Just got back. Sapphire beach review

[mitsugirly]

Do you recommend doing a stop at the paradise point first before Sapphire beach? Or do you recommend getting a taxi after the tram? Do you know how much the taxi ride is from paradise point to Sapphire beach?

 

Just be aware that Paradise doesn't open early. We learned this when we were there. Our ship docked at 8am and we walked over to Paradise right away (since it's right across the street from the port) and they were not open. I "think" they opened at 9am. So we didn't want to waste any time and went ahead and headed over to Sapphire and caught Paradise on the way back. So it would depend on what time you ship docks and what port.

[Crazyshopper]

Good point to consider. My ship arrives at 8 am. Although, we move pretty slowly with my 2 kids. By the time we come out, it will probably be around 9 am.

[blue_water]

Crazyshopper -

Please note that the tram is across from the port (not Paradise Point, that's up the hill by tram or taxi) and that will not be open early. I would recommend shopping downtown amd/or heading directly to Coki or Sapphire and enjoying some time there, then ending your day at PP.

Enjoy!

[Crazyshopper]

Crazyshopper -

Please note that the tram is across from the port (not Paradise Point, that's up the hill by tram or taxi) and that will not be open early. I would recommend shopping downtown amd/or heading directly to Coki or Sapphire and enjoying some time there, then ending your day at PP.

Enjoy!

 

 

Thanks for your advice. We are going to Sapphire Beach and will try to make it to the Paradise Point afterwards. Next time, I will try to go to St. John.

[mitsugirly]

Just a little map there at the port to help you put this into perspective:

 

 

Once you come off the dock and around the buildings, there is the street and you can tell where PP is in relations to the dock. (It's in the upper right hand corner of the picture). :)

[Mary Ellen1]

kentuckychris, THANK YOU for taking the time to post this review. I think we'll go there on our upcoming April visit.

 

We've booked a tour with Air Force One. Last time we did that, about 2 years ago, he said that Sapphire was his very favorite beach, and the one he takes his family to. He tried to talk us into going there, but we had our heart set on Secret Harbour. (Pretty beach, but mediocre snorkeling.)

 

Glad to hear you mentioned they had restrooms. Godfrey's site still says that they don't, and that he won't take tours there until maintenance is improved.

 

Thanks again for the recommendation! :)

[blue_water]

We looked at condos to buy at Secret Harbor and didn't like it there nearly as much as we enjoyed staying at Sapphire. Sapphire is beautiful and affords great views of Tortola and St John.

 

Yes, too bad about Godfrey, I'm beginning to wonder if her gets kickbacks from another resort (or maybe from the folks living at Sapphire to keep the crowds down!) :p

[kentuckychris]

Just got back from my Western cruise on Sunday and today was the first I had time to reply. I don't know why they can have rice crispies, but that's what we were told. Maybe because they are pure without dyes. They sure did like them. The taxi was a set price. It was $10pp each way. The iguana's were eating mostly fruit. I had some lettuce from my sandwich that I gave them. It's a great place for the kids of any age. Since it wasn't crowded like the other beach, they had plenty of room to play. If you have any other questions, just ask and I will be happy to answer.

[mitsugirly]

Just got back from my Western cruise on Sunday and today was the first I had time to reply. I don't know why they can have rice crispies, but that's what we were told. Maybe because they are pure without dyes. They sure did like them. The taxi was a set price. It was $10pp each way. The iguana's were eating mostly fruit. I had some lettuce from my sandwich that I gave them. It's a great place for the kids of any age. Since it wasn't crowded like the other beach, they had plenty of room to play. If you have any other questions, just ask and I will be happy to answer.

 

Care to share any pictures? :D

[irie0518]

Did you see any sea turtles while you were snorkeling? I am going to be in St. Thomas in the middle of April and am thinking Sapphire is the place I want to go. I think I read in another review of it that there were sea turtles. I would love to see one while snorkeling.

[mitsugirly]

Did you see any sea turtles while you were snorkeling? I am going to be in St. Thomas in the middle of April and am thinking Sapphire is the place I want to go. I think I read in another review of it that there were sea turtles. I would love to see one while snorkeling.

 

That's the one thing I would love to see. I have yet to see a sea turtle while snorkeling at all in any place. I have seen other posted that they can be found if you go to the left where the sea grass is located instead of to the right where the coral is. I plan on trying this next time we go. :D

[karid08]

Thank you all so much for your reviews. DH, DD(2) and myself will now be heading to Sapphire!!!:) We basically want a beautiful and calm beach which won't get too crowded, and this sounds perfect! I'm also sure my daughter will be delighted will all the iguanas, being the animal lover that she is :p.

 

We're so excited. This is our first trip to the eastern caribbean (and only our second cruise) and since we've never been to St Thomas, I have a few questions I'd like to ask and would really appreciated any inputs:

 

1. We'll be cruising on RCL's Oasis, and for what I've read, it docks at another port, not at Havensight. Do you know where is actually docks?

 

2. We plan on going straight to Sapphire beach, and spending about 3 hours or so there, then we would like to do some sightseeing or take a tour of the island and then do some shopping. What places would you say are not to be missed? Should we consider paying for a tour or should we consider just asking the taxi driver to stop a a couple of places?

 

3. Do you think my daughter will also have to pay the $10pp for the trip from the port to Sapphire? And in fact for all taxi rides? (She's a 2yo) And how doable is it to take a stroller with us?

 

4. Is there an entrance fee to Sapphire Beach?

 

5. Where would you recommend we end our day for a little shopping before going back to the ship?

 

Thank you so much for your help! I really can't wait to be there! Counting every single day till our cruise (33 days to go):p

[sledhead]

Not sure about taxis. Maybe if she can sit on your lap and not occupy a seat shes free as they really cram the taxis full.

 

No charge for entry to Sapphire. We didnt even rent chairs. Just used our beach towels. Gave us more money to spend on Bushwackers! :) Great place. Nobody bothers you there.

 

Pretty good shopping right at the port.

[blue_water]

You will dock at Crown Bay if not at Havensight, just a little longer taxi to Sapphire but not much. Not sure about your daughter and taxi as we rent but may be a reduced rate because of her age.

 

Rays and sea turtles are often spotted in the seagrass to the left of the swimming area. We're more beach bums than snorkelers. But when we spent a week at the Sapphire Resort we met folks who said the snorkeling was excellent and they had spotted rays and turtles there.

 

Our favorite place to end the day is Paradise Point. I would suggest having the taxi drop you at Havensight for a little shopping there and then take the tram up to the top. You can also taxi there but your daughter would get a thrill from the tram ride. The view of the harbor from there is amazing, and you can grab a bite and a Bailey's Bushwacker and even ride the ferris wheel. The tram tickets can be purchased from your excursions desk and are normally refundable. Ypu can either tram down or taxi from PP to your ship.

 

If you don't make Paradise Point there is the Butterfly Farm at Havensight, I'm sure your daughter would love the Bird Lady's show on the porch, she has a great show.

Enjoy your cruise! We've been staying on different islands after seeing them through cruising and haven't cruised in a few years. But we are cruising right behind you with friends for their first time but we'll be hitting the southern islands.

[blueridgemama]

You will dock at Crown Bay if not at Havensight, just a little longer taxi to Sapphire but not much. Not sure about your daughter and taxi as we rent but may be a reduced rate because of her age.

 

Rays and sea turtles are often spotted in the seagrass to the left of the swimming area. We're more beach bums than snorkelers. But when we spent a week at the Sapphire Resort we met folks who said the snorkeling was excellent and they had spotted rays and turtles there.

 

Our favorite place to end the day is Paradise Point. I would suggest having the taxi drop you at Havensight for a little shopping there and then take the tram up to the top. You can also taxi there but your daughter would get a thrill from the tram ride. The view of the harbor from there is amazing, and you can grab a bite and a Bailey's Bushwacker and even ride the ferris wheel. The tram tickets can be purchased from your excursions desk and are normally refundable. Ypu can either tram down or taxi from PP to your ship.

 

If you don't make Paradise Point there is the Butterfly Farm at Havensight, I'm sure your daughter would love the Bird Lady's show on the porch, she has a great show.

Enjoy your cruise! We've been staying on different islands after seeing them through cruising and haven't cruised in a few years. But we are cruising right behind you with friends for their first time but we'll be hitting the southern islands.

 

 

Are there lockers available at Havensight or Charlotte Amalie to store all our wet beach stuff? We want to go to the beach first thing in the morning and then either walk around Charlotte Amalie or go to Paradise Point but we don't want to carry around wet towels and beach stuff. We are docked at Crown Bay so going back to the ship would eat up a lot of time. What do you usually do? Thanks.:)

[blue_water]

In your situation I would carry a backpack to put the towels and suits in. Traveling light helps there, I don't know of any better options, sorry.

[blue_water]

Karid08,

 

If you have time I would suggest CA for shopping. Havensight has some of the same stores that are in CA, but the real historic area is downtown and that's worth seeing your first visit if time allows. But if you go to Havensight you will find plenty of stores there as well as the Butterfly Farm.

[mitsugirly]

Here is a picture so that you can put into perspective where the ships dock.

 

Oasis and Allure dock on the other side of the hill (you will see it in the upper middle of the picture and is parked facing the camera) :)

 

[Mary Ellen1]

Are there lockers available at Havensight or Charlotte Amalie to store all our wet beach stuff? We want to go to the beach first thing in the morning and then either walk around Charlotte Amalie or go to Paradise Point but we don't want to carry around wet towels and beach stuff. We are docked at Crown Bay so going back to the ship would eat up a lot of time. What do you usually do? Thanks.:)

 

Why don't you look into the tours that offer shopping + beach? They typically drop you off for shopping first (and they keep an eye on your stuff), then pick you up & take you to the beach, then back to the ship. Air Force One does this tour (http://www.havefunwithus.net/packages.html), so does Godfrey... There may be others.

[kentuckychris]

If you take an island tour on the open taxi, it is $25pp. They go to a lot of the different beaches just to sight see. I know a few people that stayed on after the tour and got dropped off at Sapphire. They arranged this with the driver before hand. There weren't any sea turtles the day we were there, at least not while I was snorkeling. I saw a lot more around the coral than I did by the sea grass. Getting a stroller on the open air taxi is no problem. There is plenty of room. I doubt they will charge if your daughter and the stroller don't take up a whole place or if the taxi isn't crowded. Ours had plenty of room. If you just go to the beach, you will see a lot of the island on your way there and back. It just depends on what you want to do. There is plenty of shade as well as sun at the beach, so it won't be hard to keep your daughter out of the sun when you need to. There was someone leaving that had rented a chair, so they gave it to us. We didn't really need one as the beach is nice. I believe they were either $5 or $7 for the day.

[blue_water]

If you take an island tour on the open taxi, it is $25pp. They go to a lot of the different beaches just to sight see. I know a few people that stayed on after the tour and got dropped off at Sapphire. They arranged this with the driver before hand. There weren't any sea turtles the day we were there, at least not while I was snorkeling. I saw a lot more around the coral than I did by the sea grass. Getting a stroller on the open air taxi is no problem. There is plenty of room. I doubt they will charge if your daughter and the stroller don't take up a whole place or if the taxi isn't crowded. Ours had plenty of room. If you just go to the beach, you will see a lot of the island on your way there and back. It just depends on what you want to do. There is plenty of shade as well as sun at the beach, so it won't be hard to keep your daughter out of the sun when you need to. There was someone leaving that had rented a chair, so they gave it to us. We didn't really need one as the beach is nice. I believe they were either $5 or $7 for the day.

 

It really is as easy and enjoyable a day as kentuckychris stated. So many people worry about saving a $ here or about riding in an open-sided taxi that they ruin the experience for other first-timers to SST. Thanks for the down to earth report, very refreshing! And Sapphire is the perfect spot for us. Magens, Lindquist, and Coki are beautiful but we enjoy staying at Sapphire for the beach and the location, Red Hook is a great spot for evenings.

[Eileen G]

We went to Saphire beach a few weeks ago and had a great time. Here is my review from our cruise review.

 

My DH and I walked out to the main road and took a 2$ taxi that the locals use to Sapphire Beach. It was a 40 minute ride and one of the locals helped us know where to get off. We have done this before to Red Hook so we kinda had an idea where to get off. We had to walk down the driveway through the parking lot to get to the beach. The beach was beautiful with plenty of trees to place towels under. We had our own snorkeling gear so we went right in. The coral near the beach was mostly dead so we had to swim out near the point to find live coral. The water is really clear and the beach is beautiful. We spent a few hours at the beach snorkeling before heading back to Crown Bay. We had to walk back up the hill to catch the $2 taxi back to Crown Bay. It is a cicular route so you get the taxi going the same direction as you got off. After the taxi passed through Charlotte Amelia we got off at the green Pueblo Food store and walked back to the ship.

Here is the link to my pictures:

https://skydrive.live.com/?sc=photos&cid=1e98e90214e77bf9#cid=1E98E90214E77BF9&id=1E98E90214E77BF9%213356&sc=photos

[mitsugirly]

 

Here is the link to my pictures:

https://skydrive.live.com/?sc=photos&cid=1e98e90214e77bf9#cid=1E98E90214E77BF9&id=1E98E90214E77BF9%213356&sc=photos

 

 

LOVED your pictures. Ahhhh, I want to go back. :D

[LOLA1x1]

These reviews are great - thank you all for posting. Is there a place to get a salad at Sapphire Beach - or just burgers/fish etc

[blue_water]

The Banana Cabana may have a salad option, not sure as it is just a stand with a small grill and cooler. If not there is a restaurant in the Sapphire Village up the hill behind the Sapphire Marina, this changed owners earlier last year and I believe has many more options. We stayed at the Sapphire resort but never wandered up there...

 

I can tell you that the Red Hook Marina Market has a deli with excellent baguette subs and salads but you'll have to pay the driver to go past Sapphire and bring you back (just a few minutes or $5 taxi each way).