Ferry from St. Thomas to St. John?

[BEENSAILING]

We have 5 cruises September  to end of December.  Can anyone tell me why my 2 excursions to St John on the Ferry (through Royal Caribbean) all got cancelled…. And they are not showing up on the cruise planner even on the cruises where I wasn’t planning to go to St. Johns. Yet snorkel excursions to Trunk Bay and Honeymoon Bay Beach are still showing. Is there a problem with the ferry? Or is there issue on St John re covid / tourists ?

[blue_water]

Cannot help you with the cruise excursions. But the two passenger STT - STJ ferries are running regular routes, every hour on the hour (see the schedules on the VINow dot com site).

 

Many prefer ferrying on their own for the utmost flexibility - no need to pre-book, and you get more time there at a lower cost. If interested just taxi from Crown Bay or WICO to the Red Hook ferry terminal and take the 15 minute ferry to Cruz Bay. Taxi cost is $10 - $11/pp each way, and the ferry is $8.15/pp each way. Taxis are waiting to whisk you to a beach, or add an island tour for ~$25/pp…

 

You can also use the Crown Bay ferry, but the departure times are very limited, and it’s a longer, potentially rougher ride..

[BEENSAILING]

Thank you

[jrccruiser]

Hello, I was wondering the same thing as our St John on your own tour was cancelled for our Feb 13th cruise.   Trunk Bay is still an option as well.  Wondering if it was something with the port.  Will be following to see if anyone else knows.

[jrccruiser]

3 hours ago, blue_water said:

Cannot help you with the cruise excursions. But the two passenger STT - STJ ferries are running regular routes, every hour on the hour (see the schedules on the VINow dot com site).

 

Many prefer ferrying on their own for the utmost flexibility - no need to pre-book, and you get more time there at a lower cost. If interested just taxi from Crown Bay or WICO to the Red Hook ferry terminal and take the 15 minute ferry to Cruz Bay. Taxi cost is $10 - $11/pp each way, and the ferry is $8.15/pp each way. Taxis are waiting to whisk you to a beach, or add an island tour for ~$25/pp…

 

You can also use the Crown Bay ferry, but the departure times are very limited, and it’s a longer, potentially rougher ride..

Are there any concerns about us getting back to the cruise on time?   Wondering if there are a lot of taxis in St John's to bring you back. Thanks

[blue_water]

2 hours ago, jrccruiser said:

Are there any concerns about us getting back to the cruise on time?   Wondering if there are a lot of taxis in St John's to bring you back. Thanks

No concern, there are taxis at the popular beaches just as at the beaches on STT. Just give yourself time to get back to Cruz Bay for a ferry that gives you a couple hours to get back to the ship from Red Hook. Looks like the last return from Cruz departs at 2PM, you can just ask your taxi driver when you arrive on STJ, he/she will probably return for you anyway…

[blue_water]

3 hours ago, jrccruiser said:

Hello, I was wondering the same thing as our St John on your own tour was cancelled for our Feb 13th cruise.   Trunk Bay is still an option as well.  Wondering if it was something with the port.  Will be following to see if anyone else knows.

The beaches are open. You will need to reference the cruise line excursion requirements if they have restrictions in place when you cruise.

 

If you are able to do a self-excursion would highly recommend that, the taxis and ferries are very reliable. 😉

[caligirl49]

thanks for the info, we were wondering about it also, as our excursion was cancelled for January on RC.  We will most likely do it on our own like before. 

[crewsweeper]

I noticed on one of the travel websites that morning ferries from Crown Bay are only available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  But they do go in the afternoon daily.  too late for cruisers.  Red Hook gets more traffic anyway.  So maybe the ferry service just rescheduled to accommodate plane passengers since Crown bay is closer to airport and cruise lines haven't been stopping.

 

Depending on the traffic through Charlotte Amalie, it may take you a little longer to get to Red Hook and then you need to time a ferry back to account for traffic, but cost of ferry and taxi is about the same as the ferry alone from Crown bay.

[blue_water]

Yes the only CB --> Cruz is 9:45 on weekends, and a return at 1:15 or 4:15. Red Hook is definitely the option to take for a ferry...

CB does two afternoon runs which work for airline customers as you said.

 

The CA --> Road Town, Tortola run started back up April 15 but is only afternoon departures....But with the huge spike in active covid-19 cases and deaths in the BVI, cruises into the BVI have been suspended...

[caligirl49]

It doesn't look like a huge spike in cases/deaths in the BVI.  The population is 30,000.  July 14 they had 1 death and July 23  0 deaths. I don't see this spike????? July 16th 391 cases, July 21st 186 cases and July 24th 179.  If people are not being hospitalized or dying from the new variant, I don't see why they are shutting down things.  

[blue_water]

Callgirl49 you are not seeing the right numbers - take another look, people are indeed dying, just as everywhere else including the US. In July over 300 new cases on 4 different days in the BVI, and as you noted almost 200 cases on 2 days. Hospitalization rates jumped, as have deaths from 1 to 25.