Opinion on St. John Eco Hike ?

[Barefoot Princess]

Has anyone done this excursion, and would you recommend it? We're going on Fantasy leaving 12/31/2016 with my husband, 10Yr old son, 8Yr old daughter and my mom. Mom is pretty active for a 71 year old - lives in a big city in Asia so she walks a lot everyday with stairs and hills, while holding groceries.

It looks like a beautiful hike, and was wondering if it was worth it. And where would we get lunch? I assume we can eat somewhere on St. John's...?

thank you!

 

[jenpink]

We did this hike a couple years ago. It was nice but not very strenuous. I think it ended at the beach where there was a store where we bought snacks. It was ok, but I don't know that I would do it again.

 

[okamy]

We did the hike on our NYE cruise at the end of 2014 (you will love spending NYE on the Fantasy, by the way -- our best NYE ever!). At the time, our daughters were ages 10 and 8. I didn't think the hike was strenuous at all, though my husband and I still laugh about our then-8-year-old's constant grumbling during the hike ("Nobody asked me if I wanted to go on this hike!" "Who signed us up for this?" Etc.). Our 10-year-old made it with no complaints.

Although we thought St. John was gorgeous, the clear highlight was Honeymoon Beach, and we just didn't have enough time there. The ferry ride over from St. Thomas was really quite miserable (very rough seas - several sick passengers). It took a little while after we got to St. John to even start to feel okay again. Much of the hike is walking in the rain forest with no real views of the ocean and not much in the way of wildlife. When we finally got to Honeymoon Beach -- which was breathtaking -- I think we only had 20-30 minutes there. There was a snack bar, and I spent basically my whole time at the beach waiting to order and then waiting for the girls' smoothies to be ready. This was clearly not the way I wanted to spend my 30 minutes in paradise!

It was an okay excursion, but I don't think I'd recommend it unless there is just nothing else that appeals to you. If you do the excursion, be sure to pack snacks, because you won't have a chance to eat a real lunch.

 

[Barefoot Princess]

Thank you so much! Yes, we are absolutely thrilled to welcome the New Year on Fantasy

The photos made it look so lovely, but I wasn't sure if we should just go to the beach instead.

 

[GarakDS9]

We have done this hike twice now. We obviously enjoy it but I agree with many of the previous comments as well. The hike is not strenuous. We actually loved the jungle portion of the hike without ocean views because we were watching birds and the guide educated us on local flora. Honeymoon Beach is gorgeous but we are only there for 30-40 minutes so don't waste time trying to eat. We waited until we returned to the ship. After the beach time the guide continued the hike through an old colonial era complex and then to a taxi truck for the ride back to the ferry. There was no time to eat after the hike on St. John.

Lastly, if you search these boards, I remember an excellent thread describing step by step directions of doing St. John on your own. That may be a choice for more beach time.

I'll also say that New Year on the fantasy was amazing.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We did this hike a few years ago. Think the kids were 12 and 10. Not hard at all. Will agree with others that the stop at Honeymoon beach is the highlight and we wished we had more time there. We did swim there and it was awesome. Ferry ride over was pretty rough and some were sick. Not much time to eat, but there was a hot dog stand that we got lunch for the kids at the place we caught the ferry. Some from our trip hit up Margarita Phil's, not sure if it is still there, but ended up bringing their lunch on the ferry ride home. I absolutely love St. John. Next time I would try to do own our own and have beach time only w/o the hike.

 

[melwill530]

You can catch a ferry to St. John on your own and catch the bus or a taxi rather inexpensively when you get there. If you like to snorkel, go to Waterlemon and snorkel around the rocks there. Everyone goes to Trunk Bay but it tends to be crowded. Waterlemon doesn't have amenities like Trunk (bathrooms, changing rooms, snacks) the ocean life is so much more beautiful. Big elkhorn, staghorn, and brain coral. Also the Annaberg Sugar Plantation is nearby and it is very interesting. Do some research. The island is small and very easy to tour on your own. Car rentals for the day are not very expensive. We did the above hike on our own through the park service years ago but there was no snack shack on the beach. When we did it you stopped at the waterfalls and ate lunch with the park ranger while they told about the Petroglyphs. Very interesting. Shipwreck Landing is a great place to eat, but there are several good places to eat on the island.