Ferry help please!

Hi everyone! I'm leaving next Sunday and our first stop Monday will be St. Thomas but we want to head over to St. John and am hoping for some help!

We would like to take the Charlotte Amalie ferry to St. John at 10:00 and come back on the 3:45 ferry BUT I'm seeing were in port from 8-5:30, is that cutting the return too close?? Or should we do the ferry back to red hook and take a cab over to the ship. I usually do ship excursions but would like more time to do what we want...I would appreciate any help, suggestions and ideas!

Hi everyone! I'm leaving next Sunday and our first stop Monday will be St. Thomas but we want to head over to St. John and am hoping for some help!

We would like to take the Charlotte Amalie ferry to St. John at 10:00 and come back on the 3:45 ferry BUT I'm seeing were in port from 8-5:30, is that cutting the return too close?? Or should we do the ferry back to red hook and take a cab over to the ship. I usually do ship excursions but would like more time to do what we want...I would appreciate any help, suggestions and ideas! [ATTACH]346949[/ATTACH]

 

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[ATTACH]346951[/ATTACH]

We've done the trip many times, the last being a few years ago though, so I don't know how the most recent situation is. We've always done the cab and Red Hook. You have to take into consideration the traffic, which can be fairly bad when deciding on a time to head back. We've always gotten off the ship as early as possible so that we have plenty of time, usually beginning our trip back around 2-3:00 and always had plenty of time. But, of course everyone is different. However, that's been our experience. Whatever you decide, have a wonderful time .... St. John is just so lovely. :)

The Charlotte Amalie ferry should be ignored. Pretend it doesn't exist. Go to Red Hook for year-round reliability. You have been warned.

Thank you so much!

I figured there was a reason most people go to red hook!

Yes Nicole if the CA ferry schedule was reliable you would have been fine. But as mentioned you want to use the Red Hook ferry if going on your own. And this self-excursion is absolutely very easy and foolproof so no worries! Just tell the drivers you're going there and you should be there for the 9AM ferry to Cruz Bay. Ferries run on the hour both directions so we'd take the 3PM return to Red Hook to allow for returning traffic. Round trip cost to Cruz Bay is $34 - $38pp depending on your port.

I know it could depend upon a number of variables, but what is the average time for a cab to go from the port to Red Hook, to catch the ferry to St. John?

It's a 20 - 30 min drive once your taxi departs the port depending upon where you're docked, allow more time for the return.

I just did this for the first time the other week after taking all of blue water's advice and LOVED IT!! It was super easy with no major worries. We were torn about which ferry to take back (one made us really early, the other was doable but made us cut it a bit close). We took the earlier one. It was a great day. St John's might have knocked magen's bay out of my favorite spot!!