St Thomas first timer

[gramgill]

we are visiting here next year our first time, what should we do is there much shopping do we tender and if not does the ship dock close to town centre or should we organise an excursion? any help or advice appreciated

[gramshup]

You will dock in St. Thomas and there is a large mall ( Havensight Mall ) that is right next to the pier. You can also take a cab into town but we found wonderful shopping at Havensight. We took an excursion to Magen's Bay when we got in and then back to the ship to change from bathing suits and then walked back to shop.I would recommend seeing Magen's Bay, it is beautiful !!!

[trish1c]

I spent more money in St. Thomas then I have ever spent on a vacation before in my life. There is shopping galore.

 

There is a touristy mall, Havensite. right there. They sell the usual stuff. No big deal. Take a taxi to the other side of the bay to Charlotte Amalie (did I spell that wrong?) for nice jewelrey stores & a quaint stroll. Viewing the ship from there is neat too.

[gatour]

During your stop in St Thomas, go to St John's, either take a snorkeling tour or if you are not into snorkeling, just take a St John's island tour.

 

The other big thing to do in St Thomas is shop. If all you want is some t-shirts, booze, then Havensight should suffice. If you are looking for jewellary or electronics then take a taxi into town. It is $3/person each way. Just be aware that they try to fill the taxis up before they head out, so try to find one that has a few people already in it.

 

A word about electronics, if you are thinking about buying any, figure out what you want before the trip and then get the prices here. Many times you can get better prices here than in the islands.

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

You didn't mention which ship you would be on. MOST get to dock at Havensight. Sometimes one ship will have to tender directly into Charlotte Amalie. And there have been times when ships have to dock at Crown Bay.

Some of the shops in Havensight are the same as downtown, Columbian Emeralds, Boolchans, AH Rise, Diamonds International. At Crown Bay, there isn't any shops there - St Thomas is supposed to be be building the place up like Havensight.

If you do on plan on shopping and there are several cruise ships there at the same time as your cruise ship, get into town early. It gets very busy and crowded once the tours are down.

:)

[gatour]

We docked at Crown Bay in Febuary. They were expanding the dock which looked like they could then accomadate 2 mid size ships, instead of the current 1. It was very obvious that they were building a few places to replicate the Havensite center in minature. Based on the stage on construction then, it should be done about now, if not, it will be done soon.

 

This was the first time, I have docked at Crown Bay and except for the lack of shopping, I actually liked it better than Havensite. The taxi ride seemed quicker to downtown.

[gramgill]

thank you for your replys so far, sorry i should have mentioned we are sailing with RCI and the port is mentioned as Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We are also stopping at Philipsburg, St. Maarten and Nassau, Bahamas