Trunk Bay - Harmony

[Sbrown111]

Hello!  Sailing on the Harmony on October 1st.  There are several Trunk Bay excursions with different price points and I'm not sure which one I should choose.  I have been there once before but the 2 people coming with me have not.  Has anyone been on any of these excursions?  Is the "on your own" one good enough?

St. John On Your Own - $69

St. John/Trunk Bay Beach Escape - $109

St. John Beach & Snorkel - $129

 

Thank you,

Sally

[Coralc]

I would think "St. John on your Own" would work fine. We did the whole thing on our own, and it was pretty simple. 

 

Once you are in St. John, you can have lunch if you wish. Then catch an open air taxi to take you to Trunk Bay. Pay the admission fee and snorkel as long as you wish. Your same cab driver will want to come back for you, or there are drivers hanging out in the parking lot. 

 

Take a cab back to town and the excursion ferry back to the ship. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Coralc said:

I would think "St. John on your Own" would work fine. We did the whole thing on our own, and it was pretty simple. 

 

Once you are in St. John, you can have lunch if you wish. Then catch an open air taxi to take you to Trunk Bay. Pay the admission fee and snorkel as long as you wish. Your same cab driver will want to come back for you, or there are drivers hanging out in the parking lot. 

 

Take a cab back to town and the excursion ferry back to the ship. 

Exactly what we did very easy and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Charles4515]

None of the ship excursions always go to Trunk Bay on my own not with a cruise line excursion. Taxi to Red Hook. Ferry to Cruz Bay, Taxi to Trunk Bay. Same back. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

11 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

None of the ship excursions always go to Trunk Bay on my own not with a cruise line excursion. Taxi to Red Hook. Ferry to Cruz Bay, Taxi to Trunk Bay. Same back. 

Same as us

[Coralc]

14 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

None of the ship excursions always go to Trunk Bay on my own not with a cruise line excursion. Taxi to Red Hook. Ferry to Cruz Bay, Taxi to Trunk Bay. Same back. 

The Cruise Line will get them to St. John and back, that is really all that is necessary. It is easy to get to Trunk Bay and back on your own. 

 

We did all that "on our own" trip stuff last time. And I thought at the time, that I would do the ship excursion over and back next time, because it is simpler. $69 seems reasonable, once you add all the fares and logistics up. ☺️

Edited September 11, 2023 by Coralc

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Coralc said:

The Cruise Line will get them to St. John and back, that is really all that is necessary. It is easy to get to Trunk Bay and back on your own. 

 

We did all that "on our own" trip stuff last time. And I thought at the time, that I would do the ship excursion over and back next time, because it is simpler. $69 seems reasonable, once you add all the fares and logistics up. ☺️

Does the ship excursion on your own let you decide when to leave? We used to take the earliest possible ferry, while we were there thecruise excursions would arrive and stay an hour and leave. We would have 3 hours 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Charles4515

[Coralc]

I don't know. Perhaps @Sbrown111 could let us know what the excursion says. 

[Sbrown111]

Thanks for the info!  I figured on your own would be good too. They don’t let you pick the time you leave. You leave at 9am & it’s a 4 hour excursion. I was worried bc we are only in St. Thomas until 3:00 which is a bummer. 

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, Sbrown111 said:

Thanks for the info!  I figured on your own would be good too. They don’t let you pick the time you leave. You leave at 9am & it’s a 4 hour excursion. I was worried bc we are only in St. Thomas until 3:00 which is a bummer. 

Might not be much time at Trunk Bay then. 

[volk904]

I am on your cruise. We plan to go to Trunk. I have taken the on your own several times.  

The advantage is you get ferry to Cruz Bay from near the ship. They drop you off and you take a short cab ride to Trunk. The Ferry will give you a pick-up time to be back at the ferry dock. The disadvantage is the listed time of the excursion is 4 hours but i have heard it is longer. The ferry ride is probably 45 min from Crown so you have about 2.5 hours on St. Johns and allowing for the cab you have about 2 hours on the beach. Maybe someone can comment who has been recently.

 

I believe we are going to get off the ship early and take a cab to Red Hook and take the Ferry to Cruz and Trunk. It should give us more time but you need to be careful on time. The on your own is more worry free.  I wish we could just take the excursion Ferry back.

 

 

[jean87510]

14 hours ago, Sbrown111 said:

Hello!  Sailing on the Harmony on October 1st.  There are several Trunk Bay excursions with different price points and I'm not sure which one I should choose.  I have been there once before but the 2 people coming with me have not.  Has anyone been on any of these excursions?  Is the "on your own" one good enough?

St. John On Your Own - $69

St. John/Trunk Bay Beach Escape - $109

St. John Beach & Snorkel - $129

 

Thank you,

Sally

St. john on your own you don't have to go to trunk bay.  We went to Cinnamon Bay instead which is 10000x better.  When the ship drops you off and they hustle you towards the cabs tell them you want this beach.  We had no issue getting a cab back.

 

We went to Trunk bay when staying in St. Thomas last Christmas time via car ferry before the cruise ship crowds.  It's so crowded there once everyone gets there.  

[Sbrown111]

Interesting, thanks for the info!  😊

[LisaLisa87]

13 hours ago, Sbrown111 said:

Thanks for the info!  I figured on your own would be good too. They don’t let you pick the time you leave. You leave at 9am & it’s a 4 hour excursion. I was worried bc we are only in St. Thomas until 3:00 which is a bummer. 

 

With an early all aboard time, I'd stick with one of the Royal excursions -- especially if you've never gone on our own before. We've vacationed on St. Thomas and have taken both the passenger and car ferry to St. John multiple times. As others have said, it's not particularly difficult, but timing is very important. I would not recommend that someone try it for the first time while on a cruise, unless they have a really long day in port.

[Sbrown111]

I totally agree.  We went there when we were on vacation in St. Thomas and we had the time to explore.  This is a RC excursion, so I'm not worried about missing the ship, but it would be nice to have a little time to something else too.  Thanks for your input!

[Charles4515]

27 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

With an early all aboard time, I'd stick with one of the Royal excursions -- especially if you've never gone on our own before. We've vacationed on St. Thomas and have taken both the passenger and car ferry to St. John multiple times. As others have said, it's not particularly difficult, but timing is very important. I would not recommend that someone try it for the first time while on a cruise, unless they have a really long day in port.

They are in port 7 to 3. That is 8 hours. It is not difficult to make that timing work DIY. If they get the 1:00 ferry back, the Red Hook ferry takes 15 minutes, plenty of safe time.  As I mentioned I have been there DIY and watched the cruise line excursions arrive after we got there and leave before we had to leave to catch the Red Hook ferry. I didn’t time the but it seemed like the excursions were only there a hour. The cruise lines use a ferry near Crown Bay that takes 45 minutes. 

[Charles4515]

29 minutes ago, Sbrown111 said:

I totally agree.  We went there when we were on vacation in St. Thomas and we had the time to explore.  This is a RC excursion, so I'm not worried about missing the ship, but it would be nice to have a little time to something else too.  Thanks for your input!

I suggest skipping St John if you want time to do something else. Last two times at St. Thomas we went to Lindquist Beach. It is a state park and it is beautiful. There is a lifeguard and bathrooms. There were no chair rentals as of 4 years ago but Royal had an excursion that was a steal in my opinion. Check and see if they still have it. The excursion operator brought chairs. So transportation and chairs included. He took us on a small bus so the number who could take it was limited. The excursion has a vague name. Secret Sands. You will have time after to do some shopping downtown. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Charles4515

[cherokeesmom]

If you have a National Parks pass, I’m pretty sure it is honored there.  Save you a few bucks.

[Sbrown111]

On 9/12/2023 at 11:00 AM, Charles4515 said:

I suggest skipping St John if you want time to do something else. Last two times at St. Thomas we went to Lindquist Beach. It is a state park and it is beautiful. There is a lifeguard and bathrooms. There were no chair rentals as of 4 years ago but Royal had an excursion that was a steal in my opinion. Check and see if they still have it. The excursion operator brought chairs. So transportation and chairs included. He took us on a small bus so the number who could take it was limited. The excursion has a vague name. Secret Sands. You will have time after to do some shopping downtown. 

I just checked & they do have this tour, Secret Sands. I will look into it. Thank you!

[mets07]

24 minutes ago, Sbrown111 said:

I just checked & they do have this tour, Secret Sands. I will look into it. Thank you!

We also did that RCI excursion and loved it. We have also done St. John multiple times with RCI excursions and had a great time, both "On your own" and Trunk Bay and others. All good. Hard to go wrong.

 

Enjoy. 

 

 

[volk904]

The Ferry from Red Hook runs at the top of the hour and the return trip at the bottom of the hour.  As of now we plan to get off ship by early and catch the 8am Ferry and get the. 1230 back.   We have done this before but like I said the ship excursion is not bad just short on time and eliminates 2 cab rides. 

[Coralc]

How long does it take to get from Crown Bay to Red Hook? When we did it we were going from Havensight to Red Hook, and it was a bit of travel time. 

[Charles4515]

7 hours ago, volk904 said:

The Ferry from Red Hook runs at the top of the hour and the return trip at the bottom of the hour.  As of now we plan to get off ship by early and catch the 8am Ferry and get the. 1230 back.   We have done this before but like I said the ship excursion is not bad just short on time and eliminates 2 cab rides. 

I believe you want to try and catch the 8:30 ferry from Red Hook. The ferry’s from Cruz Bay back run on the hour. You would want the 1:00 back. 

[Charles4515]

5 hours ago, Coralc said:

How long does it take to get from Crown Bay to Red Hook? When we did it we were going from Havensight to Red Hook, and it was a bit of travel time. 

It takes about 30 minutes travel time. As the rides are per person the taxi won’t leave until it is full. That might take 10 minutes so have to factor that into the time. 

[Mom*3]

7 hours ago, Coralc said:

How long does it take to get from Crown Bay to Red Hook? When we did it we were going from Havensight to Red Hook, and it was a bit of travel time. 

This was my concern last year when we were on the Wonder. Royal Caribbean (or at least the larger ships) seem to dock at Crown Bay, not Havensight. Crown Bay seems farther away from Red Hook.
 

It was not our first time to St. Thomas, but it was the first time we went to St. John. So, we went ahead and booked Royal’s excursion. Ours was called Trunk Bay Beach Break (seems similar to the above Beach Escape). I think the Royal “On your own” was sold out. We loved Trunk Bay and of course the time there was too short. We would probably book the Royal “On your own” in the future, if available, since it does cut out the taxis to Red Hook.

 

Many years ago we missed embarkation in Florida and had to fly to the first port to board the ship (because family members did not believe me when I said that Cruise Critic recommends that you fly in the day before 😂). Our entire family family group is still skittish, 16 years later, about any possibility of missing the ship.