St. John/Trunk Bay

[ramja96]

Looking for advice on transportation from St. Thomas to St. John/Trunk Bay and how much to expect it to cost.  Asked in the Ports of Call thread, but it doesn't get the traffic this thread gets.

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, ramja96 said:

Looking for advice on transportation from St. Thomas to St. John/Trunk Bay and how much to expect it to cost.  Asked in the Ports of Call thread, but it doesn't get the traffic this thread gets.

There is a very inexpensive ferry, then it's a few miles from the ferry to Trunk Bay

[ramja96]

4 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

There is a very inexpensive ferry, then it's a few miles from the ferry to Trunk Bay

Is the ferry easy to locate?

[RhondaC]

20 minutes ago, ramja96 said:

Is the ferry easy to locate?

You need to take a cab to the ferry. Then the ferry over to St John. Then another cab to Trunk Bay.  Another option is to rent a car (usually around $100 from Avis) and take it on the car ferry yourself and drive all around the island!  That’s what we always do. 

[George C]

Rccl  normally has a excursion there also.

Edited August 10, 2022 by George C

[Tatka]

https://usvi.net/information/transportation/ferry-schedules/st-thomas-to-st-john-ferry-schedule/

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, ramja96 said:

Is the ferry easy to locate?

Take a cab to the Red Hook ferry terminal, their website has rates and schedules. 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, RhondaC said:

You need to take a cab to the ferry. Then the ferry over to St John. Then another cab to Trunk Bay.  Another option is to rent a car (usually around $100 from Avis) and take it on the car ferry yourself and drive all around the island!  That’s what we always do. 

 

When I lived on St Thomas Avis had a policy of no rental cars on the ferry.  Road are bad with lots of potholes.  Renters would get flat tires and leave the cars on St. John while dropping the keys at the airport and getting on a plane from St Thomas.  Made for a lot of effort to retrieve the cars.  

 

I don't know if they still have thay policy but you might ask before renting.  Most of the rental agencies had that policy at one time.  

[blue_water]

 

[jokesbyjen]

So I was researching the feasability of this when planning my upcoming RCCL trip with a 3 and 8 year old.  This is what I found - the pros in here, please feel free to comment if I've made an error:

 

St. Thomas   --- visit ST JOHN

    - get taxi ride (about $10 per person each way) ($80 total for 4 of us) to the Red Hook Ferry Terminal , takes about 20 minutes to get there -  CASH ONLY

    - Red Hook Ferry Terminal - buy a ferry ticket   $8.15 each way / $16.30 round trip per person   ($65.20 total for 4 of us) ----   leaves on the hour, every hour 

    - takes you to Cruz Bay in St. John  (ferry ride is 20 min appx)

    - Once there, get an open air taxi on left side of terminal - Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay is 3 miles, about 10/15 minutes drive 

    - $6 taxi ride each way to Trunk Bay ($24 total x round trip =$48 total for the 4 of us)

 

after 2017 hurricane, many facilities are damaged so maybe free entrance, maybe not ?  If not, appx $4 per adult, kids free?  

        so appx $201 total for all of us 

 

 

 

OR, through the cruise line: (RCCL)

 

St. John Trunk Bay Beach Break From $79.00 / per adult     $69.00 / per child    = $296 for all four of us and it's all taken care of for us --- only FOUR hours, though

        (maybe discounted for black friday deals???)  

[Ms411]

Entrance fees have been reinstated.

[blue_water]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:25 PM, ramja96 said:

Looking for advice on transportation from St. Thomas to St. John/Trunk Bay and how much to expect it to cost.  Asked in the Ports of Call thread, but it doesn't get the traffic this thread gets.

Taxi from Havensight —> Red Hook ferry = $10/pp (~$11/pp from Crown Bay);

 Red Hook ferry <—> Cruz Bay = $8.15/pp each way, taxi to Trunk =$6/pp, Cinnamon = $7/pp.

 

You can also take a nice island tour and then get dropped at a beach for ~$25/pp. That also eliminates the taxi cost to a beach, you just pay the return taxi to Cruz.

So the total cost from Havensight to a beach on STJ is ~$50/pp, ~$68 w/ the island tour…From Crown Bay add ~$2…

[blue_water]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:35 PM, ramja96 said:

Is the ferry easy to locate?

Taxi will drop you at the ferry terminal in Red Hook. Try to find a shared safari taxi that is not dropping folks at Coki and Smith Bay first…

[ramja96]

My brother told me he takes a ferry right from the cruise pier. No initial taxi. That's why I am asking for advice - conflicting information.

Edited August 19, 2022 by ramja96

[Ms411]

Many excursions offered by the ships leave from the cruise docks, but the ferries are public and leave from public docks not the cruise docks. The boats may look the same as some public ferries so it can be confusing.

 

It's also confusing because there's a Crown Bay dock and a Crown Bay marina. A "ferry" to St John leaves from the marina on limited schedule, but very few cruisers use that boat because of limited schedule. 

[blue_water]

Yes just consider Red Hook. That is THE reliable ferry service…