Megan's Bay

[Beaver1975]

How crowded does Megans Bay get when there are 4 or 5 ships in St. Thomas?

[HarpHarp]

As someone who used to live on St Thomas, I can say Magen's Bay is usually crowded most days past mid-morning if there are any ships in.

 

If I were on a cruise, I'd skip it and go to Sapphire, Coki, Morningstar or any of the beaches on St John.

[cb at sea]

It's not just cruise passengers, you know....St. Thomas is FULL of land-based vacationers and residents! They don't allow more ships than they can handle...no worries!

[njhorseman]

I don't recall the exact number of ships that were in port that day, but my wife went there in the afternoon a couple of weeks ago and she says it wasn't very crowded at all. (Of course she grew up experiencing the big crowds that would go to places like Jones Beach and Orchard Beach in NY, so crowds don't bother her.)

[AF-1]

I prefer Megan's bay over Sapphire Bay. Megan's Bay is spread out. If you want to be close to the food area you can; but if you want to get away, you can walk pretty far around the horseshoe bay and be by yourself.

[trish1c]

There were at least 4 ship in port when we were last there. It was also a Saturday. There were people there, including a lot of locals, but we were able to find a quieter corner. It was certainly more empty than the Jersey Shore on most weekends.

[Dave85]

Best advice is to get there as early as you comfortably can. It'll be crowded, but I've never had an issue there where I felt it was too crowded to enjoy. Just keep in mind that the later you get there the less of a choice of spots you'll have, so you may end up further down (and away from the food) than you'd like, or might not get a prime spot with some shade if that's your thing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[rudeboie]

Last time we went to Magens Bay a couple years ago, it got really crowded after 12 once all the ships had arrived. There were 6 ships in Port that day (2 in Crown Bay and 4 at Havensight). Being the smallest ship (Norwegian Gem), we had to tender.

[Squidward Q Tentacles]

This is from our vist the first week in December, 2014.

 

[YOUTUBE]ukOYWn8Yd84[/YOUTUBE]

[AF-1]

Great video of the bay; reminds me of when I visited there; still looks the same and a fun place

[VickiD59]

Magens Bay is a small beach, sand to shoreline, but the soft sand and clear waters are worth the chance that it may be a little crowded. We went there on our first cruise to StT and loved it - on our second cruise there we ventured to Sapphire Beach; I didn't like it as much because you really need water shoes. It's a snorkeling beach and is rocky and very seaweedy. There were iguanas everywhere which was kinda cool, but I prefer my sand and water smooth and soft, with no rocks or vegetation.

Neither was overly crowded, but we were the only ship in port that day, docked 8am-4pm. Also, Magens Bay has an entrance fee (4.00 when we were there), which although very cheap, may deter some from going when there are plenty of other free beaches to visit.

A previous poster mentioned Horseshoe Bay - that's in Bermuda and is absolutely divine. Soft sand, clear water AND waves.

Edited January 10, 2015 by VickiD59

[Mom2B&Z]

We were there late December with three ships in port. We arrived around 8:45 and the beach was almost empty. By 12:30 the ship tours had arrived and it was busy. If you stay near the entrance it is worse, there are additional bathrooms about half way down the beach if you walk to the left when you arrive.

Definitely go as early as you can, we used taxis and had no difficulty getting there or coming back.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NJ Johnny]

Can you rent lounges and umbrellas (if needed)? Does anyone know the prices for these?