Question about St. John

[MissDisneyTeach]

Just wondering if anyone has gone to St. John "on their own"? We want to go over to Trunk Bay (heard it is beautiful), but we don't want to do the 5 hour trip, because we want time to look around St. Thomas, too. (and my friend's DD9 could go back to ship while we shopped in St. Thomas.)

In the PassPorter's Field Guide to the DCL, they mention a faster and cheaper ferry from Red Hook (eastern end of St. T), that you have to take a taxi to. Has anyone ever done this?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Alex]

I haven't heard of that.. but we did the excursion a few weeks ago and still had hours to look around St. Thomas

 

[Shanno66]

Hello!

My husband and I did this trip on our own in Oct of 2002. If I ever did it again----I would definately do it on our own again

First of all, it was cheaper! Best of all, we beat all of the crowds and got to the beach way before all of the "excursion" peeps got there.

It wasn't confusing or hard to do. I figured out the sch. of the fairies (That sp can't be right! )-----I went to find the link so I could paste it for you but somehow have misplaced it.

We were the first of the ship, got on a taxi, went ot Redhook wehre we got on the fairie (!!!!) then, on St. John jumped on another taxi. Viola----Trunk Bay. There are showers there, snorkel rental, food and drinks (not extensive on the food). We had a great time and there were plenty of taxis waithing to take us back. We also had plenty of time to have lunch and shop in St. Thomas.

If you go to Cruisecritic.com, then PORTS and ST JOHN---you will get plenty of info on "doing St John on your own". If you still need that link to the sch. of the fairies (yike) post again and I will search for it. There should be a link off of the Cruise critic port board of St Thomas. IT is USVI something. Sorry this post seems so erratic. My \puter is acting really weird and I can't see what I am typing until 25 seconds or so after I type

Good luck and post again if you need more info
Shanno

 

[MissDisneyTeach]

Alex and Shanno,
Thanks for your help!

Shanno,
do you remember how long the ferry ride was?

 

[Alex]

Shanno...that wouldn't have worked on our cruise. We tendered in and the boat to St. John picked us up at the Disney Magic long before anyone was allowed to tender in.

 

[penguins_fan]

We also did St John on our own - very easy, took cab to Red hook, about 15 min drive and about $3pp. The took 9am ferry, also about$3pp to St John - lots of cabs at dock. We went past Trunk to the next beach, Cinnamon Bay, about a 10 min drive, very scenic - great beach photos from the hills overlooking on the drive. The beach was practically empty, small concession rented snorkel gear, floats and had snacks/drinks - also had a small restaurant just off the beach, part of the nat'l park campground. We took the longer ferry back, the Charlotte Amalie - it left St John at 2:15 (the last one to get you back in time) and dropped us off right in the middle of town at about 3pm. While I think 4:30 was the deadline to be back on board, the traffic on both occassions that we've been in St Thomas was very bad at this time of day - it took close to an hour for what should have been a ten minute cab ride back to the ship. Based on that, I think it would be tough to do both St John & allow shopping time unless you cut St John short (and its already too short! DCL should try to lengthen the stay there). St. John was a real highlight - the shopping in St Thomas looked pretty much the same as St Maarten, Nassau etc. - would be a shame to miss St John for it IMHO. Enjoy!

 

[CRB#33]

Alex, I know you probably posted this, but what St. John excursion did you do?

Thanks

 

[jel0511]

I've never done St. john on your own off a ship, but have been to St. John many times for vacations. It will be tough to go over to St. John and really enjoy the beach and have time for shopping on St. Thomas IMO. If you can catch the 9AM ferry out of Red Hook, you'll be on St. John around 9:30 after disembarking the ferry. The rides to the beaches from the ferry dock on St. John are around 10 minutes, so you'll be on a beach around 9:45 or so. To only stay for a couple of hours, won't do St. John justice, since it's such a beautifual island. I love it there and it's now the only Caribbean Island we'll go to. Even if you decide to head back to St. Thomas early, you'll probably not make it back to a ferry before 12 PM (and that would be rushing it), and the ferry's to Red Hook only run every hour on the hour, with the Charlotte Amalie ferry running less frequent, but a longer 45 minute ride, than the 20 minutes from Cruz Bay. Here are the return times for the Charlotte Amalie ferry 11:15 am, 1:15 PM, 2:15 PM, 3:45 PM. It is true that traffic is a complete disaster on St. Thomas when there are many ships in port, I actually avoid St. Thomas like the plague, except for getting to/from the airport. So, getting over won't take that long, but getting back can, unless you decide to take the Charlotte Amalie ferry and walk back, but that's a VERY lenghtly walk, and there aren't sidewalks for some of that trip. If you can catch the 1PM ferry, figure on getting back to Havensight around 2:15 or 2:30, which would give you some shopping there, but not in downtown.

 

[MissDisneyTeach]

Thanks for all of your opinions! I appreciate your help!

We called this morning and booked our excursions... St. Martin-Dolphin Encounter, and we went ahead and booked the Trunk Bay Snorkeling. The lady at the reservation place said it was better to go ahead and book it, and then cancel later if we changed our mind. Too many decisions to make!

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Alex]

The first one on the list I think it's the 5 star?

 

[IrishCowboy]

During our last Magic cruise back in May 2003, we rented a jeep from Budget ($60). We made the 9:00 Red Hook ferry ($32 roundtrip) and had plenty of time to explore the island and different beaches.

We packed a picnic lunch and had a wonderful time! It was nice to have the freedom to travel around the island and find your own beach. Past Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay we found a beautiful beach and had it all to ourselves. I think it might have been Maho Beach. You could park within 10 yards of the water's edge...it was paradise!

 

[mickeyboat]

Did you rent the jeep in St. Thomas? Where? Did you reserve it ahead of time? Was the Red Hook Ferry a car ferry as well (I can't remember)? I was thinking about renting a jeep once we got off the ferry in Cruz Bay. Maybe we will just play it by ear. We have small kids and I don't want to overplan anything because kids are so unpredictable. We are not doing any excursions and plan to go to St. John on our own. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there and can't wait to see it again with our kids.

Have a great time!

Denae

 

[Jiffymom]

If this is your first time I would do the tour. That is what we did. But if you are lucky to go back like we have been. Then you will feel comfortable to go on your own like we do now. Do which ever just don't miss St Johns. It's beautiful.

 

[IrishCowboy]

We rented a Jeep from Budget right where the Magic docks. Its just on the other side of the Havensight shops...maybe 300-400 yards from the ship. We reserved ahead of time on their website. I'll look and see if I can find the link and post it.

Have a great cruise!

 

[IrishCowboy]

http://www.budgetstt.com/html/havensight.html

 

[Alex]

Just curious Irishcowboy, do you know how often that ferry runs? On our cruise I very much doubt you could have made a 9am ferry.

 

[jinx]

I've also done the car rental and taken the car barge to St. John's. I highly recommend it for the freedom it allows. Here is a link to the ferry schedules:
http://vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

vinow.com is a great site and has a lot of useful information.

 

[Alex]

Yikes, that wouldn't have worked for us, we wouldn't be able to get a car ferry till 11!!!

 

[jinx]

Alex. We made the 9 am ferry this past june and we docked at 8 am on st. thomas. we didn't have our rental car until 8:40 and still made the car barge. If everything goes as planned, you would be able to make it, but there is a little wriggle room. Try to get there one way on another, you won't regret it.

 

[Alex]

The problem is we didn't dock jinx, we had to tender in. We did the Disney excursion and the boat to St. John picked us up right at the Magic and went directly to St. John.
At the time we left, about 8:30 there wasn't even a tender to St. Thomas at the Magic yet so I can't imagine they got to the dock much before 8:45