OK to 'ditch' on a shopping excursion?

[Fatguineapig]

Sailing FOS in March...thinking of booking St. John "guided" shopping tour but only to use the transportation..just to use the earlier boat to St. John, then we want to just take off on our own and rejoin the excursion for the boat back to the ship.

Am I worrying too much or is this a no-no?:confused:

[Kycruisefan]

Interesting idea...

[39august]

Ihave read at least one post of someone doing this. As long as you know for sure the time to be back to the boat for return, I don't see why not.

[PH8]

You can go elsewhere(like the beach).......they just give you a certain amount of time to shop.......its not like you stay together in a group..

[Host Faith]

We did this on the Serenade last year and it was perfectly fine. The boat captain actually asked us if anyone wanted to skip the tour to head to Trunk Bay. He had a friend on the island with a taxi ready to take anyone who wanted to do that. Enjoy! :)

[khm1]

Yes, you can do this. I took this tour 3 weeks ago. We did not hang out for the shopping tour. The captain asks, at the dock in Cruz Bay, who will be skipping the tour and heading out right away. We took a taxi($6) and were at Trunk Bay by about 11:00 am. You need to be back at the boat by about 3. This gives you about 4 hours free time on St. John. I highly recommend this tour for a stress-free way to get to St. John.

[bajathree]

Just did this tour in Jan....like Crystal said, you can go off on your own as soon as you get to St John....the shopping part of the excursion is a total of 15 minutes and they couldn't care if you do it or not.

[hancogran]

We also did this a few weeks ago when we were on Serenade. To be honest, I don't think anybody in our group who signed up for the shopping actually went shopping.

 

As Crystal mentioned, the boat captain had a taxi (van) waiting to take us to Trunk Bay and it was full. He said he'd be back at a certain time to pick up anybody who wanted transportation back to Cruz Bay, or we were free to get our own taxi back.

 

We loved our day in St. John and felt a bit safer doing the ship's excursion. We even had complimentary rum punch on the way back to Serenade! A great day! :D

[Fatguineapig]

Great - thanks to all of you! Booked it and can now go without worrying about it!

 

Pre-kids, DW and I cruised the Nile and it seemed that every excursion included a stop to shop - The trip was otherwise amazing but I discovered that I don't like organized shopping!

[MrZoey]

It was the best thing we've done for excursions! No worries about getting the regular ferry back and dealing with the traffic from Red Hook. Enjoy!

[cruisegirl1]

We ditched the walking history tour with no problem. This tour shares the shopping tour transportation. The tour price was worth the transportation with no hassle. The private ferry was terrific, with great narration, and we were picked up and dropped off right at the ship. When we got to St John we caught a taxi to Trunk Bay. It was beautiful!

M

[negc]

Sailing FOS in March...thinking of booking St. John "guided" shopping tour but only to use the transportation..just to use the earlier boat to St. John, then we want to just take off on our own and rejoin the excursion for the boat back to the ship.

Am I worrying too much or is this a no-no?:confused:

 

Check to see if they don't also offer a "St. John on your own" tour. We took that tour in January and it worked quite well and I believe that the cost was slightly less than the tour which offered guided shopping. If you do take the guided shopping tour, I'd suggest letting the guides know your plans so that they don't include you in the count of passengers that will be on that portion of the trip.

[bajathree]

Check to see if they don't also offer a "St. John on your own" tour. We took that tour in January and it worked quite well and I believe that the cost was slightly less than the tour which offered guided shopping. If you do take the guided shopping tour, I'd suggest letting the guides know your plans so that they don't include you in the count of passengers that will be on that portion of the trip.

 

That tour/excursion cuts your time in St John by about 1:30hrs...felt way rushed when we did that excursion....much better off with the shopping or historical tour for max time in St John.

[negc]

That tour/excursion cuts your time in St John by about 1:30hrs...felt way rushed when we did that excursion....much better off with the shopping or historical tour for max time in St John.

 

I guess it depends on how much time you want to spend at the beach. The time allotted to us was more than sufficient, but if more time is necessary, I stand by my other suggestion that they just notify the guides so that their absence won't cause any problems for those who remain for the shopping portion of the tour.:)

[clean1owner]

You can go elsewhere(like the beach).......they just give you a certain amount of time to shop.......its not like you stay together in a group..

 

 

You mean you don't all hold hands in a long line and walk through the stores together?