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Greenesailor

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Posts posted by Greenesailor

    Trip to trunk bay

    in St. Thomas/St. John

    Posted

    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!

    Back from Getaway with small kids. Review and ask me anything.

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Family of 5 from NY; DH (31), myself (30), DS (5) and twins DS(3) and DD (3)

    Embarkation- I couldn’t believe how quick and smooth it was. For a ship this size, we practically walked on. Actually *the* quickest we ever have out of our 4 cruises. We got to the pier via SAS transport at 12:15, we were on the ship by 12:30- explored a little, had lunch and rooms were ready by 1:30.

    Room- we had connecting “family insides” which meant we were just down the hall from the kids club. We were VERY fwd and could definitely feel movement but not enough to bother any of us. We actually had a different room steward than our kids in the connecting room, which I thought was funny. Ours did a great job- room was kept tidy. The kids had Kris and he was fantastic. Our 3 kids brought a lot of stuffed animals and he always set them up in funny poses/places at turn down- it was truly a highlight for them. I was seriously humiliated that our daughter wet the bed one night and he was so kind and helpful to us about it- really going above and beyond. He would always stop what he was doing and hi-five the kids in the hall, saying hi to them by name and always had a big smile.

    Food- This was the first time we skipped specialty dining. All of our meals in taste and savor were delicious. Some highlights; short ribs, garlic shrimp, molten chocolate cake and a nighty Caesar b/c it was that good. The 1st sea night the wait seemed a little long but besides that service was at a “casual” pace. It’s vacation, we don’t mind the long meals. We didn’t see our servers very often, they seemed very busy- maybe too many tables each? Only a problem when we needed a drink or something like ketchup for the kids. They provide the kids with nickelodeon coloring mats which our kids loved. The kids menu had quite a few choices and for our picky kids it was a lifesaver! We dine early 5:46/6:00 and had a window seat every night. If the kids got antsy we let them go watch the water. Our boys loved the Tropicana room. The burn the floor dancers were just amazing in there. We all enjoyed some after dinner dancing. There was some couples on this ship that had some serious skill! The buffet was delicious for breakfast with tons of choices. We ate all of our lunches in there. The Hawaiian teriyaki burger was my favorite. I think our family must have had 50 soft serve ice cream cones. Some of the friendliest staff we met were in the buffet! When you’re trying to carry food for 3 kids and someone offers to help or get your coffee or bring you a muffin- it’s a lifesaver. My only complaint about the food was that on port days it was super super limited in the late afternoon (like maybe 10% of the buffet was open) when we go on the ship and wanted a little snack it was strange slim pickings. If you want Teppanyaki reserve in advance! We live right near a place similar to it so figured we wouldn’t want to go but once we smelled it, we wanted it and it was booked for the whole cruise.

    Entertainment- The comedy show was ok, funny enough to be entertaining. One of the best parts of our trip was the margarita tasting in sunset bar. 6 margaritas- games, trivia, history lesson, lots of laughs for $15 pp.

     

    We are doing the UNDP but I want to go to tropical a when the dancers are there. Do you remember which nights they danced?

    Thanks!

    How to go to several stops?

    in St. Martin/St. Maarten

    Posted

    We want to go to Marigot and spend a couple of hours there and then to a nice beach for a few hours and then back to our ship. Should we rent a car? We did Bernard's tours last time bur felt we didn't get enough time at the places we liked and did stops at places we didn't like...

    Thanks for helping me!

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