ktc42spike Posted December 13, 2022 #1 Share Posted December 13, 2022 We are on booked on the Escape on the 4/8/23 Easter cruise that stops in St. Thomas followed by Tortola. We are only in Tortola from 6 am to 1 pm. Not sure if this is normal. The only thing we really want to do while in this area is go to Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke. The JVD excursion through NCL is not being offered. No idea why. (I am not a boat-sponsored excursion fan, but this one seemed perfect for what we want.) It seems we are left to take the ferry to get to JVD. It appears to have a strange schedule and I am worried about timing given our short window. Or is there a way to get to JVD from St. Thomas? Any input from those who have made this trek (without the benefit of the NCL excursion) would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted December 13, 2022 #2 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Getting to Jost from St. Thomas can be done but it is not easy you have to have passport and clear customs and immigration both ways. In addition it is a pretty long ride. The ferries don't go to White Bay on Jost but into "town" so you would then have to walk over the hill or get a cab to Soggy Dollar. Your best bet would be to charter a boat from Tortola and go that way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlChilders Posted December 13, 2022 #3 Share Posted December 13, 2022 When we had Tortola on our iten. last year, we had a similar in-port time, so we booked the Baths at Virgin Gorda on a ship excursion for the same reasons you were considering. We ended up having to skip that port anyway and went to San Juan instead. Oh well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare debenson0723 Posted December 13, 2022 #4 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Welcome to Cruise Critic. More information can be found on the Ports of Call forum. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/202-tortola/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detroitlions Posted December 13, 2022 #5 Share Posted December 13, 2022 I have these times on my upcoming cruise next week. I will be staying on the ship. They used to stay till 3pm now its 1pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeurosurgeryNP Posted December 17, 2022 #6 Share Posted December 17, 2022 We are doing this same cruise in Feb. I just booked a private small boat charter in order to do JVD from Tortola. We booked this itinerary for Tortola and didn't realize the shortened stop until after we booked. We too are White Bay an Soggy Dollar fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyWinters503 Posted December 28, 2022 #7 Share Posted December 28, 2022 On 12/13/2022 at 9:52 AM, zqvol said: Getting to Jost from St. Thomas can be done but it is not easy you have to have passport and clear customs and immigration both ways. In addition it is a pretty long ride. The ferries don't go to White Bay on Jost but into "town" so you would then have to walk over the hill or get a cab to Soggy Dollar. Your best bet would be to charter a boat from Tortola and go that way. Where can I find a boat to charter ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EatonDoolittle Posted December 28, 2022 #8 Share Posted December 28, 2022 Check with Aristocat. We had a 7 -2 port time last May and they did a charter for us that worked well. You'll need a minimum of 10 - 12 for them to go. We did not do their regular Jost Van Dyke trip due to time constraints, rather we went right to White Bay. www.aristocatcharters.com 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_water Posted December 28, 2022 #9 Share Posted December 28, 2022 (edited) Aristocat, Kuralu, and Patouche offer itineraries that include an hour or two in White Bay, or you can hire them for a private trip if you have enough people (or just enough $$$). There are also private motorboat options that obviously get you there and back much faster. But your early and relatively short port time in the BVI doesn’t give you much of a nice day in White Bay… From STT you can take a water taxi like Dolphin Shuttle. Check their site for pricing for private or shared transfers…. https://www.dolphinshuttle.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiA76-dBhByEiwAA0_s9UoDxJ0eY22KVMeVsrDLXQwbVgW-OicLkG7ucxqfI0uGwdD39EKVbxoCiGkQAvD_BwE Edited December 28, 2022 by blue_water Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisin1996 Posted January 30, 2023 #10 Share Posted January 30, 2023 On 12/16/2022 at 7:44 PM, NeurosurgeryNP said: We are doing this same cruise in Feb. I just booked a private small boat charter in order to do JVD from Tortola. We booked this itinerary for Tortola and didn't realize the shortened stop until after we booked. We too are White Bay an Soggy Dollar fans. Wondering what charter company you used... looking to do the same this March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weliketocruise2017 Posted January 30, 2023 #11 Share Posted January 30, 2023 21 hours ago, Cruisin1996 said: Wondering what charter company you used... looking to do the same this March. Us too, on Thursday March 30. If we don’t find one that’s reasonable, we may just taxi to the West end ferry from the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volk904 Posted February 6, 2023 #12 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Do do a check on Charters. A few years ago the ship charter was only a short time so we looked for a charter to go to the Soggy Dollar. We looked at many options and tried to book on Aristocrat already listed. It seems like it was full but he gave us another boat to try. We ended up going with a few other passengers we found on the meet and mingle for our cruise. loved the trip and we were at got a few hours on the beach before the ship charter arrived. Try Aristocrat and see if they have a recommendation. Also do a search for Tortola half day charters. Seems like our second choice was a female captain with a boat for 6-8 people. The trip to White Beach was about 45 min but a smaller boat could do it in 30 min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volk904 Posted February 6, 2023 #13 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Also it was fantastic and worth the trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserGregg Posted May 6, 2023 #14 Share Posted May 6, 2023 April 27th I took the NCL Escape excursion, Escape to Jost Van Dyke at 6:20am, crazy time of day. It was just a ferry ride more or less, on a fairly modern quiet catamaran ferry. Other people in my party took an independent tour to Jost Van Dyke and had an older slower louder diesel ferry and had to take a cab to the beach. Jost Van Dyke was pretty, beautiful area, I would visit there again. Word of caution, my wife turned off airplane mode to post a couple pictures to instagram while on Jost Van Dyke and almost immediately had her Instagram account stolen and the hackers sending her ransom texts to get it back. It may have been coincidence, but it seemed likely somebody was skimming data from the cellular connection there, use a VPN there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_water Posted May 6, 2023 #15 Share Posted May 6, 2023 Yes VPN is a way of life anywhere… As mentioned above, Aristocat, Kuralu, and Joe at Patouche offer alternative itineraries (shared, or private if your group is large enough, or you have enough $$) between the East snorkeling and the West beach time on Jost. Often the first group to book chooses the itinerary… They sometimes have smaller boats for excursions to VG or Jost. It’s all about booking early… And there are private options including Capt Malcolm at Sunshine - https://sunshinepowerboats.com/ And someone else recommended Capt Phil at Antilles -https://antillespowerboats.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beebsd Posted July 10, 2023 #16 Share Posted July 10, 2023 Looking to join a group heading to Jost Van Dyke from the Enchanted Princess on Wednesday January 11th. sue and Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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