St thomas- excusion on own or disney?

[herrbeeb]

our group (9) vetoed the trip to st john (transportation too long) so i switched to plan b. we didn't have an excursion planned. we went shopping in the am. the shoppng in st thomas is much better than st maarten. we hired an open air taxi for the afternoon. the driver met us promptly in charlotte amalie at 11:30. he returned us to the magic for bathing suits and lunch. after lunch we proceed to sapphire beach and swam for about 2 hours. the beach was beautiful and there were plenty of distractions for non-beach people, shops, food, wildlife, etc. after swimming our driver, jose, gave us a tour of the island complete with his version of the island's history and points of interest. we returned to the ship on time and it was a very good day although i was disappointed about st john. the cost was $20 pp, significantly cheaper than a shore excursion.

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

What beaches in St. Thomas have umbrellas? I enjoy a beach way more when I have some shade to get away from the hot sun.

 

[Cabin8538]

Mom2missmous - How did you know that the excursion now goes to Magen's Beach? The online Shore Excursion still says Sapphire Beach and includes lunch.

 

[cruisenewbie2004]

Originally posted by herrbeeb
we hired an open air taxi for the afternoon. the driver met us promptly in charlotte amalie at 11:30. he returned us to the magic for bathing suits and lunch. after lunch we proceed to sapphire beach and swam for about 2 hours.

I guess I'm surprised people go back and get on the boat to eat, change etc. For some reason I think this would take a long time to do and kill most of the time in port. I take it this is possible?

We are not big beach people but 2 hours would be plenty. I kind of like the idea of doing a morning time beach, going back for lunch, and then changing and walking around shopping. This would be fine. I cannot snorkel or take a catamaran or other boat because I suffer terrible motion sickness on little boats.

How far is the shopping from the port?

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

cruisenewbie2004,

You can walk to the shopping area from the port. We will probably do the beach thing first too (on our own ~ no excursion) and then go back to the ship to change and go shopping. I can't wait to go back to St. Thomas! It's a very beautiful place.

 

[TinkHappy]

I know we went back to the Magic to bring the kids to the kids clubs (they didn't want to shop with us) and we just grabbed a bite to eat while we were there. It worked out great for us and we still had time to SHOP!!! (oh boy, did I shop )

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by cruisenewbie2004
I guess I'm surprised people go back and get on the boat to eat, change etc. For some reason I think this would take a long time to do and kill most of the time in port. I take it this is possible?

We are not big beach people but 2 hours would be plenty. I kind of like the idea of doing a morning time beach, going back for lunch, and then changing and walking around shopping. This would be fine. I cannot snorkel or take a catamaran or other boat because I suffer terrible motion sickness on little boats.

How far is the shopping from the port?

We returned to the ship to pick up my wife and have lunch after our morning submarine excursion - no trouble at all. Havensight Mall is right at the pier, but the main shopping area is in the Downtown area which is a long walk or short taxi ride away. We anchored in the bay when we were there so the tender dropped off and picked up right in the heart of the shopping area.

 

[spamama]

We just got back and did not do an excursion. We took a cab to Coki beach first thing am, came back for lunch and quick shower, and then did shopping, mostly at Havensight Mall. If you do the shopping first, beach second, you run the risk of running into traffic getting back to Charlotte Amalie.

Coki was nice, but not near as beautiful as Dawn beach in St Maarten. Its in a cove, so no waves, and rocky entrance, not nice sand. Crowded. But, good snorkeling, and you can rent the equipment, (and scuba stuff), chairs, umbrellas, etc. Bathrooms, shower, snacks, etc. We were too tired to go to Coral World (early immigration did us in) so cant comment on that, but we had intended to go there, thats one of the reasons we chose the beach over Magens. Never been to Magens or Sapphire, so cant compare, but will probably try Magens next time. Magens is actually I think a shorter drive from town then Coki is if you are worried about the time element.