Please Register / Login to take part in discussions about the Virgin Islands.
Good Morning!
I have some friends/family who are taking a cruise and will be in St. Thomas for 1 day. They would love to go to St. John. I am planning on spending a few days in St. John and will have them meet me in Cruz Bay. It's been about a year since I've been in St. John and I have few questions for all of you helpful people out there.
1) Has traffic from Havensight to Red Hook changed much? I'm figuring it will take about 1/2 hour for the cruise ship passengers to taxi it to Red Hook. Any thoughts?
2) The cruise ship docks from 7 AM to 5 PM. I know it takes a while for the passengers to disembark. Does anyone know if there is any chance of them catching the 8 AM ferry from Red Hook?
3) My thoughts for the day in St. John were open-air taxi tour (2 hours), maybe beach, lunch and possibly shopping. I'm not sure of the order. Any thoughts? It's going to be real hard to accomodate everyone because the group will include one toddler and one elderly person (in their 80's, needs shade, but still fairly active).
4) My one thought for a place to hang-out and beach/lunch etc. was the Westin. I figured this would be comfortable for the elderly person, the toddler (who is a water rat) and everyone in between (who probably only cares if a bar is near-by). The only downside to the Westin is this group has traveled so far and has never been to St. John before - I feel bad about taking them to the worst beach on an island filled with the world's best beaches! Does anyone have suggestions on where to hang-out for a while to swim and eat?
5) We are planning on taking the 2:15 ferry from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie (and avoid traffic from Red Hook to Havensight). The group will have plenty of time to get back to the ship by 4:15 (they do NOT want to cut it close). And, maybe we'd have time to do a little shopping on their way back to the ship. Any thoughts on this?
Everyone in the group has been to St. Croix on more than one occasion and most have been to St. Thomas on one or more occasions. None of them have been to St. John.
Thank you all so much for whatever advice you can share!
St. Croix Resident 🙂
I tend to babble too much - so, I've cut down my previous post to the two things I would really like to know.
If anyone can help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it!
1) Cruise ship docks at 7 AM - does anyone know if it's possible for these cruise ship passengers to catch the 8 AM Ferry from Red Hook?
2) Can anyone recommend a beach on St. John that might be comfortable for an 80-yr old who doesn't swim to hang out at while the rest of us take turns swimming and visiting with my Grandmother? It would be nice if we could get lunch and drinks while at the beach. My first thought (but not first choice) is the Westin. Are the accomodations at Cinnamon Bay or Trunk Bay on the rustic side? Or, can we find tables and chairs here?
Thanks!
A St. Croix Resident who want to make family/friend's first trip to St. John the best!
Hello,
Traffic from Havensight to Red Hook is as its been. If there are several ships in things tend to get bottle necked at the road just in front of Wendys by Havensight. It takes about 20 minutes from Havensight to Red Hook... 30 minutes is a good bet in case there is traffic.
There is a chance they might get off the ship right away and make it for the 8am but I'd say the 9am is likely a safer bet.
Do the island tour on St. John, go to Caneel Bay for lunch/beach time, do a little shopping on St. Thomas if there is time.
You can do lunch at Caneel Bay, there is a bar, snorkeling, watersports, shade. Your older traveler and maybe toddler & parent can stay at Caneel Bay and perhaps the others might hike over to Honeymoon if up for a short hike and another beach and then come back to Caneel Bay or stay the whole time at Caneel Bay. You can catch a taxi from Caneel Bay when you are ready to return to Cruz Bay/ferry.
The 2:15pm ferry to Charlotte Amalie will get you in around 3pm. You can take a taxi to Havensight; those that are tired and want to get back on the ship can and those that want to shop can do a little shopping in Havensight. Or there are bars there, ice-cream shop if the toddler (or adults 🙂 ) want icecream... in other words you can spend some time in Havensight before boarding the ship.
Have a great time.
--Islander
Awesome! Thanks Islander! The information you provided helped immensely!
The Caneel Bay suggestion is awesome - I nearly forgot about the Caneel Bay Resort (only had Westin stuck in my mind).
I'll have to provide a "trip report" after our 1-day excursion - would love to help out future cruise ship passengers who don't want to travel with the masses.
STX Resident
