St. Thomas beaches vs. St. John

[HappyHappy1]

So I'm gonna be cruising Carnival with my mother and 9 year old son in August. I'm looking for a nice relaxing beach day in St Thomas. I heard alot of good things about St. John and also Saphire Beach . Is it really worth it to spend all that money for taxis and ferries back and forth to go to St. John? Or is it just as good to go to Magens Bay or Saphire...? Any input?

 

Since you are going with your 9 year old son, may I suggest Emerald Beach. We were there in November 2010 with our two boys (13 & 15). The water is very calm. The beach is clean and chairs are available. It's not crowded...Plus there are plenty of things for your son to do to keep him occupied! They rent Kayaks and snorkel gear at the Best Western on the beach. The beach bar is also fantastic. The boys played with their soccer ball and skim ball on the beach without disturbing anyone. There is ok snorkeling on the beach on the left. You will see small fish, nothing big...but the kids had fun.

 

Emerald is close to the ship. Taxi ride was $6 per person. You pass the market, so stopping to shop on the way back is very convienent. And taxis are available when you are ready to leave.

 

The bathrooms at the Best Western were very clean.

 

There were 5 ships in port this day...As you can see from the pictures below...it is not crowded. This is right next to the airport, but it is not noisy at all. A few small planes took off and landed in the morning, but that was it. I definately recommend.

[M5M]

I'm pretty convincednot t take so much time to go to St John's...so can someone give me directons to Water Island and Honeymoon Beach, or also to Sapphire Beach? Thanks!

[laser110]

I'm pretty convincednot t take so much time to go to St John's...so can someone give me directons to Water Island and Honeymoon Beach, or also to Sapphire Beach? Thanks!

 

 

First, it is St. John, not St, John's. St. John's is the capital of Antigua. Just a pet peeve of mine to pronounce it right :)

 

Will you have a car? I can provide directions to Sapphire Beach if I know what ship you are coming in on. Otherwise, any taxi will take you there. Should be about $10 pp each way. Trip will take about 30 minutes. If you like, ask your driver to come back for you at a specific time, most will be glad to do this.

 

To get to Honeymoon Beach on Water Island you need to take the water taxi. The taxi leaves from the dock by Tickle's Dock Side Pub in Crown Bay and it's about a 10 minute ride across, and then a 10 minute hike. Be sure to ask when the taxi will return, or check the schedule, so you know how long to spend at the beach and not miss your ship. If your ship docks at Crown Bay, it's an easy walk over. If you are docked at the WICO you'll need to take a taxi, plan about 20-25 minutes going and about 25-30 minutes going back. The later you go back the busier the roads will be and the longer it could take you. Most ships leave around the same time, which means the passengers all need to be back aroudn the same time too. This means alot of people and taxi's all trying to get to one place.

 

Once on Water Island walk up the road and go right at the intersection. Honeymoon Beach isn't far from there.

Here is a great video on how to get there and what the beach looks like.

 

 

Scott

[skurtiss]

We will be on the Adventure of the Seas docking in St John and want to know how far it is to trunk bay.What is the best way to get there and the costs.Any help is great.We will be there in late Jan.12.Steve

[mitsugirly]

I just thought I would throw in Sapphire Beach if you are interested in a nice relaxing day on a beautiful beach. Your 9 yr old would probably get a kick out of the iguanas running around the island and going into the water and having the fish come right up to him. There is snorkeling right off the beach (the coral comes right up to the edge of the water).

 

Here's my review if you are interested along with a bunch of pictures from my trip there:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1280889

[icequeen]

Trunk Bay takes about an hour to get to. You can catch a cab right at the terminal regardless of whether you dock at Havensight or Crown Bay. If you are a bit braver, you can take a dollar taxi (see blog for more details) to Red Hook, which is way cheaper than taking a cab. A cab can take you directly to either ferry dock (Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie). If you walk into Charlotte Amalie, the ferry is located right along the waterfront. A link to the ferry schedules is at the bottom of the St. Thomas post on my blog http ://the gangway gazette. blogspot.com/2010/03/st-thomas-us-virgin-islands.html (remove spaces when copying and pasting into your browser). I have pasted the section on Trunk Bay below.

 

Trunk Bay – this beach is one of the top 10 best beaches in the world. It is located on the island of St. John, which is able to be reached by ferry (see schedule below) from either Red Hook at the east tip of the island or downtown Charlotte Amalie. You can take a cab to Red Hook, catch the ferry to St. John (20 min ride), then a cab to Trunk Bay or you can catch a cab downtown and take the Charlotte Amalie ferry (45 min ride). Both of these options will cost in the range of $40 per person. There is some great snorkeling around a little island just off of Trunk Bay where there is a marked underwater trail highlighting the coral and fish of the area. Make sure that you return in early afternoon (2-2:30pm) as after 3pm, the locals start filling the ferries when they get off work. We have done this trip several times and Trunk Bay is one of our favorite beaches. It just involves a lot of time, attention to timing and is a bit costly.

[skurtiss]

Trunk Bay takes about an hour to get to. You can catch a cab right at the terminal regardless of whether you dock at Havensight or Crown Bay. If you are a bit braver, you can take a dollar taxi (see blog for more details) to Red Hook, which is way cheaper than taking a cab. A cab can take you directly to either ferry dock (Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie). If you walk into Charlotte Amalie, the ferry is located right along the waterfront. A link to the ferry schedules is at the bottom of the St. Thomas post on my blog http ://the gangway gazette. blogspot.com/2010/03/st-thomas-us-virgin-islands.html (remove spaces when copying and pasting into your browser). I have pasted the section on Trunk Bay below.

 

Trunk Bay – this beach is one of the top 10 best beaches in the world. It is located on the island of St. John, which is able to be reached by ferry (see schedule below) from either Red Hook at the east tip of the island or downtown Charlotte Amalie. You can take a cab to Red Hook, catch the ferry to St. John (20 min ride), then a cab to Trunk Bay or you can catch a cab downtown and take the Charlotte Amalie ferry (45 min ride). Both of these options will cost in the range of $40 per person. There is some great snorkeling around a little island just off of Trunk Bay where there is a marked underwater trail highlighting the coral and fish of the area. Make sure that you return in early afternoon (2-2:30pm) as after 3pm, the locals start filling the ferries when they get off work. We have done this trip several times and Trunk Bay is one of our favorite beaches. It just involves a lot of time, attention to timing and is a bit costly.

 

Thanks for the info but, we will be stopping at St. John not St. Thomas so how far to Trunk bay from where they tender us into? Cruz Bay

[O2B@Cagain]

The Adventure of the Seas docks at Havensight on St Thomas, does not anchor out of St John.

[skurtiss]

The Adventure of the Seas docks at Havensight on St Thomas, does not anchor out of St John.

 

Thanks!!

[mattsmom11]

We were in port from 8AM-5PM in January and I took the ferry to St. John on my own while my fiancee went scuba diving. I had more than enough time to spend there and relax. I didn't see the journey to and from St. John as being a "fuss" at all. There was only one other ship in port that day so if there are more, it may be more of a hassle with traffic. Trunk Bay is well worth the journey IMO. :)

 

 

 

Mindthecap - we will be in St Thomas this coming October and have been to the island twice already so would really like to head to St Johns but lke alot of others am a little nervous about trying to do it on our own. if you don't mind can you please email me any tips and links and prices and timeline you took when you were brave enough to venture this and on your own as well - good on ya :D

Please email me the info so I don't miss the post - srappinfun@hotmail.com

 

Your photo's are breathtaking and I can't wait for october to hurry up and get here

thanks so much

[cruisinfromohio]

We will be travelling with a group of 6 adults and 4 children - ages 8, 10, 15, and 16. Am thinking we would be better off staying wtih St. Thomas but debating about beaches. Would love to go where we can snorkel - prefer less crowded. Our kids are happy enough swimming and "snorkeling" in the shallow water.

 

Don't even know how to find out how many ships will be at port the day we are there.

 

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

 

These are the kinds of decisions that make life worth while! :D

[mpcaruth]

We will be travelling with a group of 6 adults and 4 children - ages 8, 10, 15, and 16. Am thinking we would be better off staying wtih St. Thomas but debating about beaches. Would love to go where we can snorkel - prefer less crowded. Our kids are happy enough swimming and "snorkeling" in the shallow water.

 

Don't even know how to find out how many ships will be at port the day we are there.

 

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

 

These are the kinds of decisions that make life worth while! :D

 

Take a taxi to Sapphire Beach. We went there in 2009. The beach is nice, there is snorkeling right off the beach, and there are jet ski rentals. There are lots a fish, but not a lot of coral. I loved snorkeling with all the fish. The beach is a little further away from the ship dock, so its not crowded with cruise passengers.

[mitsugirly]

We will be travelling with a group of 6 adults and 4 children - ages 8, 10, 15, and 16. Am thinking we would be better off staying wtih St. Thomas but debating about beaches. Would love to go where we can snorkel - prefer less crowded. Our kids are happy enough swimming and "snorkeling" in the shallow water.

 

Don't even know how to find out how many ships will be at port the day we are there.

 

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

 

These are the kinds of decisions that make life worth while! :D

 

Sapphire is the perfect place for that. Snorkeling right from the beach. PLENTY of different kinds of fish, coral, fish that follow you around (it's hilarious), lots of sandy areas to swim in too, natural shade trees to sit under and rest, not crowded, iguanas walking around the beach and in the trees. Beautiful place. We didn't want to leave. :)

 

Take a taxi to Sapphire Beach. We went there in 2009. The beach is nice, there is snorkeling right off the beach, and there are jet ski rentals. There are lots a fish, but not a lot of coral. I loved snorkeling with all the fish. The beach is a little further away from the ship dock, so its not crowded with cruise passengers.

 

I'm not sure why you say there is not a lot of coral? We seen tons when we were there last year :confused:

 

Here's a few pictures we took. Everywhere you see the dark areas are rocks, coral, and tons of sea life:

 

 

 

If you look in this picture, this is close to where we had our stuff laying. If you notice, the coral comes all the way up to the end of the water

 

[grease_swabber]

CruisinfromOhio:

 

This is a little off the thread topic, but there will be 4 ships in St Thomas when you are there (Oct 12).

 

There are a variety of port of call schedules out there. I prefer this one.

 

http://cruisett.com/ports.php

 

Keith

[mitsugirly]

Regarding how many ships that are in port that day...

 

There were 4 ships (with 3 being the largest at the time) in port the day we were there. As you can tell by my pictures, it was not crowded where we were. Oasis, Epic, Dream and another was there that day.