What to do on your own in St Thomas?

[Fidel2Cruise]

Once you leave the ship/dock, what can one expect? If you do not have a tour planned and want to go at it on your own, what are the options?

 

What does St Thomas have?

[Ms411]

St Thomas has beaches, gorgeous views, and the town is a still-standing, colonial port town with many early 19th century buildings still intact and within walking distance. At the docks, there's not much to see, so you should either go to town or a beach or both. If you take a two-hour island tour offered by recommended drivers on this forum or at the dock, you'll see the beaches, views, and town.

[mosweet]

St. Thomas is the best place to do shopping if you like to shop. Also, the beaches are beautiful. If you like to Jet Ski, Parasail, snorkel etc I think the best beach is Coki beach. I'm sure you will enjoy either way. :D

[stojo1]

If you want to see one of the most beautiful beaches...go to Megans Bay. They also have a bar there and snack bar...have to see

[138east]

Here's what you can expect when you get off the ship. You are on RCL, so you will be docking at Havensight. There is a nice shopping center there which has the typical Caribbean tourist stores - liquor, jewelry, clothing, souvenirs, etc. There's even a US Post Office, which was actually open on Sunday morning!

 

There will also be lots of "safari" cabs to take you wherever you want to go. These are bench seats on the back of trucks that can carry 20+ passengers. They fill them up by the general destination and then start out and drop everyone off. For example, we went to Coral World one time and got a ride to the Red Hook ferry and Sapphire Beach before we got to Coral World. On the way back we went the other way over the mountains and down through Charlotte Amalie. You can get to see a lot of the island this way. Each destination has a fixed price and you pay per person.

 

If you haven't booked an excursion, your main choices are shopping in Charlotte Amalie or going to the beach. From Havensight you can also walk across the street and take the cable car to Paradise Point.

 

Read through this forum to see what folks are doing. There are many tour guides mentioned that do a variety of things - a little touring, a little shopping and a little beach - and they are very very reasonable when you start adding up the per person cab fares to go several places.

[Caribbean_Dreamer37]

When we visited St. Thomas 9 months ago, we pretty much drove around a good 2/3 of the island. Many good places have already been mentioned by others, but there's also 'Mountain Top', where you can sample a banana daiquiri, eat a hot dog and get a great view of Megan's Bay down below. Take a walk around the Historic District of Charlotte Amalie. There's also 'Drake's Seat' which has a great view on the north side of the island too.

[txwildflower2002]

Here's what you can expect when you get off the ship. You are on RCL, so you will be docking at Havensight. There is a nice shopping center there which has the typical Caribbean tourist stores - liquor, jewelry, clothing, souvenirs, etc. There's even a US Post Office, which was actually open on Sunday morning!

 

There will also be lots of "safari" cabs to take you wherever you want to go. These are bench seats on the back of trucks that can carry 20+ passengers. They fill them up by the general destination and then start out and drop everyone off. For example, we went to Coral World one time and got a ride to the Red Hook ferry and Sapphire Beach before we got to Coral World. On the way back we went the other way over the mountains and down through Charlotte Amalie. You can get to see a lot of the island this way. Each destination has a fixed price and you pay per person.

 

If you haven't booked an excursion, your main choices are shopping in Charlotte Amalie or going to the beach. From Havensight you can also walk across the street and take the cable car to Paradise Point.

 

Read through this forum to see what folks are doing. There are many tour guides mentioned that do a variety of things - a little touring, a little shopping and a little beach - and they are very very reasonable when you start adding up the per person cab fares to go several places.

 

When you get off the ship, where do you find them? We want a beach that is semi quiet, bar, and food and resonable! Also, what is the red hook ferry? Thanks!

[green eyed lady]

Cabs are right there when you get off the ship...but they are very expensive. I paid $9 pp X 5 to get to Coki beach EACH WAY! So my kids Snuba excursion cost me $100 over the price of the actual excursion :mad: We're going to be in St. Thomas again in Nov and I think we might just shop by the pier and go back on the ship. Getting there at 1:00 makes it hard to do a beach :eek:

[Cruiser Crystal]

If you want to see one of the most beautiful beaches...go to Megans Bay. They also have a bar there and snack bar...have to see

 

:D I heard that Megans Bay is beautiful.... How far away from port is it located?:confused:

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

Look at the thread "Cheap transporation on St. Thomas" on this board for some great suggestions on avoiding the overpriced "tourist trap" cabs.

[Snorkel2Much]

Look at the thread "Cheap transporation on St. Thomas" on this board for some great suggestions on avoiding the overpriced "tourist trap" cabs.

+1 on that advice. :cool: