Beach-TransportOptions-from Cruz Bay-St.John

[richfromhaw]

We'll be cruising on Celebrity Summit and have been to St.Thomas multiple times before (Megans, Sappphire beaches, etc.)

 

This time have booked the St.John's On Your Own excursion with Celebrity which basically transports you to Cruz Bay on St.John's. Then have 4 hours on the island before returning back to St.Thomas (ship).

 

Understand that DYI less expensive but have also noticed many have advised using ship's excursion for first timers like us to St.John's.

 

My questions are:

- have others, on arrival at Cruz Bay, then taken a taxi ( cost, availability) to a beach ( which one).

We'd prefer a beach where you can rent beach chairs, with shade and/or umbrella. We'd snorkel a little but not the entire time on the beach. What facilities ( toilet, drink/food) were at the beach.

 

Know that Trunk Bay famous for snorkeling and Honeymoon/Maho Beach for calm water but not much info on-line about facilities available at each beach.

 

Appreciate the good advice of others who have travelled from Cruz Bay to a beach for a day while visiting St.John. Thank you for your help.

[blue_water]

I believe taxi fare to Trunk and Cinnamon Bay is $7pp but someone will need to confirm/correct that. You can take a partial island tour for ~$25pp and get dropped at a beach too.

Cinnamon Bay is very nice! :)

[irishgal1970]

We are doing this in two weeks. I'll try to remember to report back. We did the Celebrity excursion to St John two years ago, and really enjoyed Trunk Bay. This time (sailing on Norwegian) we've decided to go on our own. Everything that I've read makes it sound so easy. We will likely take the 9am Red Hook ferry over, and the 3:45pm Charlotte Amalie ferry back, so as to avoid getting stuck in traffic. We are planning, at this point, to go to Trunk Bay as I've read on these forums that they have the most to offer in terms of facilities. But as we're going on our own, who knows what may happen!

[blue_water]

We are doing this in two weeks. We are planning, at this point, to go to Trunk Bay as I've read on these forums that they have the most to offer in terms of facilities. But as we're going on our own, who knows what may happen!

 

That's the beauty of this option! Enjoy your day :)

[blue_water]

We will likely take the 9am Red Hook ferry over, and the 3:45pm Charlotte Amalie ferry back, so as to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

 

Does Epic dock at Crown? Or Havensight? Just thinking if you dock at Havensight and take the CA ferry back you'll need to walk or taxi back to the dock...Traffic returning from Red Hook to Havensight can be heavier and I'd allow an extra 30 minutes, not sure it's worth taking the CA ferry for?

Just a question?!? Enjoy your upcoming cruise! :)

[Ms411]

Epic should dock at Havensight which is about a mile or so back to the ship if they take the Charlotte Amalie ferry.

[irishgal1970]

Yes, the Epic docks at Havensight. We figure that if we taxi to Red Hook, we'll see a bit by road, and then if we ferry back to Charlotte Amalie, we'll see a bit more of the coast. Then we have an easy 1-1.5 mile walk back to the ship. Thinking we'd rather do that than be stuck in heavy traffic from Red Hook. This plan isn't set in stone, but it's my gut feeling at this point.

[Ms411]

The only St John beaches with food and drink are Honeymoon, Caneel, Trunk, and Cinnamon. You can't rent chairs at Caneel. Towel only.

[cookie*]

The only St John beaches with food and drink are Honeymoon, Caneel, Trunk, and Cinnamon. You can't rent chairs at Caneel. Towel only.

 

When you say "towel only" do you mean they give you a towel or do you need to bring your own towel?

[Ms411]

You have to bring your own towel.

[SonLuvr]

We just did this excursion with RCI in December. The ferry was shared with the Celebrity ship in port, so it's exactly the same trip. We've always gone to St. John on our own in the past but chose the excursion this time because there were 6 other ships in port that day and we wanted to have a guaranteed spot on the ferry! I'm glad we did. The ferry was private, RCI and Celebrity only, and much faster than the regular ferry. Plus, going by water the whole way is prettier and more time efficient than taking the taxi to Red Hook... no concern about traffic coming back.

 

Trunk Bay Beach or an island tour is the way to go. For a first timer, I'd recommend an island tour... you can hop off at Trunk Bay near the end of the tour. Plenty of taxis there to catch back to Cruz Bay. From Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay is $7 per person taxi fare (mostly open air trucks with covered benches, some enclosed vans with A/C). Trunk Bay is part of the National Park so you will pay a small entrance fee ($5 pp). The chairs were $10 each to rent. No need for umbrellas, there's plenty of shade... the beach backs up to sea grapes and palm trees. It's the most beautiful place in the world! Have a great time!

 

 

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[SonLuvr]

Oh, I forgot you mentioned snorkeling. Trunk Bay has rentals for that too, and a snorkel trail that I always see folks doing. It's supposed to be pretty good, but I haven't tried it as yet.

 

 

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[SonLuvr]

Also, Trunk Bay's restroom, shower, changing, locker facilities are very clean and nice, like what you'd find in any national park stateside. I haven't tried out the snack bar, but there is one. Everyone is very friendly!

 

 

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[irishgal1970]

We are doing this in two weeks. I'll try to remember to report back. We did the Celebrity excursion to St John two years ago, and really enjoyed Trunk Bay. This time (sailing on Norwegian) we've decided to go on our own. Everything that I've read makes it sound so easy. We will likely take the 9am Red Hook ferry over, and the 3:45pm Charlotte Amalie ferry back, so as to avoid getting stuck in traffic. We are planning, at this point, to go to Trunk Bay as I've read on these forums that they have the most to offer in terms of facilities. But as we're going on our own, who knows what may happen!

 

Just wanted to report back on current costs.

 

Taxi from Havensight to Red Hook dock = $20 per person (we had a group of 5) roundtrip

Ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay = $14 per adult, roundtrip; $2 per child, roundtrip (sorry, I didn't note the age cut off. We had a 9 y.o. with us)

Tax from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay = $12 per person (group of 5) roundtrp

Entrance to Trunk Bay National Park = $5

*we did not rent any equipment*

 

As to going on our own - SUPER EASY. The taxi coordinators are waiting for you at the end of the dock and direct you to a vehicle. We paid our fare when we arrived at each destination along the way. Note that our taxis consisted both of enclosed vans and of open air safari style vehicles.

[irishgal1970]

We are doing this in two weeks. I'll try to remember to report back. We did the Celebrity excursion to St John two years ago, and really enjoyed Trunk Bay. This time (sailing on Norwegian) we've decided to go on our own. Everything that I've read makes it sound so easy. We will likely take the 9am Red Hook ferry over, and the 3:45pm Charlotte Amalie ferry back, so as to avoid getting stuck in traffic. We are planning, at this point, to go to Trunk Bay as I've read on these forums that they have the most to offer in terms of facilities. But as we're going on our own, who knows what may happen!

 

Just wanted to report back on current costs.

 

Taxi from Havensight to Red Hook dock = $20 per person (we had a group of 5) roundtrip

Ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay = $14 per adult, roundtrip; $2 per child, roundtrip (sorry, I didn't note the age cut off. We had a 9 y.o. with us)

Tax from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay = $12 per person (group of 5) roundtrp

Entrance to Trunk Bay National Park = $5

*we did not rent any equipment*

 

As to going on your own - it is SUPER EASY. The taxi coordinators know where you want to go, even if you don't - LOL! They are waiting at the end of the dock and quickly direct you to a vehicle. We paid our fare when we arrived at our destination. The vehicles were a combination of enclosed vans and open-air safari vehicles.

[twingles3]

Just wanted to report back on current costs.

 

Taxi from Havensight to Red Hook dock = $20 per person (we had a group of 5) roundtrip

Ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay = $14 per adult, roundtrip; $2 per child, roundtrip (sorry, I didn't note the age cut off. We had a 9 y.o. with us)

Tax from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay = $12 per person (group of 5) roundtrp

Entrance to Trunk Bay National Park = $5

*we did not rent any equipment*

 

As to going on your own - it is SUPER EASY. The taxi coordinators know where you want to go, even if you don't - LOL! They are waiting at the end of the dock and quickly direct you to a vehicle. We paid our fare when we arrived at our destination. The vehicles were a combination of enclosed vans and open-air safari vehicles.

 

 

So I'm coming in on a cruise ship at 11 docking and said set sail at 7 probably I assume back on the ship at 6, how much actual time can I get at the beach and what time should I take the ferry back to make sure I'm back by six?

 

 

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[irishgal1970]

So I'm coming in on a cruise ship at 11 docking and said set sail at 7 probably I assume back on the ship at 6, how much actual time can I get at the beach and what time should I take the ferry back to make sure I'm back by six?

 

 

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I'm not sure that I can give accurate advice, but will try. Obviously, you need to tailor it to your comfort level. We had planned to catch the 9am ferry over and we didn't make it - our fault, as we weren't ready to walk off the ship at 8am. Let's say you can get off right at 11am and can make the Noon ferry. That should put you at Trunk bay by 12:45-ish. Our "all-aboard" was 5:30pm, so we took the 3pm ferry back - off the beach at 2:15pm. With a 6:30pm all-board (my assumption), then you should be able to leave the beach at 3:15pm and make it with time to spare. You could push it to 4:15pm and catch the 5pm ferry. That puts you back at Red Hook by 5:30pm and gives you 1 hour to make it back to Havensight. Traffic is definitely heavier coming back. Honestly, I would get the earlier (4pm) ferry.

[twingles3]

I'm not sure that I can give accurate advice, but will try. Obviously, you need to tailor it to your comfort level. We had planned to catch the 9am ferry over and we didn't make it - our fault, as we weren't ready to walk off the ship at 8am. Let's say you can get off right at 11am and can make the Noon ferry. That should put you at Trunk bay by 12:45-ish. Our "all-aboard" was 5:30pm, so we took the 3pm ferry back - off the beach at 2:15pm. With a 6:30pm all-board (my assumption), then you should be able to leave the beach at 3:15pm and make it with time to spare. You could push it to 4:15pm and catch the 5pm ferry. That puts you back at Red Hook by 5:30pm and gives you 1 hour to make it back to Havensight. Traffic is definitely heavier coming back. Honestly, I would get the earlier (4pm) ferry.

 

 

Much appreciated! Definitely helps. I just have to find out if we do the excursion that allows you to go off on your own,if you make the ferry they tell you to,would they hold the ship if there was a problem? That would be the only reason I wouldn't just do the whole thing on my own.

 

 

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[jean87510]

Has anyonr ever been successful in convincing thr cab drivers who pick up when you do the ship excursions not regular ferry to take you to a beach other than cinnamon or trunk? We have arranged for a private cab to take to annaburg ruins plus another snorkeling area and we are using red hook ferry that day. Last year we tried and successfully persuaded our cab driver to go to maho and he was really rude to us about it. Luckily we hitched a ride back to the ferry. This is why i am pre-arranged the cab beforehand. Do the cabbies just take cruise ship passengers to 2 beaches? And we even offered to pay this cab driver for a tour. He was so ridiculous. He told us we could walk over to maho from cinnamon. We experienced the same reluctance 6 months prior. If st john didn't have such beautiful beaches i would just stay in st thomas.

[SonLuvr]

I asked our driver last time to take us to Maho but he said the difficulty is that there would be no one there to take us back. Whereas at Trunk and Cinnamon there are many taxis readily available. Even when I asked if he could come back to get us at a certain time, he didn't want to do that because it severely limits the other fares he could get for the day because of how far out it is. He also pointed out that Maho has no facilities, so it is really better suited for people who have a rental car, and are staying the week, and aren't relying on someone else or a cruise ship schedule. I was disappointed, but it makes sense really.

 

 

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[jean87510]

We were at Maho 2x and it is about 15 minute walk and 2 minute car ride from cinnamon. They just don't want to go there. We were able to get back both times via taxi. We started walking back and a taxi picked us up. Like I said, they only want to take the cruise ship people to trunk bay and cinnamon beaches which are nice but we had read about the snorkeling at Maho and wanted to go there. We made arrangements for next year for a private taxi to go to a different part of the island because I am tired of the cab drivers not wanting to go 1.1 kilometer out of their way. I like to explore islands safely and the only way I can do this in St John from a cruise ship is to arrange a private taxi to go where I want to go since no one will do a one day car rental there. Maho Bay has such fantastic snorkeling, we went back because we loved it so much. If you look on google maps you can see how close it is to Cinnamon Bay. We packed protein bars and had our water bottles with us so we were fine.