geauxgirlgeaux

Hello! how I wish I would be going back with you!! You definitely have time to go on your own to St John, however you must plan it out ahead of time. I second the comment that states getting there is part of the experience. Our family was there in March as part of a cruise stop in St. Thomas. Be aware of where your ship docks. Our ship (Navigator) docked at the far dock - I believe it was Crown.

It took us 45 minutes to get to Red Hook by taxi and 1 hour and 15 minutes to get back after our excursion. Plan for this! Thankfully we did! Look up the ferry timetables and buy your round trip ticket when you get there so you don't have to wait in the line on the return trip. Be sure to get to the ferry terminal a little early because some folks ran in at the last minute and had to wait an hour til the next one. Once we got to Cruz Bay we took a taxi to Trunk Bay (about 30 minutes ) We paid the admission fee, walked in to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. We stayed there about 2 1/2 hours and had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. Trunk Bay is part of the US National Park Service and you can look it up online. We rented snorkel equipment (don't forget the flotation vests!!) and and bought some beverages there- all reasonably priced - including a few t shirts lol. We didn't rent chairs - just spread our towels out on the sand. The snorkeling is not great, but it was fun nontheless, and we saw quite a few pretty fish. The snorkel trail is lifeguarded which is a plus. There are showers there which was nice so we could change into dry clothes after swimming. We all enjoyed the experience. The taxi rides were adventures just by themselves! There is a really great smoothy place in Cruz Bay - at the Hospitality Car Rental place lol. TAKE CASH FOR TAXI! We used credit cards for snorkel equip rental/deposits as well as souveniers. There is an ATM machine in the ferry terminal. Anyway plan it out ahead of time and you will enjoy the day! and make it back to the ship!! Have fun!

We cruised to St. Thomas this past March ( family with 3 teenagers) and went to St. John on our own. We rode the group taxi to Red Hook. ( about 30 minutes) Then took the next ferry to Cruz Bay. (Bought round trip tickets). (Maybe 20 minutes)We then took another taxi to Trunk Bay. ( 15 minutes) We stayed at Trunk Bay for about 2 hours which was enough time to snorkel, swim, sun and eat and not feel rushed. Then we took a cab back to Cruz Bay ( 15 minutes) and walked around for about half an hour. Lined up for the ferry, then when back in Red Hook took cab back to the dock.(took about 45 minutes because traffic was terrible) We were at Crown Bay which is really far. All in all it was worth it. You need to check ferry timetables and give yourself plenty of time to get back. If your ship is at Crown Bay I would plan for 1 hour each way because if there are several cruise ships in town traffic will be crazy! We enjoyed the day! We didn't save much money doing it on our own though, and in retrospect if we had to do it again we might would take the ship excursion for this one if our ship was docking at Crown Bay.

We probably spent about $250.00 with all the taxis, ferries, and snorkel rental and food while we were there for a family of 5.

Hope this helps! St John is really beautiful. There is a smoothy place off the main square at the car rental place ( I know lol) that has really great fruit smoothies! Have fun!

Also Trunk Bay is a part of the National Park Service and has lifeguards. If you rent the snorkel equipment be sure and rent the "life Jacket" thing too. You need the extra flotation.