DCL excursion: St. John on your own (ST59) - any recent reviews?

[jenny_nichole]

Here's a description on the DCL excursion:
Start with a narrated boat trip from the pier and continue with free time in the unspoiled island paradise of St. John.

On this adventure you will…

• Board your waiting tour boat at the pier.
• Enjoy a 45-minute sail over to St. John.
• Learn about the islands from your guide, who will be narrating the boat tour.
• Once in St. John, enjoy 2 1/4 hours to do as you please. You will be dropped off right next to Mongoose Junction. Wharfside Village is nearby for shopping and dining opportunities. Taxis are available if you wish to venture to a beach of your choice.
• Meet the tour boat at the designated departure time for a 45-minute sail back to St. Thomas

We've done the D.I.Y version from STT, where we take a cab to Red Hook, ferry over to St. John, and hike to Honeymoon beach twice and loved it.

For our upcoming cruise next February, our port time is from 7-3:15 and that feels pretty tight for doing D.I.Y. So this DCL "St. John on your own excursion" intrigues me. It looks like our time on St. John will still be very limited(2hrs), but we will have the safety of being on a DCL sponsored excursion and the ferry picks up and drops off at the cruise pier(thus eliminating the cab ride & fears of getting stuck in STT traffic).

Has anyone done this excursion? If so, could you please share your thoughts? What time did your excursion start?

Thanks so much,
Jennifer

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We used it to get the ferry because I didn't want to DIY it with my kids.

Ferry leaves from the cruise dock. Gathering is 8:30 in one of the lounges, and we were on St. John by 9:20ish. Had to be back at the pier by noon. They will NOT hold the ferry for you if you're late; they might if one of the groups is late. (Same ferry is used for the Eco Hike and other SJ excursions - everyone rides together.)

Bunch of folks on the ferry did puke, as it's a rough crossing even on a big ferry. But if you've gone from Red Hook before you're aware that it's not the calmest crossing.

 

[jenpink]

We did this last week. We enjoyed the ferry ride. We had time to eat lunch/breakfast and meander around town a bit. It was a pleasant morning.

 

[jenny_nichole]

Thanks auroraborealis and jenpink! Sounds like what we’re looking for. Wish they allowed more time in STJ, but if even when we did cab/ferry on our own, we probably only had that much time as well since we were so conservative with taking an early ferry back. (I think we took the 9am ferry over and 1pm ferry back.)

 

[TN_mom5]

We did this last month and it turned out to be our favorite excursion! We went to Mongoose Junction and had a nice brunch at the Sun Dog Cafe (delicious!) and shopped. It was a gorgeous day so it was nice to casually walk around and enjoy. The boat ride both directions was enjoyable. I heard sitting inside was hot so several people joined us outside. I’d do this excursion again.