Trunk Bay

[chorder]

Wife and I are cruising on the Voyager on 4/29 ,in St. Thomas we would like to see the beach at Trunk Bay ,RCCL offers a tour of St.John beaches and TB is the finale of the tour, can anyone recommend this tour or is there a better way to see this beach ,also are beach chairs or lounges avail.

 

 

 

Thanx Bill

[Cruzntime]

Dear OP,

I have not been on RCI's excursion to St. John but I have looked to see what is available on my own. If you are interested search in the Ports of Call area of Cruise Critic. Meanwhile, I am courious as well to see what some of our cruise experts sound off about this question.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[jrm9999]

I took the RCI Trunk Bay tour. We took the boat over to St. John and got on a safari style van. They took us on a tour of the island. At the end we went to Trunk Bay. The tour stays there for a set period of time (I don't remember how long, maybe an hour or hour and a half). It was not long enough though, we swam the entire time. As for chairs, I don't remember if there were chairs on the beach or not. After you leave trunk bay you go back to the boast.

 

The tour was nice, but if you want all day at the beach you might want to do something on your own.

[Kathie44]

We did the RCI St. Johns excursion in '04. I loved the "snorkel trail" off the beach. DH doesn't snorkel due to eye problems and is not that much of a beach person, so this was the best of both worlds for us--about 2 hrs. at the beach after an island tour. Snorkel equipment and instructions were included at no extra cost. So I snorkeled and he stayed in a patch of shade on the beach. There were no chairs so he had to use his towel. The "trail" consists of markers imbedded in the sandy bottom that you can refer to that identify the fish, coral and other things you will see. The water was clear and warm--gorgeous!! I would go back in a heartbeat. On the way back we stopped at a lookout with a beautiful view of Trunk Bay. I took a pic that was better than a similar postcard!

The good thing about taking the RCI tour was that the return boat was VERY LATE and we got back to the ship after sail time, so they held it for us. If we'd been late on our own, we'd have been SOL. :(

[Son of a Cruiser]

The tour was nice, but if you want all day at the beach you might want to do something on your own.

 

I agree - we took the "St John Beach tour" through RCI when we were on the Mariner last May. We wanted to split time between St John and St Thomas and the RCI tour seemed to be the most effecient at least time wise. We were picked up from the cruise pier and 8:000 AM (BTW - we recieved priority places in line during immigration checks to make sure we were off by 8:00.) The ferry went straight to Cruze Bay. We then boarded the "safari" buses for the trip to Trunk Bay. The "island tour" is simply the drive from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay. We spent about 1 1/2 hours at Trunk Bay and then did the process in reverse, being brought directly back to the cruise dock.

 

I had researched the ferry schedules , cab rides, etc. and determined the RCI tour would be the best way to spent some time at Trunk Bay and have the afternoon to spend on St. Thomas - (DW was not about to miss the "Shopping Capital of the Caribbean";)) So it worked well for us.

 

If you want a full day on Trunk Bay and St John, definitely go own your own - its not that difficult. If you want to split time, the RCI tour is pretty effecient. Hope this helps.

[hdawson]

You really don't need an excursion. Get off the ship. Taxi to Red Hook. Ferry ($3.00/20 min) to St John. Explore the upscale shopping area named Mongoose Junction. Taxi to Trunk Bay or anyother beach area. Then stay on the beach as long as you like instead of the hour and half the tours allow. I usually stay about 3 hours or so then a short shopping trip on St Thomas. Have fun. St John is surely a natural paradise and unspoiled.

 

http://www.usvi.net/usvi/stj.html

 

http://www.usvi.net/usvi/ferry.htm

[Libracruzer]

I agree totally with hdawson; I did the RCI tour - but would go to St. John on my own the next time. There are lounges available; however they require a substantial cash deposit.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[negc]

I agree that it is easy and cheaper to go to Trunk Bay (or Cinnamon Bay) on St. John on your own and you will be able to decide just how much time you want to spend there instead of being locked into the ship's excursion schedule. Anytime we have done this, we have been back to St. Thomas with more than sufficient time left to do some shopping or sightseeing.

[karen&roy]

By all means do it on your own. The ship herds you like cattle and you don't have much time at the beach, plus you are in the water when *everyone* else on your tour is.They rent chairs & snorkel equipment there. The large deposit someone posted is just a holding fee on your credit card until you bring the rented equipment back. We have doone this on our last 2 cruises and loved it. They have a small snack bar w/drinks (alcohol also) that you can get stuff at. Have a blast..Trunk bay is gorgeous!!

[NboroGirl]

We did it on our own and it was a breeze, AND a LOT cheaper than the Disney excursion. From the dock we took a taxi to Red Hook. Then we took the ferry to Cruz Bay. They run hourly, I believe (Note, the sea was a bit choppy and my husband felt seasick.) Then we took a taxi to Trunk Bay (Cinnamon Bay is just past Trunk bay, and has a store, showers, bathrooms, and snorkel rentals and is usually less crowded to Trunk Bay.) The taxi was really an open air tram sort of vehicle and several other people rode with us.

 

Trunk Bay was beautiful. We rented snorkel equipment and also a beach chair. However, I found the snorkeling there to be a big disappointment. The equipment wasn't ideal, and I kept getting salt water inside my mask. It burns! And I wear contacts! The snorkel trail was disappointing, too - all I saw were rocks, sand, and signs. Hardly any fish, and certainly not any colorful fish. Maybe we were just unlucky on the day we were there? There were bathrooms and changing rooms on the beach and an outdoor shower. Our taxi driver gave us a time when he'd pick us all up (maybe we told him what time, I don't remember).

[Peggy13]

We've done it both ways before - the RCI excursion and on our own. If I had to do it again, I would do it on our own. The RCI excursion, you really didn't have much time for the beach by the time you got there, got your snorkel gear and lesson - too rushed. When we went on our own, we spent as much time as we liked on the beach - they did rent snorkel equipment and small sand chairs - don't remember there being any nice lounge chairs.