Visiting St. Thomas 7-3 the same day as Icon of the Seas

[Crazy planning mom]

We will be visiting St. Thomas for the first time on the Celebrity Apex in February 2024.  I know that's a long way away.  I like to plan.

The largest cruise ship in the world, the Icon of the Seas will visit that day along with the Carnival Magic.  Should I avoid Magens Bay?

A friend of mine recently visited St. Thomas on a land trip and her favorite part of the trip was going to St. John.

However, I am concerned about going to St. John due to the short port time (7-3).  

We like the beach but arent snorkelers.  So far, the cruise line is only offering  the champagne snorkeling excursion to St. John.

My thoughts were to do a cruise excursion that goes to Magens Bay and the Gondola or do a taxi tour of the island and some beach time.

I see that Paradise Taxi offers a beach tour that includes scenic stops and beach time.  I also  read about My Love Taxi on TripAdvisor.

Thoughts.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Crazy planning mom

[Ms411]

You have 8 hours and if you're an early riser and get off the ship early, you should be able to taxi to the Red Hook ferry to St John on the 9 boat. You should take the 2 hour island tour and you could spend maybe an hour at Trunk Bay Beach. You should be on the 1 PM ferry back to St Thomas so you should be back to your ship before 2:30. Or you could skip Trunk and take the 12 ferry for a less stressful ride back to your ship. You'll see drop dead scenery on your 2 hour tour.

[Crazy planning mom]

1 hour ago, Ms411 said:

You have 8 hours and if you're an early riser and get off the ship early, you should be able to taxi to the Red Hook ferry to St John on the 9 boat. You should take the 2 hour island tour and you could spend maybe an hour at Trunk Bay Beach. You should be on the 1 PM ferry back to St Thomas so you should be back to your ship before 2:30. Or you could skip Trunk and take the 12 ferry for a less stressful ride back to your ship. You'll see drop dead scenery on your 2 hour tour.

I am not sure that my husband and other family members would go for this.  My husband prefers cruise line or private excursions and I am the only one who is an early riser.   That's why i was hoping the cruise line would offer a Trunk Bay excursion. Since, its 2024 , they still could.   Alternatively, would a cab tour of St. Thomas be good since they know the island?

[Ms411]

Yes, taxi tours of St Thomas are offered at the dock. You can request a private tour otherwise others may be on the tour with you. Some open air taxi vehicles can hold 20+ people. There will probably be mini vans offering tours, too. The ship probably offers St Thomas Island tour excursions. 

 

With the bigger ships, they may reserve so many spots at Trunk that there aren't enough chairs, etc for other ships to offer excursions. 

[vppro]

Unless you heart is really set on St John I would recommend taking a taxi from the pier and spending your time at Magens Bay.  Not a lot of time to get to St. John and spend a lot of time there before you need to head back.