Day Trip to St. John from St. Thomas

[lexingtonave]

We'll be sailing on the Jewel next week. I was thinking of taking a day trip to one of the beaches in St. John. I don't want to do an excursion. Can anyone tell me what it costs for a cab to the ferry, then a cab to the beach? Is this a doable day trip on your own? Also, what beach would you recommend. My husband loves to snorkel, but I just want to hang out on the beach. Are chairs and umbrellas for rent? Thanks in advance for any help.

[FLACRUISER99]

We'll be sailing on the Jewel next week. I was thinking of taking a day trip to one of the beaches in St. John. I don't want to do an excursion. Can anyone tell me what it costs for a cab to the ferry, then a cab to the beach? Is this a doable day trip on your own? Also, what beach would you recommend. My husband loves to snorkel, but I just want to hang out on the beach. Are chairs and umbrellas for rent? Thanks in advance for any help.

I would not do this unless it's done with the ship.

[Familygoboston]

You don't have to take an excursion to visit St John, but you can take the "shopping tour " to St John from the cruise line. This is the cheapest "excursion" and really is just a cruise ship sponsored ferry to St J and you are on your own once you get over there. (all of the St J excursions go over and back on the same charter ferry) The advantage to doing this is that you are assured that the ferry is on your ships schedule vs "island time" if you take the public ferry and it picks you up at the pier where your ship is docked. You certainly can take the public one and many have, but if it's your first visit there it may not be a bad idea to have that insurance policy of using the ferry provided by the cruise ship.

 

The ferry schedules are on line if you google St Thomas ferries.

http://www.**********/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

 

Also, be aware Redhook is a long way from the cruise ports.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Familygoboston

[138east]

Check the excursions being offered on your cruise. I did the "tour" mentioned in the previous post twice for $40 and just took a cab to Trunk Bay. I was supposed to be on the current ill fated Explorer cruise which was offering a plain ferry trip to St.John for $34, which is about the same price it would cost to do it yourself.

 

I felt much more secure being on an RCL trip to St. John. They told us what time to leave Trunk Bay to be back at the ferry and there were safari cabs waiting to take us back. The only thing you have to pay attention to is the ferry dock location on St John which is by the National Park Headquarters instead of by the public ferry terminal.

Edited January 28, 2014 by 138east

[haywardwis]

Super easy to do on your own! Once you are over there get a cab and head to the less crowded beaches. There is a fun little bar near the ferry pick up that you can wait at to catch the ferry. Be smart on your time and you will have a great day!

[nosmothj]

Day trip to St John is always highlight of our trip.

 

We have gotten a Taxi to ferry then taxi on the other side. Let them know when you want to be picked up and they will be back to get you. Whole day maybe $100.

 

We have also rented a car just out side port and went over on our own. cost about $150. We got to go to many beaches and saw a lot of the island and it is beautyful.

 

How ever you go I suggest leaving first thing 8:30ish and start heading back by around 2:30. We have always had lots of time and when we gotr back toured around the shops at port.

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

Be aware of time and weather and it is no problem to do on your own. Do be first off the ship and do allow for Island time when catching the ferry back to red hook and allow for time from red hook back to ship terminal.

[stones902]

We've chartered a sailboat privately twice from Red Hook to St. John (Caneel Bay).

 

We've never had a problem making the journey to / from port. The Captains operating the charters are well aware of the cruise ship schedule.

 

I wholeheartedly recommend privately chartering if you want to spend a memorable day.

[skoola]

We were on the carnival valor last year and booked a trip from a tour company. I can't remember the name, it was about $100 snorkle gear included. Look at the st thomas forum and I am sure you will find it. You got right off the cruise ship and took a fast ferry for 45 mins. Then they had free transport to trunk bay in open truck taxi's. Only bad part was that they wanted to stop for pictures and take

 

We've chartered a sailboat privately twice from Red Hook to St. John (Caneel Bay).

 

We've never had a problem making the journey to / from port. The Captains operating the charters are well aware of the cruise ship schedule.

 

I wholeheartedly recommend privately chartering if you want to spend a memorable day.

[cb at sea]

Because of the multiple means of transport involved, take the ship's transport there....makes life SO much easier!

[Natmom]

I booked a 'St.john self tour' through rcl. They get you to St.john and back and once there you have 4-5 hours on your own to do as you please. I can't report on it as our cruise isn't until May. I just wanted the security of being on an excursion organized through RCL just in case.

 

 

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[cruisegirl1]

You don't have to take an excursion to visit St John, but you can take the "shopping tour " to St John from the cruise line. This is the cheapest "excursion" and really is just a cruise ship sponsored ferry to St J and you are on your own once you get over there. (all of the St J excursions go over and back on the same charter ferry) The advantage to doing this is that you are assured that the ferry is on your ships schedule vs "island time" if you take the public ferry and it picks you up at the pier where your ship is docked. You certainly can take the public one and many have, but if it's your first visit there it may not be a bad idea to have that insurance policy of using the ferry provided by the cruise ship.

 

The ferry schedules are on line if you google St Thomas ferries.

http://www.**********/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

 

Also, be aware Redhook is a long way from the cruise ports.

 

I also recommend this method. No worries about a taxi to/from the ferry. And, the excursion ferry provided a narrated trip to St. John and serves soda and rum punch on the return trip.

 

Prior to docking is St John, the ferry staff will ask who is going on various ship tours ( shopping, sightseeing) and who is not. They will instruct you when to be back to the ferry.

 

It is easy to get a taxi to any of the beaches. Trunk Bay is the most popular with an underwater marked snorkeling route. A few times, the winds/surf cased Trunk Bay to hake little or no beach so we went to Cinnamon Beach (or is it Bay?) There are many beaches on St. John.

 

At Trunk Bay I don't recall chair rentals ( take an extra towel) . We had our own snorkel equipment but there is some there to rent. You may ask about chair/umbrella rentals on the ports of call boards. We also went to Cinnamon Beach on another trip and I think there might have been chair rentals but none were left by the time we got there. Alas - we had an extra towel.

 

enjoy

M

Edited January 27, 2015 by cruisegirl1

[Big_G]

Another vote for the 'St. John On Your Own' tour. We've done it twice and the ferry picked us up at the cruise ship with the other excursions. If you take a taxi to Redhook for the ferry, there's a chance you may get stuck in traffic if there are too many ships in port.

 

On a side note, St. John Brewery is in Mongoose Junction right across from the ferry pier. Look for the Tap Room. They have some nice craft brews.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Big_G

[searoses]

I did stj on our own last week because princess does not offer the ferry directly from the ship and we were in crown bay...i am not one for ship excursions but this one is a winner......booked on aos next year and will do it even tho we are going to stj for 2 weeks post cruise...the price is about even bad the convenience priceless..

[Jiffymom]

any idea what txi cost to trunk or canel

[palmettogirl]

We went to St. John on our own. The taxi to the ferry at Red Hook is $10.00 per person. The ferry runs on the hour and is $14.00 pp. The taxis on St. John run according to how close the beach is you want to go to - so the closest one is $5 pp - Trunk Bay is $6 pp (I heard there is also a fee to get into Trunk Bay).

 

However, we were adventurous and took the local bus to and from the ferry on St. Thomas which was $2.00 pp. If you leave the port and walk left down the main street past all the taxis about 4 blocks, you will come to a main intersection with flashing lights near Wendy's. Go past Wendy's not quite a block and you will see a shelter that looks like a taxi stand. Going this way will take you into town for $2 pp or Emerald Beach near the airport. CROSS the street and wave once you see an open air bus that has the locals on it - they will stop and you will pay $2 pp once you get off. (make sure it is the one with the locals on it or ask if it is going to the ferry). You push the button above your head to get off before your stop, but there will be a lot of people getting of at the ferry. (we had a map which definitely helped). You catch the local bus back from the same place you got off.

 

Once we got off the ferry, we walked to the right up the hill, past the shops/ cemetery and beared right down the hill. We went down the steps to the right, walked over a little bit of rocks and had the whole bay to ourselves to swim - it was gorgeous - of course, no chairs or drinks - but no fee either.

 

Came back to the restaurant on the beach and had our drinks! Perfect! (PS do not swim in the water next to the ferry - the boats empty their sewage in that bay - yuck!)

 

We took the 1:00 p.m. ferry, then the local bus and were back by 2:30 to the ship. So, for 2 people, it was $36.00 to go to and from St. John and swim in a gorgeous bay!

[lukesmom1019]

Does anyone know if the ferry will still run if it's raining or if there's inclement weather??

[O2B@Cagain]

Does anyone know if the ferry will still run if it's raining or if there's inclement weather??

 

LOL. In the tropics, it would have to stop all the time! No, the only time the ferry doesn't run is if there is a named storm taking aim at the islands.

[lukesmom1019]

Ok thanks! That's kind of what I figured but just wanted to double check! Lol

[grhokie]

last time I was in St. Thomas we were downtown and caught a cab back to the ship w/ what should've been plenty of time to spare. Traffic was so bad that we got out of the cab that had been standing still for a long, long time and ran to the ship and barely made it. Traffic in St Thomas is awful, especially later in the day. Use the ship's tour here (and only here).

Edited February 3, 2015 by grhokie
left out a word

[ciera123]

last time I was in St. Thomas we were downtown and caught a cab back to the ship w/ what should've been plenty of time to spare. Traffic was so bad that we got out of the cab that had been standing still for a long, long time and ran to the ship and barely made it. Traffic in St Thomas is awful, especially later in the day. Use the ship's tour here (and only here).

 

This happened to us coming back from Red Hook a couple of years ago. Traffic was backed up for miles due to an accident. Luckily, we were on a ship sponsored excursion, but it was still very stressful (and hot), as some have stated on the boards, the ship doesn't HAVE to wait for their own excursions. I'd really didn't want to test that theory out. We got back within a few minutes of the "must be back on board" time. Kind of stressful. We stick to the ship excursions if we go to St John.

Edited February 4, 2015 by ciera123