Anything to do at St. John besides watersports?

[CrusinAgain]

Have been to St. Thomas numerous times but never St. John. The search function is not working so wanted to know are there any tours on St. John to see the national park and if so, who? Or, is there anything over there to see or do other than the beaches and snorkeling?

 

Thanks much!

[mandaleigh]

We are on RCCL, but we are doing a ship excursion of a tour of St John. No beaches, just an open air tour. Maybe your cruiseline has this?

[Ms411]

There's GREAT shopping on St John - lots of artsy little shops with unusual things. Nothing at all like St Thomas.

 

There's a hiking trail that takes you up a hill for a great view, and then to Honeymoon Beach, and you can continue to Caneel. Gorgeous property!

 

The national park offers tours to various parts of the park. You need to check the NPS website (NPS.gov? St John?) for the schedule. There's a Friends of the Park Store in Mongoose Junction with some cool recycled products.

 

Depending on when you come, there might be a cultural activity going on. Maybe you should post again closer to your ETA.

[CrusinAgain]

There's GREAT shopping on St John - lots of artsy little shops with unusual things. Nothing at all like St Thomas.

 

There's a hiking trail that takes you up a hill for a great view, and then to Honeymoon Beach, and you can continue to Caneel. Gorgeous property!

 

The national park offers tours to various parts of the park. You need to check the NPS website (NPS.gov? St John?) for the schedule. There's a Friends of the Park Store in Mongoose Junction with some cool recycled products.

 

Depending on when you come, there might be a cultural activity going on. Maybe you should post again closer to your ETA.

 

Thanks, sounds really good but I am posting pretty close to arriving since we arrive there exactly 5 weeks from today. Our ship goes to St. Thomas on Sunday the 27th of April.

 

I haven't seen a ships tour of what RCI does above, but I'll check again.

 

If there is no tour, is it worth the extra costs of taxi and ferry to get to St. John for the unique shopping and the most important thing is will the shopping be open on Sunday since St. Thomas closes at 2 pm.

 

Thank you!

[Ms411]

Since St Thomas' carnival ends Apr 26, everybody will be cultured out on the 27th, so I doubt anything cultural will be taking place on St John.

 

More than likely most of the stores will be open, because there will be many visitors on island for carnival. However, since many workers participate in carnival, some stores might not have staff to open, so it's kind of iffy as to what will be open, and at what times.

 

There will always be taxi drivers at the dock waiting to give you a tour, which takes you through the National Park, and tell you about St John's very interesting history, though I'm not sure of the exact route. There'll be lots of stops to take in the incredible views.

 

As to whether it's worth it, that's a very hard question for me to answer for someone that I don't know. If you like exploring little eclectic boutiques, it's definitely worth it. It's a beautiful boat ride over, and there are nice restaurants right on the water.

[lili0606]

I did a EcoHike Tour with Royal Caribbean and this was very nice! It is not a hard walking tour at all and the tour guide (Thunder Hawk) was great in explaining everything and giving you tons of information. We stopped at Honemoon Beach where he went snorkeling with those that wanted to and explained what types of fish and coral we were looking at. It was a great day. If you don't have a tour option like this on your ship you can do the walk on your own (It would still be nice you just won't have all the commentary):)

[love2vacation]

Tour the National Park - which is most of the island and the Annaberg uruins. The ship has tours but you cold do this on your own by taking a taxi to Red Hook grabbing the ferry and then selecting one of the open air taxis that offer a tour. SInce it is sunday be sure to check ferry times! Last time we used a concierge tour company and had a great time. There where just four of us on the tour.

 

I LOVE to shop on St. John since there are such unique shops. St. John is the home of many artists so you will find many unique things to buy. One of my favorite jewelry shops is on St. John.

[CrusinAgain]

We just visited St. John in June and my sister and I stayed in the town while my daughter and her husband went to the bay where the underwater snorkeling is at, (can't think of the name) and St. John itself is very small and not much there as far as shopping. There were a few vendor tents set up and a few little shops around but they were empty from customer shopping and very expensive for a little souvenir trinket. Some locals were walking the streets asking for handouts so we finally found an air-conditioned casino where they had video poker and we hung out there until it was time to meet the kids. The ferry runs on time and they were very nice and that was the best part was the scenery from St. Thomas to St. John. If I went again I would go tour the park but other than that and the watersports we found nothing else to do.

[Browezilla]

Any cabbie can give you a 1 hour or 2 hour tour (many are very good).

 

The national part service offers tours/hikes

 

They have plenty of hiking trails you can take on your own

 

Shopping/people watching

[m steve]

Really strong drinks and rare burgers.

[lostdart58]

Really strong drinks and rare burgers.

 

Skinny legs is great!!

 

...but strong drinks (or normal drinks :p) are the norm here in the Viirgin islands as liquor is very inexpensive, sometimes cheaper then the mixer.

 

....plus when one is used to the watered down drinks that are served on cruise ships any normal drink will taste strong. :p

[Islandbear]

Nope, nothing to do on St. John. Total waste of time. No reason to go. Better to stay on St. Thomas. ;)!

[jimf41]

Nope, nothing to do on St. John. Total waste of time. No reason to go. Better to stay on St. Thomas. ;)!

 

I agree. Beaches terrible, food bad, shopping expensive, scenery boring. I'll be there next February to confirm. See you there Islandbear.

[Islandbear]

See Ya! :D:D:D