Best way to get to Trunk Bay

[bgoodman498]

We will be porting in Charlotte Amalie in September and want to head to Trunk Bay. Which way would you recommend my wife and I to get there? Should we take the ferry out of Charlotte Amalie or Red Hook? I can see ups and downs to both. I'm leaning more towards Red Hook, but I would appreciate your opinions. Thanks

[richtersl]

Timewise and costwise they both work out to be about the same.

 

Some folks have taken the CA ferry for one leg of the trip and the Red Hook ferry for another leg of the trip.

 

The ride with the CA ferry can get rocky, so of there's a person in your party who's prone to seasickness, the Red Hook ferry would be the better option.

[bluewaterfortuna]

If you want more time on St.John, the best ferry would be from Red Hook.

[Ms411]

They have cut back service from Charlotte Amalie to St John (starting Nov), so Red Hook is probably the most reliable option now. The new schedule is probably posted online somewhere, and it's been in the paper almost daily since they made the announcement.

[bluewaterfortuna]

And the price went up $1.10 to $6.10 from red hook

[choochella]

Red Hook is the way to go. But, remember on your return to take consideration the time of day. Red Hook and the surrounding area can get very crowded with traffic in the early afternoon (around 3-3:30). Allow plenty of time back to your ship. Do not figure it will be the same as when you departed.

 

. Thomas - St. John Passenger Ferry

Passenger ferries operate between St. Thomas (Red Hook & Charlotte Amalie) and St. John (Cruz Bay).

 

Transportation Services (340) 776-6282 and Varlack Ventures (340) 776-6412

 

From Red Hook:

Rates: One-way, $6.10/Adults and $2.10/Children ages 2-11. Seniors are $2.35 (VI Residents only, 62 years and up, proof of age must be shown). There is a charge of $2/piece for luggage/boxes.

Time: 15 to 20 minutes

 

Leaving Red Hook, St. Thomas

6:30 am, 7:30 am then hourly from 8:00 am to Midnight

 

Note: July - November 2008: No 8pm and 10pm ferry.

 

Leaving Cruz Bay, St. John

Hourly from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm

 

 

Note: July - November 2008: No 7pm and 9pm ferry.

 

We just love Trunk Bay!!

[bluewaterfortuna]

Red Hook is the best way to do it.

[iwillsurvive]

My husband and I would also like to do a trip to Trunk Bay. Royal Caribbean offers a trip but it is not exactly what we are looking for and its $135 per person. We would like to snorkel and just hang out. It seems like the consensus is that the Red Hook ferry is the best route. Is there a company at the other end to take you to Trunk Bay and rent equipment, or do you need to get a taxi to get to the beach and then rent equipment once there. Any idea how much a rental would be? Thanks for any info!

[Izeve]

I am also interested in this topic - we will be in St. Thomas in August (AOS). I checked the schedules for the ferries and what I am finding is that the schedule from Charlotte Amalie is extremely limited between July and November:

 

From Red Hook:

 

Rates: One-way, $6.10/Adults and $2.10/Children ages 2-11. Seniors are $2.35 (VI Residents only, 62 years and up, proof of age must be shown). There is a charge of $2/piece for luggage/boxes.

Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Leaving Red Hook, St. ThomasLeaving Cruz Bay, St. John6:30 am, 7:30 am then hourly from 8:00 am to Midnight

 

Note: July - November 2008: No 8pm and 10pm ferry.

Hourly from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm

 

 

Note: July - November 2008: No 7pm and 9pm ferry.

 

From Charlotte Amalie:

 

Rates: One-way, $11.10/Adults and $4.10/Children ages 2-11. Seniors are $6.10 (VI Residents only, 62 years and up, proof of age must be shown). There is a charge of $2/piece for luggage/boxes.

Time: 40 to 45 minutes

Leaving Charlotte Amalie, St. ThomasLeaving Cruz Bay, St. John9:00 am

11:00 am*

1:00 pm*

3:00 pm*

4:00 pm*

5:30 pm

 

Note: Times with * are not running July - November 2008.

7:15 am

9:15 am*

11:15 am*

1:15 pm*

2:15 pm*

3:45 pm

 

Note: Times with * are not running July - November 2008.

 

 

We are actually considering RCCL's excursion to St. John that is $59 per person. It gives about 1.5 hours at Trunk Bay. It seems like not a bad deal considering the limited ferry schedule.

[Izeve]

My husband and I would also like to do a trip to Trunk Bay. Royal Caribbean offers a trip but it is not exactly what we are looking for and its $135 per person. We would like to snorkel and just hang out. It seems like the consensus is that the Red Hook ferry is the best route. Is there a company at the other end to take you to Trunk Bay and rent equipment, or do you need to get a taxi to get to the beach and then rent equipment once there. Any idea how much a rental would be? Thanks for any info!

 

 

Which trip is that? The one I'm looking at is ST95 (Called something like "Swim and snorkel at St. John). It is $59 per person and it is basically a boat that takes people to Cruz Bay and then you get 1.5 hours at Trunk Bay.

[iwillsurvive]

I think the Red Hook is the way to go for us- it would give us more time in St. John. I know I saw some time guidelines on another thread but can't seem to locate it. I am wondering how much time should one allow to get back from St. John via Red Hook and then on to CA where the ship is docked. I remember reading that 3-3:30 is a busy time. If you left St. John by 3, would you make it back to CA (and the ship) by 5:30? Thanks for any help! I want to squeeze every second out of my visit to St. John!

[kay995]

Are there any "private" boats that will take you from

St. Thomas to St. John?? It is hard to believe with all

the cruise ships in and people wanting to go to Trunk Bay

that a group couldn't get together and hire a private

company to take a group over by boat???

 

Kay

[TexasMommy]

Wondering the same thing! Instead of a ferry a private or semi private boat.

[jschafer6161]

Carnival docks in Charlotte Amalie. If we take the Red Hook from there to St. John's, is Trunk Bay right there, or how far is it from St. John's. Is Cruz Bay near there too? Sorry, just confused and never been, but from what everyone says about Trunk Bay, it sounds like we'd love it.

[richtersl]

You'll need to take a cab to Trunk Bay once you arrive on St. John. After you get off the ferry dock, head left into the parking lot. There you will find a number of cab drivers who will be more than happy to take you to Trunk Bay. :)

 

Here are the approximate times from point "A" to point "B" so that you can plan your day:

• Cab ride from Havensight dock to Red Hook: about 20-25 minutes
  
• Ferry ride from Red Hook, St. Thomas to Cruz Bay, St. John: about 20 minutes; slightly longer if the water is a bit choppy.
  
• Cab ride from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay: about 15-20 minutes, which includes a stop at a scenic overlook for photos.

For the return trip, allow plenty of extra time. The area around Havensight tends to get very congested late in the afternoon as folks try to get back to their ships.

[CaribbeanBound]

Each of our trips to St. Thomas was by cruise ship. It took us three trips to St. Thomas before we ventured over to St. John. St. John's beaches are breathtaking.

 

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 10 to 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. We look forward to doing this excursion on our own again.

 

Okay, now it's your turn. We've done all the work for you and chronicled here so that you can feel comfortable making this trek.

Here are more of our Secrets of the Caribbean!

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

These are our very detailed personal reviews, hints, and tips for ports of call that you will be visiting.

[jschafer6161]

Thank you so much for all the helpful directions. I really, really appreciate it!!! The underwater snorkeling trail sounds awesome, even though we've only snorkled a couple times. My biggest fear is getting lost and missing the ship. Now, would you recommend this over Spiderman Island tour? Thanks again!

[jschafer6161]

Caribbeanbound: Was it $10 tour guide to Champagne Reef for each person or all of you?

[CaribbeanBound]

jschafer6161...

I see you found my website.

We paid a total of $10 tip (for the two of us) for our tour guide at Champagne Bay on Dominca. He was introduced to us (totally voluntary), as we made our way to the beach, by Gary of Bumpiing Tours. (There was no set price). It is possible it was $10 each. Either way, it was well worth it.

 

 

[To everyone else on this thread... sorry this went off topic].