Best way to get to St. John from Crown bay..crowded day

[debbs0723]

Hi all.

 

I have posted on this awhile back but now I have more details. We are docking in St. Thomas on Nov 26th on the Allure (Thanksgiving week). There will be 6 ships in St. Thomas that day. Port load shows 21,000. I'm assuming that means number of people? I'm not even sure how I know we are in crown bay but it seems like someone told me that. I can't find that info anywhere.

 

We want to go to St. John for the day. We are there from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We have no issue with the DIY way but from what I understand we will need to get on a taxi ride to be able to get on the REd hook and with that many people we might experience some crowds with the travel and long taxi rides.

 

I'm considering Royals ST03 excursion at $34 pp. It is basically just a roundtrip ferry from pier side to Cruz bay and offers 4.5 hours of self explore of St. John. Problem is that it doesn't leave until 11:45 a.m. I'm afraid with that many people in port by the time we arrive we will be behind all the crowds.

 

Would it be better to do the entire thing DIY? I'm not sure how to go about that. I'm more concerned with time and convenience than I am with how expensive the other option is but that is always good information as well.

 

Thanks so much for any help.

 

Debbie

Edited March 15, 2014 by debbs0723

[WilCruise]

I would recommend Royal's ST02. We just did that a few weeks ago and it was one of the highlights of our cruise. The 02 is a coastal cruise around St. John then a few hours in Cruz Bay to shop, eat and just take in the beauty. Make sure you go to Woody's for lunch. Three funny, entertaining young men pilot the catamaran (ferry) and serve a most delicious rum punch. If St. Thomas is going to be busy, I would imagine there will be lots going to St. John as well.

 

 

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[debbs0723]

Thank you. I did consider this but I'm a little worried that may really limit our time on St. John. My kids are probably going to want to hit the beach early on and I'm worried they might not enjoy the coastal cruise as much. I might be very wrong though. I do think my parents would enjoy that more. I'm wondering if I could book the scenic route, pay a little more, leave a little earlier, then decide once I'm on it whether to go the scenic route or not? I hear you just get off earlier if you decide not to. Thoughts?

 

So either way you do suggest the cruise excursion vs DIY?

 

Thanks,

Debbie

Edited March 15, 2014 by debbs0723

[janetz]

We did that mode of transportation to St. John when we were on the Allure. It was not the coastal excursion but the shop and beach. When we got off the ferry we just grabbed a taxi to Trunk Bay. The only problem is by the time you arrive to St. John, it is crowded and very difficult to find any shade. :) But, a very nice beach. You may want to look into the ferry from Crown bay to Water Island also. :) That would be on your own but very easy. Just Google, water island for cruise passengers.

Edited March 15, 2014 by janetz

[giswam]

Hi all.

 

I have posted on this awhile back but now I have more details. We are docking in St. Thomas on Nov 26th on the Allure (Thanksgiving week). There will be 6 ships in St. Thomas that day. Port load shows 21,000. I'm assuming that means number of people? I'm not even sure how I know we are in crown bay but it seems like someone told me that. I can't find that info anywhere.

 

We want to go to St. John for the day. We are there from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We have no issue with the DIY way but from what I understand we will need to get on a taxi ride to be able to get on the REd hook and with that many people we might experience some crowds with the travel and long taxi rides.

 

I'm considering Royals ST03 excursion at $34 pp. It is basically just a roundtrip ferry from pier side to Cruz bay and offers 4.5 hours of self explore of St. John. Problem is that it doesn't leave until 11:45 a.m. I'm afraid with that many people in port by the time we arrive we will be behind all the crowds.

 

Would it be better to do the entire thing DIY? I'm not sure how to go about that. I'm more concerned with time and convenience than I am with how expensive the other option is but that is always good information as well.

 

Thanks so much for any help.

 

Debbie

 

We are also on your Allure sailing and definitely want to visit St. John. We have been to St. Thomas once before and enjoyed it but my husband really wants to visit St. John. I am leaning towards the cruiseline excursion ST03, definitely understand wanting more time on the island but nothing beats the peace of mind of knowing the ship won't leave without us. Still researching and I'm glad to see your post, didn't realize that many people would be in port that day. . Based on what I've read so far, the earliest ferry you'd be able to catch is at 11:00 with approximate arrival at Cruz Bay at 11:30 if all flows smoothly. I'm thinking it's not a huge difference between the cruiseline excursion and it will eliminate possible ferry waits due to crowds.

 

 

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[carbon]

We are on the freedom and are going with the ships excursion. We do coastal cruise and then head to the beach. I think many who need to back to the ship earlier than our 7pm departure will be heading back to their ship earlier than our ships excursion.

[debbs0723]

Thanks, Everybody.

 

I ended up booking the STL2 (St. John Coastal Cruise of National parks/beaches). It leaves at 11:15 vs 11:45. It ended up costing $15 more for my family of 4 but my husband says that is worth it to leave a bit earlier and he likes the choice of being able to get off before the coastal cruise part or decide then to stay on for it. Plus my parents will do the same trip and they can also make that decision.

 

I combed through the threads to see if it does, indeed, stop first to let you off at cruz Bay. I hope it still does.

 

Thank you,

Debbie

[WilCruise]

Good choice and it does stop first. Those going to the beaches get off, the coastal tour people stay on. We were on the Grandeur and met on the dock at 9:30a and all St. John's tours left on the same catamaran (brand new by the way) ferry at 10a. There is plenty of time for anything you want to do. We were asked to be back at the ferry at 3:15p for the return to the ship. We were back on board a little after 4:00p.

 

 

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[debbs0723]

Good choice and it does stop first. Those going to the beaches get off, the coastal tour people stay on. We were on the Grandeur and met on the dock at 9:30a and all St. John's tours left on the same catamaran (brand new by the way) ferry at 10a. There is plenty of time for anything you want to do. We were asked to be back at the ferry at 3:15p for the return to the ship. We were back on board a little after 4:00p.

 

 

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Thanks so much for the info. Unfortunately we don't meet until 11:15 a.m. as our boat doesn't dock until 10 so we will be behind the crowds. Hopefully that means behind enough that the beaches will start to clear a little bit earlier since our boat leaves at 7 p.m.

 

Debbie

[augie]

Consider bringing a soft sided collapsible cooler with you. When you first get off of the boat in Cruz Bay do any shopping/wandering the town that you plan to do, then buy some drinks and sandwiches to put into the cooler. While you are doing all of this, more and more of the early leaving beach people will be doing just that. As soon as you're ready grab a taxi to take you to your beach of choice.

 

Remember to note how long it takes the taxi to take you to the beach from Cruz Bay so that you can allow the same amount of time, plus a little extra "just in case" , to get back in time to catch your boat back to the ship.

Edited March 17, 2014 by augie

[debbs0723]

Good advice on the cooler. Thanks so much. On our cruise last year we had the soft sided coolers but what we used more than anything was my easy to carry gallon of water. I guess that is allowed because the guy at the windjammer would fill it up for me due to sanitary reasons. Nice service. :D

 

Debbie