How far from Crown Bay is the Charlotte Amalie ferry to St Johns

[c4ddym4n]

How far from the Crown Bay pier is the Charlotte Amalie ferry to St Johns?

[runner15km]

Just a short walk.

[12Cruise]

How far from the Crown Bay pier is the Charlotte Amalie ferry to St Johns?

 

Actually, it is quite a distance, and by taxi. Also, the Charlotte Amalie ferry does not always run on schedule. Your best best is to go to the Red Hook ferry. A taxi ride is needed to reach there as well.

 

And, it is St. John, not St. Johns. :)

[Snorkel Dawg]

I'm on the Allure in April & understand we'll dock in Crown Bay. Is it still better to take the Red Hook ferry to St. John even though it's farther from our docked ship?

 

Thank you

[Snorkel Dawg]

Actually, it is quite a distance, and by taxi. Also, the Charlotte Amalie ferry does not always run on schedule. Your best best is to go to the Red Hook ferry. A taxi ride is needed to reach there as well.

 

And, it is St. John, not St. Johns. :)

 

 

 

Cruiseville,

I'm so jealous of your B2B on the Ruby. Love, love, love that ship & crew!

[caribsun]

Actually, it is quite a distance, and by taxi. Also, the Charlotte Amalie ferry does not always run on schedule. Your best best is to go to the Red Hook ferry. A taxi ride is needed to reach there as well.

 

And, it is St. John, not St. Johns. :)

 

Maybe runner15km is also correct. This link shows the ferry leaving from downtown. http://www.usvi.net/usvi/ferry.htm#CASJ

[12Cruise]

Snorkel Dawg - Thanks!! We are quite excited ourselves. We did a straight 14 day cruise this past Jan. In fact, a year ago today we flew to FLL, stayed two nights and boarded the Grand Princess. It was awesome!! Our upcoming B2B will be a new experience, getting to stay on board as the other pax depart and the new ones embark. Our son and his gf come aboard the 2nd week. Woo-hoo!!

 

Here is some info I've found:

 

If your ship docks at the Crown Bay cruise terminal, we recommend you take a taxi instead of walking. You can walk from the Crown Bay cruise terminal to Charlotte Amalie, but the 1.5 mile walk is not the most pleasant, requiring you to walk along the shoulder of the road in a less interesting and non-scenic part of the island.

 

Taxi from Crown Bay cruise pier to Charlotte Amalie: $5 per person one way. Return fare is the same.

 

Taxi from Crown Bay cruise pier to Red Hook dock (for ferry to St John): $12 per person one way. Return fare is the same.

 

In short...you are either going to take a longer taxi ride to RH and a shorter ferry ride to STJ....or, a shorter taxi ride to CA and a longer ferry ride to STJ.

 

Your pick. :)

 

More info is here:

 

http://www.cruiseportsatoz.com/public/St_Thomas_Transportation.cfm

[12Cruise]

p.s. In 2011 the Charlotte Amalia ferry had issues with maintaining their schedules. For this reason, if we go to STJ in March, we may just take the

Red Hook ferry and not worry about it. :D

[Snorkel Dawg]

Snorkel Dawg - Thanks!! We are quite excited ourselves. We did a straight 14 day cruise this past Jan. In fact, a year ago today we flew to FLL, stayed two nights and boarded the Grand Princess. It was awesome!! Our upcoming B2B will be a new experience, getting to stay on board as the other pax depart and the new ones embark. Our son and his gf come aboard the 2nd week. Woo-hoo!!

 

Here is some info I've found:

 

If your ship docks at the Crown Bay cruise terminal, we recommend you take a taxi instead of walking. You can walk from the Crown Bay cruise terminal to Charlotte Amalie, but the 1.5 mile walk is not the most pleasant, requiring you to walk along the shoulder of the road in a less interesting and non-scenic part of the island.

 

Taxi from Crown Bay cruise pier to Charlotte Amalie: $5 per person one way. Return fare is the same.

 

Taxi from Crown Bay cruise pier to Red Hook dock (for ferry to St John): $12 per person one way. Return fare is the same.

 

In short...you are either going to take a longer taxi ride to RH and a shorter ferry ride to STJ....or, a shorter taxi ride to CA and a longer ferry ride to STJ.

 

Your pick. :)

 

More info is here:

 

http://www.cruiseportsatoz.com/public/St_Thomas_Transportation.cfm

 

 

12cruise-Thanks! That is some good info! I would expect nothing less from someone from KY. By the way my father is from Deep Creek KY (just SE of Mackville) Funny I can't find Cruiseville KY on Google maps :)

[12Cruise]

Snorkel Dawg - your dad is about 2 1/2 hrs NE of me. He is in a very nice area of Kentucky. ;)

 

You're welcome for the info. We may just go over to Water Island since we are docking at Crown Point. We've been to St. John a couple of times for vacations. A 10 day stay, and a 14 day stay. Of all of the islands we've been to in the Caribbean, that is the one that we go back to for a land vacation. We love it there. We've also done all day catamaran tours there while cruising, numerous times, always to Honeymoon Beach.

 

If you do decide to go over there, let me know if you need any help on what beach to go to, where to get food, etc.

[Snorkel Dawg]

12cruise-I really want to visit SJ this time in ST. I know we could stay on ST & go to yet another different beach where we would have much more time to do what my dw, 2 dd & myself really love doing, snorkeling! But I've wanted to visit SJ for a few years now for a completely different experience. Searching different photos of the island & espically Trunk Bay (where I think we're headed) has really set the hook in me.

 

I appreciate your offer. I would be very interested in hearing your opinions about and experiences on St John whether it be day trips from cruises or cool sights and good local eats you enjoyed on your land based trips there. Do you guys snorkel? Have you been to Trunk Bay? & If so how would you rate the snorkel trail at the National Park there? Where would you suggest we get something to eat? I've read theres a lil snack bar at Trunk Bay. Would we be better off taking snacks & waiting to eat something once we get back to Cruz Bay?

 

On a different subject have you seen the ancient petroglyphs there? Is there any way we might see some of those visiting the island on a cruise port day? Maybe not enough time? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm somewhat addicted to this stuff lol.

 

If you would rather reply via e-mail you may contact me at snorkeldawgs@frontier.net

 

Thank you for sharing your knowledge of SJ! :)

Dawg

[12Cruise]

Hi Snorkel Dawg!

 

Let me start with the petroglyphs. Yes, we've taken the NPS hike to them. Once getting there you are there for a bit to eat your lunch, that you bring. You then go back to Cruz Bay (CB) by boat. This is how we did it while staying there. As for doing it while on a cruise, for me personally, I would just go to a beach. ;)

 

This site will help you with the Northshore beaches

 

http://www.**********/stjohn/beaches_stj/

 

If going to Trunk Bay, you can get food and drinks there. This is the least worrisome way to go and the most relaxing, imho. They have drinks like pina coladas and such. Then maybe go back into CB and go shopping up at St. John Spice Co. right there by the ferry, upstairs at Wharfside. Ruth and Ron own the shop and if you've never been in a spice shop, your senses are going to love it.

 

Or, you can visit Solomon or Honeymoon by hiking there after coming off of the ferry, and then go back into CB and have lunch at Hide Tide or The Beach Bar, right there by the ferry. Pack snacks and water with you and chill.

 

Or, you can take a taxi to Caneel Bay and then walk down to Honeymoon beach, which has wonderful snorkeling.

 

The beaches, in order, are...Solomon, Honeymoon, Caneel, Hawksnest - which is lovely, Trunk Bay, Cinnamom and Maho - which is awesome. I think a taxi will take you to all of these beaches. The map will tell you which beach has what facility, etc. I would also ask the taxi driver to come back and get you at a specific time.

 

I guess it also depends on how long you have to stay on STJ? It will take 45 mins for the taxi to Red Hook, a 15 mins ferry ride and you are there. So that is one hour there and another hour back = 2 hrs. And hope you get to Red Hook as a ferry is ready to go. ;) And, I would always make sure I was back at the ship 1 hour prior to the ship departing. I do not cut it close.

 

Also, buy your ticket as a Round Trip ticket, then you do not have to stand in line again.

 

If I've confused you, or, have not answered all of your questions, please let me know.

 

One thing to say about food...STJ is not cheap...say $20 p/p with regular drink (not alcohol), tip & tax included.

[Snorkel Dawg]

12cruise-Thanks a bunch for the advice & info.

 

I was unaware of spices being sold on St. John. Are they grown on the island or imported from other islands like Grenada for example? We bought many spices at a couple different spice shops while in port there a couple of years ago. I do need to stock up on some more fresh peppercorns!

 

I think it's probably best we wait and visit the petroglyphs if/when we do a land based trip to SJ. How was the NPS petroglyph tour? How many of them did you see & did you feel it was worthwile? We have only experienced seeing them on the Big Island in Hawaii & IMO were incredible!

[O2B@Cagain]

The NPS Reef Bay hike includes a ranger guide with interpretation of the flora and fauna of the area, the history of the VI (especially St John and the plantation at Reef Bay), the area where the petroglyphs are (and time to explore- you stop there for lunch break), a tour of the sugar mill area and a swim in the sea before you board the boat back to Cruz Bay. Very excellent, but something you will want to do on a land-based vacation to the VI.:)

[Snorkel Dawg]

O2b-Thanks for the input!

[lakeguy]

Snorkeldawg, good advice from 12cruise. just a couple of thoughts, all of the beaches are great but unles you make arrangements with a taxidriver to be picked up (sometime they can't get when they say they will, not a big deal unless you are trying to get back on board) on trunkbay you can reliably catch a ride when you want. also the snorkel trail is crowded and over rated in my opinion. you will find much better snorkeling and less people on the back side of the snorkel island also good snorkeling to be had on either end of the beach. We also like Hawksnest beach just down the road from trunkbay.

Enjoy your trip I'm sure that you will fall in love with St Johns and this will be only your first trip there.

[Snorkel Dawg]

Thank you Lakeguy! I appreciate the advice :)