St. John/ is this possible?

[jesusfreak7]

We will be in St Thomas in December from 8-5pm. We want to go to St John of course.... So is this possible or just stupid? Can we take the 9:00 RH ferry to Cruz Bay, then the 3:45 CA ferry back? And while in St John, is it possible to just do a private island tour with drop off at trunk bay, then taxi from trunk back to Cruz Bay to catch ferry? Just seems like taking the two different ferries, you gain 1.5 hours... Is this correct?:confused:

[Livethelife]

No, it is not a stupid idea, yes, you can use 2 different ferries but you cannot use the CB-RH roundtrip ticket on the CB-CA ferry, and yes, you can tour and beach; however there are some things you need to consider . . .

 

We have done just what you described BUT we live here and getting back a little later than expected is no big deal for us but it would be for you!

 

Let me explain my reservations with respect to your timetable. Schedules in the Caribbean are usually only approximations of when things will happen. An 8 am arrival usually realistically occurs sometime between 7 – 9 am. Docking and clearing depends on multiple factors including whether your ship arrives on schedule or not and the number of ships in port among other factors. The later past 8:00 that you get off the ship the less likely you are to make the 9:00 am ferry. Not impossible but you wouldn’t want to dawdle. Visitors here tend to think of transportation times in the same way as they would at home and often underestimate travel time even for short distances.

 

A more important concern however is the return trip from St. John to Charlotte Amalie. This ferry has an inconsistent schedule and does not run every day. I am not sure that in the morning you will be able to determine if the CB-CA ferry will be running in the afternoon. If you wait to return on it and it does not go you will not be able to take the Cruz Bay-Red Hook ferry until 4pm when traffic into CA will be fierce and slow! And you certainly will not make a 4:30 “All aboard”.

 

Sorry for the long answer. Just wanted to make sure you understand the ramifications of your choice. There are few things that can spoil an otherwise wonderful day more than the fear of missing the boat! :)

[jesusfreak7]

Thanks so much for the information! That was exactly what I was looking for... ANSWERS! ha! That will help us make a decision on whether to take the ship excursion. It offers the "trip" to CB & back for only $34, and as far as I can tell, looks like a 10:00am departure, which I would think would be the CA ferry. I was just trying to gain a little more time in St. John. We want to be able to tour the island AND snorkel a bit at Trunk. Thanks so much for your response!:D

[blue_water]

Yes no problem, most folks go to STJ on their own because it allows a little more flexibility and also eliminates those queues while you wait for the rest of your group at the dock.

I would use the Red Hook ferry for your return though, we would take the 3PM return which would give you 5 hrs on the island if you make the 9AM ferry. The RH ferry is much more regular, the downtown ferry is hit or miss. But you can always check when you get to the RH terminal.

 

The taxi drivers in Cruz will give you a nice tour for ~$25pp and drop you at a beach, Cruz is also a great spot to shop, much more relaxed than Charlotte Amalie.

 

Enjoy!

[jesusfreak7]

One more quick question, you said to use RH, try to make 9:00am ferry, then the 3:00pm coming back. Ship leaves at 5:00, so is 2 hours plenty of time to ferry back from CB to RH then taxi back to ship? Seems I've read traffic in the afternoon from RH is not good???? :confused:

[blue_water]

We would be ok with the 3PM return but you're right in that the 2PM would be much safer and would allow for any potential problems. And you would still have time for a tour and a couple hrs on the beach. So the 2 PM return would be more recommended, especially on big ship days.

[JohnQ]

We will be in St Thomas in December from 8-5pm. We want to go to St John of course.... So is this possible or just stupid? Can we take the 9:00 RH ferry to Cruz Bay, then the 3:45 CA ferry back? And while in St John, is it possible to just do a private island tour with drop off at trunk bay, then taxi from trunk back to Cruz Bay to catch ferry? Just seems like taking the two different ferries, you gain 1.5 hours... Is this correct?:confused:

 

Hello, Jesusfreak, We took 9am RH ferry to St Johns in 2010. Leaving the Maasdam, they filled up the taxi and we went all the way to Meagans Beach to drop off a couple and still made it to RH by 8:50. Its only about a 20 min ferry ride. When we landed, we found a tour of the island in a pickup with side facing seats and a canopy for a 1 1/2-2hr tour for $25 each. Just us and a couple of young Danish teachers who knew all the history of St Johns. Very good. We too were worried about getting back. We were back down by dock by 11:30 and walked around some shops and caught the 12 pm ferry. We could have stayed another hr or maybe two. We got back to St Thomas, walked down the shopping street, the mrkt they taxi back to ship at Crown Bay at 3:45. I think the ship pulled out at 4:45. It was showers in the afternoon.

 

So use a little caution, decide what ferry to catch and shouldn't be problem.

[jesusfreak7]

Thanks again for the responses. By everyone's answers, sounds like we'd be safe taking the 9:00 over and the 2:00 RH ferry back. It just freaks me out to think the traffic would be so bad that it would take 2.5 hours to get back to the ship... but I'm sure at some point in the past this has happened!:eek: And one more question, when you (JohnQ) said the taxi dropped off at the beach first, does this mean that a person can't just go get a taxi for themselves and go straight to RH (for the 9am ferry)? Then when returning to RH, I'm assuming there's plenty of taxis waiting to take people back to the ship?

[Rapsmac]

We are going to be docking at 1pm. There until 9pm. Is St. John's an option for us and is there anything to do or see that late in the day? We will be there in July so it should be light out longer.

[Livethelife]

Rapsmac - You will still have 8 hrs in St Thomas with a 1 pm arrival however be aware that the sunset still occurs early here even in the summer. The closer a location is to the equator, the less variance there is in day length. On the shortest days in December the sun sets between 5:30 & 6:00 AST and on the longest days in June it sets around 6:45 - 7:00 AST. And there is no lingering twilight. It goes from daylight to nighttime really quickly. You can still go to St. John as the ferry continues to run in the evening but not all visitors are comfortable being that far away from the ship after darkness occurs. Good luck with your plans! :)

[blue_water]

We are going to be docking at 1pm. There until 9pm. Is St. John's an option for us and is there anything to do or see that late in the day? We will be there in July so it should be light out longer.

 

It's a short time in port but certainly doable. Figure at least 2 hrs of travel time which would leave you about 3 hrs on STJ (you will want to take the 6PM return ferry). You could take the 7PM if comfortable with that.

With that short a time we would stay on STT and go to one of the East End beaches. Many ppl head straight to STJ and never see the beauty of the East End of STT. But you do have the choice if that's enough time for you. Just taxi to the Red Hook ferry terminal and grab the next ferry to Cruz.

[blue_water]

Thanks again for the responses. By everyone's answers, sounds like we'd be safe taking the 9:00 over and the 2:00 RH ferry back. It just freaks me out to think the traffic would be so bad that it would take 2.5 hours to get back to the ship... but I'm sure at some point in the past this has happened!:eek: And one more question, when you (JohnQ) said the taxi dropped off at the beach first, does this mean that a person can't just go get a taxi for themselves and go straight to RH (for the 9am ferry)? Then when returning to RH, I'm assuming there's plenty of taxis waiting to take people back to the ship?

 

You can take the 2PM ferry to be ultra-safe, we'd be fine with the 3PM for back-on-board by 4:30 but your choice.

You'll be sharing a taxi with up to 24 other lucky sould and you may drop them at Coki and Sapphire beaches before hitting Red Hook (if the driver takes that route). But you should GE able to easily make the 9AM ferry. It's a good idea to tell the taxi dispatcher you want the ferry and also the driver you take.

There will be taxis stationed at the terminal and also next to Fish Tails and Big Bamboo which are next door.

Have fun!

[jesusfreak7]

You can take the 2PM ferry to be ultra-safe, we'd be fine with the 3PM for back-on-board by 4:30 but your choice.

You'll be sharing a taxi with up to 24 other lucky sould and you may drop them at Coki and Sapphire beaches before hitting Red Hook (if the driver takes that route). But you should GE able to easily make the 9AM ferry. It's a good idea to tell the taxi dispatcher you want the ferry and also the driver you take.

There will be taxis stationed at the terminal and also next to Fish Tails and Big Bamboo which are next door.

Have fun!

 

 

Thanks!! I THINK we'll do the 9:00am RH over & shoot for the 3:00pm RH back! Again, thanks for all the info! This really helps!:)