St. John, Trunk Bay?

[1stcruisedm]

How much does it cost to get there from St. Thomas? What makes Trunk Bay a "must see"? I really shouldn't be spending any money when I dock at St. Thomas so I am trying to see what I will be getting for spending some extra $$ getting there-THANKS

[1stcruisedm]

Can anyone help? I'm not sure where my Disney cruise will port. Also I cant fing out how much the ferry & taxi ride will be to get to Trunk Bay.. ANY HELP???????????

[Betsy's Mom]

As you face your screen on the upper right is the "search feature" for this forum, input your question,i.e." St John ferry" etc. and you will have lots of information. You can also Goggle St John VI and get rates etc. At present the ferry operators or actively asking for a raise to $7 each way for the ferry from Red Hook to St. John. The cabs from the ferry dock to Trunk are usually about $5 per person. Cab to Red Hook from Havensight port is about $10. Entrance to Trunk, which is National Park property, is I believe, $5. YOur cost per person will be somewhere in the vicinity of $40./50 for the trip.

B.

[The Islander]

Here is some information:

 

St. Thomas to St. John on your own is pretty easy, just need to plan accordingly, know the ferry schedules and the time you need to be back to the ship.

 

There are two departure points on St. Thomas for ferries to St. John. First is the Charlotte Amalie ferry, which leaves from the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. The ferry area is just at the start of the shopping district, across from Vendor’s Plaza. The Charlotte Amalie ferry is about 1.4 miles from Havensight Cruise Ship Dock area and about 1.7 miles from the Crown Bay Dock area. It’s a short drive between them, but this is all in town and traffic can cause the short drive to take a while. More ships mean more traffic. A taxi from Havensight to the Charlotte Amalie ferry is $4 pp, ow. Same from Crown Bay. The Charlotte Amalie ferry takes about 40 minutes to get over to St. John.

 

The Red Hook ferry is on the East End of the island. The drive from Havensight takes about 20 minutes in low traffic and from Crown Bay 35 minutes. More traffic it will take longer. The ferry takes 15 minutes to get over to St. John.

 

One vs. the other: time wise with shorter drive + longer ferry on the Charlotte Amalie ferry and longer drive + shorter ferry on the Red Hook ferry the commute itself tends to work out the same. Figure an hour to a little over an hour, depends on if you get a ferry right when you get to the dock or have to wait around a bit. When coming back to St. Thomas the Charlotte Amalie might help you avoid some of the traffic since its gets you closer to the ships. In terms of schedule: the Red Hook ferry has more departures. In terms of the trip: the Charlotte Amalie ferry allows you to see a bit more of the water and island along the coast but its longer and more open ocean so for someone that doesn’t like ferries or gets seasick easily you might stick with the shorter Red Hook ferry. With taking the Red Hook route you see a little of the island while driving to the ferry.

 

For schedule and prices of ferries try: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=getting+to+st.+john&fr=yfp-t-305&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8.

 

Both ferries arrive in Cruz Bay St. John. Right at the end of the ferry dock there is a taxi stand and usually half a dozen to a dozen taxi drivers waiting around. They approach people getting off the ferry dock asking ‘beach’, ‘tour’, ‘where can I take you’ so they aren’t hard to find. Tell them where you want to go and get the price and be on your way. Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay is $6 pp, ow for the taxi. It takes about 12-15 minutes.

Trunk Bay Admission is $4 per adult. 16 and under are free.

 

Plan to be at the ferry for the return trip at least 15 minutes before departure. Best bet is not to take the last possible ferry that would get you back on time, take at least the one before that – just in case you don’t get on that one or something happens at least you have one more option. Also good to head to St. John first thing so you can do your visit there and get back to St. Thomas with time to spare.

 

--Islander

[1stcruisedm]

Islander, thanks for all the great info!!!!!!!!!!1

[farmgirlJ]

We went to Trunk Bay this past Feb. It was nice, but I wouldn't do it again. Alot of time is spent getting there. This is just my opinion.

[Mrs.C05]

We went to Trunk Bay this past Feb. It was nice, but I wouldn't do it again. Alot of time is spent getting there. This is just my opinion.

 

I totally agree! We spent about 45 minutes maybe an hour tops total the beach since the rest of it was driving and ferrying. The excursion was 3 hours total from start to finish so I would've like more time on the beach.

[hubofhockey]

I am very glad I did Trunk Bay.

 

First, here is the cost.

 

Havensight to Red Hook - Cab $10 per person

Red Ferry to Cruz Bay St John - $4 per person

Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay - Cab $6 per person

Admission - $4 adults (kids free)

TOTAL COST - $44

 

We were docked 7 am to 3:30 pm

We ate breakfast and left ship at 7:30

Cab to Red Hook got there right at 8:00 am, Ferry left at 8:05

Ferry arrived at Cruz Bay by 8:25

Cab got us to Trunk Bay on beach by 8:40 to 8:45

We spent 3 hours on the beach (incredibly beautiful) and took a 15 minute cab ride to Cruz Bay and had a snack and did some shopping and bought our tickets for the 1 pm ferry back. We waited 10 minutes and ferry left at 1:05. We were back at Red Hook by 1:20 and a 20 minute cab ride later were back at Havensight before 1:45. We went back on the ship and dropped our beach stuff off and then hit some souvenir stores and bought some more soda in port to bring back on the ship. Many others took the 2 pm ferry back and easily made it back to the ship before 3:30 (not something I would risk but many did this).

 

I had debated doing a ship excursion. It would have cost my family of four $500 for two hours of beach time and too much time on a catamaran. That included lunch and drinks. We had a quick bite at an inexpensive mexican cantina in Cruz Bay and then had a late lunch on the ship. Our cost was $168 and another $12 for very good soft tacos and sodas at the cantina. It was a great day. St Thomas is a nice island. But Trunk Bay and St John are very special. I would do this all again next time around.

[Kre8tiv1]

I am very glad I did Trunk Bay.

 

First, here is the cost.

 

Havensight to Red Hook - Cab $10 per person

Red Ferry to Cruz Bay St John - $4 per person

Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay - Cab $6 per person

Admission - $4 adults (kids free)

TOTAL COST - $44

 

We were docked 7 am to 3:30 pm

We ate breakfast and left ship at 7:30

Cab to Red Hook got there right at 8:00 am, Ferry left at 8:05

Ferry arrived at Cruz Bay by 8:25

Cab got us to Trunk Bay on beach by 8:40 to 8:45

We spent 3 hours on the beach (incredibly beautiful) and took a 15 minute cab ride to Cruz Bay and had a snack and did some shopping and bought our tickets for the 1 pm ferry back. We waited 10 minutes and ferry left at 1:05. We were back at Red Hook by 1:20 and a 20 minute cab ride later were back at Havensight before 1:45. We went back on the ship and dropped our beach stuff off and then hit some souvenir stores and bought some more soda in port to bring back on the ship. Many others took the 2 pm ferry back and easily made it back to the ship before 3:30 (not something I would risk but many did this).

 

I had debated doing a ship excursion. It would have cost my family of four $500 for two hours of beach time and too much time on a catamaran. That included lunch and drinks. We had a quick bite at an inexpensive mexican cantina in Cruz Bay and then had a late lunch on the ship. Our cost was $168 and another $12 for very good soft tacos and sodas at the cantina. It was a great day. St Thomas is a nice island. But Trunk Bay and St John are very special. I would do this all again next time around.

 

Thank you for posting. We'll be there in a few weeks and planned on going to Trunk Bay. I'm happy to hear that it's easy to do on our own.

[hubofhockey]

You're welcome and you will have a great time. Some on these boards will advise you to save $8 each way on the cab from Havensight to Red Hook and back. I would avise against that and I will give you some reasons for my disagreement. The first relates to travel time. Do you really want to risk missing a ferry over $8? Beach time and St John are worth more than an extra $8. The second relates to lugging your beach stuff with you to K-Mart where those $2 taxis stop. That is a good ten minute walk from the cruise dock and you may want to bring beach chairs, towels, snorkeling equipment, etc. It's your vacation. Don't turn this into a chore and add worries. You are already saving a lot of money doing St John on your own and maximizing beach time. I advise not to risk it to save another $8 each way. I was pretty nervous about doing this on our own. But the risk is low, especially if you take a ferry back 2 .5 hours before your ship leaves like we did.

[Kre8tiv1]

You're welcome and you will have a great time. Some on these boards will advise you to save $8 each way on the cab from Havensight to Red Hook and back. I would avise against that and I will give you some reasons for my disagreement. The first relates to travel time. Do you really want to risk missing a ferry over $8? Beach time and St John are worth more than an extra $8. The second relates to lugging your beach stuff with you to K-Mart where those $2 taxis stop. That is a good ten minute walk from the cruise dock and you may want to bring beach chairs, towels, snorkeling equipment, etc. It's your vacation. Don't turn this into a chore and add worries. You are already saving a lot of money doing St John on your own and maximizing beach time. I advise not to risk it to save another $8 each way. I was pretty nervous about doing this on our own. But the risk is low, especially if you take a ferry back 2 .5 hours before your ship leaves like we did.

 

I am not into lugging my stuff any further than I have to! I was also nervous about doing this on our own, but you really put my fears to rest. I think we are in St. Thomas until 5pm, but don't know when we will have to be back on the ship. I was hoping to get some shopping in on St. Thomas as well. If not, that's fine too. I hear mixed reviews about the jewelry "deals" one supposedly gets in St. Thomas.