Anyone taken St. Johns beach excursion through RCCL?

[scoop45]

Wife and I are torn between going to Trunk Bay on our own or through the cruise line. I posted this in the ports forum but figured would get a quicker response here. We know how to get there on our own but trying to weigh letting RCCL handle everything or us doing everything. We also know the costs are about the same.

 

If anyone has taken the excursion through RCCL, can you tell me when it started (morning, afternoon?), what other beaches you see, how long you had to stay at trunk bay and is snorkel equipment provided. And just a basic overview, if possible.

 

Thanks.

[auggiemom]

I also would like to know. I am facing the same dilemma, to go on our own, or with an excursion. I would prefer on our own, however, and a little apprehensive, as we have never ventured out on our own.

[murphyis1]

I haven't taken the RCCL excursion, but a friend of mine did Trunk Bay on her own. She left the ship early, and by the time she was ready to leave Trunk Bay the cruise tours were just arriving. She said it got extremely crowded and she was glad she wasn't on the excursion. Just something to consider.

[debshomespun]

Here is some information as posted by another cruise critic which I had saved, it could be helpful, information on getting to St. John from St. Thomas:

 

St. John, US Virgin Islands

We berthed at Havensight Pier in St. Thomas. Our destination was Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay on the Island of St. John for snorkeling. Despite what everyone at the pier will tell you (and they will lie to you), you can get local transportation for $2 per person in an open-air taxi to Red Hook to catch a ferry to Cruz Bay on St. John. Simply walk out of the Havensight pier main gate, cross the street, turn left and walk until you get to the Bus Stop (there is a pullover area) across from K-Mart and cross the street so that you are standing on the K-Mart side of the street. It is a leisurely 15-minute level walk. When you see an open-air taxi drive up, flag him down, tell him where you wish to go and enjoy the trip. The drive takes about 20 to 30 minutes each way depending upon traffic. The taxi will drop you off at the Red Hook ferry terminal. Pay upon exiting the taxi, go through the gates and hop on the ferry to St. John. We caught the 8:00am ferry and paid our $5.00/pp fare. Normally, you would pay at the booth prior to boarding. The very pretty ride across the bay runs about 15 minutes.

 

Upon arrival at Cruz Bay, St. John, we caught a 10-minute taxi ride ($6.00/pp) to Trunk Bay, stopping once along the way to take pictures of Trunk Bay from a picturesque spot along the road. We arrived at 8:30am which allowed us to get in free. Once the admission booth opens, it costs $4.00/pp to enter this beautiful white sand beach with clear waters, awesome views of islands and cays, nice facilities, and an underwater snorkeling trail. The snorkeling trail can be found on the right hand side of the beach. It begins on the far side of the little island and works its way around the island and ends on the closer side. The snorkeling is very good, with lots of fish and colorful coral. Including the four of us, there was a total of 7 people enjoying this beach from 8:30am to 10:15am when larger groups began arriving —– at which time we left and caught a $4/pp taxi for Cinnamon Bay. (Trunk Bay is now one of our top three Caribbean beaches).

 

Cinnamon Bay is part of a campground with good facilities, snorkeling equipment rentals, and kayak rentals. The beach is not as pretty as Trunk Bay but offers good snorkeling as well. Sea Turtles can be spotted here in the middle of the bay feeding on the sea grass, but we did not spot any this trip. We caught a taxi back to Cruz Bay ($7/pp) at 11:40am. We just missed the noon ferry so we ate lunch at High Tide Bar and Grill adjacent to the pier. We enjoyed the Virgin Island Pale Ale (a fruity beer made for distribution in St. John by a brewery in Maine), and especially liked the sweet mango salsa which accompanies the chips and salsa appetizer. We shopped until 1:45pm and bought tickets for the 2:00pm ferry, which was 30 minutes late arriving. A very large crowd anxiously waited in a long line in the hot sun on the pier. There was no problem getting everyone on the ferry. We arrived back in Red Hook at 2:40pm. Ignore the $7/pp taxis and wait for a $2.00 taxi again EXACTLY where it dropped you off. (Do not cross the street). We got dropped off a couple blocks closer to Havensight than the K-Mart where we picked up the taxi. St. Thomas is a major shopping destination. Havensight has a large number of shops convenient to the ship, however, the real shoppers head into Charlotte Amalie to do their shopping. It is very easy to get to St. John from the ship. We look forward to doing this excursion on our own again.

 

 

Also, you can find the ferry schedule here: http://www.st-thomas.com/

 

We plan on going to St. John's on our own. We will be in St. Thomas for a long day on the Mariner, and plan to go first thing in the morning, and spend some time shopping in town when we return.

 

Hope this information helps!

[Annefran]

Hi Scoop, my DD & I took the St John's Trunk Bay excursion through the ship in 2005 on the Navigator of the Seas and were very happy with it. I think we left around 9:30am, took the ferry over, boarded an open air bus to Trunk Bay and then spent a few hours there. My DD snorkeled, while I sat on the beach. DD loved the underwater reef and they gave instructions as to how to use the equipment etc. All in all we were happy with RCI's excursion.

[texancruzer]

We are in the group who does it on our own. We are divers (did not dive this trip) so did not need "instructions on how to use the equipment" In fact we always take our own. I plan things to death months before and have everything figured out beforehand. We just like the freedom of changing the itinerary around if we feel like it. We have rented cars or done private tours on most islands but took taxis and ferry to St. John. It is a little more work but the ends justify the means. You have control (to go slow or fast, to stop and shop, to eat when hungry etc etc.) and if you get an early start....like previous poster said - you beat the crowds. We also arrived early and left by noon (to have a wonderful burger and ice cold beer at Woody's in Cruz Bay (right up from the ferry landing).

 

Either way - St. John was wonderful and you will have a great time :)

[cb at sea]

We took this excursion, not to snorkle, but to use the beach! We found that it was too easy NOT to use the ship excursion --there are many modes of transportation needed to get there, and RCI does everything for you. Since we weren't snorkling, we didn't listen to the instructions--we didn't even get equipment--just went on down to the beach and enjoyed!

[cruzobsessed]

i was on the mariner last christmas and we took the ST JOHN'S BEACH TOUR through the ship. i felt it was well worth it.

we boarded our own ferry right off the ship and were taken over to st. john's where an open sided bus was waiting to drive us to TRUNK BAY.

on the way we stopped at many amazing places for photo ops. whenwe arrived at trunk bay we were given snorkel equipment and instruction. the beach and water were stunningly beautiful.

my only complaint......not enough chairs for rent and the snack shop closed way before we left. if i ever returned.....i would get my snacks as soon as i got there but the lack of chairs and umbrellas is hard to plan for:confused:

[dolfandude]

Scoop,

We took the RCCL St. John excusion back in '04. We spent the morning shopping in St. Thomas then boarded the boat for St. John at 1pm. All equipment was provided once we got to the beach. The only complaint we had was there wasn't enough time! We were only at the beach for about 1 1/2 hours. Considering this and the cost through the ship, I will do on our own next time. Trunk Bay was the only beach we went to. At the time it was the most beautiful beach we'd been to. I highly recommend it!

 

Steve

[lilmisstramp]

I did this in April! It was in the morning, it is easier to get to St. John through RCCL as they pick you up right from the ship and ferry you over rather than you having to go over to where the usual ferry is. Just for convenience sake, I would book through RCCL again. I brought my own snorkel equipment! It was no big deal!

 

 

I loved this excursion so much!

[plane2port]

In general I do not take the ship's excursions. I would make an exception for Trunk Bay. First you must get to the ferry either by cab or bus. Then you wait for the ferry to take you to St. John's. Then you take a bus to Trunk Bay. Then you do it in reverse. When we were there it was hard getting the bus back to the St. John's ferry.

 

For the little amount of money we saved, we could have had a carefree ride over and back. An hour and a half stay at Trunk Bay would have been sufficient.

 

There are times (very few, I admit) when it just works out better to take the ship's excursion.

 

Leigh

[Conanc]

We also took the ship excursion to St. John and we never book excursions with the ship. We really enjoyed snorkeling at Trunk Bay and I will admit that we probably would have stayed a bit longer if we had gone on our own, but we didn't have any stress of transportation, timing the ferry or worrying about getting back late, so it was definitely worth it! We took the morning excursion and it is great because the ferry leaves right from the ship area. We had plenty of time to shop when we returned. We would definitely do this again!

 

Nancy

[Son of a Cruiser]

I think it really just depends on how much time you want at Trunk Bay and if you want some time on St. Thomas. If you want to spend as much time as possible at Trunk Bay, do it on your own. If 1 1/2 hours at Trunk Bay is enough, do the ship's excursuion. We did the morning excursion through RCCL as we wanted to spend the afternoon on St. Thomas. The tour is definetly the most efficient timewise. The tour picks you up on the dock, trams are waiting upon your arrival at St. John to take you to Trunk Bay. After your time at Trunk Bay, board the trams to return to the waiting ferry and you are back at the dock about a half hour later. We left about 8:30 AM and were back at the ship by noon, after spending 1 1/2 hours at Trunk Bay. Quick lunch on board and plenty of time for DW and DDs to get there shopping fix downtown;)! Whichever way you chose - just GO!! Trunk Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and the snorkeling is great!!

[Lisichka]

We did it on our own, and would never do it any other way. St Johns has some excellent shopping as well, which you would miss if you went on a tour. It is so easy to go on your own, why take a tour?