Trunk Bay vs. St Thomas Beaches HELP!

[jmcross]

I want to travel over to Trunk Bay due to all of the rave reviews but my questions are: Is is really worth all the time to travel over there?? How long is the travel time?

Are there any beaches on St. Thomas that would come close??

Maybe I should also say that I am planning this on my own and not through DCL so I'm a little nervous about all the transportation time.

Thanks,

Joanne

 

[bobbiwoz]

We haven't cruised DCL, but we've been to St. Thomas on about 5 cruises, and we've taken all sort of excursions and have gone on our own to Megan's Bay via taxi. Snorkeling at Trunk Bay is the winner of things to do in St. Thomas IMHO! I wouldn't go over there without being on a ship's excursion, though, I want to be sure the ship is there waiting for me when we get back!

We have been on some bumpy rides over to St. John's, I'm guessing it's about a 45 minute boat ride. It's been about 5 years since we've been.

Megan's bay was worth going to, and there were taxis there lined up waiting to take people back to the ship. Transportation on our own was no problem. There were 4 of us at the beach, and it's a beautiful beach and surrounding area.

Bobbi

 

[jrydberg]

I have been to St. John many times. Honestly, nothing on St. Thomas compares to the north shore beaches on St. John. The issue with Trunk Bay is it can get crowded. As beaches go, it is fantastic.

The ferry over from Red Hook takes about 20 mins and can be rough at times (those ferries aren't very big).

 

[randytenn]

Trunk Bay is listed as one of the top 5 snorkling beaches in the world. It's beauty is unbelievable.

The most breathtaking moment for me was when I was out in the snorkle trail, and I looked back at the beach. Nothing but beauty. No condos, no hotels, no buildings, no cars, no parking lots. Just beautiful nature all around. I just floated there for a minute and soaked it all in!

Trunk Bay is the only way to go!

 

[jmcross]

Thanks for the replies!

Well, I guess my next question would be would you risk the trip on your own or go through DCL??

Thanks,

Joanne

 

[TheWog]

It depends on your comfort level, like the previous poster said if you use DCL and you are late, the boat won't leave without you. Do it on your own and they will. I'm not sure of timing as I have never gone, but I know immigration took longer than expected for us and all excursions got a late start. Boat usually leaves pretty early too, 4:30 for us in January.

Megan's Bay and Sapphire Beach are beautiful, Megan's Bay was voted one of the 10 Best in the World by the Travel Channel a few years ago. Do some more research and there will be plenty of info here to help. Good luck.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

We went to Trunk Bay on our own on our first cruise and had no problems. You just need to do your research ahead of time and be aware of the ferry schedules. Here is a link to the USVI ferry schedules: http://www.st-thomas.com/week/ferries.html. You also need to keep track of the time while at the beach to make sure you catch the ferry back to St. Thomas

We took the ferry over from Red Hook in the morning and were at Trunk Bay by 10:30. We got a 1:30 taxi back to Cruz Bay (St. John) and took the 2:15 ferry back to Charlotte Amalie. (The Magic was tendered that day and the ferry dropped us off just yards from the tender dock.)

Good Luck!

 

[kimkatmom]

We took the Trunk Bay on shore excursion last year through DCL. DO NOT MISS TRUNK BAY!!! no matter how you get there. I think as a whole it was just easier for us to go through DCL. If you love snorkling, this is the place to go. I think I have only been to one other place that compares and that was on the Big Island at Honownow (excuse the spelling!).

If you watch the travel channel, I think it is on the "Honeymoon" episode, you will see Trunk Bay. Unbelievable.

Only 29 more days!

 

[chrisn]

We basically did the same thing as RebeccaLovesDisney. Got off boat immediately. Took first ferry. Arrived at Trunk bay around 10:30. We had 3 glorious hours on what has to be described as one of the wonders of the world. The view over the mountainside is worth the trip alone. It will take your breath away. We left Trunk at 1:30 to make the 2:00 ferry. We were docked and even had an hour to shop in St. Thomas before hailing a taxi back to the ship. Wonderful!

 

[tink5]

How do you book a ressie for the St. John, trunk bay, snorkel tour through DCL? Is there a phone # or do we have to wait till we're of the ship?

 

[TheWog]

If its through DCL you can do it at your 60 day point. You also have the option to search around and find a better deals and cancel up to 48 hours prior to sailing. There is a phone number on the disneycruise.com website -- Fun OnShore section.

 

[kajohn]

We went to Trunk bay this past February while Sailing on RCCL. We were on the 9:00am ferry over to St. John, and then were the first taxi to arrive at Trunk Bay. For about 15 glorious minutes there were only a few families on the beach! I got a wonderful shot of my husband and I standing on the beach with nother but natural beach beauty and water behind us (no people!)

The whole way over there my husband was saying what a pain it all was getting there, and why didn't we just go to megan's bay like we did the year before.

Well after we were sitting on that glorious beach, he thanked me and thanked me for a perfect day! What made it even more special was that it was the last day of our cruise and our anniversary!


We had much more time at the beach doing it that way than on an excurision. We would see the excursion people come, and they would get comfortable and snorkel for a bit, and then get herded away, way before we left the beach.

 

[jmcross]

Thanks again for all the replies!

kajohn~That is my concern with taking the excursion. The excursion says that you only get 1 1/2 hours of snorkeling/swimming time. I feel that you would get more time if you just traveled alone BUT you take the chance of missing the ship because I know they won't wait since you're not on an excursion.

I also hate to waste the time traveling period. That is why I considered Sapphire Beach or Megan's Bay. With all of this description of Trunk Bay, I hate to miss it!!

Any other opinions would be appreciated!!

Joanne

 

[maminnie]

jmcross:

Hi. Just got off the 4/17 Magic. I am still swaying!

We did the St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel. After meeting at 7:40 following immigration we got off the boat and took a 45 minute ferry ride to St. John/Cruz Bay (ferry is right off the boat). Our day was unfortunately cloudy not too windy and the ride was pretty choppy. Everyone handled it fine and we did not see anyone getting sick. We then took a very wild ride on an open air truck/safari bus with benches for about 15 minutes to Trunk Bay.

Before I make my comments, please keep in mind that the day before we did the Anguilla Dolphin encounter. The beaches on Anguilla are absolutely beautiful with long white sandy beaches(we went there on our honeymoon) and the day started at 7:30am and we did not get back on the ship until 4:00pm; so it was a great but long and tiring day. I probably would have been smart to do an excursion the second day that did not involve another 45 minute ferry ride.

Trunk Bay is beautiful; very natural and quite a sight. The beach is quite narrow and not that big. It is not a long, deep walking type of beach like we prefer. It is a bay/cove type beach. The water was crystal clear and greenish blue and the sand was a light tan. The surf is mild. It did get crowded but this did not bother us. The kids had fun in the water with the other kids as we did not snorkel. The snorkeling gear was available and the snorkeling trail seemed to be enjoyed by many. It did sound like they saw a lot of sea life. Since we had a very fast safari bus driver, we ended up having almost two hours on the beach; 10:00 - 11:45am. We were back to the ship by about 1:00 - 1:30pm and after a long day the day before I was glad of this.

All in all am I glad we went - yes. It did confirm that we will not likely ever go to St. John for a vacation which was one of our reasons for choosing this excursion. The beach again is really a sight and I am glad I had the opportunity to see it. Although the bus driver did stop a few times during the ride to let us look down (from the road at overlook points) at other cove type beaches, I wish we had more of an opportunity to see more of the island. The island tour excursion does this.

The family we travelled with did the Sapphire Beach excursion on St. Thomas and they said it was a very nice family excursion. The beach was nice and very active for the kids.

Good luck in making your decision. Have a great cruise.