igooutsidesometimes Posted September 30, 2021 #1 Share Posted September 30, 2021 One of my goals is to visit all of the US National Parks. I recently got back from an 8 park trip and decided the next vacation should be relaxing (hint hint- a cruise)... BUT, our ports of call are St Croix and St Thomas and there is a perfectly good National Park right there for us to scratch off our list. My questions is, what experience do you have with or without an excursion getting to VINP to hike and explore the park? I am mostly interested in seeing the NPS entrance sign, visiting the park store, getting in at least one hike, which is why I am concerned with excursions. I feel like I would feel rushed. Also unrelated, where do you go to see reviews of excursions?! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingos Posted September 30, 2021 #2 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Check your NPS app to find current conditions of the parks, to start, to see what's open. Have a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pratique Posted September 30, 2021 #3 Share Posted September 30, 2021 The ferry to St. John drops you within walking distance of the park visitor center but you will need to take a taxi to see other parts of the park as it spans most of the island. In my opinion the beaches are the best attraction but there are some trails to explore. But you will be rushed because of the time it takes to get from St. Thomas to St. John and back only leaves a few hours to explore. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satxdiver Posted October 1, 2021 #4 Share Posted October 1, 2021 If you can take the ferry from the ship to St John which will give you more time. Otherwise take a taxi to Red Hook and board a scheduled ferry but remember the schedule to get back. Traffic on St Thomas in the afternoon is horrible to gridlock so plan ahead. We did the Red Hook ferry several years ago and had a great time touring the island. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machta Posted October 1, 2021 #5 Share Posted October 1, 2021 We took an excursion to the park a couple of years ago. We had a great time and did exactly what you described -- went for a hike around a point to a beautiful beach, had a swim, went to the visitor center & gift shop, and headed home. It's a beautiful park! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merion_Mom Posted October 1, 2021 #6 Share Posted October 1, 2021 We did a RC excursion there and it was very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Kat Posted October 1, 2021 #7 Share Posted October 1, 2021 8 hours ago, igooutsidesometimes said: One of my goals is to visit all of the US National Parks. I recently got back from an 8 park trip and decided the next vacation should be relaxing (hint hint- a cruise)... BUT, our ports of call are St Croix and St Thomas and there is a perfectly good National Park right there for us to scratch off our list. My questions is, what experience do you have with or without an excursion getting to VINP to hike and explore the park? I am mostly interested in seeing the NPS entrance sign, visiting the park store, getting in at least one hike, which is why I am concerned with excursions. I feel like I would feel rushed. Also unrelated, where do you go to see reviews of excursions?! Howdy @igooutsidesometimes from a fellow Texan! Welcome to Cruise Critic and thank you for your new thread on the Royal Caribbean International forum. 👍 Since your topic is about your ports of call it is off-topic there. I have moved your thread to the Ports of Call - Caribbean - St. Thomas/ St. John forum. As for St. Croix, you will need to research the Ports of Call - Caribbean - St. Croix forum. Your fellow Cruise Critic members that have sailed or will be sailing to St. Thomas/St. John frequent this forum and provide feedback here. Please feel free to browse through the thread titles here. L👀k for titles of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers about St. Thomas/St. John that may be of interest to you. For other ports see all the Ports of Call forums. Cruise Critic is a great resource for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you are posting on the boards! Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community Categories list. Read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka Stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in a forum. You will find very important instructions or information there. Please remember the following stated in the Guidelines we all agreed to follow when registering for our free Cruise Critic memberships: Browse Before You Post Browse a topic first to see if your question has already been asked or answered by someone else. Also, many of the major cruise lines forums have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) topic that has been created by our members. Give that a try first. Browsing is your #1 best resource! Please post your messages in an appropriate topic so that you'll receive the best possible response. It is very time consuming to move misplaced messages that are in the wrong topics. Anytime you need to start a new thread/topic on a forum, first make sure you are in the correct forum for your topic. Word your new thread title in a way to help the members know exactly the information you seek. This greatly helps the members browsing through the thread titles and if they know the information they will reply to you. It is best to limit each inquiry to only one topic or concerning only one cruise line, one ship, one port of call, etc. and of course, on the correct forum. You will get more replies that way. Be sure to mention your cruise line, ship, port or sail date in your inquiry as that sort of information will help your fellow Cruise Critic members help you. Please be sure to use the Follow feature on threads where you are interested in the replies. That way, you won't have to go l👀king to see if there are new posts because they will come l👀king for you as notifications! If you need more info please see How to: Follow Topics & Forums (Subscribed Threads/Forums Info). And don't forget, after your cruise be sure to submit your review for publication by Cruise Critic. Many cruisers will benefit from your experience! See How To: Submit a Member Review. Sorry this is so long, but I sincerely hope all this information will be helpful to someone new to posting on our message boards. So glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic! Happy sails, Host Kat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_water Posted October 6, 2021 #8 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Actually Igooutside, your best option by far is going on your own. That just gives you the utmost freedom and flexibility, and you don’t have to be tied to a larger group or worry about waiting in a queue. You didn’t include your port times, but you definitely want to taxi to the Red Hook ferry rather than take the ferry near the ship. Taxis are plentiful at the port and will whisk you to the Red Hook terminal in 20 - 30 minutes, depending on your port. The 15 minute ferry will drop you in Cruz Bay where safari taxis (open-sided group taxis) are waiting to transport visitors to Trunk and Cinnamon Bays. They also offer a mini-tour of the north shore before dropping those guests at a beach, the tour is ~$25/pp. But you can also hook up with a guide ahead of time, or just have a driver take you to a spot other two and return for you. You’d want to be sure you have good cell service, but you can also flag a taxi for a ride back when you are back on the main road. I would also suggest posting your query about seeing those points you are interested in on the STJ forum on TripAdvisor. The experts/residents there can be very helpful, both in details about the park, and getting around… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igooutsidesometimes Posted October 7, 2021 Author #9 Share Posted October 7, 2021 On 9/30/2021 at 9:01 PM, Machta said: We took an excursion to the park a couple of years ago. We had a great time and did exactly what you described -- went for a hike around a point to a beautiful beach, had a swim, went to the visitor center & gift shop, and headed home. It's a beautiful park! Did you do the Honeymoon Beach excursion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igooutsidesometimes Posted October 7, 2021 Author #10 Share Posted October 7, 2021 On 9/30/2021 at 9:31 PM, Merion_Mom said: We did a RC excursion there and it was very good. Which excursion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maureencruiser Posted October 26, 2021 #11 Share Posted October 26, 2021 On 9/30/2021 at 2:44 PM, igooutsidesometimes said: Also unrelated, where do you go to see reviews of excursions?! Tripadvisor is a great resource. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_water Posted October 27, 2021 #12 Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) For reviews of excursions offered through the cruise lines, or reviews from cruisers going in their own, you will also find the most relevant reviews right on the cruise line site. TA is an excellent source for reviews from land visitors as maureen mentioned. You can also take advantage of excellent feedback from residents, destination experts, and frequent visitors on the destination TA forum as I mentioned earlier. In this case STJ. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g147409-i432-St_John_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html Great feedback from the “horse’s mouth” as they say 😄 Edited October 27, 2021 by blue_water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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