St.Thomas excursion...advice on STL2 or others

[Bjcruzn]

Any advice on excursion "Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise of National Parks and Beaches"? . Cruising on RCCL Allure next month with a few or ships in port. Not too concerned with crowd since firmly believe in safty in #s., however 1st time in St. Thomas and want to get most for my $s.

 

Any advice on this excursion thru cruiseline or others that may be better?

[trabeler]

We just did STL2 last week and were on the Celebrity Summit. We wanted to go to St John and after comparing the cost of getting a taxi and ferry versus this tour, it wasn't much more to do the tour plus reduced the worry factor of missing a ferry, etc.

 

STL2 is combined with other tours. They collected all of us at the cruise dock at 9:30 am and then we walked to the end of the dock and got on the ferry. The ferry was already about 50% full from passengers that had gotten on at a Marriott resort.

 

The ride to St John can be rough if you easily get seasick... a few people on the ship were looking green during the ride. You can sit inside the boat (in the shade) or on the top or sides. Be warned that if you sit on the sides, depending on sea conditions you may get pretty wet from sea spray.

 

The ship captain provided tour narration during the entire ride to St John.

 

It was about 30 minutes to St John. We stopped at Cruz Bay and let off the people who had different excursions (such as a walking tour). Then we did the "coastal cruise" part for about 45 minutes. We went around the coast up to trunk bay and the captain talked about the different beaches.

 

We then returned to Cruz Bay and were told to be back at the dock for a departure at 3:30 pm sharp.

 

We spent a few hours at honeymoon beach and then walked back and did some shopping around Cruz Bay. The ship left at 3:30 pm and seemed to take it slower on the return, making the ride smoother. We were back at the cruise dock around 4:20 pm. The crew served complimentary fruit punch or rum punch on the return trip.

 

Overall, a very nice day and we thought the excursion was worth it for transportation plus the coastal tour.

[Bjcruzn]

Thanks so much for the infomation!!!

How far are the beaches from Cruz Bay, is Honeymoon beach the only beach there or do you take taxi to them?

[Bjcruzn]

Did more searches... Will plan to take taxi from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay beach, then taxi back for shopping and departure. Thanks!!!

[trabeler]

Did more searches... Will plan to take taxi from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay beach, then taxi back for shopping and departure. Thanks!!!

 

When we arrived at Cruz Bay on STL2, the captain had taxis waiting at the dock and helped to group passengers together to fill them for the trip to Trunk Bay. I'm sure the captain was getting a kickback from the taxis for getting these groups, but the rates are standardized on the island so you're not paying anything more.

[BDMom]

Could this tour be used simply as transportation to St. John? In other words could we get off when the walking Tour folks get off and just go have a beach day? How many hours do you think that would add to our beach time? We are not terribly interested in the narrated tour, and our 9 and 11 year olds certainly would not be. We want beach time!

[trabeler]

Could this tour be used simply as transportation to St. John? In other words could we get off when the walking Tour folks get off and just go have a beach day? How many hours do you think that would add to our beach time? We are not terribly interested in the narrated tour, and our 9 and 11 year olds certainly would not be. We want beach time!

 

You can certainly get off with the walking tour folks and skip the "coastal tour" part. This would give you maybe 45 minutes to an hour more on the island. There were some people who left the ferry without taking the tour.

[blue_water]

Best option in my opinion after doing both the cruise excursion and on our own is to do STJ on your own. Taxi to Red Hook ferry and taxi from Cruz Bay to Cinnamon Bay (or Trunk). Total transportation cost pp is $42. Much more enjoyable than being herded with a group, and you can allot some time for shopping and lunch in either Cruz Bay (Beach Bar) or Red Hook (Island Time or Big Bambooz).

[Jiffymom]

I hope we can hire a driver and we could beach hop. Has anyone done that.

[blue_water]

Yes, the driver we knew is no longer available but there are several tour operators and other private options.

But a great option is to just taxi to Coki early before it gets too busy and enjoy that beach then taxi to Sapphire. Both gorgeous beaches, Coki has a livelier vibe, Sapphire more relaxed.

Roundtrip taxi is about $21 - 23pp ($8 - 9 from the dock to Coki and from Sapphire to tje dock, and $5 from Coki to Sapphire), great day.

 

May even leave time for a rum punch at Iggie's beach bar in Bolongo Bay, or even a Bailey's Bushwacker at Paradise Point with the great views of the harbor.

[blue_water]

We just did STL2 last week and were on the Celebrity Summit. We wanted to go to St John and after comparing the cost of getting a taxi and ferry versus this tour, it wasn't much more to do the tour plus reduced the worry factor of missing a ferry, etc.

 

STL2 is combined with other tours. They collected all of us at the cruise dock at 9:30 am and then we walked to the end of the dock and got on the ferry. The ferry was already about 50% full from passengers that had gotten on at a Marriott resort.

 

The ride to St John can be rough if you easily get seasick... a few people on the ship were looking green during the ride. You can sit inside the boat (in the shade) or on the top or sides. Be warned that if you sit on the sides, depending on sea conditions you may get pretty wet from sea spray.

 

The ship captain provided tour narration during the entire ride to St John.

 

It was about 30 minutes to St John. We stopped at Cruz Bay and let off the people who had different excursions (such as a walking tour). Then we did the "coastal cruise" part for about 45 minutes. We went around the coast up to trunk bay and the captain talked about the different beaches.

 

We then returned to Cruz Bay and were told to be back at the dock for a departure at 3:30 pm sharp.

 

We spent a few hours at honeymoon beach and then walked back and did some shopping around Cruz Bay. The ship left at 3:30 pm and seemed to take it slower on the return, making the ride smoother. We were back at the cruise dock around 4:20 pm. The crew served complimentary fruit punch or rum punch on the return trip.

 

Overall, a very nice day and we thought the excursion was worth it for transportation plus the coastal tour.

 

Great info, just want to say that the ferry ride is usually very enjoyable, there can be rougher days but no worries! We take the ferry to and from Tortola and stop in Cruz Bay for customs and the coastal tour is beautiful.

[ilandlvr]

So oasis of the seas says the tour begins at 10:30am, takes 45 minutes to get to the island 11:15 another 50 minutes for the water tour (Right???) so about noon. What time does the ferry leave to go back to the boat? If I wanted to go to trunk bay, about 15 minutes both ways by taxi right? so I would need 15 minutes to 30 minutes b-4 ferry leaves to take taxi from trunk bay to ferry right? Will they leave you if the taxi is late? so does that leave about 2 1/2 hrs at the beach?