BEST thing to do when money isnt much of an issue

[Fourseventeen]

Looking for something to do while in port in late April. Cost isnt as much of an issue as this being a fun cruise and getting the most out of our time in ports. My wife and I are both real adventurous. Anything real scenic or that can get the blood flowing in your body works for us :)

I just want to get the most out of our time in port.

We will be on Carnival Glory. We have been to the Caribbean before but never to these ports Glory will be calling on.

[Ms411]

I would say an all day sailing trip to St John. They all do a good job, so pick one of the many who've been reviewed and enjoy!

[Islandbear]

Exactly what I was thinking. Charter a private yacht and bounce from Jost Van Dyke to St John.:D

[Fourseventeen]

sailing doesnt sound to bad. Never done that before. Sounds a little relaxing and maybe even a little thrilling at times.

 

We were thinking of heading over to St Johns for lunch and to snorkel at trunk bay. I guess sailing may be another option to toss on the table.

[Ms411]

Trunk Bay is beautiful with usually good snorkeling, but it can get crowded. The advantage of doing a sailing excursion is the captains try to avoid the crowded beaches, and if the weather's iffy, they can take you to secluded coves where the water is calm. If you plan for Trunk and the weather isn't in your favor, you might not get a chance to have a back-up plan. Sailing is really what the Virgin Islands are known for.

[Fourseventeen]

Thanks for the info. Ill be looking into sailing options in St Thomas

[KSCPA]

Try blueislanddivers.com right near cruise ship in St Thomas.

They have info just for cruise passengers on there website!!

Looks like a lot of fun...I'm booked!!:D

Kris

[laser110]

We were thinking of heading over to St Johns for lunch

 

 

I doubt you'll be going to St. Johns on a day sail. St.Johns is the capital of Antigua, and about a 36 hours sail from St. Thomas. If you meant St. JOHN, that's easily do-able. Most day sails don't go to Trunk and the reef is fairly dead there anyway (too many tourists touching the coral when they are told not too). I would suggest trying for Maho Bay or Cinnamon Bay. Honeymoon Beach or Hawksnest Bay are also nice. I guess it depends on how much time you have for a day sail and how the winds are blowing that day.

 

Scott

[Fourseventeen]

How far is cinnamon and honeymoon from the port where Carnival will be docking? Is it something I can do on my own with a taxi and ferry? I would rather go to Cinnamon Bay but i have not seen any sailings or excursions that go there

[Tak8]

I would also recommend a powerboat or yacht to Jost Van Dyke. Beautiful beach, great food and drink. Memorable day.

[SeaYa52]

We've used the Rumbaba - for a day sail to St. John....they will meet you in Red Hook. One of the best ever tours we've done in the Caribbean....only some tours in Bora Bora & Moorea top this. Captain Bobby and first mate Karen do an awesome job....great music, food, drinks - and the beautiful island of St. John....doesn't get much better than that.:D

[pearls4t]

Guided Jetski and Snorkeling Safari Tour

 

http://stthomascruiseexcursions.com/JetSkiSnorkeling.htm

[malakie]

Pearls4T - Have you done this Jet Ski Tour? I have been thinking about it but would like more information. Is it worth the money? Do you know which resort it leaves from?

[augie]

If it was me I'd reserve a jeep rental from somewhere near the dock your ship will be, then drive to Red Hook and take the car barge to St. John.

 

From the car barge terminal, I'd drive through Cruz Bay, past Mongoose Junction and take North Shore Rd. east, stopping to see/photo the scenic overlooks of Caneel and Trunk.

 

I'd drive past Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, and the other north shore beaches and take the road from Francis Bay to the parking lot for the Annaberg ruins. From there I'd hike alongside Leinster Bay and snorkel around Waterlemon Cay.

 

Afterward, I'd get back on Northshore Rd., continuing in the same direction as before. If your family likes smoothies I'd stop at the smoothie stand near the intersection of North Shore and Centerline roads and have them either "island style" or "virgin".

 

Then I'd take Centerline Rd. down into Coral Bay, turn left at the intersection, drive past the Guy Benjamin school and have a great burger at Skinny Legs (possibly shopping for souvenirs at the adjacent Jolly Roger store).

 

After lunch I'd take Centerline back into Cruz Bay. If I still had some time I'd go past the turnoff back to the car barge and park in Cruz Bay and walk around Wharfside - buy some island spices and maybe a cookbook at St. John Spice, then have a drink and perhaps an appetizer at the Beach Bar until it was time to head back to the car barge.

 

But that's just me...

[Fourseventeen]

sounds like a little to much thinking and moving around for a day I want to be really relaxing :D

[nabby]

I would also recommend a powerboat or yacht to Jost Van Dyke. Beautiful beach, great food and drink. Memorable day.

 

I'm partial to the BVI myself (having just been there). Jost Van Dyke is fabulous if you want to kick back on a beautiful beach and enjoy the best laid-back beach bars in the world (Foxy's, Ivan's, One Love, Soggy Dollar). On the other hand if you want something different that has a little more adventure you could go to Virgin Gorda and visit the Baths. This is a very popular cruise ship excursion so if there are cruise ships in Tortola that day it might be crowded. In any case there are boats that will take you over there (Vibe, Big Blue come to mind and there are others). You will need a passport or passport card.

[Fearsback]

There is an option where you take a helicopter ride over to a private unhabited island. They drop you off and you do whatever you want there. You can snorkel, check out the island or just have a nice picnic and drink with the wife. It would cost you just under $1,000 for this option. If money isn't an option I would try some other cruise lines, Carnival is on the lower end in most peoples mind. Enjoy.

[Fourseventeen]

Ive been pretty happy with all my Carnival cruises and im only a couple away frm Platinum so ill stick with them for now. I am not mr bucks by any means...just like to splurge a little when on vacation. We ended up hiring a charter sail for the day so we can see a few different islands and do a little snorkeling. The helicopter idea we looked at too. 800.00 for the deal wasnt to bad but being dropped off at one island for the day wasnt to appealing. We wanted to see more then just one sight for the day.

[tocruzagain]

We were on the Glory last July and used our stop in St. Thomas as a jumping off point. Once we docked in we had a prearranged taxi waiting on us at the dock to take us over to Red Hook Marina. From there, we had the BEST day out on the water with Cpt. Wilson of Big Blue excursions. We emailed back and forth several times before ever leaving on our cruise to decide how "we" wanted to spend our day. We opted to see the north shore of St. John, took us by trunk bay, etc..then stopped to snorkel at Leinster Bay for little over an hour. From there, we scooted straight across into the BVI to Jost Van Dyke to clear customs and have a drink at Foxy's on the beach. Then, we went a few minutes down the island by water to White Bay where we had lunch and drinks at the Soggy Dollar Bar and enjoyed the beautiful clear water before heading back to St. John to clear customs back into the US and on to St. Thomas. We had the same taxi drive waiting there for us to take us back to the dock. We even managed to have a litle bit of time to do some shopping at Havensight right there at the port before boarding the ship. We had a party of 5 and it was all around our favorite memory of the whole cruise!!

 

Enjoy your trip there. It's beautiful!!

[Lsimon]

I agree that the private day sails are a great option. Typical day is departure from Red Hook area (20 min cab ride from ship) around 9AM, sail to St. John and anchor for an hour or two of snorkeling and then lunch. Then either another snorkeling stop, beach stop, or scenic sailing before sailing back to St. Thomas.

 

Most of these boats carry a max of 6 passengers so they will customize the itinerary for you if the whole group agrees. Also, they can vary according to conditions and the captains can tell if the currents are such that a usual snorkeling spot will be poor that day and head someplace else instead. We've killed a day traveling to a St. John beach by cab/ferry/cab before only to find rough conditions when we got there after 90 minutes of travel.

 

We've take a couple of these boats and our favorite is the Rumbaba - nice crew and boat and they have some of the best food we've had ANYPLACE! But there are several others and they more or less have similar trips. Search this forum for "day sail" or Google "St Thomas day sail" to find more info or reviews.

[UR Cruisin]

Are there any boats that carry more than 6 passengers? We are a group of seven.

[Lsimon]

Are there any boats that carry more than 6 passengers? We are a group of seven.

 

I know there are but I'm not sure of the names of them. There are sailboats and catamarans - might have to be part of a general sailing or cat trip. If you search as I said above you should find them and if you call any of the day-sail captains they should be able to refer you to someone who does the larger groups if they don't. I think it relates to their cost guard certification although the sailboats I've been on aren't really large enough for much more than 6.

[cephasde]

We were in St. Thomas this past February. We pre-arranged a day sail on the Independence 44. Fantastic. Great food and drink and crew. Professional grade snorkeling equipment and gentle instruction for the beginner. Capt. Pat and her first mate will take very good care of you. You can find her web site by googling Independence 44 st thomas. We went to a couple of really nice bays in St. John, had lunch in between.

[The Islander]

Fourseventeen - if you're up for sailing, you could try the excursion where they teach you a little about sailing and have some racing: http://www.ondeckoceanracing.com/stt/. Or you could do the charter route so its relaxing and the captains tend to allow guests to 'pretend' for a little bit that they are in control by letting them take the helm and if you are interested in learning more about it can certainly ask the captain. You could look up some information on charters, lots of options there, try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=st.+thomas+activities+%2B+day+charters. On St. John you could also rent a dinghy and then you all could head off on your own and beach hop along the shore.

 

UR Crusin - yes there are some boats that can handle more than 6 passengers. Also check the same search mentioned above http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=st.+thomas+activities+%2B+day+charters and look through for some that can accomodate 10-11 people or some around 18. And then there are others that takes multiple small groups as they can accomodate around 25-30.

 

--Islander

[baderry]

We were on the Glory last July and used our stop in St. Thomas as a jumping off point. Once we docked in we had a prearranged taxi waiting on us at the dock to take us over to Red Hook Marina. From there, we had the BEST day out on the water with Cpt. Wilson of Big Blue excursions. We emailed back and forth several times before ever leaving on our cruise to decide how "we" wanted to spend our day. We opted to see the north shore of St. John, took us by trunk bay, etc..then stopped to snorkel at Leinster Bay for little over an hour. From there, we scooted straight across into the BVI to Jost Van Dyke to clear customs and have a drink at Foxy's on the beach. Then, we went a few minutes down the island by water to White Bay where we had lunch and drinks at the Soggy Dollar Bar and enjoyed the beautiful clear water before heading back to St. John to clear customs back into the US and on to St. Thomas. We had the same taxi drive waiting there for us to take us back to the dock. We even managed to have a litle bit of time to do some shopping at Havensight right there at the port before boarding the ship. We had a party of 5 and it was all around our favorite memory of the whole cruise!!

 

Enjoy your trip there. It's beautiful!!

 

I hope you don't mind me asking such a personal question, but can you tell me about how much this trip cost?