What do to in St. Thomas?

[imatarb]

My DH, myself and our almost 8-yr. old son will be traveling to St. Thomas aboard the Voyager in a few weeks.

 

I've already snorkled at Trunk Bay, but I'm looking for a few family-friendly ideas for another excursion. Snorkling is still an option, but what else do you all recommend?

 

Thanks!

[CaribbeanBound]

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, Trip #1

St. Thomas is a major shopping destination. A large number of passengers bought digital cameras at this stop. We privately arranged for an island tour with Godfrey's Tour, now $25 per person (plus tip). He picked us up at the ship at 10:00 am and dropped us off downtown. At noon he picked us up for a 2-hour island tour and dropped us off at Coki beach (no beach charge) from 2pm to 4pm. We would have preferred Meagan's Bay ($3 per person), but the majority of our tour mates brought their snorkel gear and were set on Coki Beach with the clearer water and more abundant fish. The downside of Coki is that it is a small, crowded, relatively unattractive stretch of sand maybe 25% as long as the considerably less crowded, more picturesque, Meagan's Bay. $20 will get you 2 beach lounge chairs (unpadded) and a very large umbrellaat Coki Beach.

 

St. Thomas, Trip #2

This trip, we opted to enjoy Sapphire Beach on our own and shop Havensight at the pier. Despite what everyone at the pier will tell you (and there will lie to you), you can get local transportation for $2 per person in an open-air taxi to Sapphire Beach. Simply walk out of the Havensight pier main gate, cross the street, turn left and walk until you get to the Bus Stop (there is a pullover area) across from K-Mart and cross the street so that you are standing on the K-Mart side of the street. It is a leisurely 10 to 15-minute level walk. When you see an open-air taxi drive up, flag him down, tell him where you wish to go and enjoy the trip. The drive takes about 20 to 30 minutes each way to Sapphire Beach depending upon traffic. Pay upon exiting the taxi. If you are going to Sapphire Beach, you will be dropped off at the entrance to the Sapphire Beach hotels which is at the top of a hill. A short 5-minute walk will get you on the beach. Sapphire Beach is a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of shade trees and awesome views of several nearby islands including St. John. The snorkeling is good. We saw several schools of fish (previously unknown to us), an eel, and a small stingray. Unpadded beach lounge chairs are $5 each if you want to rent one, or free if you just occupy one of the many chairs abandoned by their previous inhabitants. A dive shop, bar and grill, and restrooms are available. Some water sports are also available. Pick up the taxi again where it dropped you off.

 

Here are our Secrets of the Caribbean!

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

These are our very detailed personal reviews, hints, and tips for ports of call that you will be visiting.

[CaribbeanBound]

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, Trip #1

St. Thomas is a major shopping destination. A large number of passengers bought digital cameras at this stop. We privately arranged for an island tour with Godfrey's Tour, now $25 per person (plus tip). He picked us up at the ship at 10:00 am and dropped us off downtown. At noon he picked us up for a 2-hour island tour and dropped us off at Coki beach (no beach charge) from 2pm to 4pm. We would have preferred Meagan's Bay ($3 per person), but the majority of our tour mates brought their snorkel gear and were set on Coki Beach with the clearer water and more abundant fish. The downside of Coki is that it is a small, crowded, relatively unattractive stretch of sand maybe 25% as long as the considerably less crowded, more picturesque, Meagan's Bay. $20 will get you 2 beach lounge chairs (unpadded) and a very large umbrellaat Coki Beach.

 

St. Thomas, Trip #2

This trip, we opted to enjoy Sapphire Beach on our own and shop Havensight at the pier. Despite what everyone at the pier will tell you (and there will lie to you), you can get local transportation for $2 per person in an open-air taxi to Sapphire Beach. Simply walk out of the Havensight pier main gate, cross the street, turn left and walk until you get to the Bus Stop (there is a pullover area) across from K-Mart and cross the street so that you are standing on the K-Mart side of the street. It is a leisurely 10 to 15-minute level walk. When you see an open-air taxi drive up, flag him down, tell him where you wish to go and enjoy the trip. The drive takes about 20 to 30 minutes each way to Sapphire Beach depending upon traffic. Pay upon exiting the taxi. If you are going to Sapphire Beach, you will be dropped off at the entrance to the Sapphire Beach hotels which is at the top of a hill. A short 5-minute walk will get you on the beach. Sapphire Beach is a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of shade trees and awesome views of several nearby islands including St. John. The snorkeling is good. We saw several schools of fish (previously unknown to us), an eel, and a small stingray. Unpadded beach lounge chairs are $5 each if you want to rent one, or free if you just occupy one of the many chairs abandoned by their previous inhabitants. A dive shop, bar and grill, and restrooms are available. Some water sports are also available. Pick up the taxi again where it dropped you off.

 

Here are our Secrets of the Caribbean!

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

These are our very detailed personal reviews, hints, and tips for ports of call that you will be visiting.

[matgeek]

Don't forget about Ride the View to Paradise Point... A tram car ride to the top of a mountain, with an amazing tropical bird show, nature trail and of course the legendary Bushwacker! You'll really have to go and have one yourself, I just couldn't explain them to you :) It was quite cheap to ride up and down, and the view was unbelievable! Don't believe the cabby when he tells you it's not worth it!

 

Check it out, it's right across from the cruise ship dock.

http://www.ridetheview.com/

 

Hope you have a great time, I know I did.

 

Regards,

Mat

[imatarb]

Is this something we can just walk up to when we get off the ship in St. Thomas? It looks GREAT! I know our 8-yr old son would love it. :)

[The Islander]

Hello imatarb,

 

The tramride is just accross the street from Havensight dock/shopping area. So if you are docked there, then yes you can walk to the office/starting point.

 

--Islander

*****

[LimeNoSalt]

My DH, myself and our almost 8-yr. old son will be traveling to St. Thomas aboard the Voyager in a few weeks.

 

I've already snorkled at Trunk Bay, but I'm looking for a few family-friendly ideas for another excursion. Snorkling is still an option, but what else do you all recommend?

 

Thanks!

 

We just got off the Noordam last week and we did an excursion with ONDECK ocean racing,www.ondeckoceanracing.com. It was an excursion offered thru our ship for a sailboat race.

If you dock in Havensight their building is right there.

 

They take you on a 40 foot sailboat and you can participate in working the sailboat or you can sit back and relax.At some point you even get to steer the boat.

It was alot of fun our boat raced a group from Carnival and of course we won:D yeah

[Sgt. Jeff]

I would recommend that you call Henry Christopher..He does tours in St. Thomas very reasonable and you get him ALL DAY...He is a retired police officer and is now a pastor. We used him in September and enjoyed it greatly. We shopped, ate, swam, etc at our leisure!! I ahve his info if anybody wants it...e-mail me... jsbenton1@yahoo.som Being a policeofficer here in South Carolina, I wanted someone I could trust and show my kids a great time!! We were very happy!:)