St. Thomas vs. St. John with kids

[rubygigi]

We will be in STT in May. We have 2 sons who are almost 3 and 15 months old. We were just in STT in January and had an amazing day! We did Paradise Point, a taxi tour of the island, Mountain Top, Drake's seat and a couple of hours at Magen's Bay. It was our favorite of the 4 ports for that cruise. We were thinking this time to try St. John to see something new. Now that I am researching, it seems like the travel time to and from St. John might be an issue for us (I read that it takes about 3 hours total of travel time?). We are in port from 12pm until 8pm along with 2 other ships. If we were in port earlier, it might be a different story, but I'm sure the kids will not make it until 8pm without a meltdown, so that even further cuts our time. So what would the experts suggest...not to miss the opportunity to see St. John or to try something different in St. Thomas to stay closer to port? Thanks so much for your insight!

[Ms411]

Stay on St Thomas. Even if your ship offers a direct diy excursion, it's still a 45 minute boat ride each way plus taxi time to a beach and back to dock for the return.

 

There's more on St Thomas for kids and teens to do so I would explore more St Thomas options. There are lots of things you still haven't seen or done.

[rubygigi]

Thanks for the advice! We were in the same dilemma with Tortola and trying to make the trip to Virgin Gorda to see the baths. That might be a better option since we get to port earlier that day (8am) and we're the only ship in port. I need to investigate the travel time for that. Decisions, decisions!