St. Thomas- good shopping near the port OR sapphire beach?

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Hi everyone! First trip to St. Thomas in 3 days. We did not book an excursion.

 

We're in port 8a- 5p.

 

We'd really like to do sapphire bay AND shop. Is this feasible? Ideally we'd like to shop from 8-10a and then sapphire beach for the rest of the day. Alternatively, beach from 8a- 12 and shop for the remainder. However, my sister is paranoid and doesn't like to go to far away when it's even close to the time we sail.

 

Therefore, is there any shopping near sapphire beach or the port we can do? We're both 25 and looking for your typical touristy stuff- inexpensive jewelry, tshirts, crafts/ local things, etc.

 

If Sapphire bay is not conducive to this, any other ideas? We're pretty fluid but my sister is extremely stressed out since we don't have a concrete game plan yet.

[O2B@Cagain]

The shopping is mainly downtown and at Havensight. If you are docked at Havensight, you are set. If you dock at Crown Bay, you could taxi to town then to Sapphire.

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Sorry for the dumb questions, but is there any way to know whether I'm docking at Havensight?

 

thank you so much!

[Colorado Kat]

I would visit Sapphire Beach first, and then go shopping.

[bigmama9224]

Hey i am also curious as to is there a way for me to find out were

we are docking in St Thomas, Havensight or Crown bay i am partially

disable use a scooter and would like to bring down my scooter and go shopping.

[O2B@Cagain]

In general, Princess, Holland America and the Behemoth of the Seas ships dock at Crown Bay. Carnival, Disney, Celebrity and the other Royal Caribbean ships dock at Havensight. There are occasional changes and when it is really busy, someone has to anchor out and tender in. When that happens they go directly to the waterfront in town.

[blue_water]

Check your ships docking location under the Cruising schedule link at vinow dot com, just look under your arrival date.

 

As stated Havensight has many of the jewelry stores and souvenir stores that are located downtown so if you are docked there you will find the items you mentioned.

 

Absolutely, shop first and take your stuff back to your cabin then take the 1/2 he, $20pp roundtrip to Sapphire and enjoy your day on the beach, just don't spend too much time shopping as all stores carry the same trinkets, etc.

 

Sapphire is an excellent choice., have a great day there. The beer and rum punches are cheaper at the dive center, but the Banana Cabana beach grill makes a great mahi mahi sandwich.

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Check your ships docking location under the Cruising schedule link at vinow dot com, just look under your arrival date.

 

As stated Havensight has many of the jewelry stores and souvenir stores that are located downtown so if you are docked there you will find the items you mentioned.

 

Absolutely, shop first and take your stuff back to your cabin then take the 1/2 he, $20pp roundtrip to Sapphire and enjoy your day on the beach, just don't spend too much time shopping as all stores carry the same trinkets, etc.

 

Sapphire is an excellent choice., have a great day there. The beer and rum punches are cheaper at the dive center, but the Banana Cabana beach grill makes a great mahi mahi sandwich.

 

I hope you see this before tonight- I am leaving tomorrow and am taking your advice to shop first, beach second. Do we need to leave the beach for lunch, or are both of those things located right on the beach?

 

THANK YOU! my sister will be thrilled we have a concrete plan!

[Ms411]

Since the shops don't generally open until 9, you should beach first to get your prime spot on the beach before the others. You can shop afterwards and take your purchases back to the ship and be done.

 

I don't like getting on and off the ship, because it usually takes a while to walk back and forth on these large ships. Big waste of time, IMO.

[Casanova02]

Check your ships docking location under the Cruising schedule link at vinow dot com, just look under your arrival date.

 

As stated Havensight has many of the jewelry stores and souvenir stores that are located downtown so if you are docked there you will find the items you mentioned.

 

Absolutely, shop first and take your stuff back to your cabin then take the 1/2 he, $20pp roundtrip to Sapphire and enjoy your day on the beach, just don't spend too much time shopping as all stores carry the same trinkets, etc.

 

Sapphire is an excellent choice., have a great day there. The beer and rum punches are cheaper at the dive center, but the Banana Cabana beach grill makes a great mahi mahi sandwich.

 

 

I was there 1 week ago and went to Sapphire beach about 3 or 3.5 hours then came back to the ship, eat a bit then went shopping....

 

I prefer went to the beach in the morning instead of the afternoon where the sun is at the max....

 

And I agree 100% with Blue_Water about shopping. Lot of stores have the same things and you can negociate the price....

 

And if I had to start over, I would stay a bit longer at the beach.... and take more drinks.... ;) Well, I might do that when i go back in December....no, i will do that....

 

Enjoy the good time at St-Thomas.

[blue_water]

I hope you see this before tonight- I am leaving tomorrow and am taking your advice to shop first, beach second. Do we need to leave the beach for lunch, or are both of those things located right on the beach?

 

THANK YOU! my sister will be thrilled we have a concrete plan!

 

Yes the dive center and the Banana Cabana are both on the beach, no need to leave the beach for lunch. The BC had a great mahi mahi sandwich but nut cheap at $12 I believe.

 

You can beach first if that works for you, that would be our preference.

Have a good one!

[MrsLadyL]

I was there 1 week ago and went to Sapphire beach about 3 or 3.5 hours then came back to the ship, eat a bit then went shopping....

 

I prefer went to the beach in the morning instead of the afternoon where the sun is at the max....

 

And I agree 100% with Blue_Water about shopping. Lot of stores have the same things and you can negociate the price....

 

And if I had to start over, I would stay a bit longer at the beach.... and take more drinks.... ;) Well, I might do that when i go back in December....no, i will do that....

 

Enjoy the good time at St-Thomas.

 

Thanks for this info. We were thinking of doing the same thing to avoid the crowd. How early where you at Sapphire beach and how much was taxi from the Havensight port?

 

Also, did you take a taxi to go shopping or is it walkable? Did you go to Charlotte Amalie downtown for shopping or just by the port? Is one better than the other prices wise?

 

Thank you!

[blue_water]

We stay at the Sapphire resort and the earliest cruisers get there around 8 AM and more trickle in during the day. You could get to Sapphire at noon and find a shady spot but early would be our choice before it gets too hot.

As noted above the taxi is $18 - 20pp RT to any of the East End beaches.

 

If you like a busier vibe Coki is a short drive from Sapphire, some ppl go there first then taxi to Sapphire for another $5 - 6pp. Gorgeous beach (probably the nicest STT beach) but because Coki is in such asmall bay she gets more crowded. There are also many local vendors there and that turns some ppl off. But very pretty beach!

 

Shopping at Havensight is all walkable. The benefit of shopping Charlotte Amalie is a ton more stores and the historic aspect. Pricing is no different, and if you're looking for the typical touristy stuff that you mentioned earlier (inexpensive t-shirts, jewelry, etc) the only benefit in going to CA is to see the town.

 

Our perfect cruise stop on STT is Sapphire with lunch (the mahi mahi sandwich at the Banana Cabana) then return to Paradise Point across from Havensight for the view and the Bushwacker. The PP tram is a short walk from your ship so you can do some shopping on the way back from the PP tram to the ship. PPis a great spot to relax before walking back to the ship.you can also drive/taxi there.

 

Have a great day, and enjoy the beautiful beaches of the East End!

[Casanova02]

Thanks for this info. We were thinking of doing the same thing to avoid the crowd. How early where you at Sapphire beach and how much was taxi from the Havensight port?

 

Also, did you take a taxi to go shopping or is it walkable? Did you go to Charlotte Amalie downtown for shopping or just by the port? Is one better than the other prices wise?

 

Thank you!

 

Hi

 

Blue-Water did answer all your questions, he's the expert of St-Thomas...

 

We were at the beach around 09h00-09h30.... and left around 13h00.... since we came back to the ship, ate then shop, we decide to shop near the pier...

 

Next time, we might go a little further to shop....

 

Enjoy your time at St-Thomas...

[blue_water]

Sorry to bud in, but wanted to mention Paradise Point as an option since mrslady is docked at Havensight. Thanks for your feedback on Sapphire Casanova!

[Casanova02]

Sorry to bud in, but wanted to mention Paradise Point as an option since mrslady is docked at Havensight. Thanks for your feedback on Sapphire Casanova!

 

Hey no problem... i wasn't offended at all.... You and mitsugirly know much more than I do on St-Thomas....

 

The only thing that i know as a fact on St-Thomas is Sapphire is a SUPER beach..... I was very close to the volleyball net when i was there so almost every day, i check the webcam and can see myself on the beach... :)

 

I'll be there in 258 days.... Lucky I am....

[MrsLadyL]

This is great! Thank you for all the info! St. Thomas sounds like its going to be a lot of fun!

 

If the ship is leaving at 5, what's the latest we should be at the ship by so that we don't miss it! :)

 

Thanks again!

[blue_water]

This is great! Thank you for all the info! St. Thomas sounds like its going to be a lot of fun!

 

If the ship is leaving at 5, what's the latest we should be at the ship by so that we don't miss it! :)

 

Thanks again!

 

By 4:59 :p

Seriously if you're wondering what time to leave Sapphire to get back to Havensight by 4 or 4:15 I would allow an hour just in case there is heavy traffic near the dock as that is typical.

 

Have fun!

[MrsLadyL]

By 4:59 :p

Seriously if you're wondering what time to leave Sapphire to get back to Havensight by 4 or 4:15 I would allow an hour just in case there is heavy traffic near the dock as that is typical.

 

Have fun!

 

Hahaha! Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks again!