Tour services on St John?

[5MNtravelbugs]

We will be in St Thomas on a cruise ship and have been there multiple times, also been to St John and feel we'd like to explore more there. We would like a basic tour of St John, being in a group of 12. There are about 4 places that we are sure we want to see. The question is the most efficient way to accomplish this! Is there a tour company from St Thomas that goes to St John? Not a problem for us to take a taxi to Red Hook and Ferry to cruz bay but then what? Would most taxis accommodate 12?, and if so is there a way to contact before hand and have a tour decided before we go? Other option is to talk to taxis once there and wing it..(fine for me but iffy for 12) TIA

[Ms411]

There are a few services on St Thomas that offer tours to St John, but they're pretty expensive. You can reserve a taxi on St Thomas to take you to Red Hook ferry. Try Coco Brown at cocobrown1967@yahoo.com.

 

For a tour on St John, try Levi at 340.690.4281 or L&L Jeep rentals (his family's business) at 340.776.1120.

[Host Anne]

5MN ~ while you can certainly try to pre-plan a tour of St. John, you do not need to. You are actually fortunate that you have a group of 12. The safari taxes that will transport you to the Red Hook ferry from the ship probably always have seats for 12 people. When you get off your ship, you should find plenty of them.

 

When you arrive at the dock in Cruz Bay, St. John there will be plenty of safari taxis that accommodate 12 people. We've taken groups of 8 - 15 people from our cruise to do this plenty of times.

 

The key thing for me to have a successful day doing this is to start by communicating a spot to your group to meet about 30 minutes before your ship docks. You want to be ready to disembark altogether (that's important) as soon as they announce you can get off the ship. Stress the importance of everyone being at your designated meeting spot (we usually pick a lounge close to stairs/elevators on a lower deck) so you can disembark as early as possible.

 

The ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay leaves every hour on the hour so if your ship is scheduled to arrive at 8, for example, you want to do your very best to be in Red Hook to make the 9:00 AM ferry.

 

I'd recommend that one person collects the money and buys the ferry tickets for all in your group (right now it's $7 per person each way). That way you aren't all standing in line getting tickets one at a time. I'm all about saving time. I'd do the same thing on the way back (one person buys ferry tickets for all). You can buy round trip tickets in the morning (they simply give you double the amount of tickets - there is no discount for doing this). It can save you a little time in the afternoon on your way back but then you have to trust someone to hang onto the return tickets all day.

 

Before you get into your safari taxi once you are on St. John, talk to the driver about your "must see" things. I have always found them very accommodating to my requests for things we wanted to see.

 

If you have enough time, I recommend including a visit to Cruz Bay for lunch at Shipwreck's Landing because you get a lovely view of Coral Bay with good food. There aren't many cruise ship passengers that get out that way.

 

One other option to consider is whether your cruise line offers an excursion to St. John that basically provides ferry service from where the ship docks. That way everyone buys their own excursion ticket through the ship but you still get to go to and from St. John on a boat together. The only thing I don't like about this is that they often leave later than I'd like so you may lose an hour or so that you might have on St. John if you go on your own.

 

ENJOY whatever you do!