St. John and Shopping =Enough Time?

[Shorview75]

First time cruiser and here and first time to the USVI. My husand really would like to see St. John and I would like to see it as well, but with maybe some time for shopping and a drink or two! We dock at 8 AM and I have seen two different departure times 5 or 6 PM. I will go with the 5 for this questions sake...are there any excursions or any self-tour ideas anyone can recommend to see and take pictures of St. John (I don't mind laying out) and then to get back over to St. Thomas for shopping???

 

Thank you! Overwhelmed over here!

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

Very easy to do. Get off the ship as soon as you can. Walk out to the taxi area and state that you are going to Red Hook Ferry Dock. The taxis typically wait to fill the vans up before leaving. Then you will head out to Red Hook and get dropped in the parking area of the ferry dock. Go to the ticket booths, get tickets. (Note. There are two St. Thomas-St. John ferries; one to Red Hook on the east end of St. Thomas and the other in Charlotte Amalie). So you could take the Red Hook ferry over to St. John and then take the Charlotte Amalie ferry back so it puts you right downtown to shop. Or take the Red Hook ferry round trip and just take a taxi back to Havensight (where most ships dock) to shop there. I mention this because if you are doing the Red Hook route both ways then buy a round trip ticket so you can avoid any possiable lines on the return to St. Thomas.

 

Both ferries arrive in Cruz Bay, St. John at the same dock. Walk up to the taxi drivers and tell them what you want; a tour, a ride to such and such beach etc. Plan on coming back at a set time (check the ferry schedules) so that you can have shopping time left. You could also do a little shopping in Cruz Bay. The shopping there is not as varied as St. Thomas but there are lots of unique little gift shops, bars, restaurants.

 

For ferry informaiton: http://www.*****/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

 

--Islander

*****

[Shorview75]

The Islander-Thank you so much for all that. I am a virgo so I like getting step-by-step suggestions. Much appreciated.

 

Everyone keeps talking about the shopping in St. Thomas. May I ask, what is so great about the shopping? What do they offer? Typical beach stuff?

[LindaMae]

In St. Thomas as well as St.Maarten there is good shopping. Many people come to get good deals on jewelry. LOTS of jewelry stores!! They have Havensigh right outside the where you dock, and a downtown area with some tents set up by the locals to sell things too. They two places are where most of the ships port and prices are usually the best. Have a great cruise. We are leaving for the PC on Sernade a week from Friday:D LindaMae

[Shorview75]

Thank you for the information on shopping. Enjoy your cruise...I want to leave NOW!! These are going to be 4 long months.

 

 

Enjoy!

[The Islander]

Hello Shorview75,

 

The shopping on St. Thomas is largely jewerly. There are good deals on jewerly, alcohol, some electronics, linens.

 

You can find typically souvenirs; t-shirts, picture frames, straw hats, mugs with USVI on them, shot glasses etc. You can get some locally made products like soaps, teas, rum cakes. Art also. But overall its jewerly, jewerly, jewerly.

 

Amazingly there aren't too many beach type stores like swim suits, sunglasses... I can only think of three downtown.

 

--Islander

*****

[rjack22]

Shorview75,

 

We just returned on the Summit. I want to caution you about your time in St. Thomas.

 

Our shipped docked at 7:00 am and was scheduled to leave at 5:30. We had planned on leaving the ship at about 8:00 am and taking the 9:00 am ferry (they go every hour on the hour) to St. John, hang out at Trunk Bay for awhile, and then take the 1:15 ferry back to Charlotte Amalie to shop. This would give us approximately 2.5 hours at Trunk Bay.

 

Well imagine our dismay when we found out we had to go thru immigration on the Sumnit that morning before you could get off! This was because it was our last port and we were "re-entering" US territory. To make a long story short, we got off the ship at 8:40 and barely made the 9:00 am ferry.

 

What I am saying to you is that you may have less time in St. Thomas than you plan on, depending on circumstances. The best thing is to have a plan B if you see plan A isn't going to work out.

 

Have fun! St. Thomas and St. John are beautiful islands!

[jcswz]

thanks for the info on st. john. We would like to go to st. john trunk bay then return to st. thomas and do the paradise sky ride. will this be possible to do on our own or should be book thru cruise line excursions? any suggestions on how to get to either?