Spending a Day on St. John

[LA_CA_GAL]

LaCaGal--do you mind if I ask specifics about your excursion? The one that we were interested in is $49 for a 6 1/2 hr tour "St John Cruise and Beaches" saying "Take a scenic ferry ride to St. John and learn about the island's history on a guided coastal trip to Cruz Bay. See national park highlights, historical landmarks, Caneel Bay Hotel, and multi-million dollar villas at stops along the way, including Cinnamon Bay and Annaberg Plantation. Use cruise time to choose a beach or an island tour for 3-1/2 hours of exploring St. John on your own. STL2"

 

Our hope was to do Cinnamon Beach and then an island tour but I'm guessing we'd have to pay an additional $14 for the taxi from Cruz Bay to Cinnamon Beach and we would want to catch the excursion transport back from Cruz Bay. Is this doable? Do you mind sharing your experience of the RCCL excursion?

 

Thanks!

 

Well, here is my review from that trip about two years ago.

 

Since it was 2 years ago, I am sure there have been changes.

 

Take a look, and I will be happy to answer any questions.

[gia611]

Anne:

 

we will be a party of 8 arriving on the oasis in 2 weeks. we want to go to st john for the day. we are in st thomas from 9-7 i believe. so based on what i read we would take cab to red hook, then ferry to cruz bay, then cab to beach? is this correct? How crowded will Trunk bay beach be? should we go to cinnamon beach instead? we will want food, chairs and restrooms.

 

also, how much time do we need to get back to ship? i read 2 hrs and 3 hrs?

what do you think?

 

thanks for your help.

[SchoolNurseMom]

On our upcoming Eastern cruise in Sept, we'll be in St.Thomas from 11am till 7pm. Will that timeframe work with a visit to St John?

[Host Anne]

Thanks for all your great information, Anne.

We've been to St. John a few times, but not in a while. We have done the ship's ferry and the taxi/RH ferry. This summer we have a large (14 people) group going on the Oasis and I'm trying to work out the options and logistics. By any chance, do you know the actual times for the ship's ferry? We are in port 10am - 7pm.

 

Also, I am interested in the Caneel Bay/Honeymoon Beach tour you posted about above, but I'm not sure if the ship's ferry will give us enough time. I am not a fan of the longer ferry ride, but the convenience is hard to turn down, especially with a bigger group to move around.

 

Also, having never been to Honeymoon Beach before, how would you say it compares to Trunk and Cinnamon?

 

Thank you. :)

 

We were actually on our way to St. John so I apologize for the delayed response. Since you are on Oasis and docking in Crown Bay, I'd definitely do the ship's ferry to St. John if they offer it. You wouldn't have a problem getting a taxi at Crown Bay to the Red Hook Ferry since you have a large group and that's an option for you as well but the convenience of getting the ferry at the ship is hard to beat as you mentioned.. I don't know when the Oasis excursion might go but you should be able to check that on the Royal Caribbean shore excursions page on their website.

 

I'd definitely recommend Honeymoon for the day. I thought the day pass and all the things VI Eco Tour gives you while at the beach was well worth it. We had a jeep and drove to Caneel. I'm sure they allow safari taxis to drop you off but it's a bit of a walk from the parking lot down to Honeymoon. Didn't bother us at all but if you have anyone that has problems walking, it is a little bit of a hike.

 

Honeymoon was nice but honestly, for me, it couldn't compare to Maho, Cinnamon or even Trunk. Trunk gets so crowded so we always avoid it when ships are in but when the crowds are there but I think it's still prettier than Honeymoon. I'd rather be at Cinnamon or Maho (still my favorite beach by far). There isn't anything wrong with Honeymoon, I just had higher expectations :-) All the beaches on St. John are pretty spectacular. Do what you feel most comfortable with! ENJOY!

[Host Anne]

Snorkeling is pretty important to us, but so is a beautiful sun drenched beach with calm, crystal clear water! I thought i read that if you go around the side of the island at Trunk bay (vs staying on the snorkeling tour path), youll see a lot of fish. Is this not the case anymore?

 

I'm a little nervous about arranging a time for the taxi to pick us up if we opt for Maho. Are they pretty reliable? How is the entry and exit into the water at Maho? Both my sister and I have mobility issues so we need a gentle and easy entry and exit.

 

I haven't snorkeled at Trunk in years. There are so many other great snorkel spots that we basically go to Trunk to walk early in the morning when no one else is around so I can't really say what you might see around the other side of the east side of the Trunk snorkel trail.

 

I have never had an issue with taxis coming back to pick us up at our designated times. I have seen taxis dropping off and picking up at Maho. Talk to the taxi driver and make sure you feel comfortable before doing it. Maho is the easiest beach for snorkel entry. Very shallow with little drop off. Tons of turtles, rays, fish along the rocks at the far end of either side of the beach. Tried to upload morning walk photo at Maho two weeks ago but it failed. When I have a link to photos, I'll post it....

Edited April 19, 2016 by Host Anne

[Host Anne]

We will be on the Allure in July docking there and it looks like there is a ferry right from this area--is there a reason to still take the Red Hook Ferry? We are docking at 10am and ship is leaving at 7pm. We'd like to do Cinnamon Bay and maybe a taxi tour of the island. Do you know approximately the cost of the taxi tour? Thinking we would take it after we were done at the beach and could take it on the way back to the ferry to return to the ship.

 

We'll have our 2 teenagers and a grandma with us--does this sound doable at that time of year?

 

Thank you!

 

If Royal Caribbean offers the ferry excursion from the Crown Bay pier, that's a great option. Do not go for the Charlotte Amalie ferry as it runs infrequently and isn't dependable. If Royal offers the excursion from Crown Bay, I'd recommend taking that.

 

Cost of a taxi tour of St. John runs about $25 per person and they are happy to drop you off at Cinnamon at the end. Just ask. Taxi fare back to Cruz Bay is approximately $7 - $9 depending upon the number of people you have going. There are always taxi's waiting at Cinnamon. You won't have any trouble getting a taxi back to Cruz Bay. Just give yourself about 30 - 40 minutes before the ferry you want to catch. It's only about a 10 - 13 minute ride but allow a few minutes for taxi wait time for passengers to load.

 

It's definitely doable and Cinnamon is a great beach for you. By the way, the island tours usually last about 2 hours. ENJOY! When in July will you be there?

[Host Anne]

Anne:

 

we will be a party of 8 arriving on the oasis in 2 weeks. we want to go to st john for the day. we are in st thomas from 9-7 i believe. so based on what i read we would take cab to red hook, then ferry to cruz bay, then cab to beach? is this correct? How crowded will Trunk bay beach be? should we go to cinnamon beach instead? we will want food, chairs and restrooms.

 

also, how much time do we need to get back to ship? i read 2 hrs and 3 hrs?

what do you think?

 

thanks for your help.

 

Gia ~ I'm sorry I missed your post. I hate when work gets in the way of keeping up with this thread. Hope you made it and had a great time!

[Host Anne]

On our upcoming Eastern cruise in Sept, we'll be in St.Thomas from 11am till 7pm. Will that timeframe work with a visit to St John?

 

It would work for me. I'd be off the ship ASAP. You don't mention what ship so I can't tell where you'll be docked. If you can catch the noon ferry from Red Hook (if you are at Havensight) you can be on St. John by 12:20. I'd catch the 5:00 PM ferry back to St. Thomas. That gives you about 4 1/2 hours on the island. Not a ton but enough for me when I need my St. John fix! :)

 

If you are on a cruise line that offers ferry service to St. John, it's a good option. Let me know if you have other questions.

[Jetlagged787]

I would like to thank Host Anne for all her work on this thread. The information that she gives is accurate and invaluable.

 

Unfortunately for us, our day did not pan out as planned despite all of Anne's help. Definitely not her fault and I hope that our experience helps others in their planning.

 

We arrived on Celebrity Summit and, for just this one trip, we decided to take the Celebrity 'Self Explore' excursion. We liked the guarantee offered of the ship waiting if the excursion was delayed returning. How close we came to invoking the guarantee. The rest of the plan was an island tour by taxi to be dropped off at Cinnamon Bay and then a taxi back to Cruz Bay.

 

In reality, we stood on the dockside in St. Thomas for an eternity waiting to depart for Cruz Bay without any explanation at all from the representative there. When we finally left the dockside en route for St. John we were an hour later than advertised. On arrival in Cruz Bay there were taxis waiting and we boarded with three other couples and were soon on our way. The other couples all left the taxi at either Caneel Bay, Trunk or Cinnamon. Our driver said that he would give us 10 minutes to check out the beach at Cinnamon and take some photos before continuing with the tour. When we met up with him again, we asked what time we would be back at Cinnamon and then realised that it would not give us sufficient time to complete the tour and have some decent time on the beach. We asked if we could cancel the Island Tour and stay at Cinnamon and, despite being booked at an agreed cost of $25 per person, the driver said he only expected the taxi fare of $7 each! What a great guy and he did not go unrewarded.

 

Cinnamon was as beautiful as Anne says and we enjoyed our time there despite going to the wrong end of the beach! We walked down from the car park and turned left when, as we found out afterwards, it would have been better to turn right. The problem being that the waves were running so high up the beach that we could not put our towels down for fear of them getting wet through. Apparently, the opposite end of the beach is deeper, giving more room to lay out. No worries, we still thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

 

When we were ready to return, we walked back up the path and there were plenty of taxis waiting at the top. We were the first to board but only had to wait about 5 minutes for it to fill up and were on our way at a cost of $7 p.p.

 

We left some wriggle room with the time in case of any emergency so arrived back at Cruz in plenty of time, so took a walk around the area. Our return boat was waiting at the dock and, although we all boarded on time, we sat there 45 minutes past departure time waiting for a couple of no shows. We were informed later that one couple had decided to make their own way back on an earlier ferry so obviously did not care or consider that it would be a good idea to let someone know. There is absolutely no excuse for such selfishness and lack of consideration. If they could not find someone on the dockside at Cruz they could at least have informed a member of Celebrity crew when they arrived back on board.

 

Consequently, we arrived back at Summit at 4.25 for a 4.30 'All aboard', leaving no time at all to do any shopping.

 

Not the day that we were hoping for but we tried to make the most of it and I hope that the lessons that we learned might help others.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Jetlagged787

[jean87510]

Im confused. Were you on the 4/15 tour because i don't remember us getting back late. We walked around the shops at the port and were the last ones off the catamaran.

[Jetlagged787]

We were a week ahead of you Jean on 8 April.

[renech]

We were actually on our way to St. John so I apologize for the delayed response. Since you are on Oasis and docking in Crown Bay, I'd definitely do the ship's ferry to St. John if they offer it. You wouldn't have a problem getting a taxi at Crown Bay to the Red Hook Ferry since you have a large group and that's an option for you as well but the convenience of getting the ferry at the ship is hard to beat as you mentioned.. I don't know when the Oasis excursion might go but you should be able to check that on the Royal Caribbean shore excursions page on their website.

 

I'd definitely recommend Honeymoon for the day. I thought the day pass and all the things VI Eco Tour gives you while at the beach was well worth it. We had a jeep and drove to Caneel. I'm sure they allow safari taxis to drop you off but it's a bit of a walk from the parking lot down to Honeymoon. Didn't bother us at all but if you have anyone that has problems walking, it is a little bit of a hike.

 

Honeymoon was nice but honestly, for me, it couldn't compare to Maho, Cinnamon or even Trunk. Trunk gets so crowded so we always avoid it when ships are in but when the crowds are there but I think it's still prettier than Honeymoon. I'd rather be at Cinnamon or Maho (still my favorite beach by far). There isn't anything wrong with Honeymoon, I just had higher expectations :-) All the beaches on St. John are pretty spectacular. Do what you feel most comfortable with! ENJOY!

 

Thanks for the response, Anne.

After talking it over with family, I think we are just going to go for the easiest options since we have a large group. So, we'll take the ship ferry over, then go to either Cinnamon or Maho. Having bathrooms facilities and food/drinks makes me lean towards Cinnamon though. Either way, I don't think we can go wrong!

[mom2dea]

Need help knowing if this will work or not ...

We dock at 11am-7 pm carnival boat if that helps and we are the only boat in port (June 2nd ) .

 

We are wanting to do the cinnamon bay hike down to the beach . Take some pics and head back . May try to find a local drink and hit the bracelet shop at St. John's . We like to be back on the cruise boat by 5 pm .

 

Is this doable ? If so how do you suggest we go about it . FYI it's just myself and hubby in this trip . If you know the cost that would be great too. Thanks so much !!!

[Host Anne]

Jetlagged ~ you are most welcome. Sorry to hear your trip didn't turn out quite as planned due to some late arriving passengers. The good news is that you were on a ship excursion and they do wait for you. I'm surprised your ferry waited so long for late passengers. That's a bit unusual.

 

I've always found the taxi drivers on St. John to be friendly and accommodating. I'm glad they were helpful to you as well.

[Host Anne]

Need help knowing if this will work or not ...

We dock at 11am-7 pm carnival boat if that helps and we are the only boat in port (June 2nd ) .

 

We are wanting to do the cinnamon bay hike down to the beach . Take some pics and head back . May try to find a local drink and hit the bracelet shop at St. John's . We like to be back on the cruise boat by 5 pm .

 

Is this doable ? If so how do you suggest we go about it . FYI it's just myself and hubby in this trip . If you know the cost that would be great too. Thanks so much !!!

 

Hi Mom ~ your plan is very doable. Being the only ship in St. Thomas helps a great deal with crowds.

 

You should be docked at Havensight in St. Thomas. As soon as the ship is cleared, I suggest hopping in a taxi to Red Hook to catch the ferry to Cruz Bay, St. John. The ferry leaves every hour on the hour. If the timing works for you, you might be able to catch the noon ferry. That would put you on St. John by 12:20ish.

 

When you get off the ferry in Cruz Bay, there will be plenty of taxis waiting to take you to the beach. I'm a little confused by your comment on the "Cinnamon Bay hike down to the beach." You can't hike from Cruz Bay to Cinnamon. It's a few miles of winding, hilly roads with no sidewalks. When you take the taxi to Cinnamon, they drop you off in the parking lot and it's a very short walk to the beach (2 minutes?) so there isn't much hiking. Just want to make sure I'm understanding.

 

If you catch the noon ferry from St. Thomas, you can be at the beach by 12:45. If you have to take the 1:00 PM ferry, you could be at the beach by 1:45 (a 20 minute ferry ride to St. John and then a 15 minute taxi once get off the ferry and into a taxi)

 

There are always plenty of taxis waiting at Cinnamon to take you back to the ferry in Cruz Bay. If you want to back on your ship by 5:00 PM, you'll need to catch the 4:00 PM ferry back to St. Thomas. I'd recommend leaving the beach by 3:20 to give yourself a little cushion in making the 4:00 PM ferry.

 

Hope this helps....ENJOY!!!

[O2B@Cagain]

If you want a hike,you can hike to Salomon Beach from Cruz Bay. The trail head is next to the National Park information center. Lots of drinks and bracelets in Cruz Bay.

[summer0311]

We will be coming in on the NCL Escape in Dec arriving at 8am. My only goal is to spend the day at Cinnamon Bay and I am wondering the best way to be able to figure out the transportation schedules? I am a little confused by taxi, ferry and which I have to do where when get off the ship?

 

I have a good sense of direction but wondering if someone could give me a little bit of help with details, cost & timing of things.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Ms411]

We will be coming in on the NCL Escape in Dec arriving at 8am. My only goal is to spend the day at Cinnamon Bay and I am wondering the best way to be able to figure out the transportation schedules? I am a little confused by taxi, ferry and which I have to do where when get off the ship?

 

I have a good sense of direction but wondering if someone could give me a little bit of help with details, cost & timing of things.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

All details here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2380511

[tomtravel]

Thank you in Advance Host Anne------With all the talk about the construction at the beaches and possibly some closures---Is it a good time to visit St. John or just stay on St. Thomas--- we will arrive in St. Thomas on the Gem on Sat-Oct22 from 8am to 5pm.

 

Thanks Tom!

[Brangwen]

Thank you in Advance Host Anne------With all the talk about the construction at the beaches and possibly some closures---Is it a good time to visit St. John or just stay on St. Thomas--- we will arrive in St. Thomas on the Gem on Sat-Oct22 from 8am to 5pm.

 

Thanks Tom!

 

I've asked a couple of times on the USVI facebook page but haven't received a response yet. Also tried looking on Tripadvisor...:confused:

 

ETA - and yes I'm aware Trunk concessions/services were only supposed to be closed "a week" but..... island time.....

Edited October 12, 2016 by Brangwen

[Brangwen]

Latest update from USVI FB Page:

 

 

Virgin Islands National Park The new concessioner, Cinnamon Bay Resort LLC, will be offering limited services, including water, refreshments and snacks at Trunk Bay starting Thursday October 13, 2016 starting at 9:00 am. Services will be cash only until November 1st.

[azfansinnc]

I spoke to the front desk at Cinnamon Bay yesterday. They indicated that Cinnamon Bay will be reopening on Nov 8. Up until then there are some porta pottis and not much else.

[azfansinnc]

Has anyone taken the "St. John Ultimate Island & Nat'l Park Beaches" through RCCL?

 

"Take a ferry from St. Thomas to see St. John landmarks from an open-air safari bus. Your route follows the coastal north shore past Caneel Bay Resort, Cinnamon Beach and Maho Bay. You'll stop to see ruins of a sugar factory at Annaberg Plantation. Afterwards, sunbathe on white sand at Trunk Bay or rent snorkel gear and explore underwater reefs. Or stay on the bus and head to Cruz Bay for shopping, dining, and sightseeing. STO8"

 

Questions:

1. How much time d they allow at Trunk Bay if we decide to take that option? Is it the 2 hours that the tour would spend in Cruz bay? There is a $6/person surcharge if you take the Trunk Bay option.

 

Thanks in advance. I am wondering if its really worth the hassle of doing the taxis and ferry's by ourselves with a large group.

[Host Anne]

Sorry everyone ~ I've been traveling for business and haven't been able to visit this board for a few weeks. Let me check with friends who live on the island about Cinnamon. Tom travel, sorry I didn't get to this before your cruise.

 

AZ ~ haven't done the St. John Ultimate Island Tour through RCCL but I have done the St. John on Your Own a few times that essentially gets you the ferry from the ship to Cruz Bay and then you have four or five hours on St. John on your own. That works for us because we are so familiar with the island. If you haven't been there before, the island tour would be nice. But I'm guessing if you do the north shore tour on the water and a taxi tour on land, you won't have a lot of time at Trunk. Enjoy whatever you decide to do!

[Quench]

Just returned from St John on 10/22 and Cinnamon Bay is under construction no water , chair rentals or food stands . Do not know when the work will be completed. I went with my 81 yr old mom and could not stay long because there were no chair rental so we left and spent some time at Trunk Bay. If it was just me I would have stayed at Cinnamon Bay it was so much prettier then Trunk.