I'm probably one of the few people who has done this excursion, since I get the feeling it's one of the least popular ones out there. When we went to book it (the day before the excursion) the CM laughed at us when we approached it with the "we hope there is still room since we are booking so late" attitude.
Anyway, I was very interested in it because I am doing my masters in architecture with a masters certificate in historic preservation, so I was really curious what things were like on St. Thomas. We thought the tour was nice. You get on a van and drive around a little, basically up to the highest elevation of the tour and then you walk downhill. Our tour guide was knowledgeable about the history of the island as well as individual sites. From the highest vantage point you can see most of the island and that's where you get a bunch of the general history stuff. We also saw bluebeard's castle and what is basically a reconstruction of an early colonial house (i was a little disappointed that it was a reconstruction though), as well as the outsides of some private homes that are historical landmarks. At the end you are dropped off in the little downtown shopping area and have either a half hour or an hour to shop (which is enough) and then you can get back on the van to the ship or you can choose to stay longer and get your own transport back (taxi).
If you are interested in historic buildings, I HIGHLY recommend the synagogue at St. Thomas. It is NOT part of the tour but our tour guide recommended seeing it on our own and we were glad that we did. It's a fabulous building with an interesting history and it's still in use, but no one was there when we visited except the gift shop attendant.
I hope that helps! We thought it was worth the $19 that we paid for it and it was a lovely way to spend a beautiful morning.
Lisa
