Excursion & Shopping on St Thomas/St John's

[Fran0521]

What to do on St. Thomas/St John’s for an excursion so our 17 yr old granddaughter can shop as well as take in some snorkeling. We will be there in November on the NCL Jewel. The ship will arrive at 8am until 4pm. They are offering a couple excursions that we are interested in. Champagne Catamaran Sail and Snorkel. The duration is 4 hr starting at 9:15, with it ending at 1:15 or there about, it doesn’t seem like there would be enough time to get some shopping in and get back on time to the ship.

 

The other one is downtown shopping & beach trip. The description states 2 hrs of shopping, back to the ship to drop off packages then to a beach at a resort. This one is 5-¾ hrs. starting at 9:30. The resort is not named in the description they mention beach equipment for rent, not saying what that is either.

 

Not sure which one we should book, so we all can enjoy the water, snorkeling along with shopping. She really enjoys the snorkeling I think we are leaning toward the catamaran sail, except for the limited time shopping. Has anyone done either of these or offer some suggestions?

[richtersl]

Hi Fran!

 

St. Thomas is very easy to do on your own, so you can get the best of both worlds.

 

What I would do is grab a cab to Sapphire Beach first thing in the morning. It's a resort so you will have a place to eat and grab a few drinks. The snorkeling is excellent! It'll be about a 20-25 minute cab ride.

 

Try to get back to the dock by 1:00-2:00. If you make it back by 1:00, you'll have time to head downtown for some "atomic" shopping. If you get back closer to 2:00 just ditch your beach stuff in your cabin and shop at Havensight, which is where I'm assuming you'll be docked. Many of the same shops that are downtown are also in Havensight. You'll probably have to be back on board by 3:30 at the latest if the Jewel is scheduled to depart at 4:00 PM.

 

Cabs are readily available at Havensight and at Sapphire Beach.

 

Wish I were going with you guys on this cruise, too!

[Fran0521]

Thanks for the suggestion, as you know Christina really enjoyed the last cruise, we want to make sure she has an equally good time. Its been a few years since we have been to St. Thomas actually before Havensite was there. Love to have her see the downtown area, all the little streets, driving on wrong side and the crowded stores its all part of the great atmosphere.

 

I enjoyed your pictures of Sapphire Beach. Even thought this is a resort, they don't object to day visitors?

 

Wish you were going too, hope all is will with you both.

 

Fran

[richtersl]

All beaches on St. Thomas and St. John are open to the public. Magen's will charge a fee (I guess they want to make all the tourists from NJ feel right at home :p ). All the other beaches on St. Thomas are free. On St. John, Trunk Bay charges a fee. Those are the only two pay beaches in the Virgin Islands that I know of.

 

Magen's is a good beach for sitting out in the sun. The snorkeling there is stinky, though -- nothing to see except a flat, sandy bottom. Sapphire has a reef close to shore and is better for snorkeling. Another alternative to consider is Secret Harbour.

 

For information on the Virgin Islands, including beaches, cab fares, and ferry schedules, check out http://www.*****

[rjscott]

You might want to consider a tour with Godfrey. He will pick you up at your ship and transport you into town for shopping. Then, he picks his passengers up from town at noon and does a brief island tour, with a stop at Mountain Top for pictures and refreshments (on your own). Last stop is at Coki or Sapphire Beach for swimming/snorkeling. All this for $20 pp.

We docked at 8AM, so knowing we had to go thru immigration, we asked for a pickup at 9AM. Godfrey was waiting for us just outside the gate. We had nearly 3 hrs to shop before meeting back at the downtown plaza for pickup. We had a nice tour and then had a couple of hours at Coki Beach to snorkel before our return to the ship. Considering taxi's to/from the ship are about $7 each way (depending on the destination), I felt this was a bargain and hassle-free. Godfrey was able to store our snorkel gear in his vehicle while we shopped and also stowed our purchases from town while we snorkeled.

 

Here's his website: http://www.godfreytoursvi.com/

 

Becki