Best part of St. Thomas?

[will773]

What is your favorite thing to do in St. Thomas?

[kruzerci]

Sapphire Beach or head over to St. John!

[Cotswold Eagle]

Day sail on the yacht Nightwind (private excursion). Not the cheapest, but the best :)

[mkmom514]

We did a beach day on Sapphire Beach.

[VillaHappy]

Magens Bay!

[tulsacubfan]

Head to St. John

[bplazo]

We did the underwater scooters on our last trip and on our next trip we have a day sail booked with High Pockets.

[wvufan]

Coki beach-best snorkeling. We have also gone with High Pockets and it was fantastic.

 

Last time we docked in Crown Bay and I went to the nearby Emerald Beach. Pretty, but no snorkeling.

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE :D:DBob and Phyl

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We enjoyed Magen's Bay and Saphire Beach. But, the best thing is to head to St. John. It is a paradise.:)

[BND]

Beach and shopping!

[blue_water]

Sapphire or Lindquist Beach, and Paradise Point or Iggie's beach bar.

East End is the best area, we stay at Sapphire and visit all of the East End beaches. Magens is a bit disappointing, just lacks the character of the East End or St John beaches.

[Host Anne]

That's is so close and easy to get to St. John! :) My favorite island!

[Rirruto]

Excuse my ignorance but what is there to do in St. John's? If it's just more beaches, why not just stay on St Thomas and go to Magens Bay, Sapphire, Coki, etc.? Thanks in advance for any insight.

[blue_water]

No ignorance at all, you are pretty much on the mark - the beaches are the primary draw for St John. Actually some of the better snorkeling can be found in the smaller cays off St John, but the beaches are very nice and there are trails you can take along the coast as well. Cruz bay is also a nice spot for shopping, much different than downtown St Thomas.

 

We often stay on STT, and we choose STT rather than STJ because we like having more dining and evening diversions and still having nice beaches. Others prefer the quieter island of STJ. We like the islands of the BVI for the diffeent vibe and experience, and we stay on STT before heading home to get "Re-Americanized" if you will. We don't see a big difference between STT and STJ other than the duty free shopping in CA. Again, the beaches of STJ may be a little nicer but STT's East End beaches are beautiful too. So whether it's worth the extra time and cost to go to STJ is an individual preference and depends o lot on the amount of time you have.

 

I would recommend experiencing STJ for sure. But someone should not discount STT for her beautiful areas and beaches if they haven't experienced that - both islands have their beauty!

[Rirruto]

No ignorance at all, you are pretty much on the mark - the beaches are the primary draw for St John. Actually some of the better snorkeling can be found in the smaller cays off St John, but the beaches are very nice and there are trails you can take along the coast as well. Cruz bay is also a nice spot for shopping, much different than downtown St Thomas.

 

We often stay on STT, and we choose STT rather than STJ because we like having more dining and evening diversions and still having nice beaches. Others prefer the quieter island of STJ. We like the islands of the BVI for the diffeent vibe and experience, and we stay on STT before heading home to get "Re-Americanized" if you will. We don't see a big difference between STT and STJ other than the duty free shopping in CA. Again, the beaches of STJ may be a little nicer but STT's East End beaches are beautiful too. So whether it's worth the extra time and cost to go to STJ is an individual preference and depends o lot on the amount of time you have.

 

I would recommend experiencing STJ for sure. But someone should not discount STT for her beautiful areas and beaches if they haven't experienced that - both islands have their beauty!

Thanks for the input! I think we will go to Sapphire Beach for the day. Cannot justify taking the extra time and money to go to STJ when all I am really interested in is laying out on the beach. If we were there for a longer time frame instead of a few hours on a cruise stop, perhaps we would go. Maybe one day, our friends love it in STJ and go almost every summer as a land vacation.

[blue_water]

We have friends who also stay on STJ, they are more into hiking and snorkeling than we are, we prefer beaches and being on the water so both islands work well being so close together.

And yes, we were introduced to many beautiful islands by cruising, now we fly to those that we want to explore more. The islands of the USVI aren't our favorite by any means, but their proximity and ease of transfer to the BVI makes them very handy. And they are very nice and a great place to enjoy after a BVI stay.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The last time we were in ST Thomas we did the following:

 

St Thomas: 8am-5pm —This was the only shore excursion we purchased aboard ship. (STL1-Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise of National Park Beaches, 6.5 hrs) It was $40/person and left from the cruise dock. It included the ferry ride to St. John (45 min), a cruise around the northern part of the island, 3.5 hrs of free time on St John, and a rum punch on the ferry ride back. They even came around with refills. J This was a bargain.

The taxi tour of St Thomas we took on a previous cruise dropped us at a beach and was $30. So, I woud see if this excursion is offered on your cruise.

We would do this again. There wer actually 4 "Destination St. John" excursions and we all took the same ferry over. Then they got off the ferry and we stayed on to cruise the island. If we did this again we would get off and go to the beach right away and have about 4-5 hrs of beach time.

[mrsfuzzmo]

I love wandering around downtown Charlotte Amalie when we are in STT. One of my favorite towns to cruise into. Have done Coki, Magen's, STJ, Sapphire as well as a few week and two week long trips there. Love wandering the shops/restaurants/market area of CA.

[whataboutport]

The last time we were in ST Thomas we did the following:

 

St Thomas: 8am-5pm —This was the only shore excursion we purchased aboard ship. (STL1-Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise of National Park Beaches, 6.5 hrs) It was $40/person and left from the cruise dock. It included the ferry ride to St. John (45 min), a cruise around the northern part of the island, 3.5 hrs of free time on St John, and a rum punch on the ferry ride back. They even came around with refills. J This was a bargain.

 

The taxi tour of St Thomas we took on a previous cruise dropped us at a beach and was $30. So, I woud see if this excursion is offered on your cruise.

 

We would do this again. There wer actually 4 "Destination St. John" excursions and we all took the same ferry over. Then they got off the ferry and we stayed on to cruise the island. If we did this again we would get off and go to the beach right away and have about 4-5 hrs of beach time.

 

That is the exact tour I am doing! It will be my first time going to STT/STJ and I agree that for $40pp it's a steal. :) I got one week and two days left.

[blue_water]

Most ppl take this excursion their first visit (we did) and go on their on next time to enjoy more time on STJ and not be tied to a group. But this is a great first visit excursion.

[Casanova02]

The last time we were in ST Thomas we did the following:

 

St Thomas: 8am-5pm —This was the only shore excursion we purchased aboard ship. (STL1-Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise of National Park Beaches, 6.5 hrs) It was $40/person and left from the cruise dock. It included the ferry ride to St. John (45 min), a cruise around the northern part of the island, 3.5 hrs of free time on St John, and a rum punch on the ferry ride back. They even came around with refills. J This was a bargain.

 

The taxi tour of St Thomas we took on a previous cruise dropped us at a beach and was $30. So, I woud see if this excursion is offered on your cruise.

 

We would do this again. There wer actually 4 "Destination St. John" excursions and we all took the same ferry over. Then they got off the ferry and we stayed on to cruise the island. If we did this again we would get off and go to the beach right away and have about 4-5 hrs of beach time.

 

Sorry but i don't undertand when you says "There were actually 4 destination St-John excursions on the same ferry ????

 

You mean 4 different excursion from the same ship ????

 

I'll be there soon and The Celebrity Summit do offer this tour...

 

And last question, when you say

 

If we did this again we would get off and go to the beach right away and have about 4-5 hrs of beach time

After the beach, you take a cab to go back ? if so, how much would it cost ?

Thanks

[whataboutport]

Sorry but i don't undertand when you says "There were actually 4 destination St-John excursions on the same ferry ????

 

You mean 4 different excursion from the same ship ????

 

I'll be there soon and The Celebrity Summit do offer this tour...

 

And last question, when you say

 

If we did this again we would get off and go to the beach right away and have about 4-5 hrs of beach time

 

After the beach, you take a cab to go back ? if so, how much would it cost ?

 

Thanks

 

 

This is a Royal specific excursion. I don't know what you have through Carnival but check out your excursions available. What this person meant (and I'm doing the same excursion) is there are four different excursions from Royal but all four use the same ferry and meet at the same time. They ferry you over to STJ, and three of the groups get off to do their excursion (shopping, sight seeing, etc) and the fourth group stays on the ferry and they sail around the island. After they sail around the island they drop you off where the other three groups were dropped off, and then you have about 3.5 hrs to do what ever you want.

 

If you don't want the coastal tour, you get off at the first drop off point and get to where ever you want to go. If that be the beach then you have more time without doing the tour.

 

Again, this is a Royal excursion.

[Casanova02]

This is a Royal specific excursion. I don't know what you have through Carnival but check out your excursions available. What this person meant (and I'm doing the same excursion) is there are four different excursions from Royal but all four use the same ferry and meet at the same time. They ferry you over to STJ, and three of the groups get off to do their excursion (shopping, sight seeing, etc) and the fourth group stays on the ferry and they sail around the island. After they sail around the island they drop you off where the other three groups were dropped off, and then you have about 3.5 hrs to do what ever you want.

 

If you don't want the coastal tour, you get off at the first drop off point and get to where ever you want to go. If that be the beach then you have more time without doing the tour.

 

Again, this is a Royal excursion.

 

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Celebrity offer an excursion call "STL2-Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise of National Park Beaches" which last 6.5 hrs . That's why i was surprised even if the title is the same, the description differ from what DragonOfTheSeas wrote....

Thanks again....

[OCruisers]

The best thing for us about having a port stop in St.Thomas is being able to go to St.John. :)

 

LuLu

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[2PinaColadas]

We have spent our last two vacations on St. Thomas. Our favorite beach is Sapphire. We are beach bums, so this is the perfect place for us. Magen's and Coki are pretty, but Sapphire is beautiful and relaxing. ( my avatar is a picture I took at Sapphire)

 

St. John is nice, but you are going to waste time with ferries and cabs.