Exactly how do you get to St. John/Trunk Bay?

[JettaGirl]

I am sailing on the Caribbean Princess in August. We are visiting St. Thomas. We are wanting to go to Trunk Bay on St. John by ourselves. There is only one other ship in port with us so I am assuming it won't be TOO crazy.

 

Now my question is, how exactly should i go about getting to St. John. I realize there are 2 different places to take the ferry. We arrive in St. Thomas at 7 am and the ship leaves at 6 pm.

 

Once we are at Trunk Bay, what time should we leave to make sure we are on the ship by 5 (at the latest!) <I am always paranoid about not getting to the ship on time>

 

So everyone, PLEASE give me step by stepg instructions on how to get to St. John! <what ferry place, times, etc>

 

Thank you very very much!

[basketballmom]

I'd like to know too! DH has decided he wants to go snorkeling over St. John instead of Coki beach. Would we be able to do St. John and still be able to see some of the sights of St. Thomas? We are in port from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

[krayziecr]

I haven't been to St. John in 2 years so I will tell you what I remember. We took a taxi from the ship to downtown St Thomas where we walked around for a bit then boarded the ferry downtown rather than at Red Hook. The taxi downtown was I believe $3 or $5 per person and didn't take very long. I think the ferry was $7 or so per person and was about 45 minutes. You will be along the coast and it is very scenic, but if you are prone to seasickness I would recommend taking something in advance as the boat is very fast and the sea was choppy eventhough it looked calm pulling in. I have heard this from other passengers as well on different days. Once in St. John, you will need to get another taxi to take you to Trunk Bay which is maybe 10-15 or so minutes away. The ferry schedule is posted at the dock in St. John but wasn't posted in St. Thomas. I believe they leave every hour and a half- 2 hours although I don't quite remember. If you allow yourself 2 hours of travel time before you need to board the ship you will be fine. Look at the ferry schedule, see what time the ferry leaves that is closest to 2 hours before boarding time and take that one. Enjoy your trip Trunk Bay is amazing I can't wait to go back May 2006!!!

 

Chris

[The Islander]

Hello Jetta,

 

You can find the ferry schedules at http://www.*****/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

 

1. Taxi to Ferry of choice on St. Thomas

2. Ferry to St. John

3. Taxi to Beach of choice on St. John

Everything in Reverse ;)

Its pretty easy.

 

I agree with the above try and get back on a ferry that is at least 2 hours earlier then your boarding time.

 

--Islander

http://www.*****

[Katie333]

Wow that's helpful info! This site has such great information - I wish I was here before my first cruise, but at least now I know.

[fun cruiserz]

This is helpful infor Katie333. Can my DH Kevin and I join you and your DH in St. Johns for the day?? Hee hee

[Katie333]

LOL, you crazy person! You know you are coming with us!Sorry everyone, we are planning our cruise together online, and we love the boards!

[tadjr]

We did this back in May, except we opted for Cinnamon Bay instead of Trunk Bay.

We were off the ship at 830am and in a cab right away. Made it to Red Hook at 855am and was on the 9am ferry. We were at Cinnamon Bay by 950am.

I wouldnt suggest waiting until 30 minutes before to leave to catch the ferry, but we were waiting for the rest of the group to show up. There was not much at Red Hook to arrive early for, but we did cut it a little close for my comfort. About 20-25 min ferry ride over.

Once at St John, there are taxis waiting just off the dock and they will get everyone off the ship going loaded and on your way quickly. We only waited about 2 minutes before we left. I think it was $4.50 pp to Cinnamon and it was just a little further than to Trunk so about $4 pp probably. We left the beach about 115pm and caught a cab at the beach back to port. Only about 10-15 minutes to get back (again $4.50pp from Cinnamon). Had about 20 minutes to wait for the ferry back (on the hour to Red Hook). Caught a cab right away and was back on the ship by about 3pm. We were sailing at 530 and wanted some time to look around some shops, but we could have easily caught the 3pm ferry with plenty of time or waited until 4pm and pushed it, but it was a 6 day crossing and we didnt want to take the chance of missing it.

We are tentatively scheduled for St Thomas again in Dec and I think I would definitely do St John again. This time maybe renting a jeep and doing more of the island...

[snorkelman]

My wife and I just returned from cruising on Carnival’s Victory from June 12-19, 2005 and we did our own trip to Trunk Bay.

 

 

We followed the info on these boards and had no problems. Tip - get off the ship ASAP and when you get a taxi tell them that you want to go to red hook to go to St. John and the taxi driver will know exactly how much time it will take to get you there and he will make sure to get you there in time for the ferry.

 

When you arrive at red hook, the taxi driver will tell you which of the three shacks you need to go to in order to buy tickets (but i think it was the "red" shack).

 

The earlier you get to trunk bay the better because there are significantly less fish as the tours arrive.

 

When we first arrived, we shared the beach with only 2 other people. We immediately snorkeled around the entire little island and saw tons of fish, including about 15 large (4 foot) silver Tarpon.

 

During our taxi ride from the port in St. John to Trunk bay, you will pass another nice bay (Hawk's Nest Bay) and if you continue a little further past Trunk bay, you will come to Cinnamon Bay.

 

Just so you know, these three bays are probably too far from each other to walk to them.

 

We chose to take the taxi and ferry (from red hook) because we wanted to avoid the longer and rougher ferryride to/from downtown C.A.