St. John Trunk Bay snorkeling?

Anyone know if there is a fee to snorkel at Trunk Bay, beyond the $4 admission & cost to rent snorkel gear?

I'm trying to decide between RCL's excursions to St. John:

STE8 (All Inclusive St. John & Trunk Bay Beach & Snorkel) which is 4 hours duration with 90 mins at Trunk Bay according to the description. $69.75 pp

or

STO3 (Self Explore St. John) where the duration is listed as "1 hour" and in the description, says we get 4.5 hours on St. John to do as we please before enjoying complimentary rum punch on the ferry back. The reviewers universally complain that they did not get 4.5 hours on the island, closer to 3 hours 45 mins. It's $37pp. We'd have to pay the taxi & Trunk Bay admission on our own. (which should be $16 pp total.) Is there a fee to snorkel on top of this?

Thanks for any input!

I went to Trunk Bay last year. You don't need to book through the cruise line and throw away your money. Just go yourself and you'll probably get there well before any organized tour. They have food drink and lockers on site.

There is no fee to snorkel any of the VI beaches, but please never mention it again or they will try to tax it :)

There is no fee to snorkel any of the VI beaches, but please never mention it again or they will try to tax it :)

Thank you ;)

Took taxi from port to red hook ferry to go to st John's. $10 pp plus tip. Took 45 minutes get to ferry taxi make 2 other stops at beaches. Took ferry for $7 pp or $14 pp round trip, takes 20 minutes. Took taxi to trunk bay $6 pp plus tip. $4 pp to enter trunk bay. Was wonderful snorkeling. Lots colored fish all sizes. Popular snorkeling place. They do rent chairs snorkeling equipment. I heard $50 deposit for chairs that are lawn chairs and tiny umbrella. Don't know cost to rent. Have snack bar for sandwiches burgers etc. Taxi back cruise bay for ferry.. $6 took 20 minutes, ferry 20 minutes. Leaves every hour. Got there 3 minutes after the hour but could board cuz had bought round trip ticket before. Otherwise would had wait an hour. Taxi back to ship was maybe 20 minute.. no stops.

Took taxi from port to red hook ferry to go to st John's. $10 pp plus tip. Took 45 minutes get to ferry taxi make 2 other stops at beaches. Took ferry for $7 pp or $14 pp round trip, takes 20 minutes. Took taxi to trunk bay $6 pp plus tip. $4 pp to enter trunk bay. Was wonderful snorkeling. Lots colored fish all sizes. Popular snorkeling place. They do rent chairs snorkeling equipment. I heard $50 deposit for chairs that are lawn chairs and tiny umbrella. Don't know cost to rent. Have snack bar for sandwiches burgers etc. Taxi back cruise bay for ferry.. $6 took 20 minutes, ferry 20 minutes. Leaves every hour. Got there 3 minutes after the hour but could board cuz had bought round trip ticket before. Otherwise would had wait an hour. Taxi back to ship was maybe 20 minute.. no stops.

Thanks for breaking down the fees. Sounds like you don't save significant $ doing it on your own.

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You save only 10 or 20 $.. the excursion on our ship was 3.5 hours. 2 hours was on bus touring and only 1.5 hours at the beach. We wanted more time than that. This way we could snorkel and lay on the beach much longer. Which we did

The excursion I'm looking at isn't a bus tour, it's "self explore St. John." $37 covers ferry round trip to St. John only and leaves adjacent to the ship (no taxi to Red Hook). Once in St. John, I'm on my own...no tour, no taxi included in the $37. Just meet back up at the pier at the designated time for the return trip to the ship (40 mins ferry ride?). So I'll be responsible for taxi to/from Trunk Bay, plus admission. From other reviewers, sounds like they had about 3:45-4:00 hours at Trunk Bay doing it this way.

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We're doing the same. I was wondering if anyone knows how much it is to rent a locker, and will it need coins or bills?

Saw this thread that is outdated. I'm leaving Saturday on my cruise and would like current info on Trunk Bay. I've read that the plumbing isn't fixed yet, so no restrooms but they have porta potties. Also, no restaurant. Because of this they've waived the entrance fee to Trunk Bay. My question (well, I have a few): on lockers (as the previous question from a couple of years ago asked but was not answered) is how much for the locker rentals? Are they coin or dollar? Also, regarding snorkel rentals - we'll bring our our mask and snorkel - how much are the vest rentals? I saw a picture someone took of the price sheet, but can't read it. Regarding taxis from Trunk Bay to the ferry - because of the fewer visitors right now, how easy/hard is it to get a taxi back to the ferry? I read somewhere that you make prior arrangements with your taxi driver that took you there. Any and all insights will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.:cool:

I spent Christmas week on STJ, visiting the North Shore beaches where Trunk is. I can absolutely tell you that there are fewer taxis running between Cruz Bay (where the ferry is) and Trunk, just given the lower demand. Pre Irmaria, there would be half a dozen taxis at Trunk waiting for passengers, and that's just wasn't the case then I was there. With that said, I was fortunate on 2 separate days to luck out and find 1 taxi at Trunk and grabbed a ride back to Cruz Bay. One one occasion, I had to wait about 30 min for the taxi to fill up.

Try to make arrangements with the driver that drops you off, or leave plenty of cushion to return to the ferry. I'm sure things will improve as visitors return. It's just a question of when.

Thank you for your info. With 4 cruise ships in port that day, hopefully there will be more taxis available.

Saw this thread that is outdated. I'm leaving Saturday on my cruise and would like current info on Trunk Bay. I've read that the plumbing isn't fixed yet, so no restrooms but they have porta potties. Also, no restaurant. Because of this they've waived the entrance fee to Trunk Bay. My question (well, I have a few): on lockers (as the previous question from a couple of years ago asked but was not answered) is how much for the locker rentals? Are they coin or dollar? Also, regarding snorkel rentals - we'll bring our our mask and snorkel - how much are the vest rentals? I saw a picture someone took of the price sheet, but can't read it. Regarding taxis from Trunk Bay to the ferry - because of the fewer visitors right now, how easy/hard is it to get a taxi back to the ferry? I read somewhere that you make prior arrangements with your taxi driver that took you there. Any and all insights will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.:cool:

SunloverNW -- please come back and post your experience with Trunk Bay, cabs, ferries, etc. when you return from your cruise. We are going in February, and also struggling to get the very latest information. Thanks!

Yes, of course I'll post about our experience and answer these questions! When do you leave on your cruise, so that I'll be sure to get the info posted in time?

SunloverNW -- please come back and post your experience with Trunk Bay, cabs, ferries, etc. when you return from your cruise. We are going in February, and also struggling to get the very latest information. Thanks!

 

 

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Yes, of course I'll post about our experience and answer these questions! When do you leave on your cruise, so that I'll be sure to get the info posted in time?

Thanks! We leave in just 20 more days. Getting closer, but ..... not soon enough! haha

Thanks! We leave in just 20 more days. Getting closer, but ..... not soon enough! haha

:cool::cool::cool:

Watching for the latest trip review also,, 21 days

Got back from our Eastern Caribbean cruise (1/21-28/18) with a little info to share regarding taxi service, St. Thomas to St. John and snorkeling. We wanted to do St. John on our own,especially since we had 12 hours in port. We went to the excursion desk on the ship to pick their brain. They said that the snorkeling in St. John(Trunk Bay which is what we were inquiring about) is not the same right now. Plumbing is not done, so the only facilities there are snorkel and gear rentals (the staff at the excursion desk did not know the prices), lockers (still don’t know how much they cost and how to pay for them. Probably rent from the snorkel rental area), and they have porta potties. The coral is damaged and most of the fish are gone right now. We are hoping things will be better for snorkeling there in a few years.

Because our purpose of going to St. John was to snorkel, we decided not to go there. Instead we did a cruise ship excursion of an island tour of St. Thomas and saw lots of devastation and also improvements that have transpired since the hurricanes. They are working hard to get things back to normal. Paradise Point was still closed – no power, so we didn’t get to go up there. I am attaching taxi prices that were posted from the port. I tried to get as close as possible to the sign for the picture. If you can’t read it, please let me know and I’ll tell you prices. As a side note, for the St. Thomas tour we paid $39.95 each for a 2 hour tour. After we got off the ship we saw the taxi sign with a price of $25/pp for a 2 hour tour. You can do the math there. We also did an island tour in St.Maarten of the top 10 hotspots on the island, which took us around the entire island. This 5 hour tour was only$24.95/pp and was well worth it! Driver got a good tip! Didn’t see any taxi signs posted at this port. Saw more devastation there. Both tours were good. Shopping, we did not barter. Locals need the money. They only get business when the cruise shipsare in town. So bring your cash to help support the locals! Let me know if you need any other info.

We are hoping things will be better for snorkeling there in a few years.

Thanks for this update! I’m wondering why the cruise lines are still listing certain excursions available now while knowing that some are not operational at this time. We have a journeys cruise this November to some of these islands, and they’re not showing the reality of what is actually happening right now. We are hoping by this fall there will be some improvement so that we will be able to visit and give back to the people there as they try to rebuild. We just would like a true assessment of what kind of expectations we will encounter at the time.

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Got back from our Eastern Caribbean cruise (1/21-28/18) with a little info to share regarding taxi service, St. Thomas to St. John and snorkeling. We wanted to do St. John on our own,especially since we had 12 hours in port. We went to the excursion desk on the ship to pick their brain. They said that the snorkeling in St. John(Trunk Bay which is what we were inquiring about) is not the same right now. Plumbing is not done, so the only facilities there are snorkel and gear rentals (the staff at the excursion desk did not know the prices), lockers (still don’t know how much they cost and how to pay for them. Probably rent from the snorkel rental area), and they have porta potties. The coral is damaged and most of the fish are gone right now. We are hoping things will be better for snorkeling there in a few years.

 

 

Because our purpose of going to St. John was to snorkel, we decided not to go there. Instead we did a cruise ship excursion of an island tour of St. Thomas and saw lots of devastation and also improvements that have transpired since the hurricanes. They are working hard to get things back to normal. Paradise Point was still closed – no power, so we didn’t get to go up there. I am attaching taxi prices that were posted from the port. I tried to get as close as possible to the sign for the picture. If you can’t read it, please let me know and I’ll tell you prices. As a side note, for the St. Thomas tour we paid $39.95 each for a 2 hour tour. After we got off the ship we saw the taxi sign with a price of $25/pp for a 2 hour tour. You can do the math there. We also did an island tour in St. Maarten of the top 10 hot spots on the island, which took us around the entire island. This 5 hour tour was only$24.95/pp and was well worth it! Driver got a good tip! Didn’t see any taxi signs posted at this port. Saw more devastation there. Both tours were good. Shopping, we did not barter. Locals need the money. They only get business when the cruise ships are in town. So bring your cash to help support the locals! Let me know if you need any other info.

200 size taxi.pdf

Well, there is snorkeling, just not what it used to be. On our cruise, Paradise Point was listed as one of the excursions, but they removed it a few weeks prior to the cruise since it was not going to be available. I hope the information I provided helped you and others. I would suggest waiting until you are on the ship and talking with the folks at the excursion desk about what you'd like to do and what they know about the conditions. There's a lot that can happen between now and November.

People are being misled about the condition of St John beaches and snorkeling. Excursion staff on ships and taxi drivers are being dishonest.

Sunlovernw...thanks for all the info from St. Thomas, St. John and St. Maarten. We will be visiting these ports in April. We have booked the St. John snorkeling with Princess although I have seen a few posts saying the snorkeling is not good. We really love Trunk Bay so will go just for the beach. We normally do the taxi run to Red Hook but decided to sit back and relax! Still undecided about St. Maarten but will probably do an island tour to see how things are coming along. I love these islands and it is going to be hard to see the destruction but I feel it is important to see the progress. BTW...pic of taxi rates very easy to read!:)

I'm glad you found the information helpful. This was our first time at the islands, so touring the islands was good for us to get an overview of the places to explore so we would know what we'd want to see another time. Also, we were curious to see how the hurricanes affected these islands. The St. Maarten top 10 tour was great. Our van/bus made stops along the way, so it wasn't just sitting in the vehicle the entire time. We were fortunate to be able to experience a plane come in at Sunset Beach, which is right at the airport. We were glad we went on that tour. Thanks for letting me know the taxi rate picture turned out!