Is Trunk Bay excursion TOO crowded?

donald@home

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Joined
Apr 28, 2001
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I am considering doing the St. John Trunk Bay Beach Excursion. I know it is very popular, and it will be crowded, but will it be so crowded I won't enjoy it? Any other opinions of this excursion? How long does it take to get to the beach?

I never knew choosing an excursion could be this stressful!
 
1. Trunk Bay is not all THAT crowded, unless there are several other cruise ships at St. Thomas with you. We felt as if we had practically half the beach to ourselves.

2. It takes about an hour to get there, if you time it just right and get to the ferries just as they leave. Otherwise you wait 30 minutes.

3. All due respect to Disney, DON'T take their excursion to Trunk Bay! If you do, you are herded together with all the other passengers going there, and you are on their timetable. Get there on your own, and relax! You should still plan on this occupying most of your day on St. Thomas. If you want to shop while you're there, think twice about going to Trunk Bay 'cuz you will have to cut short your time at the beach. If you are prepared to spend your whole day at Trunk Bay, do this:

Get off the ship as early as you can, and catch a Taxi to Red Hook.

At Red Hook, get on a ferry (They leave every half-hour on the half-hour) to St. John. Get ready for a fun, bouncy ride!!!

At St. John, get a taxi to Trunk Bay. Your original taxi driver in St. Thomas will probably tell you which taxi to take on St. John, as they work together and split tips, etc. Our driver was "Puff Daddy, the only taxi driver on St. John in a suit"!! :) He was quite nice and very efficient. Still, from ship to beach, it's a fairly time consuming journey.

When your driver drops you off at Trunk Bay, he will set a time with you for return pick-up. Be ready to go at the designated time, and then you simply do the above steps in reverse.

When you purchase ferry tickets, they are round trip, so hang on to 'em. Expect to pay upwards of 30 bucks PER PERSON for your transportation and park entrance. Still, all told, it's no more expensive than DCL's excursions, and you can go at YOUR pace! Just remember, it'll take about an hour to get back to the ship, so give yourself plenty of time. Don't wanna watch the Magic sail away without 'cha, do ya? ;)

I know all this sounds confusing, and it makes the Disney-guided excursion sound so much easier, but believe me, once you're there, it's really pretty simple to figure out. We did it with an 8 and a 10 year old in tow!

Trunk Bay lives up to it's billing as one of the top snorkelling beaches in the world. It's simply beautiful. Plan it right, spend your day there, and you'll never forget it. :) ENJOY !!!!!


'Beano'

:cool:
 
Just to give another opinion. We tol the Disney excursion and felt it was worth the money. We do St Marteen onour own and have done Megan's Bay on our own also but I was uncertain about going to another island. We took the Disney excursion-they taught our kids how to snorkle, gave you the equipment,and you didn't need to carry anything else around.
Also we (the Disney people) were the only ones on the beach so I felt comfortable leaving my camera and stuff on the blanket while we went in the ocean.
I do agree with BeanoC though the time is definitely too short.

Hey BeanoC I like your comment on another post about spending your money-What are we going to do spend it on college.LOL My dds are 6 and 7 and I feel like what I am giving them now is much more benfecial that saving EVERYTHING for school. Don't get me wrong I do save but you do only live once.:D
 
Thanks so much for the information. Now I have a few more questions.

How long does it take to get to the island, and how much time do you get to spend there, if you go with Disney?

How much time can you spend on the island if you go on your own (leaving PLENTY of time to get back to the ship)?

Is there anyone else out there who did this excursion with Disney? Did you wish you went on your own?

Thanks again!

Donald
 

Half the fun was getting to Trunk Bay, a very scenic drive and boat ride. I do not think it was at all crowded. Maybe if more cruise ships are there it would be. The day we were in St. Thomas only the Grand Princess was there with us...smjj
 
We did Trunk Bay on our own. We got a cab right off the ship, he called over to the cabbys in St. John. Had a guy all set to pick us up when we got off the ferry. So the Cabby took us from the ship to the ferry and said he would pick us up at a certain time back there. The cab fare was around $7.00 pp and 1/2 price for kids. The ferry ride was $3.00 rount trip and the cab fare on St. John's was about $6.00 pp and $3.00 pp to get onto the beach at Trunk Bay as it was a State Park. It was less expensive to go on our own and the cab drivers were very reliable an nice too. We had a party of 12 and the took care of all of us on one vehicle.
 
We did this excursion in Oct. 2000. We had been to St. John before & it was a good thing, as you only have about 90 minutes to enjoy the beach when all is said & done- not enough time...

We really felt like cattle being herded onto the boat, off the boat, into canopied taxis & to the beach. When it was time to go, repeat again... We wasted about 30 to 40 minutes as people were moving so slow getting off the ship & on the boat for the excursion.

Trunk Bay is beautiful. I agree with the other posters, do it on your own. It's less stressful, and you will have more time to enjoy this beautiful beach! The Red Hook Ferry is easy. We should have done it on our own - less expensive too!

:)
 
We just came back from the 3/16 Magic cruise. We did the 5 Star St. John Snorkel & Beach Adventure. It was a short boat ride to Trunk Bay and the beach was almost deserted. Had plenty of time to snorkel and they had dingies from the boat to take you over to the beach. We really enjoyed this excursion and would highly recommend it to anyone. We had done the Golden Eagle Catamaran in St. Maarten and enjoyed the ride but felt we did not have very long to snorkel. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks to these boards (I printed out the message and had it with me) we also did the Trunk Bay on our own. When everyone around us started to get ready at 12:00 to leave we asked them who they were with and they said the Magic - same as us - I believe we stayed til 1 or 1:30. We also had Puff Daddy (7/02), they know exactly what they are doing and I felt like a pro after reading it here over and over. My DH was amazed on how much info./tips I had with me. It was a piece of cake.
 
St. John is so great, that it would be a shame to miss it. We have been there twice. Once for a week at Cinnamon Bay campground. Wish I could send you pictures! It is beautiful there. Visitors can go to the campground and spend the day at the beach. They have beach rentals, and it is never busy (even on cruise days). It is the whitest sand and the bluest ocean! The little town when you enter St. John is also a great place to shop for upscale clothing, etc. Mongoose Junction is a great shopping area.
Don't miss this beautiful island... and I agree.... do it on your own!
 
We took the excursion while our "dinner table neighbors" went on their own. They joked, "you may never see us again," but they had much more time. The price is comparable but you get at least an extra hour or so going on your own.

My kids didn't take to snorkling, so my husband and I took quick turns. While my husband was going a guy came 'round from the excursion wanting to pick up all our gear and said we needed to be ready to leave in 5 minutes. The photographer had just said 40 more minutes - so I gave him my kids stuff and kept mine. Sure enough, I had time to snorkle - I guess they just want to be sure they leave on time. I would definitely do it on my own next time. Although the beach is beautiful, I have seen better snorkling other places. It probably varies with currents and weather. We did not really feel like we had any time to relax there, but the boys enjoyed the beach very much.

If you don't have children the boat ride is at times like a tour. That part is interesting, but the kids didn't pay much attention at their age. No one seemed to like the free punch much.

Upsides to the morning tour were that there are no transportation concerns, and we were back to the ship for R&R afterwards. The kids really did seem to like the ship better than all beaches anyway!

Another small advantage to doing your own thing is that when you return to the ship you are less likely to stand in a long boarding line than when you are with a big group. Hey - I want every second I can get to be fun! Have a great time either way!!
 
You guys are the greatest. Thanks for all of your suggestions. We are doing St. John on our own!!! Wish us luck.

Look for my next post with questions about St. Maarten excursions, coming soon!
 
"Trunk Bay lives up to it's billing as one of the top snorkelling beaches in the world. It's simply beautiful. "

Strongly disagree. Yes, the beach is pretty, but the snorkeling is C+/B- at best - Why? Sadly, The reefs have been beaten up by too many snorkeling 101 types. There are much better places on St. John to snorkel if you are experienced and want something good.
 
Trunk Bay is too overused. Visit St. John, maybe visit Trunk Bay (early) just to see it, but go up that entire coast line and see all the other beautiful beaches. You will not regret it.
 
We just came back from the 3/23 Magic cruise. We had the Trunk Bay excursion booked but cancelled it and decided to do it on our own. It was wonderful. We were off the ship by 8:30 and on the 9:00 ferry. Hermina( our taxi driver) called ahead and PUFF DADDY meet us at the dock. we were on the beach by 10:00. we watched the excursion from the Magic come and go while we were still enjoying the day. Puff picked us up at 2:30 and called Hermina to meet us as we were on the 3:00 ferry. We were on ship before 4:00 and the all aboard is at 4:30. Piece of cake.:pinkbounc
 

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