St. Thomas Island Tour

[mickeyfanmom]

Hello-

We have eight of us going on the Jan. 22nd Eastern- 4 adults, 1 DS9, 1 DD7, 1 DD5 1/2 and one DS3 1/2. My question is this-

My friend really wants to do the St. Thomas Island Tour as a group. It doesn't sound that great to me to ride around on a bus for 2.5 hours and visit St. Peter's Great House (what is this?) and I thought that we could see as much from the Paradise Point Tramway as we could from Mountain Top, the highest point on the island.

Has anyone done this with small children? Is it worth the $112 it would cost each family? What is St. Peter's Great House and is it worth it to see?

Any help is GREATLY appreciated, since we want to book our excursions tomorrow. Thanks so much!

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

We did the island tour on our first call in St. Thomas. I enjoyed it, but we didn't have any kids with us, and I don't recall very many on the tour. It was interesting to me to see the island and to kind of get a feel for the place.

St. Peter's Greathouse is an old estate which is now used for weddings, etc. It wasn't horrible, but I could have done without it. They have a website where you might be able to get a better idea:

http://www.greathouse-mountaintop.com/

There were a lot of stops, so it didn't seem like you were sitting on the bus for long periods of time. As I said, I liked it overall, but I find things like this interesting. It's basically a drive around the island with narration.

As far as the views, the tramway and mountain top aren't really comparable. They afford views of two different areas. Mountaintop and St. Peter's face north and east, so the views are of Magens Bay and the BVI. The tramway faces south, so the views are of Charlotte Amalie and the harbor. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other.

 

[mhb]

We just got back from the 10/30 Eastern Cruise and I can't say enough about Godfrey tours.

They are a brother team and have been doing tours for about 6 years. You call the shots. We were a group of 9 and we wanted to do a little shopping, touring and then go over to Coki beach (which is great, a little narrow but the fish are right at knee depth).

You can email him and Godfreyrental.com. Set up what you want to do and he will let you know the cost. It costs us $25.per person, which I though was well worth it.

You can pm me and I will be happy to email you back.

I can't say enough about them.

Michelle

 

[mickeyfan4444]

We are also on the Jan 22nd cruise and are considering Godfrey tours. I sent an e-mail to Godfrey and they responded with a pick up time of 9,10 or 11 a.m. , and that they take you shopping first, then sightseeing next, then a stop at a beach- choose from Magens Bay, Coki Point or Sapphire beach then back to the ship.
Is it true that they will set up a tour different than what is normal? We really want to include the tramway. Also, which beach does everyone suggest? Our group is 3 adults, 2 Grandmas and four kids 14,13,10 & 8 and we would like a beach with some type of shade for the Grandmas. They can't take a lot of sun but, everyone else loves the beach.

Thanks for the help!

Patti

 

[LetsgoDisney!]

We cruised 10/30 Eastern also- we have a 3 1/2 yo so didn't want to plan excursions ahead of time- So when we got off the boat, the taxi's are right by the ship. It cost us $20 each for me and hubby- DS was free. We toured for ~2 1/2 hours and could spend as little or as much time in each stop that we wanted. It didn't include the Great House- It was nice being able to determine ourselves how long we wanted to stay at each place-
HTH-
Donna

 

[alicedisney]

My family and I cruised in August. I had read about Godfrey on the cruisecritic site and took a chance and booked him. We were very pleased. We chose a 9:00 am pick-up, got off to a late start because people from the Glory ship chose to not show up. Godfrey dropped us off downtown, we got in over 2 hours of shopping and then he gave us over 2 hours of touring the island and stopped at 3 different beaches for you to be dropped off at. The last beach stop I think it is Sapphire Beach he stops for 20 minutes. We chose to go back to the ship at that time and were on the ship before 3:00. Just be aware it is not just Disney cruisers. Our tour had a family from the Celebrity ship in port and a few people from the Glory. Including the woman who didn't showed up at 9:00 but joined us downtown for the tour. Her and her husband/boyfriend were late getting back on the jitney at every stop and then preceded to make out during the tour in front of my 12 year-old daughter and 14 year-old son sitting behind them. Due to her being late for every stop we decided not to stay at the beach when they chose to get out knowing that we would probably have a wait for them when Godfrey came to pick everyone up at 4:00.

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Thanks for all of the info. everyone! So just to be sure that I understand correctly, the "Island Tour" offered by Disney is not lead by Godfrey Tours, right?

But a lot of people have toured the island with them (Godfrey Tours) and are very happy with them.

And Lloyd Dobler did go on the Disney excursion and enjoyed it, but didn't see many children on it, right Lloyd?

If anyone else wants to join in, I would love the help. All replies are greatly appreciated on this subject!

 

[dobelover]

Have done the DCL St Thomas Island Tour twice with different family members. I have enjoyed it both times. I would never take little ones on this cause there is not a lot of action or things for them to do.

 

[mhb]

Micheyfanmom: Here's the way it went.
Godfrey did want us to go on one of the tours that they suggested. I did not. This is what I wanted.

Pick-up at 9 am. He was about 10 minutes late. Not a problem. Island Time!!!

Go shopping for about 1 1/2 hrs.

Sightsee for a bit. Tony was very knowledgable about the island. He took us to the Mountain Top and told us about the different islands we saw from up there. This is not the Tram way which he thought was a waste of money. took us to a couple of different places where we could get out and look around.

Then we wanted to go to Coki Beach. I just loved it. Very narrow, some shade, which we sat under. I burn, being a red head. No problem getting loungers. $10 for 2. The fish are right there about knee height in the water. They feed them dog biscuits so they just come around.

Tony picked us up about 2:45. the trip back to the ship was unbelievable. All around the island.

I wanted the Airconditioned van. It was hot and I'm glad we asked for it. It hold about 14 people. We were 9 and the cost was $25.00 per person. We tipped about another $25, bringing the total cost for our family of 5 up to $150. It was worth it for us. Very reliable, very nice. We liked it very much.

Michelle

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Thanks again for all of the info. Please add on if you have any more!