why not the charlotte amalie ferry?

[trcori]

We're going back to St. Thomas in a few weeks aboard Millennium. Haven't been to St. John before. We prefer water travel to land travel whenever possible so I'm just curious why the prevailing sentiment seems to be, taxi to Red Hook and take the ferry to St. John from there, rather than taking the ferry from Charlotte Amalie, where the ships dock. Anybody want to elaborate?

 

thanks, TR

Millennium EC 12/12/04

****

Mercury CA-MX 4/04, Infinity AK 8/03, Century WC 3/03, Century EC 9/02

[mrrick747]

We did the taxi, ferry,taxi thing to Red Hook and then the Charlotte Amalie ferry on the way back and found the trip quite pleasant. The general concencous here is that the ride is choppier and rougher however we had a very nice ride on the Charlotte Amalie Ferry. I guess that may depend on weather conditions etc., I do know that riding in one of those taxi trucks from Havensight to Red Hook can also be a religious experience and not for the weak of heart..lol. The basic glitch in the works is this, the Charlotte Amalie ferry doesnt start its morning runs until 9am, while the Red Hook 630,730 then hourly from 8 am. Given the time the ships dock, it seems the only choice is the Red Hook. If you do have have a later arrival or want to shop a little early, the Charlotte Amalie would be my choice. Easy huh.

Rick

[CaribbeanCrazy]

The other problem with the Charlotte Amailie ferry is that the last ferry leaves Cruszbay SJ at 3:45. If you get a late start...that doesn't leave you alot of time on St John. We decided not to go to St John. The time and expense it takes to get there to me isn't worth it just to go to the beach. St Thomas has alot of beautiful beaches also...and it takes less time and $$$'s to get to one of them.

If you absolutely have your mind set on going to St John...I would take the Charlotte Amaile Ferry on the way there...then take the Red Hook ferry on the way back. Unless your ready to go back by 3:45 then by all means take the Charlotte Amalie ferry round trip.

Hope this helps!

CaribbeanCrazy

[mrrick747]

With all this being said, there is one other consideration. Before our trip there, I had read here that leaving St. John and trying to catch a ferry in the 4 or 5 o'clock hours could be a nightmare with locals filling up the ferry fast. We werent willing to risk thatand chance missing our ship, so we got to St John early, spent 5 hours snorkeling and swimming and then boogied back to Charlotte Amalie to do our shopping in the afternoon. Sounds confusing and scary, but theres really plenty of time to get it all in. Rick

[trcori]

Thanks for the replies. Millennium supposedly gets in at 7, but we are not early risers, so ideally we will catch the 9 am ferry from town, then we are hoping to ferry back to Red Hook in early afternoon, cab to Coral World, and then back to the ship. One more question ... what are these "ferries" like ... we live in Seattle so "ferries" to us mean giant boats holding cars and hundreds of people etc. but I know it can also mean a 20-person passenger rustbucket so I'm just curious!!!!!!

[mrrick747]

The ferry from Red Hook was closer to a rust bucket and is only for passengers although there is an automobile ferry nearby. The red hook holds quite a few passengers, maybe a hundred or so. The ferry we took to Charlotte Amalie was a smaller one but looked a bit newer. Have fun, Rick

[chamima]

Where does the Red Hook ferry end up in St. John?

My husband is under the impression that one of the ferries ends up at Caneel Bay and the other leaves you in town.

Anyone know?

Karen

[njoyndride]

Hey Karen

 

Most all ferries dock at Cruz Bay however I think Caneel Resort has a private ferry to pick up and return guests who are flying in and out of St. Thomas. Both the Red Hook and Charlotte Amalie ferries will end up in Cruz Bay.

[chamima]

Thanks :) Thanks

[njoyndride]

You're welcome. We've used both the CM and the RH ferry, even though the CM ferry takes longer and is indeed a bit rougher we really enjoy it. You'll love St. John, it's a beautiful island. We hiked from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon Beach via park trails then to Caneel Bay Resort where we caught a safari cab back to Cruz Bay for some cool drinks. Made for a great day!

[beckers]

Is there a lot of traffic coming back from Red Hook via taxi in the afternoon. I heard of someone that it took an hour and half. In light of that I am now considering the ferry to Charlotte Amalie instead for the return trip.

[njoyndride]

It wasn't bad when we came back but it was still fairly early as we wanted to do some shopping. I think it probably takes abut 45 minutes w/traffic at peak time, 430ish, when passengers are trying to get back to the ship. The trip from Charlotte Amalie took us about 20-25 minutes at about that time, normally a 5 minute trip.