St. Johns advice

[Matt]

Since we will be kid-free on our next cruise, we decided it would make sense to try St. John this time while in port at St. Thomas.

Our goal is to go to St. John and enjoy a beach.  I've heard nice things about Cinnamon Bay as a great (and far less crowded) alternative to Trunk Bay.

I feel like it's simple enough to take a taxi to the ferry stop, hop on the ferry to St. John.  Any advice for getting around to Cinnamon Bay (or really anywhere in St. John). Is it safe to assume there will be ample taxis? Or should I make a reservation for a driver ahead of time?

[KLA]

30 minutes ago, Matt said:

Since we will be kid-free on our next cruise, we decided it would make sense to try St. John this time while in port at St. Thomas.

Our goal is to go to St. John and enjoy a beach.  I've heard nice things about Cinnamon Bay as a great (and far less crowded) alternative to Trunk Bay.

I feel like it's simple enough to take a taxi to the ferry stop, hop on the ferry to St. John.  Any advice for getting around to Cinnamon Bay (or really anywhere in St. John). Is it safe to assume there will be ample taxis? Or should I make a reservation for a driver ahead of time?

You can book a ferry through the cruise line from what I understand - beyond that, I haven't been there so I can offer no additional input. 

For our stop to St. Thomas in October, we booked the Champagne Catamaran and Snorkel to St. Johns through the cruise line - takes us to Honeymoon Beach where we get the option to either snorkel near the catamaran, or take a boat over to the beach to relax. I've heard really good things about it. 

[DocLC]

4 minutes ago, klaconqueso said:

 takes us to Honeymoon Beach

Ironic, romantic, or clique?

@Matt I have a lot of advice for St. John's if you ever take a Canada/NE cruise. 

[KLA]

Just now, DocLC said:

Ironic, romantic, or clique?

Mostly ironic - the excursion sounded fun and we weren't entirely sure what we wanted to do in St. Thomas so we went with it once the cruise planner sale hit. :) 

[KLA]

5 minutes ago, klaconqueso said:

Mostly ironic - the excursion sounded fun and we weren't entirely sure what we wanted to do in St. Thomas so we went with it once the cruise planner sale hit. :) 

Oh, and also we knew we wanted to snorkel. 

I've officially overplanned our honeymoon to have a wide array of things to do, where we don't feel to busy any one day and still be somewhat flexible. 

[arebee]

We actually spent a week in St. John a few years ago.  Honeymoon beach is a pretty quiet beach and if you get to Trunk early is the best time.  There is also a state park that you can hike through, its on the way to the beaches.  Not sure if its still there but there used to be a place called Caneel Bay Resort, don't know if its open to everyone but we were able to have dinner there one night.  There are taxis waiting at the dock but I remember most being open air that hold about 20 people.  I'm sure there are others but we had a car.  There is a park a couple hundred feet from the end of the pier and some shopping close by, Curzan rum is cheap...  Also some good restaurants and bars walking distance form the ferry.  Its a real laid back island, don't be in a hurry, they aren't....

[PRC]

St John is awesome!  As arebee said it is much more laid back than St Thomas.  

 

I'll be headed back in November, plan to ferry over to Cruz Bay, get some panoramic photo ops in the national park, then back to Cruz Bay for a late lunch at the Banana Deck (great place!)

 

And yes...Cinnamon Bay is absolutely beautiful ;)

 

 

 

[rjac]

We spent a week in St. Johns a few years ago. Did all the beaches and they are all killer. Our favorites were Hawksnest and Trunk bay. We were in waist/chest deep crystal clear water at Hawksnest Bay and could see many schools of small bait fish swimming around us. The pelicans did not mind us in the waater and would dive bomb the bait fish no more than 10' away from us. It was amazing them come up with a mouth full of fish and gulp them down, then off they would go for another diive bombing! Incredible. 

Not sure how much time you will have there, but I would also recommend what Kayla did above. Cinnamon bay is a little further away for the ferry port. 

[KLA]

9 minutes ago, rjac said:

...but I would also recommend what Kayla did above.

Have booked it, have not done it yet. Really glad to hear your recommendation though! :D 

[cruise-y]

It's been years since I've been to St. John but is one of my favorite islands in the Caribbean.  The water and beaches are just magnificent.  It is away from the hustle and bustle.  Yes, laid back, which I loved.

[Matt]

On 5/19/2017 at 10:32 AM, klaconqueso said:

You can book a ferry through the cruise line from what I understand - beyond that, I haven't been there so I can offer no additional input. 

I saw that, but I'd prefer to limit my time on a ferry. Plus, I kind of like the adventure aspect of doing it on my own.

My biggest concern is what happens after I arrive at St. Johns. Are there drivers waiting around to take people somewhere? Or am I better off making arrangements in advance?

[cruise-y]

I don't know how  much time you have, but when we went we were staying on St. Thomas and just took a day trip to St. John.  We rented an open jeep.  It was so much fun to drive around and left us in control of where we went so we could hop around to different beaches.  As I recall, the rental location was close to where the ferry dropped us off.

[Matt]

2 hours ago, cruise-y said:

I don't know how  much time you have, but when we went we were staying on St. Thomas and just took a day trip to St. John.  We rented an open jeep.  It was so much fun to drive around and left us in control of where we went so we could hop around to different beaches.  As I recall, the rental location was close to where the ferry dropped us off.

Driving on the other side of the road = big no from my wife 

[cruise-y]

6 hours ago, Matt said:

Driving on the other side of the road = big no from my wife 

Ha!  I hear you Matt.  It has been many years since we were there but there was almost no traffic then.  We practically had the roads to ourselves so we didn't have to worry.  It may be different now.