St. John Question for Islander

[cat55]

We will be in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas at 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. and want to take a ferry over to St. John. If we did this on our our own what would you suggest as far as catching the ferry and how much time at the beach. From what I have read it would be best to take a taxi to Red Hook because the boat ride is shorter. Are the ferries still leaving every hour for Cruz Bay from Red Hook? How crowed are the 4:00 p.m. ferries? Is this when children are leaving school? Thanks for your help.

[The Islander]

Hello,

 

The Red Hook ferry ride is shorter, however when you add the taxi ride from Havensight the total commute times (taxi + ferry) are about the same, traffic aside. The Charlotte Amalie ferry runs less often, but if the schedule works for you then consider it an option as well. The Red Hook ferry is every hour on the hour in both directions. You can find the schedules at http://www.*****/stjohn/getting_there/ and see which works for your schedule and plans.

 

The 4pm ferry is the last ferry you could take to make it back on time. You'd likely be fine, get there at least 15 minutes prior to departure. There may be some crowds with other cruise ships folks and people that work on St. John but live on St. Thomas (more so on the 5pm ferry but some on the 4pm as well). You'd get into Red Hook at 4:20pm, while the drive to Havensight is usually about 20 minutes the traffic around Havensight (and downtown) around that time of day can be bad (depends a lot on number of ships in port) so say 45 minutes to get back. Schools get out around 3pm here. Check the schedule and see how many ships are in port that day, if its a busy day you might consider taking the 3pm back so you have more time.

 

--Islander

*****

[cat55]

Thank you Islander! You mention Havensight but the Mariner refers to Charlotte Amalie. Are they two different locations or one in the same? I did check about the ships docking that day and there are two other ships. From what you have said it would be an equal amount of time to take a taxi to Red Hook and then ferry to St. John as it would be to take the ferry in Charlotte Amalie to St. John and then maybe take the 3:45 p.m. return ferry from St. John.

[The Islander]

Hello cat55,

 

Charlotte Amalie is the name of the harbor and also the main town in St. Thomas (its also the capital of the USVI). So you call on Charlotte Amalie STT but you are either docked in Havensight or Crown Bay, or anchored in the harbor and tendered in. You can find ship schedules including where the ships are supposed to dock for the USVI at http://www.*****/general_usvi/cruiseship/.

 

Yes, because the taxi ride is shorter to the CA ferry but the ferry ride longer and the taxi ride longer to the Red Hook ferry but the ferry ride shorter... timewise, traffic aside, it works out about the same.

 

--Islander

*****