Can we fit in a trip to St John with a visit to Paradise Point?

[Koz1]

We will be visiting St Thomas for the first time in February while on the Allure of the Seas, when we'll be in port from 10am to 7pm. We would like to do sightseeing tours but we don't plan to go swimming although we would like to visit some beaches while on our tours to take photos.

 

I've been reading a lot of old threads here and I think that visiting St John would be our best option for the day rather than just staying on St Thomas. We usually try to book private excursions rather than ship tours but I'm thinking that we may go for a ship tour this time since we can go by ferry straight to St John without first having to travel by taxi to Red Hook to catch the ferry from there and that the total cost for the day works out to be about the same. I've read several posts that people did the RCI "Self Explore St John" ST03 tour which gives you 4.5 hours at St John and from there we could do an Island Tour by taxi for $25 per person so that looks to be a good option.

 

There are two other RCI tours we can consider - St John Ultimate Island & National Park Beaches (ST08) and St John Cruise and Beaches (STL2). The first two depart at 11.45am and I think go for 6.5 hours. The last one departs at either 11.15am or 11.45am and gives 3.5 hours at Cruz Bay.

 

I do also like the idea of visiting Paradise Point for the views from up there, if we can fit it in with the trip to St John, but with the RCI tours starting at 11.45am it appears that we wouldn't fit it in as well unless we could get off the ship early and go up there before the 11.45am tour starts, but it would probably be tight.

 

Maybe we would be better to leave the ship as soon as possible after we dock and travel by taxi to Red Hook and go to St John by ferry and then hopefully get back early enough to still travel to Paradise Point before boarding the ship at the end of the day.

 

I would appreciate suggestions from anyone who has been to St Thomas and St John on the best options for someone who has never been there before to see as much as possible and be able to take some great photos as we travel around.

[Koz1]

We're now thinking that we'll leave the ship as soon as possible to get a taxi over to Red Hook and travel by Ferry to St John. The Allure is scheduled to arrive at 10am. Does it ever arrive a bit early? How quickly are we likely to be able to disembark? Would it be possible to get to Red Hook in time for the 11am ferry or is it more likely that we'll be on the 12.00 ferry?

 

There are five other ships in port that day so would you have to be at Red Hook very early to get in line to catch a ferry? How many passengers do the ferries hold?

[blue_water]

We're now thinking that we'll leave the ship as soon as possible to get a taxi over to Red Hook and travel by Ferry to St John. The Allure is scheduled to arrive at 10am. Does it ever arrive a bit early? How quickly are we likely to be able to disembark? Would it be possible to get to Red Hook in time for the 11am ferry or is it more likely that we'll be on the 12.00 ferry?

 

There are five other ships in port that day so would you have to be at Red Hook very early to get in line to catch a ferry? How many passengers do the ferries hold?

 

You'll want to make the 11AM ferry from Red Hook, that may be doable but will be tough unless you can get right off. Taking the taxi and RH ferry does usually give you the most time and flexibility.

 

Here's a thread from TA on stopping at PP or Drake's Seat after returning from STJ.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147404-i172-k7826249-Mountain_Top_or_Paradise_Point_for_the_best_views-St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

 

If a tour sounds good and you want to spend most of your time on STJ go for that. If you really want to stop at PP later go on your own but get back to Red Hook on the 4PM ferry so you have time to taxi there and then taxi to the ship.