Hince57 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Going to be in St. Thomas next month and want to get to St. John on our own. I think Matt had something in the podcast recently about an issue with taking one of the ferries but can't recall. Anyone know the latest with getting to/from St. John? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 You can take an excursion from Royal "St John on your own" or you can walk off the ship and get there yourself (DIY). The "on your own" excursion is nice in that the private ferry boat picks up very close to the ship dock. The "DIY" approach involves taking a taxi to Red Hook and taking the regular public ferry from there. Having lived on St. Thomas I'm comfortable with both. With the DIY method take a ferry back much earlier than the last one needed to make the ship. Not all St Thomas stops are equal. Some ships/itineraries have longer stops compared to others. Not all stops at St Thomas are good candidates for a St John visit. KristiZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRebecca Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 (edited) On 2/18/2020 at 3:55 PM, twangster said: Not all St Thomas stops are equal. Some ships/itineraries have longer stops compared to others. Not all stops at St Thomas are good candidates for a St John visit. Would you mind elaborating on this? We will be in St Thomas on my birthday next year on an Allure sailing, and the itinerary says we're there 12-7. What dictates a "good candidate" for a St. John trip from St. Thomas, in your experience? There seems to be lots of great options for things to do in ST and would like to research the St. John option as well. TIA for your input. Edited March 12, 2020 by PRebecca corrected: next year not this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacharius Posted February 20, 2020 Report Share Posted February 20, 2020 On 2/19/2020 at 9:27 AM, PRebecca said: Would you mind elaborating on this? We will be in St Thomas on my birthday this year on an Allure sailing, and the itinerary says we're there 12-7. What dictates a "good candidate" for a St. John trip from St. Thomas, in your experience? There seems to be lots of great options for things to do in ST and would like to research the St. John option as well. TIA for your input. List of ferry times can be found at https://www.vinow.com/travel/virgin-islands-ferry-schedules/stjohn/. Here's what I would personally do. Grab a taxi right off the ship at 12pm, hit the 1pm ferry which arrives around 1:20pm. Grab a cab to your destination, spend a few hours there. Take the 4pm shuttle back (gets in around 4:20pm), back to the ship around 5pm. It's not ideal, but it leaves the 5pm shuttle that will still allow you to get back on time should there be any problems. St. John is so great that I would still not hesitate to do it even for just a couple hours on the beach, but if that seems like a lot of work for a little time, there's plenty of beaches on St. Thomas that will be quicker to get to/from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRebecca Posted February 20, 2020 Report Share Posted February 20, 2020 3 hours ago, Zacharius said: List of ferry times can be found at https://www.vinow.com/travel/virgin-islands-ferry-schedules/stjohn/. Here's what I would personally do. Grab a taxi right off the ship at 12pm, hit the 1pm ferry which arrives around 1:20pm. Grab a cab to your destination, spend a few hours there. Take the 4pm shuttle back (gets in around 4:20pm), back to the ship around 5pm. It's not ideal, but it leaves the 5pm shuttle that will still allow you to get back on time should there be any problems. St. John is so great that I would still not hesitate to do it even for just a couple hours on the beach, but if that seems like a lot of work for a little time, there's plenty of beaches on St. Thomas that will be quicker to get to/from. Thanks so much Zacharius, that's a big help and gives me a great idea where to start if we wish to go that route! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 20, 2020 Report Share Posted February 20, 2020 On 2/19/2020 at 8:27 AM, PRebecca said: Would you mind elaborating on this? Different ships and itineraries have different lengths of stays . If you plan 90 minutes there and 90 minutes back plus at least a 90 minute buffer that consumes 4 1/2 hours of a stop in STT. You have 7 hours so 2 1/2 hours to explore St John. Is that enough time for you? It depends what you want to see or do. To leave the port area on St John and explore the island 2 1/2 hours will go by quickly. The ship excursions to Trunk Bay typically allow 30 - 45 minutes at the beach. Many people don't consider that enough time but it's the schedule they run to be safe. The ferries are mostly reliable but they can slip off their schedules sometimes. St. John is beautiful but if it ends up a rainy day you might want a plan B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.