St. Thomas - Magens Bay by Taxi?

[emcraft]

My group of 8 adults is sailing on the Harmony this Saturday and will be in St. Thomas next Tuesday August 1. Our ship arrives at noon and leaves at 8:00 PM. We'd like to visit Magens Bay on our own. Is it safe/reasonable to just grab a taxi at the port rather than booking something in advance? How expensive is a taxi ride to Magens Bay? Are there vans big enough to accommodate a group of 8, or will we need to take two vehicles? Are there plenty of taxis waiting at Magens Bay to take us back to the port? What time does the restaurant/bar close? 

 

I know there's a St. Thomas board, but I wanted to ask the RC group specifically. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

[BND]

There are open air taxi "busses" in the port.  

 

[BND]

https://www.*****/stthomas/getting_around_stt/taxi_stt/

 

[GTO-Girl]

Just get in and hang on!!!!  
 

All the drivers in St Thomas drive crazy so just be prepared. 😳😳

[LisaLisa87]

It's very easy to do on your own. We've been to St. Thomas a handful of times (including two land trips), and Magens Bay is still our favorite. If you don't need lounge chairs, walk down the beach a ways and you'll have a lot more space -- both on the beach and in the water. We had your same port times last time we were there, and we ended up doing some shopping in Charlotte Amalie first and then getting in an open air taxi and heading to Magens. We didn't have any trouble getting a ride back to the port when we were ready to leave.

[cruiseguy1016]

Riding an open-air taxi is very safe and easy. There will be plenty of them at the cruise port. If your group was only 3 or 4 people, they'd probably wait a short time to get more passengers. With your group of 8, my guess is that they will leave right away. Taxis will also be plentiful at Megan's Bay to bring you back to the cruise port.

[emcraft]

Thanks all! How much does an open-air taxi cost?

[Tatka]

3 minutes ago, emcraft said:

Thanks all! How much does an open-air taxi cost?

 

https://www.*****/stthomas/getting_around_stt/taxi_stt/

 

Scroll to the St. Thomas Taxi Rate Tables

 

MISCELLANEOUS TO/FROM	CHARLOTTE AMALIE		CYRIL E. KING AIRPORT
	1 PERSON	2+/PP Same Group	1 PERSON	2+/PP

 

Magens Bay

15.00

12.00

18.00

15.00

Edited July 25, 2023 by Tatka

[RyderJ201]

28 minutes ago, emcraft said:

Thanks all! How much does an open-air taxi cost?

Currently $15 to $18 per person each way. The difference between $15 & $18 depends on which port your ship is docks at.

You can Google the website for St Thomas taxi rates chart. It's all there. The rates are pre fixed for every taxi.

[TTEllis]

7 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

Just get in and hang on!!!!  
 

All the drivers in St Thomas drive crazy so just be prepared. 😳😳

I thought it was just me. I knew it!! Get in hang on for dear life no seat belts. 

Take the minivan out of Magens Bay if there's not one find one. Or OR don't sit on the end seat🥺😬🥺of the safari van if you don't get bounced out of your seat in the safari van you get wiped out by a palm tree branch going sideways up the mountain. WTH!! Just to get back to the ship? It's no wonder I'm always drinking on St. Thomas you don't have a choice. 

[cruisenfromjersey]

Can anyone tell me the cost of chair and umbrella rental at Megan’s Bay? 

[CruiseMomTX]

On 7/25/2023 at 1:39 PM, LisaLisa87 said:

It's very easy to do on your own. We've been to St. Thomas a handful of times (including two land trips), and Magens Bay is still our favorite. If you don't need lounge chairs, walk down the beach a ways and you'll have a lot more space -- both on the beach and in the water. We had your same port times last time we were there, and we ended up doing some shopping in Charlotte Amalie first and then getting in an open air taxi and heading to Magens. We didn't have any trouble getting a ride back to the port when we were ready to leave.

@LisaLisa87 Do you have any other suggestions for a do it on your own day?  Not sure if we want to swim that day or not. It will be our first time to St. Thomas.  Hubby, my mom and myself.  Thanks for any suggestions.  Things were interested in, island tour, love seeing all of the plants & flowers, a little shopping, maybe some food and drinks.

[LisaLisa87]

3 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

@LisaLisa87 Do you have any other suggestions for a do it on your own day?  Not sure if we want to swim that day or not. It will be our first time to St. Thomas.  Hubby, my mom and myself.  Thanks for any suggestions.  Things were interested in, island tour, love seeing all of the plants & flowers, a little shopping, maybe some food and drinks.

 

Hi @CruiseMomTX. For our second land trip, we had scheduled a snorkeling tour through St. Thomas Scuba & Snorkel Adventures. Sea conditions were rough that day, so they offered us an island tour via Jeep instead. We weren't sure what to expect, but we had a fantastic day. Our guide/driver was a local named Web. He was a really interesting guy, and he made the tour both informative and fun. We chose to include snorkeling in two different spots, but you don't have to do that. We saw a lot of the island, stopped for lunch at a really fun taco spot, and pulled over a handful of times to take photos. We were staying on the island, but if we hadn't been we could have included shopping time as well. Highly recommend!

 

https://www.stthomasadventures.com/stthomasjeeptours

 

[CruiseMomTX]

24 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

Hi @CruiseMomTX. For our second land trip, we had scheduled a snorkeling tour through St. Thomas Scuba & Snorkel Adventures. Sea conditions were rough that day, so they offered us an island tour via Jeep instead. We weren't sure what to expect, but we had a fantastic day. Our guide/driver was a local named Web. He was a really interesting guy, and he made the tour both informative and fun. We chose to include snorkeling in two different spots, but you don't have to do that. We saw a lot of the island, stopped for lunch at a really fun taco spot, and pulled over a handful of times to take photos. We were staying on the island, but if we hadn't been we could have included shopping time as well. Highly recommend!

 

https://www.stthomasadventures.com/stthomasjeeptours

 

Thank you @LisaLisa87 that sounds like a great day however there are only 3 of us so it would be $400 for the tour and not sure we want to spend that much.  I see there are open air taxis or some kind of transportation at the port do you know if they go anywhere or just specific spots?  Maybe we could just take one of those to the villa botanica, a lookout spot or two for pictures then shopping?  Is there a good shopping area outside of the port?  When we ported in Cartagena, Columbia we went to the old town on a tour and it was so beautiful to see all the old buildings and lots of good shopping there, do you know what area in St. Thomas might be like that?  I really appreciate any help!

[LisaLisa87]

18 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

Thank you @LisaLisa87 that sounds like a great day however there are only 3 of us so it would be $400 for the tour and not sure we want to spend that much.  I see there are open air taxis or some kind of transportation at the port do you know if they go anywhere or just specific spots?  Maybe we could just take one of those to the villa botanica, a lookout spot or two for pictures then shopping?  Is there a good shopping area outside of the port?  When we ported in Cartagena, Columbia we went to the old town on a tour and it was so beautiful to see all the old buildings and lots of good shopping there, do you know what area in St. Thomas might be like that?  I really appreciate any help!

 

Those open air taxis typically wait until they're full (or close) before leaving. In our experience, they wait for people going to the same place (like Magens Bay or Charlotte Amalie). I'm pretty sure you can ask for a private taxi, and you may even be able to ask for a tour. Charlotte Amalie is the downtown area and one of the main shopping areas. Some of the shops never reopened after the pandemic, but we still found plenty of places to check out during our last couple of visits. My favorite shop there is called Fish Face. They have a nice selection of clothing and gifts. Keep in mind that most stores close at 5pm. There is also shopping at Havensight, which is the main cruise ship dock.

[CruiseMomTX]

Thank you again @LisaLisa87 for all the information!!  We decided to look into the jeep excursion so I'm fixing to email them.  Was it a private tour with a driver?  

[LisaLisa87]

9 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

Thank you again @LisaLisa87 for all the information!!  We decided to look into the jeep excursion so I'm fixing to email them.  Was it a private tour with a driver?  

Yes, it was. If Web is still there, I highly recommend him!

[CruiseMomTX]

@LisaLisa87 Thank you again so much for the tour recommendation!!! We had a fantastic tour and our guide for the day was Bill.  He tailored our tour to our needs and it was so good, we highly recommend him and St. Thomas Scuba & Snorkel private jeep tour.  Well worth the money!

[LisaLisa87]

22 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

@LisaLisa87 Thank you again so much for the tour recommendation!!! We had a fantastic tour and our guide for the day was Bill.  He tailored our tour to our needs and it was so good, we highly recommend him and St. Thomas Scuba & Snorkel private jeep tour.  Well worth the money!

Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed the tour. Thanks for reporting back!