St John Beach Tour - RCCL

[Sailor Gal]

Has anyone done the St John Beach Tour - a shore excursion with RCCL(Ferry Ride/Nat'l Park/overlooks/Trunk Bay/snorkeling)? 4 hr trip. Any details you can share about how crowded, time to shop at Cruz Bay, sights, beach time?

 

Wondering if this is better than doing it on our own. The tour description is a little vague. Is National Park dock in John the same as arriving at Cruz Bay?

[2Feathers]

Gal... I saw no one had responded to your post, and though I've never been on the RCCL excursion, I thought I would try to help a little...

 

St. John is a beautiful island, and I would definitely recommend trying to get over there. I understand a lot of cruisers who are nervous about doing things on their own, and there are some places where I wouldn't want to try it, but it really is very easy to do St. John on your own by taking a taxi from the ship to either the downtown Charlotte Amalie or Red Hook ferries over to Cruz Bay. There really isn't a whole lot of difference in the time & cost to get to Cruz Bay; the CA ferry is a shorter taxi, longer ferry ride, if you want to see more of the island by sea, but it runs less often, so you may want to check the schedules before deciding which route to take. You can get taxi and ferry rates/schedules from websites like http://www.*****.

 

Once in Cruz Bay, there are taxis offering island tours and beach stops. You can also rent a car from several agancies near the dock and tour the island on your own time, and its very easy to get around on your own. Yes, you drive on the left, which really is no big deal, and yes the roads are narrow with steep hills and a few sharp turns, but you can't really get lost, there is very little traffic and the views are amazing. If you don't want to do a taxi or car, you can rent a dinghy, which is a really fun way to see all of the great North shore beaches. Or you can hike to several beaches without the need for any transportation! Doing things on your own allows you the freedom to go at your own pace, see what you want to see, stay as long as you like, and avoid the crowds of the ship excursions.

 

The National Park Service dock is actually separate, but very close to the main ferry dock in Cruz Bay. Once you get off the ferry dock, turn left and walk a few blocks along the water, and there is a big NPS building and dock. They have maps of the island there which show the roads and hiking trails. There is a very nice trail that starts just across the street from the NPS building that leads to three awesome beaches: Salomon, Honeymoon, and Caneel. The NPS office is also across the street from Mongoose Junction, which has shops and cafes. There are also a lot of little neat shops, bars, and cafes around the Cruz Bay ferry dock, so leave yourselves some time to shop there before catching the ferry back to St. Thomas.

 

Like I said, St. John is a beautiful place, so you'll have a great time no matter what you decide to do! Let us know when you get back!!

[Sailor Gal]

2Feathers: Thanks for taking the time to write such a great response. We will probably end up doing St John on our own. I suspect the ship's tour won't spend much time at the beach. My DH is liking the dinghy suggestion too. He loves boats! Appreciate the info!

[2Feathers]

Glad to help... The dinghies are a lot of fun, as long as its a calm sea day. If its really windy and the ferry ride over is really rough, and you see a lot of white caps in the channel, you should probably skip the dinghy and hike or ride to a beach instead. But if its clear and calm, I would definitely recommend it. You can see all of the better beaches in a day by dinghy, all the way out to Waterlemon Cay, which is one of the best snorkel spots on the island. You probably couldn't do Waterlemon any other way on a one day cruise stop, because it involves a pretty long drive and then nearly a mile hike. Have a great time!!

[wannagoagain]

We did the tour to Trunk Bay last year. It's supposed to be one of the 10 most beautiful in the world, and it was gorgeous. Hardly anyone that day but we were told that some days it's wall to wall people. One interesting thing is the NPS has an underwater trail that you snorkel, free equipment if I remember correctly.

[Sailor Gal]

Wondering if the ship tour allows enough time to see anything besides Trunk Bay - ex. Cruz Bay area with shops, etc.