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'
