st john excursion

[chrisssyt]

torn on what to do for our excursion for st. john. the champagne catamaran tour looks nice. or get a taxi once there and go to trunk bay or cinnamon bay. any suggestions?

[greatexpectations]

If you want to spend the day on a great beach relaxing, Cinnamon Bay; same water same sand as Trunk Bay without the crowds.

[Ladybugdm]

Totally agree on Cinnamon Bay. We caught the first boat over there and had the beach totally to ourselves for an hour. After that it was sharing with just a handful of people.

[sginva]

torn on what to do for our excursion for st. john. the champagne catamaran tour looks nice. or get a taxi once there and go to trunk bay or cinnamon bay. any suggestions?

 

We took this tour while on Eclipse in January. It was wonderful and the crew was funny, helpful and accommodating. The scenery was beautiful of course. We stopped to swim and snorkel. Perfect day!

[mg33626]

You can easily spend a couple hours at both beaches, especially as it will be nearly impossible to pass Trunk Bay and not stop. It is stunning.

[CruiseGirlKS]

If you want to spend the day on a great beach relaxing, Cinnamon Bay; same water same sand as Trunk Bay without the crowds.

 

x2...its a really good quiet beach.

[Big_G]

If beach time is important to you then the catamaran tour probably isn't the best choice. We found that many that signed up for a ship excursion to St. John ended up going off on their own once they got there.

[flifish64]

We took the Catamaran Sail and absolutely loved it. Standing at the rail while we sailed was great. The crew was all female and did a fantastic job of both sailing the boat and entertaining us. We stopped and snorkeled with turtles for about 1 1/2 hours and then sailed back enjoying the champagne and punch drinks.

 

Much fun was had by all. I would highly recommend this tour.

 

 

Carol

[OCruisers]

We have very much enjoyed taking the Champagne Catamaran several times. :)

LuLu

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[blue_water]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2004616

 

Another thread on this topic. The champagne sail is a great option if you don;t want to have beach or shopping time, and we love both the beaches and shopping on STJ. SO our choice would be the taxi and ferry to Cruz. But just depends on the experience you want...

[AZ ParrotHead]

We live on St Thomas so can comment. Agree with previous posts about cinnamon. It's our favorite beach on STJ. Will be there on Friday.

 

It's about 20 minutes from havensight and the ferry to STJ runs hourly. Make sure you factor in at least 10 mins at the terminal to buy your tickets. There is always a line. So if you want the 9 am ferry you need to be off the ship by 915 at the latest.

[carolslc]

We live on St Thomas so can comment. Agree with previous posts about cinnamon. It's our favorite beach on STJ. Will be there on Friday.

 

It's about 20 minutes from havensight and the ferry to STJ runs hourly. Make sure you factor in at least 10 mins at the terminal to buy your tickets. There is always a line. So if you want the 9 am ferry you need to be off the ship by 915 at the latest.

 

Thanks for the tips! We plan to do this next week. We went to Trunk Bay last time on St. John - beautiful but really crowded. And we did a ship's excursion to get there. This time, we're just going to taxi ourselves to Red Hook and catch the ferry.

[blue_water]

Yes definitely grab a taxi that's going to Red Hook and try to find one that's already filling up, 20 - 25 min ride. When you get to the ferry terminal have someone get in the ferry line while you get tickets. Ferry is 15 - 20 min and leaves on the hour as noted. GIve yourself an extra 30 - 60 mins for the return due to traffic returning to port.

 

Have a great day!

 

[EDIT] Meant to add there is great shopping in Cruz Bay, St JOhn Bracelet Co can custom make a beautiful Hook bracelet while you're enjoying Cinnamon.

Edited March 18, 2014 by blue_water

[carolslc]

Yes definitely grab a taxi that's going to Red Hook and try to find one that's already filling up, 20 - 25 min ride. When you get to the ferry terminal have someone get in the ferry line while you get tickets. Ferry is 15 - 20 min and leaves on the hour as noted. GIve yourself an extra 30 - 60 mins for the return due to traffic returning to port.

 

Have a great day!

 

[EDIT] Meant to add there is great shopping in Cruz Bay, St JOhn Bracelet Co can custom make a beautiful Hook bracelet while you're enjoying Cinnamon.

 

I agree about the shopping! We bought most of our souvenirs in Cruz Bay on our last cruise while waiting for the boat to take us back to St. Thomas. I will look for St. John Bracelet Co. this time. Thanks!

[blue_water]

They're straight ahead from the ferry dock, they have a website with the same name I believe

[miss_rach]

So we are in port from 1300 - 2000 (1PM - 8PM), is that enough time to get to the ferry over to St John spend a few hrs and get back? Have never been to either but have head John is much nicer so we plan to get over there. What time would we need to look at departing St John to get back to the cruise ship in time?

 

Cheers!

[blue_water]

So we are in port from 1300 - 2000 (1PM - 8PM), is that enough time to get to the ferry over to St John spend a few hrs and get back? Have never been to either but have head John is much nicer so we plan to get over there. What time would we need to look at departing St John to get back to the cruise ship in time?

 

Cheers!

 

It's a shame that many ppl head straight to STJ and never experience the beauty of the East End of STT. I've read many posts from folks who consider STT to be just someplace to leave for STJ and most of them have never really see STT. Actually with just 6 hrs available to you I'd consider staying on STT and enjoying a nice beach and saving the extra 2 hrs of travel time to a STJ beach. But STJ is beautiful and a nice destination and the ferry can be a nice ride on a nice day too. You'd have about 3.5 hrs on STJ if you took the 6PM return ferry and 2.5 with the 5PM so you have that choice.

[MaryL31]

So we are in port from 1300 - 2000 (1PM - 8PM), is that enough time to get to the ferry over to St John spend a few hrs and get back? Have never been to either but have head John is much nicer so we plan to get over there. What time would we need to look at departing St John to get back to the cruise ship in time?

 

Cheers!

We are struggling with the same issue. Ship is in port from 12-7. We have been to Magen's Bay (beautiful and fun, once it stopped raining) and would really like to experience St John this time, but somehow I feel like this would be easier to do and more worthwhile if we were able to disembark earlier in the day. Am I wrong? If we stay on St Thomas, it will probably be Emerald Bay or Secret Harbor. Advise anyone?

[blue_water]

What time you dock doesn't play a big role unless trying to get to a beach first to get chairs (which can be limited at SH, for example).

 

Basically it comes down to one question -

Whether you are looking to get to a beach and relax because you want a down day and to just lime and not hustle around? Or you're in the mood for a more active day with 1.5 - 2 hours of travel time on the ferry and taxi and less downtime? Figure you'll be at Cinnamon Bay around 1:30 and will leave there at 4:30 to return on the 5PM ferry leaving you about 3 hrs to enjoy the beach. Going to SH or Coki would add another 2 hrs or so of beach time.

 

Both are beautiful, can't go wrong either way! :)

[MaryL31]

blue water-thanks for helping me sort that out! We were even considering a shore excursion to St John booked through the cruise line, but your point is well taken-no way to get around the big chunk of time spent traveling via taxi or ferry, although my guess is the ferry ride is scenic and enjoyable. We ARE just looking for a beach to hang out on...and the added bonus of not pre-booking anything helps in case the weather doesn't cooperate. Bad weather in Cozumel was the reason I have one absolutely gorgeous ring in my jewelry box!!!

[chrisssyt]

I have been to St Thomas so I thought an excursion over to St. John would be nice. I decided on the catamaran trip. im sure it will be great.

[blue_water]

blue water-thanks for helping me sort that out! We were even considering a shore excursion to St John booked through the cruise line, but your point is well taken-no way to get around the big chunk of time spent traveling via taxi or ferry, although my guess is the ferry ride is scenic and enjoyable. We ARE just looking for a beach to hang out on...and the added bonus of not pre-booking anything helps in case the weather doesn't cooperate. Bad weather in Cozumel was the reason I have one absolutely gorgeous ring in my jewelry box!!!

 

Yes the ferry s enjoyable on a nice day, especially from Red Hook and even the safari taxi to Red Hook isn't too bad.

 

We'd head to Sapphire only because we love it there (we rent there rent staying on STT). But there are currently no restrooms or chair rentals available, just a gorgeous beach and food and drink. And the concern with Secret Harbor which we consider the #2 option is there are limited chairs and you're getting there late. So maybe you are positioned to add to your collection!

 

But if Sapphire isn't an option due to the lack of restrooms and you want to be assured of chairs I think you'll be happy at Lindbergh. But f course the STJ option is still there ;)

Edited March 23, 2014 by blue_water