Host Faith Posted October 27, 2010 #1 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Before I visited St. Croix, I always wondered what the beach near the port looked like. This is an excerpt from my review of the Serenade this past August. I hope this quick review is helpful! There’s a beach to the left of the cruise pier, and we decided to spend our day there. If you walk outside the cruise terminal area and head to your left, you will see a path that leads you to the beach. I noticed it would be difficult for anyone with walking issues, etc, to get to this beach, so if that is a concern you may want to take the beach shuttle offered at the pier so you can get to a more accessible beach. After the bridge, this is what we had to walk across to reach the beach. Just a heads up.... It was just what we wanted for the day. Chairs were just $5 pp, and umbrellas were just $5 each. We got 4 chairs 1 umbrella. This way we could store our bags in one of the chairs so they weren’t in the sand. The sand had smooth pebbles in it, and the shoreline was covered in pebbles you had to wade through to get to the smoother sand. The shore drops off by less than a foot, so be careful when you enter the water. The water in St. Croix is warm and beautiful. I think one of the chair guys had a crush on my friend Janelle, and he gave us two free floats to enjoy for the day. Not that that would get him anywhere with her at ALL, but we took them, LOL!!! Loved being able to see the ship from our beach. Janelle and I on our free floats, lol. You can see where the shore drops off a bit- right where the waves were breaking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Faith Posted October 27, 2010 Author #2 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Janelle wanted to climb the giant "iceberg" way out there in the water. It was challenging because there's no step stool for you to get a good grip with your feet. It's all upper body strength. It took her a while, but she finally did it! We stayed out here until about 3 PM, then headed to the right of the cruise pier to check out the shopping. We found a small store that sold Cruzan rum in cute bottles for $5 each. I bought some coconut rum as a gift for my boss. We boarded the ship and went to our rooms. Bye bye, St. Croix! The view from our balcony... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
librarylady19 Posted October 28, 2010 #3 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Thanks for the report and the pics. I had not seen much from St Croix so really appreciate these. We are doing the ATV tour but I understand it drops you off at the beach...wonder if it is the same one? Were there places to eat near this beach also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna - dsw Posted October 28, 2010 #4 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Thanks - how long did it take you to walk here? Also - do you remember the name of the beach? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Faith Posted October 28, 2010 Author #5 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Thanks for the report and the pics. I had not seen much from St Croix so really appreciate these. We are doing the ATV tour but I understand it drops you off at the beach...wonder if it is the same one? Were there places to eat near this beach also? I didn't see any ATV's stop by this particular beach. We were out there from about 10-3. There was a vendor behind the beach selling water, soda, chips, and candy, and another selling ice cream. Down near the shopping area, I think there was a place or two with food (if I recall correctly). We had a large breakfast and grabbed food once we were back on the ship, so we weren't really looking for lunch. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Faith Posted October 28, 2010 Author #6 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Thanks - how long did it take you to walk here? Also - do you remember the name of the beach? Hi Donna! It was about a 5 minute walk as soon as you exited the cruise pier. Not sure of the name. It's so close by you can't really miss it- you'll see the beach chairs and umbrellas as you walk past the ship on the pier. It will be to your left. :) As soon as you walk out the gate for the cruise terminal, turn to your left (see the photo with the path on it). Keep walking and you'll see that bridge to the beach in the following photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffinater Posted October 28, 2010 #7 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Good info. Were there restrooms/changing rooms there? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Faith Posted October 29, 2010 Author #8 Share Posted October 29, 2010 I did see a restroom back near the vendors on the beach. We did not use it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g8rfan94 Posted October 29, 2010 #9 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Thank you for the cool report and pics. We will be there in just a few days (WOO HOO :D) and as of yet, we have no solid plans. That is one of the few places that we're just going to "wing it". So, this is very helpful. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffinater Posted October 29, 2010 #10 Share Posted October 29, 2010 I did see a restroom back near the vendors on the beach. We did not use it though. Thanks for providing the update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelnut4 Posted November 1, 2010 #11 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Hi Donna! It was about a 5 minute walk as soon as you exited the cruise pier. Not sure of the name. It's so close by you can't really miss it- you'll see the beach chairs and umbrellas as you walk past the ship on the pier. It will be to your left. :) As soon as you walk out the gate for the cruise terminal, turn to your left (see the photo with the path on it). Keep walking and you'll see that bridge to the beach in the following photo. Could this be Rainbow Beach, or is that further away? I think I read here that Rainbow is about a mile away so maybe this is not it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadie8 Posted November 6, 2010 #12 Share Posted November 6, 2010 You're right about Rainbow Beach. It is further away. I don't think I have ever heard a name for this beach. Except beach at the port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelin' Nauti' Posted November 22, 2010 #13 Share Posted November 22, 2010 I did a goggle of the pier in St Croix and noticed a walk path to a beach. Your info acknowledges that. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowcat Posted November 22, 2010 #14 Share Posted November 22, 2010 I think it is named Fort Frederick Beach? We went there in early November....take a look on the vinow website where it describes many of the beaches in the Virgin Islands. We walked there from the ship....if it is the beach I'm thinking of, it was perhaps a five-minute walk right along the water's edge. OK snorkeling off to the left hand side by the rocks in front of the fort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoralReef Posted November 26, 2010 #15 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Yes, Fort Frederik Beach is right (south) of the pier. But faith413 went left (north). According to http://www.gotostcroix.com/beaches/fsted_beaches.php , this would be "Public Beach" (no other name given). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise pup Posted December 9, 2010 #16 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Yes, Fort Frederik Beach is right (south) of the pier. But faith413 went left (north). According to http://www.gotostcroix.com/beaches/fsted_beaches.php , this would be "Public Beach" (no other name given). Fort Frederik Beach is north of the pier. Look at the map. It's #29 which is north of the pier. The beach is right if you are facing the water, not land. This is confirmed by the description of being near Buddhoe Park which is right next to the Fort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INKY Posted December 9, 2010 #17 Share Posted December 9, 2010 FYI - We were there on November 28th and the beach was closed due to Flooding and Sand Erosion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise pup Posted December 9, 2010 #18 Share Posted December 9, 2010 FYI - We were there on November 28th and the beach was closed due to Flooding and Sand Erosion. Thanks for the heads up. Any information on how long they would keep it closed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoralReef Posted December 12, 2010 #19 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Fort Frederik Beach is north of the pier. Look at the map. It's #29 which is north of the pier. The beach is right if you are facing the water, not land. This is confirmed by the description of being near Buddhoe Park which is right next to the Fort. You're right, I misread the map. Thanks for the correction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise pup Posted December 13, 2010 #20 Share Posted December 13, 2010 You're right, I misread the map. Thanks for the correction! Seems like the beach is in really bad shape. I'll be in St. Croix on Tuesday. I'll probably head to Sand Castle instead. I called them and they said that their beach is in good shape. For $5.00 you get to use a lounger and their pool, so it's a good deal. The shuttle over there isn't much money. You can see the cruise ships from the beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted December 30, 2010 #21 Share Posted December 30, 2010 where do you get the shuttle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subtchr Posted January 4, 2011 #22 Share Posted January 4, 2011 where do you get the shuttle? The shuttle is right at the end of the cruise pier. There are very helpful folks there who will be happy to answer your questions. You buy the round trip $6 pp ticket at a table right there at the pier, and they direct you to the shuttle van. We had planned to go to the beach Chrystal describes, but they said it was still closed due to flood damage and erosion. This was on December 13. So we went to Sandcastle instead and had a BLAST. So relaxing, just what we needed. I have lots of pics in my review thread, linked in my signature. Here are a few: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grafe Posted January 4, 2011 #23 Share Posted January 4, 2011 tHANKS FOR THE TIP:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelin' Nauti' Posted January 5, 2011 #24 Share Posted January 5, 2011 FYI - We were there on November 28th and the beach was closed due to Flooding and Sand Erosion. :eek: Seems like the beach is in really bad shape. I'll be in St. Croix on Tuesday. I'll probably head to Sand Castle instead. I called them and they said that their beach is in good shape. For $5.00 you get to use a lounger and their pool, so it's a good deal. The shuttle over there isn't much money. You can see the cruise ships from the beach. Let us know how the beach is, would be interesting to know. I was first planning on visiting Sand Castle then changed my mind. Decided to go to the beach near the pier. Might have to revert back to my original plan. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subtchr Posted January 5, 2011 #25 Share Posted January 5, 2011 :eek: Let us know how the beach is' date=' would be interesting to know. I was first planning on visiting Sand Castle then changed my mind. Decided to go to the beach near the pier. Might have to revert back to my original plan. :cool:[/quote'] You can see from the pics above that Sand Castle is in very good shape. We loved it! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.