Can we do St.Johns on our own????

[BABYJOSIE98]

What is better??? Should we just book an DCL excursion even though they are expensive??? Has anyone done St.Johns on their own and how would we get there?? I know it is a boat ride away from where we dock?? We have never been to the Eastern Caribbean.

For those of you who had done the St.Johns trip??? Do you get enough beach time to relax?

Thanks for any info!! Geez...I only have 9 months to plan this! LOL

 

[tigger002]

We rented a vehicle at the dock and drove it over to the car ferry. We then had the car to drive most of St. Johns. Everything went smoothly and we had a great time. There is also a poeple ferry you can take a cab from the dock to the ferry. Once in St. John's you can hire another cab to get where you want in St. John's. We never felt we were not safe.

You can try Cruise Critic site under the boards for St. Johns for more info.

 

[jel0511]

I'm sorry, but as a frequent visitor and it's a HUGE pet peeve for myself and residents, it's St. John, not St. John's. St. John's is the capital of Antigua. O.K. now that I've gotten that out of the way...

Getting to St. John isn't really difficult. If you decide to not rent a car, you'll need to take a taxi to the ferry, and then a taxi once you get to St. John to a beach. The entire trip will take about 1 hour if everything works right (from ship to beach on St. John), and up to 2 hours if you just miss ferries, there is traffic, etc. The ferry runs from Red Hook on St. Thomas, every hour on the hour, and the same can be said on the return from St. John. Trunk Bay is the most popular beach on St. John, and it's about a 10 minute taxi ride from the ferry dock. I always recommend those on DCL to leave Trunk Bay around 1:30 to ensure they'll make the 2PM ferry out of Cruz Bay. This way, if there is significant traffic on St. Thomas (and with a lot of ships in, there always is) you'll not have to worry about getting back to the ship. The 3PM ferry can pull into Red Hook around 3:30, it is know to sometimes run on island time, and with traffic, it can take an hour to return to Charlotte Amalie, trust me I've been in it before. Too much headache for an extra hour IMO. If you get off the ship as soon as it's cleared, usually around 8AM, you can easily make the 9AM ferry out of Red Hook. You'll be sunning on the beach in Trunk by 10AM (probably a little before) and then get a good 3 1/2 hours before you should start heading back.

As I've stated, we're frequent visitors to St. John and usually head down about once a year. It is a wonderful laid back place and a beautiful place to see. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

 

[swede63]

We have done ST John's both ways thru an excursion and on our own. I found the excursion to be too rushed not nearly enough time on the island. On our own we had more time to snorkel, swim, and shop over on St John's , we even had time to walk around the shops on St Thomas when we got back. Take a cab ride over the ferry on St Thomas, then a shorter ferry ride over to the island. We then took a cab to Trunk Bay. The cab driver picked us back up when we wanted to be picked up. Best day of the trip! Highly recommended!

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Sorry about the mess up on the name..... Not to familiar with this area!!!
I would like to go on our own....I will do some more research,but I know I want to see St john.

Thanks for the information and I guess the taxi rides are reasonable?

 

[jel0511]

Sorry about the mess up on the name..... Not to familiar with this area!!!
I would like to go on our own....I will do some more research,but I know I want to see St john.

Thanks for the information and I guess the taxi rides are reasonable?

Don't worry about it! It's a common mistake.