Not big shoppers and Godfrey or Sunny Liston

[Cruzntime]

Ok cruise pros, here are a few questions tapping your experience.

 

My DW and DD are not shop-aholic but do enjoy some shopping and, unless there are some really unique things to browse, I am not into shopping much at all. We are considering booking with Godfrey or Sunny Liston since this is our first time to St Thomas and it is my understanding both give you up to approximately 3hrs. of shopping time if desired. Is there really that much to see and do where they drop you off for the shopping?

 

How would you explain the shopping area?

 

Does it have much of the same stuff I can buy in the States or are there a lot of different, interesting and/or unique things that interest a typical non-shopper?

 

Are electronic items much cheaper here or can you pretty much find the same thing internet browsing?

 

It seems that Godfrey, Sunny Liston, and Donavan are the guides to have in St. Thomas. Donavan doesn't seem to have a website and this is my best form of communication. A few in our group are going with Godfrey but I am a little concerned with him passing us off to other tour guides. What are your experiences?

 

I know this is long but perhaps the experienced will answer many CC member's questions.

 

Thanks :)

[ericosmith]

If there was anything interesting downtown, I sure didn't find it.

[stan wood]

There were eight in our group and we chose Sunny because we couldn't get Godfrey to respond. He called us the evening that I e-mailed him and wanted to know what we wanted on our tour. We told him we only wanted two hours shopping and the extra hour at the beach. This was fine. He picked us up at the ship and took us uptown. While we were shopping, he picked up others from another liner. We went on our tour and then to the beaches. He let us off at Coki and took the others to their beach.

 

We bought some shirts at a flea market and look in a ton of shops without buying. It seemed like about 9 out of 10 stores were jewelry stores. It was okay because it was our first trip to St. Thomas. If there were electronic devices, we didn't see them-but that certainly doesn't mean they weren't there.

 

If we go back to St. Thomas, we would book Sunny again. Godfrey and Donovan would have to be extremely good to top what we had . I suggest you contact him directly and ask about changes to his normal tour. From what we experienced, he will do whatever the majority wants and attempt to please everyone. His site is http://www.sunnylistontours.com. As others on this site have noted, he's extremely quick about responding. If you had the chance to choose who was buying the home next door to you, you'd choose Sunny.

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

Downtown Charlotte Amalie's shopping is largely jewerly stores. There are some clothing stores; designers and resort wear as well as souvenir type t-shirts and wraps. There are a couple linen shops and cystal. There are a few art galleries. There are about 2 electronic stores. Also restaurants, bars. If you don't want to shop you could visit some of the historical sites like Fort Christian (a remnant from Denmark's first settlement on St. Thomas, built to defend the harbor), 99 Steps (Danish method of building streets of steps to navigate the islands hilly terrain), Luteran Church, etc. You can see pictures of the historical sites at http://www.*****/stthomas/attractions_stt/attractions_town.php

 

--Islander

*****

[c4ddym4n]

We just returned from Eastern Valor 04-17-05. We used Sunny Liston Tours and he was great! Tried to reach Godfrey for three weeks and he never got back to us so I emailed Sunny and he called me on my cell that same day. We went to Sapphire beach which is beautiful with clean washrooms. There were lots of fish, bring some dog biscuits which the fish love. Sapphire does not have people trying to sell you things on the beach which is nice. There is a nice bar and grill right on the beach.

[cookielulu]

We just returned from the 4/16 Disney Magic and used Sunny Liston tours! He was EXCELLENT!

 

Our ship came in at Crown Bay - not the usual port near Havensight Mall. Sunny said he couldn't get to us until about 10am. I'm a big shopper so I made arrangements for Sunny to meet us in town at noon - this way I would have time to shop. He was prompt and picked us up in the Emmanciaption Garden across from Little Switzerland on time. This might be an option for you since you don't like to shop - maybe you could stay on the ship and then meet him for the tour and beach part at noon.

 

The tour was very informative - and we went to Sapphire Beach for 2 hours. We got there about 1:30 - I went to rent beach chairs and the guy in the hut told me just to find 3 and he wasn't going to charge me! The beach was nice - nothing spectacular - we live in Florida. There were alot of people from our ship there and it was a pleasant afternoon.

 

Sunny was very accomodating and answered all my emails promptly. He is a very nice man and offers a wonderful service! :) :D

[cookielulu]

Hi! I meant to mention the shopping. We bought a Pentax digital camera.

We had not planned on this purchase. I had an "accident" in St. Maarten and fell into the ocean with my Canon Rebel - that's another whole story :D !

 

Anyway, the Pentax we chose came to $379. When we got home I did some pricing and we paid about $10 more than internet pricing. The only plus is the camera is navy blue - very cool - :) ! With the Pentax - we were "given" an extended warranty which seemed like a big deal to the retailer - well when I was reading the fine print - it is not valid in Florida :( - where we live ! Once. I got home I was pricing some other cameras we looked at and the prices on the internet either meet or beat the prices. Do your homework before you go!

 

As for jewelry - it is a candy store and I got soooooo confused. We did not purchase any jewels - just ran around and gathered our "free" gifts with the coupons.

 

The A.H. Rise mall was very nice and had interesting shops with St. Thomas souvenirs.

 

Hope this helps!

[Cruzntime]

Thank you all so much for your replies and information about the tours, shopping, and the beaches. Having never been to St. Thomas I want to try to make the best of it for my family.

 

More than shopping I like things like what The Islander mentioned - 99 steps, etc.... I still would like to do some shopping for souvenirs but seeing the history of the island sounds like something more interesting (my daughter may not think so though :rolleyes: ). Does anyone know how far the things Islander mentioned are from the shopping area? How safely and easily can one venture from the main shopping/tourist area?

 

When I look at the websites of Sunny and Godfrey it appears Godfrey has a vehicle that has easy side entry much like a tram would have. If also appears to be fairly spacious. Its hard to tell but Sunny's looks like seats are mounted in the bed of an F250. Since my wife is not in the best of shape can someone describe the vehicles used on their excursion. Easy on/off the vehicle is preferred. I heard Godfrey is subcontracting some of his excursions and this is a concern as well.

 

I have emailed Sunny Liston and ask him some questions so hopefully I will hear from him soon.

[Cruzntime]

Cookielulu,

I hate to hear about your accident. Hopefully your camera is repairable and you were not hurt. :eek:

[cc cruiser]

We aren't big shoppers either. So Sunny arranged to meet us at the pier at 11am. We spent the extra time relaxing that morning. He did take us to the flea market for an hour, but we chose to visit the little museum on the next block ($3 per person.)

We meet up with Sunny, and the others he had picked up at the ship earlier, at noon and began our tour. Sapphire Beach was the hightlight of the day.

 

I highly recommend Sunny. You'll enjoy his knowledable and friendly service.

[The Islander]

The historical sites are about half a block to a block from where shops start. Its the same area, in fact many of the shops downtown are in historical buildings in the sense that they are old warehouses from the olden days. Many of the alleys are narrow cobble stone alleys.

 

--Islander

http://www.*****

[Cruzntime]

The Islander, etal,

You seem really knowledgeable about St Thomas and I know what I am about to ask you is subjective but, if you have time to respond, which beach do you prefer and why?

 

It seems Sapphire is the most suggested by the tour operators and Megan Bay gets a lot of good reviews. Some of the other beaches displayed in the website via your link look really beautiful too. Sometimes pictures of the beach area can be misleading though because it leaves out the not-so-pleasant surroundings just past the treeline. Therefore I seek the opinions of this thread's experts.

 

Thanks

[sunflwr19]

We toured with Godfrey last week. We really enjoyed it (I would have to say it was my favorite part of the trip)! When it came to the beach segment, I was really set on going to Megan's but Godfrey said that Megan's was really pretty to look at from afar but Coki was 3x clearer; so we went there instead. I was glad we did. It was a nice little beach that had calm and very clear water. There was a little bar that was called Mailman Bar and Grill and it had good food and the bartender was great. Coki would be my suggestion.

[Cruzntime]

We toured with Godfrey last week. We really enjoyed it (I would have to say it was my favorite part of the trip)! When it came to the beach segment, I was really set on going to Megan's but Godfrey said that Megan's was really pretty to look at from afar but Coki was 3x clearer; so we went there instead. I was glad we did. It was a nice little beach that had calm and very clear water. There was a little bar that was called Mailman Bar and Grill and it had good food and the bartender was great. Coki would be my suggestion.

 

 

Thanks Sunflwr19,

Were there places to lock up you belongings? How were the restrooms? What was the surrounding area/neighborhood like? Were you bothered with sales people/vendors?

[The Islander]

Hello Cruzntime,

 

I enjoy Magens Bay because the water is typically very calm - great for swimming and floating around. I like that the beach is long so you can walk along the shoreline. I prefer it in the am and afternoon when there are fewer people, but have been at all times of the day. I've spent a lot of time there.

 

I have been to all the beaches shown on the website so if you want to pick out the ones you like and want to ask questions about them feel free. None of the them have not-so-pleasant areas past the treeline... well except for Coki Beach. The area at its tree line could be seen as bordering a rustic island charm and also bordering run down, shady. Many of the beaches have resorts on them so they are well maintained.

 

--Islander

http://www.*****

[Cruzntime]

Islander,

Thanks for your input. Coki is what I had in mind when I mentioned not-so-pleasant area past the trees. But having never been there I didn't want to single out Coki based solely on my online research.

 

I would imagine our tour guide will suggest Sapphire or Magen and it seems they both both get about 50% of the votes.

 

Thanks.