A Question about St Johns

[TheBeachBears]

This may be a dumb question.

Why would you go to St. Johns? This is my first visit to St. Thomas and it looks like there is plenty to do there. Is there something there that is worth the ferry ride that a first timer cannot find on St. Thomas?

I am sure both islands are wonderful, I was just wondering.

[MiniMom57]

If this is your first time in St. Thomas, by all means stay on St. Thomas! there is a lot to see and do, and the island is beautiful. On our first stop in St. Thomas, we did an island tour excursion. The second time we went to Megan's Bay. The third time, we went to Trunk Bay on St. John.

[cleob]

We've only been to St. Thomas once before. We opted to take a tour and go to St. John's instead. We took an amazing island tour booked through RCCL, our tour guide was Wesley and he was a riot. We spent a couple of hours at Trunk Bay Beach which is the most beautiful island we've ever seen.

[eellsinoc]

We will be in St. Thomas in June and it will be our first time. We are planning on heading over to St. John and spending the day there.

 

The main reason is the natural beauty. Some friends cruised there in January and did not enjoy St. Thomas. We also have some friends who have been to St. John before and they say it has some of the most beautiful beaches you will ever see.

 

I guess I will be able to post my own opinion when we get back - I hope we are making the right choice!

[PABirder]

We will be in St. Thomas in June and it will be our first time. We are planning on heading over to St. John and spending the day there.

 

The main reason is the natural beauty. Some friends cruised there in January and did not enjoy St. Thomas. We also have some friends who have been to St. John before and they say it has some of the most beautiful beaches you will ever see.

 

I guess I will be able to post my own opinion when we get back - I hope we are making the right choice!

 

 

I have been to St. John twice in the past 5 years and would go back again in a heartbeat! Beautiful beaches, great snorkeling, park trails for hiking, and some good restaurants to boot.

[jmo1]

St. Thomas has a lot of people. It is like a big hustling bustling city. St. John, on the other hand is quiet, relaxing with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It takes time to taxi and ferry to St. John on a one day stop at St. Thomas. On three prior visits to St. Thomas on cruises, we went to St. John once. We fell in love with it. We are going back later this year for a multi-day visit to St. John staying at the magnificent Gallows Point Resort. http://www.gallowspointresort.com/. I can't wait!:)

[alphakitty]

I've only been to St. Thomas once and the first thing we did was get on a ferry over to St. John. (BTW...it's not St. John's...no S...St. John's is the Capitol of Antigua or a city in Newfoundland Canada...the islanders will let ya know too. :))

 

I went for the quiet, natural beauty and beaches for snorkeling and it didn't disappoint! We got back to St. Thomas early enough to explore some of the shops, etc. If I went to St. Thomas again, I would probably go back to St. John.

[crusinpeg]

How long is the trip over there? Could one go over fairly early in the morning and still have time to shop in St. Thomas in the afternoon?

[augie]

Our first time in St. Thomas we went downtown and shopped.

 

The second time we did a ship's diving excursion there.

 

The third time we took the ferry to St. John and the minute we got there we fell in love with the place.

 

Once, when we were cruising with a group we rented Jeeps and took them to St. John on the car barge - what a fun day!

 

Now we are finally going to go there for a whole week in October - renting a villa, a jeep, and just doing .....whatever!

 

(I think you have time to head to St. John early and still get back in time to shop on St. Thomas, but you may not want to - and there are some very nice and quaint shops in Cruz Bay on St. John within walking distance of the ferry dock)

[Jeanne B]

Now we are finally going to go there for a whole week in October - renting a villa, a jeep, and just doing .....whatever!

 

We did this last June, it was our first visit to any of the Virgin Islands and it was THE most relaxing vacation ever, better than any cruise or land vacation we'd been on previously. We can't wait to get back, hopefully next summer or the summer of 09. We'll do the same thing we did the first time, a couple of nights on St Thomas and then a week in a villa on St John with a day trip to the British Virgin Islands (we went to the Baths last time which were beautiful but we want to go to Jost Van Dyke on the next trip).

 

Have a great time, October will be here before you know it!!:)

[Oceanwench]

I've been to St. Thomas a number of times -- last cruise I was not looking forward to another visit. Too many jewelry stores -- not that I'm opposed to jewelry! But it gets tiresome.

[The beaches are OK .. nothing special.]

But we took a ferry over to St. John and wow!!! :eek:

I am in love with St. John.

Just a gorgeous island with spectacular beaches.

[belaire916]

If you're stopping in St. Thomas and have the entire day, you have to take the ferry to St. John. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. You'll still have time to do plenty of shopping if you get out there early.

[schnell]

St John is probably the reason we bought a timeshare with Marriott (Frenchmans Cove). St John is just unspoiled beauty when compared to St. Thomas. Don't get me wrong, St. Thomas is gorgeous, but it can be very busy at times. We wanted to be able to stay on St. Thomas for all the shops and restaurants and go to St. John for a couple day trips or daysails. IMO St. John is awesome for a nice relaxing day on one of the deserted beaches or exploring, but we did not want to stay there. There is so much more "stuff" on St. Thomas and that felt more like a good home base for a weeks stay. This november we plan to go to St. John two days and to somewhere in the BVI's one day. We are really looking forward to using our timeshare for the first time this year :cool:

[millieandbill]

We have been to St. Thomas three times. We love it. It is one of the best places to do your shopping at great prices. Linens are very inexpensive and beautiful. Also great prices on watches, electronics, liquor and jewelry, including Mavado watches.

If you like hot sauce look for Gladys"s Rest. They have great food and she makes the hot sauce which is great.

We have also been to St. John's which is a peacefull and beautiful island. The scenery is beautiful and it's great for beaches. If it were my 1st cruise I would stick to St. Thomas. There is an excursion call the " BOB'S " It is a snorkeling trip but also has this underwater scooter deal. They supply head gear like the really old diveing helmets ( a big bubble ) you follow the leader on underwater scooters. It was really great fun.

We always get our liquor in St. Thomas or St. Martin because of the low prices. If you like coconut rum they have a great one that is made on the island. Sorry I forgot the name of it, just ask they will know. It beats Malabu

Rum and is cheaper. Check with your ship as to how much you can bring back, including liquor made on the island (they let you bring more if it's island made. Don't forget Gladys's Hot Sauce

Millie

[kmsu2000]

Beaches in St. Thomas are nice, but none of the beaches in St. Thomas can be compared to St. John (i spent one week there in Nov-2000).

 

70% of St. John Island is run by US National Park service. Most of the beaches in the north side of the island are potected and no hotels and water toys allow (includes truk bay). That why the beaches are so clean and the water is crystal clear and blue. See my pictures here http://www.geocities.com/kmsu2000/caribbean/pr.html

 

If this is your first time in St. Thomas, I suggest you take a early ferry ride to St. John from red Hook (10 minutes taxi ride to red hook, a 20 minites ferry ride to St. John and other 7 minutes taxi ride to truk bay), spent few there. In the afternoon take a ferry back to downtown ST. Thomas (40 minutes ride and will stop right in front the shopping area) do you shopping there. From downtown to the ship terminbal is 25 minutes walk, or take a 5 minutes taxi ride back to the ship. When you return home, you can tell your friends you visited both islands.

[beachchick]

IMO, both choices are good. For anyone who doesn't want to fuss with spending 2 hours (round-trip) to get to Trunk Bay or other parts of St. John, then staying on St. Thomas and enjoying what the island has to offer is a perfect choice. Members report good things about many of the beaches on St. Thomas. We enjoyed the skyride and exploring the top of the "mountain." One of the most beautiful sights on our cruise was the swarms of huge, fantastically colored butterflies flitting around in the lush plants and flowers. Incredible. We didn't shop, but my sister and BIL enjoyed it. (We mostly just strolled near the pier and saw what was there.) My sister and BIL stayed on St. Thomas and took RCI's afternoon kayak/snorkel adventure through the marine preserve. They had an amazing time. (The pix my BIL took of my sister holding a conch and grinning are priceless.) They saw manatee, a boat wreck, and all that the preserve had to offer.

 

My DH and I spent the rest of our day on St. John. Yes, it took some time to get there, but it was gorgeous. We only had time to go to Trunk Bay and wander around Cruz Bay while waiting for our return ferry. The snorkeling was good (not great because it was afternoon by the time we got there and was clouding over somewhat). The open-air taxi made a couple of stops on the way to Trunk Bay, and the sights were stunning. We took the Red Hook ferry over (to get there as fast as possible) and the Charlotte Amalie ferry back (to enjoy the coastline of St. Thomas). We had a wonderful time.

 

We have a few pix of all of us at the end of that day. We're salty and wind-blown with suntanned faces--and enormous grins. So, I'm convinced that you can't go wrong either way with staying on St. Thomas or going to St. John.

 

(Just as an FYI, regardless of which ferry you take, the travel time and cost is about equal to get to St. John.)

 

beachchick

[letsgoplaces]

Our first trip to St. Thomas we went to Megan's Bay( beautiful beach!) and took a tour of the island. We all thought it was gorgeous and loved every minute. We also did the shopping thing and it's true, you can find amazing deals. Our second visit we went to see what St. John is all about. I've been all over the world and honestly, it's the most beautiful place I've ever been to. We are going back for a third trip and once again we will ferry over to St.John. Trunk Bay is jaw dropping gorgeous and so fun to swim in. This is your first time so it's hard to say what the best thing to do would be so I will say this, I am glad we did St. Thomas the first time. It was gorgeous, fun and informative and we are all glad we saw some of this beautiful island. Either island you will have a great great time.