St. John on our own...it was easy.

[rjack22]

We decided to go to St. John on our own as everyone said that it was easy to do. And it was.

 

We planned to take the 9:00 am ferry over to St. John from Red Hook. This would have given us approximately 2.5 hrs at Trunk Bay as we planned to take the 1:15 ferry to Charlotte Amalie to shop.

 

Well the best laid plans..... We found out the night before that we had to go through immigration proceedures on Summit first thing in the morning before the ship would be cleared. Passengers were assigned various times to report to the theater with their passposts, etc. They stressed not coming down until your time was called to make the process go smoother. Our assigned time was 8:05. I was concerned about making the 9:00 ferry and I knew they only go every hour on the hour. Missing the 9:00 ferry would mean either one less hour at Trunk Bay or no shopping in downtown.

 

So with that in mind we decided to go down 15 minutes ahead of our appointed time. Everyone else must have decided the same thing. The line for immigration stretched from the Celebrity Theater in the very front of the ship all the way to the aft. The line kept moving, but it was a very long line. Now I was really getting frantic. No way were we going to make the Red Hook ferry as it was a 20 minute taxi ride from the port. We were done with immigration at 8:35. After a quick dash off to our cabin to get our things and return our passports to the safe we were on our way off the ship. I had now revised our plans about the Red Hook ferry. I figured the Charlotte Amalie ferry was much closer and it also had a ferry leaving at 9:00. So the plan was to catch the Charlotte Amalie ferry instead.

 

We got off the ship and there was a taxi loading. He asked where we were going and we told him St. John. He said to get in. I asked which ferry this taxi was going to and he said Red Hook. By now it was 8:40. I asked him if we could make the 9:00 ferry and he said YES. In a leap of faith we got in. The taxi was almost full by then and we took off. And yes, we did make the 9:00 ferry from Red Hook. We arrived, bought our tickets, boarded, and were off for St. John. No waiting time ANYWHERE after we got off the ship.

 

We were originally planning on going to Cinnamon Bay, but instead stopped at Trunk Bay because we had heard so much about it. It was gorgous!

 

We took the ferry to Charlotte Amalie on the way back. It took about 40 minutes from Cruz Bay. It docked right downtown and we then got to shop before taking another taxi back to the ship.

 

As many others have reported before, it is easy to get to St. John on your own.

[ciera123]

Thanks for the info!!! That's what we're planing for April 20 and you just reassured me. We've always done the ship's tours, so this will be our first on our own...

[sweetjem]

Rjack22 can you tell me we have taken the Red hppk before to trunk bay but last year we experienced a very bad thing we were hitting back in time forthe workerssssss plenty of them trying to get back to the Island and they are nasty to get on there so we were not sure what to do you said you took another one back after trunk bay were do you catch that one and where does it take you to and how to get back to the ship thank you you can email me if you would like

sweetjem81@aol.com

[rjack22]

At Cruz Bay you can get on eithe ferry. Either the one to Red Hook or the one to Charlotte Amalie. Just make sure you get on the one you want.

 

The Charlotte Amalie ferry docks right downdown. Right where you want to shop. You can walk back to the ship, but it is a good 30 minute walk. The taxis are the better option. They charge $3 per person to take you back to the ship from downtown. The taxis were all over the place. No problem getting one.

 

As far as avoiding the workers. Don't wait for the last ferry. Take an earlier one and you will have less of a problem.

[pklopp]

rjack - once you got off the ferry, did you take a taxi or how did you get to Trunk Bay. Thanks.

Peggy

[sweetjem]

Peggy if you go to the ferry by taxie tell the driver to set you up with one he will call to his drivers over on St.John side we used muscle man he was great not sure if he is still driving when you get off the ship ask for him they will tell you if he is driving that day we had no problem getting to trunk bay and that driver will come back if you ask him and give him a time it's very easy.

Janet

[pklopp]

Thanks Janet for the info.

Peggy