My wife and I stayed on St John during Carnival a few years ago and didn't find it to be overly crowded. Its still part of the off season and the Carnival has a local taste and is smaller in size. It goes on the first week of July as I remember.

Hello Laurie,

To better answer your question please tell us what your dates are for your vacation in St. John. The events for Carnival vary in size and crowd.

--Islander

The dates are June 27 - July 3 2004. Thanks.

Hello Laurie,

Here is the schedule for those days. Pretty everything is during the evening except the Cultural Day on the 3rd at 1pm. You can expect to not find parking in Cruz Bay during the day or night so if you are renting car be sure to ask the agency if you can park your rental in their parking lot when you come to Cruz Bay. The ferry to St. Thomas on the 3rd will be a bit busier then usually since their is a day time Carnival activity and then in the evening it will be busier because of the nightly events. You will not notice much more traffic around the island once you leave Cruz Bay as most of the Carnival events happen there. --Islander

St. John Carnival

Childrens Carnival Rides Open
Location: National Park
Start: 6:00pm

Island: St. John
Date: 2004-06-27+

St. John Carnival

Gospel Show
Location: Winston Wells Ball Park
Start: 7:00pm

Island: St. John
Date: 2004-06-27+

St. John Carnival

Festival Village Opens
Location: Cruz Bay Parking Lot
Start: 7:00pm

Island: St. John
Date: 2004-06-28+

Holiday

Emancipation Day

Date: 2004-07-03+

St. John Carnival

Cultural Day
Location: Cruz Bay Park
Start: 1:00pm

Island: St. John
Date: 2004-07-03+

St. John Carnival

Mr. Emancipation Selection Show
Location: Winston Wells Ball Park
Start: 8:00pm

Island: St. John
Date: 2004-07-03+

Thank you for the information. We really appreciate it!

Laurie

I have one more question. We are planning on staying at the Westin St. John. Do you think that this hotel will be overcrowded due to Carnival activities being right at Cruz Bay?

Laurie

I dont think the Westin will be at capacity that week. I could be wrong but its just an educated guess in advance. Call them and find out.

Dont worry even when St John is crowed its not crowed, carnival ends 4 of July weekend

Carnival is an awesome week to be on St. John! I highly recommend it! Lots of fun and the vendors in the open air market are fun. We went to the steel drum evening a couple years back. Absolute blast! The people of St. John are always so nice! Even though we have been there enough times to notice that they mark the price up just for carnival! The Westin is so big that I can't imagine it being over crowded. We'll be there beginning Memorial weekend if you need some tips on things to do. Believe me. My list is a mile long and doesn't include shopping... I highly recommend the guided Reef Bay trail. But you need to make reservations way in advance!
St. John is quite a laid back island so don't overpack!

Wow! Carnival?? I didn't even think to check when that event occurred before booking our wedding/honeymoon. Good deal! I was reading about it and it sounded like alot of fun. Hey Islander, could you give some more dates or point me in the direction of a website that will list the events from June 20-30? Any fireworks in that time?

Also, wedding is on June 21st on the beach - still haven't chosen the beach yet. Do you have any suggestions on one that will not be too overly crowded at 4pm during Carnival? Our choices are Trunk, Hawksnest, Cinnamon and maybe Maho (not sure). Thanks for your help.....oh and Laurie congrats on the wedding and maybe my *future* husband and I will see you on the island!

Hello Diane,

We have an events calendar on this web site and it contains the Carnival schedules -
https://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/local_events/index.php
you have to change the month in the drop down to see futher months.
No fireworks during the time frame of your visit but there are various musical events you could look for.

The 21st should be fine at any of the beaches you are looking at - no Carnival events scheduled that day. Hawksnest is lovely (and usually more quiet then Trunk and Cinnamon) but the other three are beautiful as well.

--Islander