. Nice and leisurely. ENJOY!

[JustThinking23]

Wanted to say thanks for all of the great advice here. We are taking our first cruise ever next month, and St Thomas will be our first port.

 

Our boat is scheduled from 7 am to 6 pm. Only one other boat in port.

 

Since we are a party of 7, with 3 generations, I decided to rent a minivan in St. Thomas and barge over to St. John.

 

Will probably head to Trunk. Want rental chairs, etc. for the older generation, and the snorkel tour sounds great for the inexperienced kid snorkelers. Kayaking at Cinnamon sounds good too, but think I think we will only hit 1 beach.

 

I have no idea how long we will stay, but would like to stop at some of the scenic vistas and the ruins discussed here. Stop for lunch.

 

I will not buy a round trip barge ticket, so that I can take whatever barge is going next. 3:00 would be my latest.

 

Depending on time, the seniors may want to head back to ship to rest, and maybe there might be time to see a sight or two on St. Thomas. Not really planning for that. I'd be fine all day on St. John.

 

A 7 passenger minivan for the day from Avis is about $100. barge is about $60. So all seven of us get to St. John's for $160. $4 a piece for the beach at Trunk.

 

Avis and Budget allow cars to St. John. Hertz does not.

 

Here is a link for all ferry schedules. I can't actually vouch for accuracy.

http://www.**********/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/ sorry, don't get all of the posting and link rules here. ( VI Now . com ) with out spaces...

Edited March 11, 2011 by JustThinking23

[Chuckyd]

Can someone tell me if the West Indian Company Dock (WICO) is actually Havensight as referred to on this post.

 

Our Carnival Cruise Ship Freedom shows to be docking there 09/13/2011.

 

Thx.

Chuckyd

[Host Anne]

Chuck ~ yes, WICO (West Indies Co) is indeed Havensight! :) Have a wonderful time!

[augie]

In case any of you St. John fans are interested, here's a link to some pictures from my recent visit there. My wife and I took our son, who's a senior in high school, down there for his spring break week.

 

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjudP5mp

[Froufie]

Wow - amazing pics - may I ask where is Salt Pond Bay and how did you get there? :D

[Hurry&Wait]

Wow - amazing pics - may I ask where is Salt Pond Bay and how did you get there? :D

 

South side of the island. You can get there by bus, but usually you get there by car/jeep. Would be difficult to do on a cruise day

[Froufie]

Okay thanks! Hoping to ferry over to St. John in January - maybe stick to some closer beaches? and lunch on the island (any suggestions?)

[augie]

Okay thanks! Hoping to ferry over to St. John in January - maybe stick to some closer beaches? and lunch on the island (any suggestions?)

 

Do you know what time you'll be at port on St. Thomas yet? H&W is correct - without a rental car it would be tough to hit Salt Pond Bay on a cruise stop - it's probably the beach with the second longest driving distance from Cruz Bay. There are a number of north shore beach options that will much easier to work in.

 

As far as lunch, depending on what you like to eat, if you want to grab a bite and run or would prefer to sit down, if lunch will be an important part of your day or just an afterthought on a day primarily all about the beach, you have a ton of options in and around Cruz Bay.

 

If you know what you'll be looking for as far as your lunch experience, I can probably help you narrow down your options.