augie

We are in port at St. Thomas from 11am -7pm. Is anyone familiar with going to Trunk Bay that late in the afternoon and staying until 4ish? Will the ferry still be running?

 

By staying that late you will get to be there when it's not very crowded!

 

Yes, the last ferry from Cruz Bay to Red Hook leaves long after your ship will leave port, so that shouldn't be a concern for you!

Per person...

We arrive next week on Celebrity Reflection and have booked the St John on your own tour through the ship...essentially just a boat ride over and back. After reading posts on this board, a taxi tour ride sounds fine to see the island.....can you tell me about how long this will take? Will we still have time to hit the beach or should we just walk around the area near the ferry? The ferry leaves St Thomas at 10am and returns at 4pm

 

You should have plenty of time to hit the beach. Check with the driver, but most of those tours will allow you to be dropped off at a beach after you've done the island tour.

 

You will even have time for lunch!

And like Augie said, buy return ferry passes in RH and have a few more minutes to relax at the Beach Bar with a painkiller. With luck you'll fall in love with STJ and decide to stay, and you can bid Bon voyage to your fellow cruisers. ;)

 

What a great thought!

 

:cool:

The best way is probably taking a taxi to Red Hook and catching the ferry to St. John there.

 

There is a ferry that runs from downtown Charlotte Amalie to St. John but it doesn't run as frequently - they come and go like clockwork at Red Hook.

 

Also, if you have to wait for a ferry, you can wait in a covered building out of the sun if that matters to you. Downtown, you are outside, although you could wander across the street and shop there while you wait.

Check out Tripadvisor.com. There are reviews on all the beaches on St. John and other info you need. We are going on our own but we are going to make sure we are on the 3:00 pm ferry back to the ship. Also, I read buy a one way ticket because there are 2 ferry lines and you can only use the ferry you bought a round trip ticket on and you might want to come back on a different ferry.

 

That is true if you are traveling on the car barge, but not so on the people ferry. Go ahead and buy the round trip ticket in Red Hook, that will save you a few minutes time standing on line in Cruz Bay for your return. Spend that time having one last cool drink at one of the waterfront bars while you plot your next visit! ;)

Have you been to Honeymoon beach? I was thinking of hiking there from the ferry drop off... I like remote :-)

 

Honeymoon, while not nearly as big, popular, or famous as some of the other St. John beaches, is not nearly as remote (as in unpopulated) as it used to be. It has long been a favorite drop off place for big snorkel boats and a popular place for dinghies to land, and the fairly recent addition of watersports rental and facilities has made it even more of a draw.

 

It's still a beautiful beach, but I wouldn't categorize it as "remote".

By the time you get to Sapphire, walk to the beach, get in/out of the water, dry off, etc. your hour will be long gone.

 

Red Hook is very close to Sapphire, but if you're going to St. John I wouldn't reduce your time there by doing Sapphire first.

Ferry is $7 pp, each way. Taxi is $6 to Trunk and $7 to Cinnamon pp, each way.

 

By a round trip ferry ticket in Red Hook to save you from waiting on line to buy the return one.

Thanks Anne! I've had a bunch of distractions, but hope to be able to participate a little more often going forward!

 

Actually, we leave Thursday for a week long visit. We've never been in high season, and we'll be staying in a condo just above town.

 

I'm going to try and run the 8 Tuff Miles on Saturday (bucket list item) - wish me luck, I'll need it!

I've missed this place - glad to be back!

 

As penance for my absence, here's a link to some pictures from our trip to St. John last fall - enjoy!

 

 

augie

If you want to see GREAT underwater photos, Augie has them and he'd probably be happy to re-post a link to those. I still need quite a bit of work on my underwater work.

 

I don't know about "great" (that's awfully sweet of wannabatsea to say though!), but here's a link to a bunch of pictures we've taken underwater during our trips to St. John. I kind of threw this album together by just selecting, indiscriminately, most of the pictures we took while snorkeling over a few visits, and they're in a random order and I haven't had a chance to cull out some that no doubt should be removed, so caveat emptor!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N04/sets/72157629986612893

I no longer want to just spend a day on St. John. I want to be there for a week. No, that's wrong ... I'd really like to be there for a month! I'm going to start planning a trip right now.

 

That's how we feel! I find myself planning future trips even when I have one on the books already!

 

Augie & Anne --- what are your favorite times of year to be on St. John? Is it possible to find places to rent for only 2 people? Hmmm, the places you rent look fabulous ... can we come stay with you. Hey, we'd be happy to pay our share. We'll even cook and clean !!!

 

So far we've been five times in October (sometimes in to early November). We like the off season rates and less crowded island at that time of year, although some places may be closed and there's some risk of tropical weather.

 

We've also been once in March, with our youngest son for his high school spring break, and once in July. Never had a bad time, even though a couple of those trips (one in October and one in July) were pretty wet - but that's just a crapshoot!

 

There are tons of places for only two people. VRBO is a good place to start, as are some of the villa rental agencies (if I book through one of them I use one that is located on island, in case I need any help during our stay). Don't summarily exclude 2, 3, and even 4 BR properties when you're doing your villa search - many of them charge by the number of guests, and you can often find good deals on places that have more bedrooms than you'll need.

 

Enjoy your planning, and as Anne said, don't hesitate to ask questions!

 

So should I think about reserving a jeep for a least part of the trip, or could I rely on taxi's etc for most if not all of the trip. Obviously when we take the hotel ferry to St Thomas (Crown Bay) we would have to take a taxi into Charlotte Amai.

 

You absolutely should rent a jeep and see what the island has to offer beyond where the taxis will take you.

Want to go to Trunk Bay while on a cruise Feb 2013. Please go through the steps again on how to get there. I don't see a excurtion yet going there with our ship. Thanks

 

Get off of your ship as early as possible. Find a taxi going directly to Red Hook and take it there. Buy a round trip ticket for the ferry to Cruz Bay (St. John) and take the ferry. When you get off there will be a LOT of taxis there going to Trunk Bay. Get on one, pay the fee to enter the beach area - and....ENJOY!

 

You will want to take the return ferry to Red Hook/St. Thomas (they leave from Cruz Bay on the hour) that leaves three hours before your ship's scheduled departure.

 

Augie...the island misses you!

 

Not nearly as much as I miss her - but I suspect that you already knew that!

 

Savor every minute of your trip!

COUPLE OF QUESTIONS!!

 

Augie, BEAUTIFUL PICTURES!! I saw some that said White Bay. Absolutely beautiful. Where is this??

White Bay is on Jost Van Dyke in the BVIs which is a short boat ride away from St. John.

 

Also, we have been watching youtube videos for the last several hours on all the different beaches. Cinnamon looks to have more waves than Trunk Bay. Is this true or did it just happen that the videos we watched were bigger surf? Now that Maho has a bathroom, we may look into that.

 

But Trunk Bay looks incredible. We have never been anywhere except Disney, Carnival, RCCI private islands and Nassau. So we can't wait to see this!!

I don't think that there's much of a difference on a given day between the size of the swells on those two beaches - they're both on the north shore with the same amount of protection. We have found Maho to be calmer if Trunk and Cinnamon are a little rough, so keep that info handy, just in case...

Does anyone know how much the rental of snorkeling gear is at Cinnamon Bay or one of the other beaches that rents them? I'm leaving Friday on our cruise and have two days left to decide if I should buy the $40 one I saw at Costco or rent one.

Thanks.

 

If you'll only be snorkeling the one time, you may want to just rent. It will be a little cheaper (I think) and you won't have to haul the gear with you. Also, if you buy the one at Costco and the mask doesn't fit your face very well, it will leak water and, as a result the snorkeling won't be as fun, or possibly not possible, with that mask.

 

If you decide after renting that snorkeling is something you'd like to do more of in the future, I'd suggest seeking out a local dive shop that canhelp you with fit, and suggest gear that works well for what you want to do with it. You may spend a little more, but in the long run it would, in my opinion, be worth it.

Does Maho and Cinnamon have vendors for food and drinks? Also, what about renting snorkeling gear from these two beaches? Are they available?

Thanks.

 

Cinnamon has a camp store where I believe you can buy food and drinks and they also have snorkel (and many other water sports) gear for rent.

 

Maho has neither - it's only been fairly recently that they've added a bathroom there.

You mentioned shopping and historic walking tour of St. John. What's the shopping like? How far is it from Cruz Bay? Any info on the historic walk? We are planning to ferry from Red Hook and visit one of the beaches in St. John (avoiding Trunk Bay), but would like to check out some shopping and do some walking. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

I would venture that any shopping done on a tour in St. John would be in Cruz Bay, which in its entirety, is within easy walking distance from the ferry.

Augie ~ just 17 days and we'll be "back!" Cannot wait!

 

Awesomeness! Have a great time - I have to wait until June 5...

Hiking from where, Steve? Thanks.

 

From Cruz Bay, which is where the ferry terminal is. The trail (Lind Point Trail) starts up the hill just past Mongoose Junction (which is across the street from the National Park visitor center) and leads to Saloman, Honeymoon, and eventually, the other beaches at Caneel Bay Resort.

Hi , I am going to be going to St Thomas on Celebrity Summit in a few weeks. We have booked an excursion for a private ferry from the ship to tour the coastline of St John and then drop us off in Cruz Bay for 3 1/2 hours to explore on our own. Could you tell me how long it takes to get to Trunks Bay from there by taxi. I want to go snorkeling and was wondering if I have enough time to go and get back to cruz bay for the ferry ride back.

 

Probably about 15-20 minutes by taxi, which may include a stop or two to take pictures at the overlooks. Since the cruiselines have added this excursion I believe that a number of folks that don't want to do it completely on their own "abandon" the tour on St. John to do their own thing for the 3 1/2 hours, and many of them go to the beach, and a lot of them specifically to Trunk Bay.

My two questions, being as everyone is on island time how much time do I set aside to ENJOY a bite and a drink at the beach bar before catching the 3:00 ferry? Also, on the ferry over to St John can we purchase round trip tickets so we don't have to wait in line for our return to St Thomas?

 

I'd try to be at the Beach Bar by 2:00 at least. That way you'll likely have time for "another one" if the mood strikes you...

 

Yes, you can buy your return ticket in Red Hook so that you won't have to wait on line to buy it for the ride back.

 

Have fun!

Hi! You have taken some awesome photos and videos. What kind of camera were you using?

 

We had two this time, a CanonD10 and an Olympus G8010

 

The cruise ship seems to send everyone to Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay. How do those compare to Haulover North?

Trunk and Cinnamon are gorgeous beaches, and easily accesible from Cruz Bay via North Shore Road, that's why they are so popular with the cruise ship visitors. Haulover is a long way (by St. John standards) from the ferry dock and is a fairly unprotected and rocky beach with little to no shade and you have to walk through the woods for a few minutes to get to it, BUT...I think the health and beauty of the coral there is the best I've seen in the waters surrounding St. John. The first two times I tried to snorkel there, the waves were too big for an easy entry and comfortable snorkeling, but it's worth the walk to find out!

 

Also, do you know what month has the best snorkel conditions?

I think the conditions can be good any time of year. Winter brings large swells from the north periodically and the water is a bit cooler (I've noticed that in March it can be pretty chilly), late summer and fall the water is warm, but there's an increased chance of tropical weather. Any time the wind isn't blowing hard and there haven't been torrential rains you can find good snorkeling. When we're on island we'll often not decide where we'll snorkel on a given day until we've had a chance to see from which direction the wind is blowing, etc.