Trip to trunk bay

How long would it take to get from port to trunk bay

If your ship is calling on St. John, then you will be tendered to Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay driving time is about 12 minutes.

If you are calling on St. Thomas: then you have to get from cruise dock to ferry dock and then ferry over to St. John, and then taxi to Trunk Bay. There are two cruise docks on St. Thomas; and two ferry docks. Do you know which cruise ship dock you will be at? And which ferry you want to take? Without knowing either... a general estimate for cruiseship to ferry dock, to ferry arriving in St. John ... 45 minutes without any waiting around for a taxi or waiting for the ferry to depart and no traffic... one hour is a safer estimate... and 1.5 hours leaving room for waiting around/possible traffic.

Islander

Very few ships call on St. John. You are most likely docking in St. Thomas and will need to ferry to St. John. Here is my normal advice for folks wanting to go to St. John for the day:

Feel free to ask questions. I love St. John ... it's a special place. If you've never been, consider it.

Getting to St. John on your own is pretty easy.

When you disembark the ship, there will be plenty of open air taxis filling with passengers heading to St. John. You'll take the taxi from here to Red Hook where you'll catch the ferry to Cruz Bay. Ferry rates are currently $7 each way. The ferry runs every hour on the hour from Red Hook to Cruz Bay and then back from Cruz Bay to Red Hook.

There will be plenty of taxis waiting for you when you get to Cruz Bay. They'll take you to one of the many beaches -- Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho have restroom facilities while Trunk and Cinnamon have snack bars, chair rentals and snorkel gear rentals. Trunk Bay has a $4 per person entry fee. There is an underwater snorkel trail here that is well marked.

There will also be plenty of taxis at Trunk and Cinnamon to take you back to Cruz Bay. If you head to one of the other beaches be sure to arrange a pick up time with the taxi driver who drops you off. They always come back if you pre-arrange a pick up time.

If you’ve never been to St. John, you might want to consider taking an island tour. They run about $25 per person and you can ask to be dropped off at one of the north shore beaches after the tour for an hour or so. We've done this frequently when we have guests with us who haven't been to St. John before. The history, views and people of St. John are wonderful. It’s definitely worth learning more about this very special place that is 2/3rds U.S. National Park.

Cruz Bay is filled with lots of great beach bars, restaurants and shops. It's a great little town. Two main shopping areas are within close walking distance to the ferry dock. Wharfside Village is to our right as you walk out of the ferry dock area. Beach bars line the area with a variety of nice shops behind them. About a five minute walk to your left when you disembark the ferry is Mongoose Junction. This is an upscale shopping area also with a wide variety of restaurants and shops.

For those going on their own, if you’ve never done this before, I’d recommend catching the ferry back to St. Thomas three hours before your ship sails. So if you ship leaves at 6:00, take the 3:00 PM ferry. If you have done this trip several times, you are most likely safe taking a ferry 2 hours prior to your ships’ departure. It all depends on your comfort level. Traffic from the Red Hook ferry back to the ship can be heavy. If your ship is docked at Crown Bay, always allow three hours for the return. Most of the time, a two hour window is fine getting back to the ship if you are docked at Havensight.

APPROXIMATE PER PERSON COSTS TO GO ON YOUR OWN

Roundtrip taxi from ship (Havensight) to Red Hook: $20

Roundtrip ferry cost: $14

Roundtrip taxi cost to Beaches: $14

TOTAL APPROXIMATE COST: $48

Fares could vary slightly depending upon your taxi. If you are docked at Crown Bay, add approximately $4 roundtrip for the taxi to Red Hook.

Note: Check out excursions with your cruise line as well. Some are essentially offering ferry service to St. John. Doesn’t give you as much time on the island typically, but it is a nice alternative if you don’t want to go on your own and the prices have been reasonable.

Let me know if you have any other questions! ENJOY!!!

__________________

If doing the Truck Bay and snorkeling thru Carnival, couple of questions.

1 Where do they give you your snorkel equipment

2. Is chairs provided for people on the cruise excursion or do you still have to pay.

There are 4 ships in port, our friends want to do the cruise excursion, but we always like doing our own, less crowded. Excursion is suppose to be 1:30 for 4 1/2 hrs. Is it going to be miserably crowded, trying to talk myself into that it won't be that bad and go with the friends that are scared to do it on their own.

chismrules ~ sorry that I don't know how Carnival operates their excursions to St. John. I bet someone on the Carnival boards may know so think about asking there....call Carnival's shore excursion and ask them about the snorkel equipment and chairs. https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1332/~/shore-excursion-%E2%80%98pre-sail%E2%80%99-information

We have done the ships' excursion before when we were in your situation (friends who were more comfortable being on a ship's excursion). Because your excursion is in the afternoon through the ship, most of the other cruise passengers will likely be heading back to their ships when you arrive. Most ships arrive in St. Thomas early in the morning. Four ships isn't that bad. We've been there with seven or eight ships in port. Talk about crazy.

I think you'd be fine at Trunk in the afternoon. It is a beautiful beach. Have a GREAT time!

Very few ships call on St. John. You are most likely docking in St. Thomas and will need to ferry to St. John. Here is my normal advice for folks wanting to go to St. John for the day:

 

Feel free to ask questions. I love St. John ... it's a special place. If you've never been, consider it.

 

Getting to St. John on your own is pretty easy.

 

When you disembark the ship, there will be plenty of open air taxis filling with passengers heading to St. John. You'll take the taxi from here to Red Hook where you'll catch the ferry to Cruz Bay. Ferry rates are currently $7 each way. The ferry runs every hour on the hour from Red Hook to Cruz Bay and then back from Cruz Bay to Red Hook.

 

There will be plenty of taxis waiting for you when you get to Cruz Bay. They'll take you to one of the many beaches -- Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho have restroom facilities while Trunk and Cinnamon have snack bars, chair rentals and snorkel gear rentals. Trunk Bay has a $4 per person entry fee. There is an underwater snorkel trail here that is well marked.

 

There will also be plenty of taxis at Trunk and Cinnamon to take you back to Cruz Bay. If you head to one of the other beaches be sure to arrange a pick up time with the taxi driver who drops you off. They always come back if you pre-arrange a pick up time.

 

If you’ve never been to St. John, you might want to consider taking an island tour. They run about $25 per person and you can ask to be dropped off at one of the north shore beaches after the tour for an hour or so. We've done this frequently when we have guests with us who haven't been to St. John before. The history, views and people of St. John are wonderful. It’s definitely worth learning more about this very special place that is 2/3rds U.S. National Park.

 

Cruz Bay is filled with lots of great beach bars, restaurants and shops. It's a great little town. Two main shopping areas are within close walking distance to the ferry dock. Wharfside Village is to our right as you walk out of the ferry dock area. Beach bars line the area with a variety of nice shops behind them. About a five minute walk to your left when you disembark the ferry is Mongoose Junction. This is an upscale shopping area also with a wide variety of restaurants and shops.

 

For those going on their own, if you’ve never done this before, I’d recommend catching the ferry back to St. Thomas three hours before your ship sails. So if you ship leaves at 6:00, take the 3:00 PM ferry. If you have done this trip several times, you are most likely safe taking a ferry 2 hours prior to your ships’ departure. It all depends on your comfort level. Traffic from the Red Hook ferry back to the ship can be heavy. If your ship is docked at Crown Bay, always allow three hours for the return. Most of the time, a two hour window is fine getting back to the ship if you are docked at Havensight.

 

APPROXIMATE PER PERSON COSTS TO GO ON YOUR OWN

Roundtrip taxi from ship (Havensight) to Red Hook: $20

Roundtrip ferry cost: $14

Roundtrip taxi cost to Beaches: $14

TOTAL APPROXIMATE COST: $48

 

Fares could vary slightly depending upon your taxi. If you are docked at Crown Bay, add approximately $4 roundtrip for the taxi to Red Hook.

 

Note: Check out excursions with your cruise line as well. Some are essentially offering ferry service to St. John. Doesn’t give you as much time on the island typically, but it is a nice alternative if you don’t want to go on your own and the prices have been reasonable.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions! ENJOY!!!

__________________

I am very nervous about going to St John but I really want to go. Your post makes it sound easy... If we dock at Charlotte Amalie, are these the same instructions?

Thanks!

I am very nervous about going to St John but I really want to go. Your post makes it sound easy... If we dock at Charlotte Amalie, are these the same instructions?

Thanks!

You always have the option of booking an excursion to take you there with the ship. Honestly, it's the easiest way! :)

You always have the option of booking an excursion to take you there with the ship. Honestly, it's the easiest way! :)

I had checked the Royal Caribean excursions and the reviews were HORRIBLE!

This will be my first time going to St.Thomas and will only be there from 8-5pm on a Holland America cruise. My question is for the best snorkeling possible..is St.John trunk bay hands down better than any of the options on st.Thomas? I am leaning towards taking the 3:40 pm ferry from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie. With a 40min ferry time, it'll be cutting it close. Anyone with experience with this?

We were at trunk this week when carnival excursions arrived. They received an overview of the beach and Snorkel equipment when They arrived at the beach. They did not receive chairs. Two different ships were there. They had 2.5 hrs at the beach ( approximate)

The ferry from CB to CA is not reliable and often gets cancelled. Best bet is the regular ferry to Red Hook

IMHO the snorkeling at Trunk is vastly over rated. Several STT beaches are better and almost any other STJ beach is better

I am very nervous about going to St John but I really want to go. Your post makes it sound easy... If we dock at Charlotte Amalie, are these the same instructions?

Thanks!

Hi Greensailor ~ you won't actually dock in "Charlotte Amalie." St. Thomas has two areas where you could dock. You will dock either in Havensight (which is east of Charlotte Amalie) or Crown Bay, which is slightly west of Charlotte Amalie. Just don't want to confuse you. If you tell me what ship you are on, I can tell you where you are likely to be docked.

Yes, the instructions are the same from either place you will dock, however, Crown Bay is further away and if the taxi's make you wait for them to completely fill, it can cause you to miss a ferry and have a long wait.

We have done the ship sponsored ferry to St. John on several occasions and if your ship offers the simple transport over to St. John, I'd recommend it. But I only do that when they offer a ferry ride over and back (no other tour included in that).

Let me know if you have other questions. ENJOY!

This will be my first time going to St.Thomas and will only be there from 8-5pm on a Holland America cruise. My question is for the best snorkeling possible..is St.John trunk bay hands down better than any of the options on st.Thomas? I am leaning towards taking the 3:40 pm ferry from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie. With a 40min ferry time, it'll be cutting it close. Anyone with experience with this?

I haven't snorkeled on St. Thomas in years. Trunk Bay is beautiful but I can't compare snorkeling here to St. Thomas. We snorkel a variety of other places on St. John instead of Trunk. The masses of tourists at Trunk have impacted the snorkel trail there and people says it's not as good as it used to be. I think you'd be better snorkeling Cinnamon than Trunk. My favorite north shore snorkel spot is Maho for sea turtles and stingrays.

You should know that the ferry to Charlotte Amalie is unreliable. Sometimes it goes; sometimes it doesn't. I would not count on that to get you back to your ship. Besides, you are cutting it WAY too close to take a 3:40 ferry back to St. Thomas for a 5:00 PM departure. Even if you took the Charlotte Amalie ferry, you still have to get from there to your ship. The only ship I've ever been on that left late arriving passengers on the dock was on Holland America's Eurodam in St. Thomas.

If I were you, I'd take the 3:00 PM Cruz Bay to Red Hook ferry and take a taxi from there. At least those ferries run consistently and you'd likely be back to your ship by a little after 4:00 PM. Even that is cutting it a little close for me because St. Thomas traffic can be heavy if there are a lot of ships in port when you are there.

Good luck and enjoy!

Hi Greensailor ~ you won't actually dock in "Charlotte Amalie." St. Thomas has two areas where you could dock. You will dock either in Havensight (which is east of Charlotte Amalie) or Crown Bay, which is slightly west of Charlotte Amalie. Just don't want to confuse you. If you tell me what ship you are on, I can tell you where you are likely to be docked.

 

Yes, the instructions are the same from either place you will dock, however, Crown Bay is further away and if the taxi's make you wait for them to completely fill, it can cause you to miss a ferry and have a long wait.

 

We have done the ship sponsored ferry to St. John on several occasions and if your ship offers the simple transport over to St. John, I'd recommend it. But I only do that when they offer a ferry ride over and back (no other tour included in that).

 

Let me know if you have other questions. ENJOY!

Host Anne,

Can you tell me where Carnival docks at? We are coming on the Fascination in January and wanted to be sure!

Thanks!

Carnival usually docks at Havensight. But you have to be flexible, because there can be changes.

Host Anne,

Can you tell me where Carnival docks at? We are coming on the Fascination in January and wanted to be sure!

 

Thanks!

clr ~ in all the times we've docked in St. Thomas (at both ports), I don't think I've ever seen a Carnival ship at Crown Bay. Doesn't mean they won't but I've only ever seen them at Havensight. In doing a quick check on January 2017 Fascination calls to St. Thomas, on Jan. 2, she's in St. Thomas with Royal Princess and Norwegian Epic. On Jan. 9, she's there alone. So I'm guessing she'll definitely be at Havensight on these two sailings.

On the Jan. 16th & 30th visit, she's with Jewel of the Seas (again, most likely at Havensight) and on January 23 she's there with a crowd (Norwegian Gem, Celebrity Equinox and MSC Divinia. But I'm guessing Fascination will still be at Havensight.

Good luck and enjoy!

By the way, the sail into and out of St. Thomas is wonderful. If you're up early, be sure to be out on deck for the sail in.

clr ~ in all the times we've docked in St. Thomas (at both ports), I don't think I've ever seen a Carnival ship at Crown Bay. Doesn't mean they won't but I've only ever seen them at Havensight. In doing a quick check on January 2017 Fascination calls to St. Thomas, on Jan. 2, she's in St. Thomas with Royal Princess and Norwegian Epic. On Jan. 9, she's there alone. So I'm guessing she'll definitely be at Havensight on these two sailings.

 

On the Jan. 16th & 30th visit, she's with Jewel of the Seas (again, most likely at Havensight) and on January 23 she's there with a crowd (Norwegian Gem, Celebrity Equinox and MSC Divinia. But I'm guessing Fascination will still be at Havensight.

Docking in St. Thomas this year may prove different than in previous years. The local newspaper recently reported that contracts between the docks and the cruise lines have been renegotiated for the coming season. At the end of the current contracts all RCL ships will be docking at Crown Bay and all Carnival ships (and their sister companies Princess, HAL et al) will dock at Havensight. Don't know if this will come to pass but this is what has been reported to local businesses. Guess we will have to wait and see.

thread: Trip to trunk bay

We'll be visiting St. Thomas twice on upcoming trips so I'll report back on where ships are docking. Oasis and Allure have been docking at Crown Bay for years. We're on HAL in January so we'll see. LOVE being at Havensight.

Thanks so much for your detailed instructions :)

Thanks so much for your detailed instructions :)

My pleasure, DeeDee! :)

You can grab a quick taxi to the ferry out of Charlotte Amalie; it take approx. 45 mins to reach St. John. Or, you'll have to take a taxi to Red Hook, ferry over, then taxi to the beach. I prefer to ride the water going, then taxi out of Red Hook coming back.

Hubby and I will be cruising in January 2017. I have always wanted to snorkel Trunk Bay so this is the trip! I have a decent camera as photography is my hobby. I am uncomfortable leaving it on the shore while snorkeling. I am wondering if there is a safe location where I can store them while in the water. Please advise. Thank you in advance!

Yes, there are lockers at Trunk but I've never used them. I would highly recommend having any of your valuables that you plan to store in a locker inside a beach bag or a string back pack so no one knows what you are putting in a locker. I'm a photo bug, too, and if I'm going in the water, I only take my underwater camera to the beach so when I snorkel, it's with me in the water. I take my DSLR when we are simply walking the beach or going for sunset.

It's probably just me but I wouldn't leave my DSLR in a locker. Maybe consider a point and shoot underwater ... they take great photos, can go anywhere and the serve as a backup to my DSLR.

ENJOY!!!

Hi Greensailor ~ you won't actually dock in "Charlotte Amalie." St. Thomas has two areas where you could dock. You will dock either in Havensight (which is east of Charlotte Amalie) or Crown Bay, which is slightly west of Charlotte Amalie. Just don't want to confuse you. If you tell me what ship you are on, I can tell you where you are likely to be docked.

 

Yes, the instructions are the same from either place you will dock, however, Crown Bay is further away and if the taxi's make you wait for them to completely fill, it can cause you to miss a ferry and have a long wait.

 

We have done the ship sponsored ferry to St. John on several occasions and if your ship offers the simple transport over to St. John, I'd recommend it. But I only do that when they offer a ferry ride over and back (no other tour included in that).

 

Let me know if you have other questions. ENJOY!

Host Anne, I lived in STT for years and you are "kind of" misstating this. Charlotte Amalie is the Capitol, Havensite and Crown Bay are not towns but the name of the docks. Also in C.A. is Yacht Haven Grand.

as another poster said and I fully agree, Trunk Bay is completely bleached out by too many people and warm water temperatures. There are many better snorkeling spots without the shlep to St.John. Please don't get more wrong, St.John is on of our favorite islands, but there are many better, less crowded beaches.

Host Anne, I lived in STT for years and you are "kind of" misstating this. Charlotte Amalie is the Capitol, Havensite and Crown Bay are not towns but the name of the docks. Also in C.A. is Yacht Haven Grand.

 

as another poster said and I fully agree, Trunk Bay is completely bleached out by too many people and warm water temperatures. There are many better snorkeling spots without the shlep to St.John. Please don't get more wrong, St.John is on of our favorite islands, but there are many better, less crowded beaches.

Hi Coevan ~ I don't think I ever called any of them "towns." Just referring to the ports that are used by the cruise ships, because when you sail into St. Thomas you are either docking at Havensight or Crown Bay. When referring to ferries to St. John, there are two options as you know - one from Charlotte Amalie (which I wouldn't recommend for cruisers) and Red Hook. When we are talking about cruisers visiting St. John, it's important to list where they'll be docking when the get to St. Thomas and what their options are to get to St. John.

Never try to "misstate" anything. Hope no one was confused.