Zuiderdam/St. Thomas/Crown Bay

[BaltimoreCruise]

It looks to me that the Zuiderdam has been docking at CB while in St. Thomas. We plan to go to Sapphire Beach for the day and I am looking at car rentals. I called Dependable and they told me to rent from Budget. When I told the associate that we would probably dock at CB, she then quoted me a price. I also saw that Thrifty and Hertz have offices on the Island. Thrifty at Lindberg Bay and Hertz at the airport. Does anyone have experience renting from these three companies (Thirfty, Hertz and Dependable) for the day when docked at CB? I have prices for all three but I can't call the local offices of Thrifty and Hertz until later today to ask about shuttle service/pick-up from the dock. I posted a question about Dependable on the St. Thomas board, but I haven't received any responses. If we were to dock at Havensight, I was prepared to take the stroll and use the public transportation to the beach. Dependable told me they have a 48hour cancellation policy.

 

If anyone could offer some information on their experiences, I would appreciate it.

 

Thank you.

BaltimoreCruise

[KAKcruiser]

I'm sorry that I don't have any information on the car rentals but I wanted to caution you that it is never certain where a ship is going to dock. Even if there is a plan to dock at a certain pier, it is always subject to change. I had read that Princess had reached an agreement to dock at Crown Bay instead of the preferred dockage at Havensight. I was wondering if perhaps HAL had done that also since HAL's ships seem to be scheduled at Crown Bay now.

[berylde]

Go to http://www.St-thomas.com/m_ships.html for March schedule

 

We are on 3/24 cruise and it is at docked at Crown Bay (unfortunately)

[bepsf]

Why rent a car when you can taxi over?

And why is Havensight "preferred" - IMO it's an ugly, awful, crowded, Nowhere-ville-USA, strip-mall mess...

[BaltimoreCruise]

Renting a car will allow us to explore a few more places. When we docked at St. Thomas during our last cruise, we immediately went to St. John. I have no desire to shop, but see the island on my own time and visit Sappphire Beach.

 

Brian-what does one find at Crown Bay?

 

Thanks for link to the cruise docking sites. I have been watching this link for a couple of weeks waiting for the April posting. Most car rental agencies have at least a 48 hour cancellation policy. We have a party of 6, we need a van, and Budget is sold out. I would prefer to have the reservation and cancel.

 

Thanks for the insight.

BaltimoreCruise

[bepsf]

*

Brian-what does one find at Crown Bay?

 

There is a new little shopping area being built at the port (which I have yet to see - I've only been prior/during construction) but with space for only*two ships there isn't nearly the traffic and congestion as over in Havensight with 3-4 ships are in port.

 

The cost for a taxi to Charlotte Amalie or the beaches is the same as from Havensight and the surroundings are prettier IMO - not nearly as over-developed with strip malls and condos as Havensight.*

 

(If I wanted to see strip-malls and condos and endure bad traffic in the heat - I'd drive to San Jose with the windows rolled down...)

[KAKcruiser]

The reason I prefer Havensight is that I love to shop. To me, shopping at Havensight is much more pleasant than shopping downtown.

[Sundagger]

I've been reading articles recently about HAL's (and Princess's) agreement to dock at Crown Bay. Here is one article about the effects:

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17605037

[BaltimoreCruise]

SFJ

Thanks for the article.

BaltimoreCruise

[gizmo]

Very interesting article. Hal ships have docked there for years when there was no room at Havensight but this is the first I saw that Hal signed an agreement.

[KAKcruiser]

Does anyone know if the shops at Crown Bay are finished yet? How many are there? Does it have the nice walking area that Havensight has?

[IKE]

I was on the 2/28 Noordam Cruise out of NYC and We docked in St. Thomas at "Crown Bay". I personally prefer Havensight. Many of Our fellow passengers agreed. Most of the passengers and ourselves were disappointed that We docked at the other end of the island(Crown Bay). There is nothing there and in order to shop, You have to drive into Charlotte Amalie and it was very congested. Many people on our ship complained that it took way too long to get from the ship to their tours or the beaches and had to deal with heavy traffic both ways. So did We and We took a cab into Charlotte Amalie just to shop. We liked Havensight for the convieneince of being able to go to the beach and then shop in the stores dockside and then being able to just hop on the ship. Just my opinion! IKE

[bigredcrusier]

Does anyone know if the shops at Crown Bay are finished yet? How many are there? Does it have the nice walking area that Havensight has?

 

Was docked at crown bay last week. Most of the stores were still empty or not open yet. I recal one jewelry store, a basic t-shirt/postcard store, and some small carts being out. That was about it. Behind the shops is an industrial area, so it is nothing to look at if you were not docked there.

[innlady1]

It looks as though HAL will be docking at Crown Bay in the future, given the article stating that Princess and HAL had signed an agreement to dock there after being offered a lower per passenger docking rate.

 

We docked there on our 2/7 Noordam cruise. It looks like it will be lovely once all the shops are filled. Currently, there's a Royal Caribbean jewelry/electronics store as well as a typical souvenier shop and several kiosks.

 

Anyone know how many ships can dock at Crown Bay? The dock space isn't all that large, from what I could see.

[RuthC]

Anyone know how many ships can dock at Crown Bay?

Two, I think.

When the Noordam visited on my January cruise there were three at Havensite, two at Crown Bay, we were anchored in the inner harbor, and a seventh ship was anchored in the outer harbor.

Looking down at Crown Bay from the mountain I couldn't see where another ship would dock.

[oceanal]

Does anyone know the approximate distance from Crown Bay to the St John Ferry? How about Crown Bay to dowmtown shopping?

Thanks,

A:D