Tortola & St. John Excursions - Anyone do this on your own?

[AnnieFD]

Hi Everyone!

We are headed to the Eastern Caribbean June 4th and I am so excited! As you know, a DCL cruise is pricey - but worth it. We are, however, looking to save $$$ on excursions.

I am wondering what people have done outside of DCL excursions that were great experiences - but also a bit of a cost saver.

For example, on Tortola - did anyone go to the Baths by Ferry?
On St. John - did anyone head to the beach on their own?

I understand the importance of being back to ship with plenty of time to spare - that said, what are your experiences or opinions? I'd love to know!

I am 41 and traveling with my 44 yr old husband and 8 year old daughter. All in good health without physical limitations but no real desire to do anything non-relaxing

 

[jrez]

We just got off the Fantasy yesterday after an Eastern cruise. My wife and I and our 8 year old daughter and 5 year old son.

In Tortola we browsed the shops and then got on a 2 hour island tour (this one did not include a beach break.) It was $20 for the adults and $10 for the kids. We paid $80 with tips. We left around 11:30 and got back around 1:30. We had no issue with time since our port time was extended to 10:45 pm due to maintenance. It was a nice tour with some great views. We went to Cane Garden Bay Beach for about 20 minutes and a rum distillery amongst our stops.

In St Thomas we paid $40 for a ride to Magen's Bay beach. We went pretty early as we wanted to beat the crowds which we definitely did. It cost us $5/adult for entry to the beach. The beach was awesome and I thought the facilities were pretty decent...better than Cane Gardens Bay. We hung out there until lunch and then took another cab back for $40. The cab ride had some great views and the driver would slow down and pull over so we could get some pictures. This same excursion would through Disney would have cost us almost $200 and we would not have been on our own time schedule. We went back to the boat for lunch and left our son in Oceaneers Club while the rest of us took the skyride up to Paradise Point. We did book this through Disney and it appeared the cost through Disney was close to or the same price as doing this independently. The walk to the Paradise Point skyride was about 10 minutes. It was a fun ride and a great place to hang out at the top.

 

[squirk]

Hi Everyone!

We are headed to the Eastern Caribbean June 4th and I am so excited! As you know, a DCL cruise is pricey - but worth it. We are, however, looking to save $$$ on excursions.

I am wondering what people have done outside of DCL excursions that were great experiences - but also a bit of a cost saver.

For example, on Tortola - did anyone go to the Baths by Ferry?
On St. John - did anyone head to the beach on their own?

I understand the importance of being back to ship with plenty of time to spare - that said, what are your experiences or opinions? I'd love to know!

I am 41 and traveling with my 44 yr old husband and 8 year old daughter. All in good health without physical limitations but no real desire to do anything non-relaxing

We always go to Trunk Bay on our own. We find that if we get off the ship ASAP in the morning, taxi to Red Hook, grab the ferry, and then a jitney at Cruz Bay to TB, we usually arrive a good hour before any tour group. The beach is very sparsely populated, with plenty of time to pick an ideal spot to set up camp.

And even when the DCL tour shows up, the beach is still not that crowded, especially vs. Magens Bay, which by comparison is a madhouse.

IIRC, you're looking at a $24pp round-trip from the port to Red Hook. Another ~$30pp round-trip from Red Hook to Cruz Bay, and then $12pp round-trip from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay. There's some nominal fee to get into the state park, so let's say that for adults, it's $75 all-in. Your daughter would only be $6 for the ferry and I think she's free for state park admission; however, while the cab drivers might cut you a break on her fare, I would not count on it. So, maybe $45 for her all-in. I did not factor tips into those prices, though.

Hope that helps.

 

[swimfin]

Hi Everyone!

We are headed to the Eastern Caribbean June 4th and I am so excited! As you know, a DCL cruise is pricey - but worth it. We are, however, looking to save $$$ on excursions.

I am wondering what people have done outside of DCL excursions that were great experiences - but also a bit of a cost saver.

For example, on Tortola - did anyone go to the Baths by Ferry?
On St. John - did anyone head to the beach on their own?

I understand the importance of being back to ship with plenty of time to spare - that said, what are your experiences or opinions? I'd love to know!

I am 41 and traveling with my 44 yr old husband and 8 year old daughter. All in good health without physical limitations but no real desire to do anything non-relaxing

We are headed on an Eastern Fantasy as well and have booked our Tortola day through Aristocats. We are headed to St. John on our own. To get to St. John, we will take a taxi on St. Thomas to Red Hook then ferry over to Cruz Bay on St. John. (We got all our ferry info from http://www.vinow.com/travel/virgin-islands-ferry-schedules/) ENJOY! Your trip!

 

[jdrobinson06]

Very interested to see how your adventures go. I have been looking into doing this also after reading a few people have. We really want to visit the baths but the ferry is our only option because our DH is under the minimum age for the Disney sponsored excursion....Please post back with feedback if you decide to do it!

 

[squirk]

Also, bring enough cash to cover every leg of the trip.

There might be the rare exception of a cab driver who uses Square, but 99% of them take only cash.

The Red Hook ferry counter can accept cards, but the last time I was there, the credit card machine was out that day. From what I've read, this is not an uncommon occurrence. There is a bank with an ATM across the street from the terminal if you find yourself in a crunch, but it's probably better to just plan to bring enough cash to cover the whole trip.

 

[swimfin]

Also, bring enough cash to cover every leg of the trip.

There might be the rare exception of a cab driver who uses Square, but 99% of them take only cash.

The Red Hook ferry counter can accept cards, but the last time I was there, the credit card machine was out that day. From what I've read, this is not an uncommon occurrence. There is a bank with an ATM across the street from the terminal if you find yourself in a crunch, but it's probably better to just plan to bring enough cash to cover the whole trip.

Yep! Thanks for the reminder! We are planning to have cash on us for Tortola and St. Johns! Cheers!

 

[kimberlyelayne]

We are on this cruise with you too. We will be going to Coki beach on our own at St Thomas. We did it last time a loved it so much we are doing it again. The only cost is the cab ride. However we did rent snorkel gear at the beach as well. There are tons of fish. You can check out lots of videos on you tube.

 

[luxlvr]

I lived in St. John for about a year and as long as you get to Red Hook ASAP you should be good to get over to St John with plenty of time to hit up som beaches, shop a little and enjoy a rum punch. Maho Bay is on the opposite side of the island and has the best most serene beaches. It's in the protected area so there's very little in the way of people and buildings. It all depends on what you're looking for. The main square right off the ferry is pretty and has some amazing local fare. Enjoy!!

 

[swimfin]

I lived in St. John for about a year and as long as you get to Red Hook ASAP you should be good to get over to St John with plenty of time to hit up som beaches, shop a little and enjoy a rum punch. Maho Bay is on the opposite side of the island and has the best most serene beaches. It's in the protected area so there's very little in the way of people and buildings. It all depends on what you're looking for. The main square right off the ferry is pretty and has some amazing local fare. Enjoy!!

Wow!!! Excellent information! THANK YOU! My son will be getting his National Park Jr. Ranger badge first and then we were hoping to explore a bit if we have time! Truly appreciate your insight! Cheers!

 

[AnnieFD]

Hi Everyone!

So here is how it all went down:
Tortola: We walked off the ship into the "downtown" area and walked over to the taxis (about a 3-5 min walk, no biggie, follow the signs). We told them we wanted to go to Cane Garden Bay. We were escorted to a multi passenger van with another family who was also going there. The cost was $8 per person there and $8 back. The taxi driver also dropped us right at the beach by a restaurant and the woman running it rented us two beach lounge chairs and an umbrella for $15. We all agreed upon a pickup time (2.5 hours later) and sure enough - our driver was there to get us as promised (I kept hearing they did this and I didn't believe it, but they did!). The total trip cost our family of three $63.00. The same excursion through Disney (Island drive and beach break) would have cost $128 ($42 per person so) this was a HUGE savings. Now, I'm not sure exactly what the island drive would have entailed but given the size of the island and the drive we took to get from the port to Cane Garden Bay, I'd imagine it was basically the same thing. We were thrilled and had the best day of our trip on Tortola at Cane Garden Bay.

St. Johns: The exact same scenario played out to get to Magens Bay. The same driver who dropped us there picked us up at an agreed upon time. (This is mandated by the beach - the driver who drops you must pick you back up...and they watch!) The cost was also $8 each way per person plus an additional $5 per person entrance fee to the beach (kids under 12 free). Another huge savings over the cruise excursions simply by arranging your own cab.

Now I kept hearing that we needed to be careful and we could miss the ship. I've got to be honest - I have absolutely no idea how this could happen, especially if you go out in the morning like we did and got to the beach by about 10am. We had plenty of swim time by about 12 - 1pm and had no issues with out drivers. Had something happened with our driver at either island, there were always plenty of cabs to be found. If all you want to do is hang out at a glorious beach and see a bit of the island, I highly recommend going this route

Annie

 

[AnnieFD]

Very interested to see how your adventures go. I have been looking into doing this also after reading a few people have. We really want to visit the baths but the ferry is our only option because our DH is under the minimum age for the Disney sponsored excursion....Please post back with feedback if you decide to do it!

See my updated post above!

 

[engle]

We are on this cruise with you too. We will be going to Coki beach on our own at St Thomas. We did it last time a loved it so much we are doing it again. The only cost is the cab ride. However we did rent snorkel gear at the beach as well. There are tons of fish. You can check out lots of videos on you tube.

We want to go to Coki Beach! Did you take a taxi directly there from the pier or are there other steps we need to take to get there?

 

[AnnieFD]

There were people going to Coki Beach as well! I assume it would more or less be the same deal. And yes - bring cash!

 

[T-RAC]

Hi Everyone!

So here is how it all went down:
Tortola: We walked off the ship into the "downtown" area and walked over to the taxis (about a 3-5 min walk, no biggie, follow the signs). We told them we wanted to go to Cane Garden Bay. We were escorted to a multi passenger van with another family who was also going there. The cost was $8 per person there and $8 back. The taxi driver also dropped us right at the beach by a restaurant and the woman running it rented us two beach lounge chairs and an umbrella for $15. We all agreed upon a pickup time (2.5 hours later) and sure enough - our driver was there to get us as promised (I kept hearing they did this and I didn't believe it, but they did!). The total trip cost our family of three $63.00. The same excursion through Disney (Island drive and beach break) would have cost $128 ($42 per person so) this was a HUGE savings. Now, I'm not sure exactly what the island drive would have entailed but given the size of the island and the drive we took to get from the port to Cane Garden Bay, I'd imagine it was basically the same thing. We were thrilled and had the best day of our trip on Tortola at Cane Garden Bay.

St. Johns: The exact same scenario played out to get to Magens Bay. The same driver who dropped us there picked us up at an agreed upon time. (This is mandated by the beach - the driver who drops you must pick you back up...and they watch!) The cost was also $8 each way per person plus an additional $5 per person entrance fee to the beach (kids under 12 free). Another huge savings over the cruise excursions simply by arranging your own cab.

Now I kept hearing that we needed to be careful and we could miss the ship. I've got to be honest - I have absolutely no idea how this could happen, especially if you go out in the morning like we did and got to the beach by about 10am. We had plenty of swim time by about 12 - 1pm and had no issues with out drivers. Had something happened with our driver at either island, there were always plenty of cabs to be found. If all you want to do is hang out at a glorious beach and see a bit of the island, I highly recommend going this route

Annie

Were there any other ships in port that day? The day we are there, there will be 13000 people from cruise ships there

 

[AnnieFD]

I believe there was one other cruise shop docked that day