Good luck finding a place to stay at this late date.

Also, have you thought about or planned on how you'll get to Jost for New Year's Eve?

Just a little info in the way of a warning should you decide to take a party boat or ferry over to Jost.

1. Expect to pay around $100+ per person.

2. Assuming your boat leaves on time, expect to wait for a very long time in the Jost harbor before you're actually allowed to disembark. There's very little dock space and a large number of boats jockeying for position to allow its passenger off. Also expect a long wait while you're cleared through immigration and customs.

3. Expect to have to return to the dock by 1:00 a.m. or so. Not that you're boat will be ready to leave, but the crew will want you assembled on shore so that when the boat finally is allowed to dock, all the passengers will be there to board. This could take as long as 1 to 2 hours.

4. There will be another long line and wait to clear immigration and customs in St. John.

All-in-all, our party got to spend about 2.5 hours actually partying in Jost. Our boat left the Westin dock at 8:30 but we didn't actually free to join in the festivities on Jost until around 11 p.m. When all was said and done, we didn't get back to our villa in St. John until 4:30 a.m.

I'll be in St. John during the holidays. I'd like to do Jost again but not if I have to go through the same hassles as last year. My party of 5 are going to see what we can do about renting a boat and taking it over to Jost ourselves. Or perhaps we'll be able to hook up/hire a private boat to take us there and back.

In any case, good luck!

I read that there are ferries to/from St Thomas going to Jost every half hour. I have not heard before that it is a hassle. Perhaps it is different when going there from St Johns. Have you been to St Thomas?

Lisa,
It's not any different going from St Thomas than it is from St John. If you plan on going in the evening, plan on having the experience that Richard had. If you really have your heart set on going to Jost for New Years, do yourself a favor and go over earlier in the day and plan to spend the night. Even doing private charter or renting a boat and going yourself does not solve the problem of waiting to be able to disembard and long lines at immigration and customs.
You could also go early in the day to Tortola, clear immigration there and then take the ferry to Jost. There are ways to make it a little easier but don't plan on easy in/easy out of Jost on New Years. There are soooo many people the systems in place just get overwhelmed. Sorry if that's unwelcome information but better you know ahead of time what your up against so that you can plan for it.
Mermaid

Lisa,

First, all posts are correct, the hassles of waiting in line will be incredible.

Second, I believe you misunderstood the ferry situation, there are ferries running from ST Thomas to ST John, all day, every hour and as late as 11:00 pm (to and from Red Hook). However, the ferry from ST John to Jost, only runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday leaving STJ at 8:30 a.m. and returning from Jost at 3:00 pm. You should plan on spending the night in order to stay and partake in the festivities, however, I understand most places are booked at least a year in advance.

You will still have a great time if you stay on STJ or STT for New Year's Eve.

I am confused. We are staying in St Thomas and going to Jost for New Years. I have spoken with tons of people who ferried over to Jost on New Years, from St Thomas, stayed there for hours and then went home. And they said it was no hassle. So it is frmo St John that it's a hassle? B/c I am not interested at all in St John.

Lisa,

The hassle has nothing to do with whether you depart from St. Thomas or St. John. Again, there's very little dock space in Jost and throughout the night there are a number of ferries waiting in line just to be able to tie up and let their passengers disembark. Then from there you'll have to wait in line for customs and immigration, which again, has nothing to do with which island you're coming from.

As mentioned before, you could bypass the wait at customs and immigration by heading over earlier in the day to Tortola, then catch a ferry to Jost from there.

I don't know about the *tons* of people you spoke with, but that is the experience of everyone I've ever known to visit Jost via a ferry at night on the eve of New Years. For what it's worth, I grew up in St. Thomas and spent the better part of 20 years there.

FYI - Thought I would post a follow up to the above messages. I ended up going to Jost for New Years. We made it from St Thomas to standing at Foxy's with drink in hand with no line or hassle at all. The ferry went directly to Jost, there was no line, we showed our passport to a man standing there, and we were on our way. The ferry home was crowded but the wait at customs was only 15 minutes long. We had a great time and fortunately did not have any of the horror story experiences that people had shared from their prior journeys. I strongly recommend Jost for New Years!!

I simply had to reply to your post. Please don't read any of this as me whining and complaining b/c I'm not. This is simply a factual statement of our experience for those who care.

My friends and I went to Jost this New Years Eve, leaving from Red Hook. I had already purchased the tickets, but having tickets does not automatically mean you get on the boat. There was no organization, instruction, etc... after asking around and finally filling out all appropriate customs documentation we finally got on line to board the ferry, only to be told that we didn't have the right receipt and had to get back on another line to get a handwritten receipt. Finally, the 8 PM boat left well after 9 PM. We made it to Jost around 10 PM (after stopping in St. John) but b/c so many boats were arriving at once, we waited about 30 minutes to get a space to dock. We finally got off the boat and into the BVI customs line and waited. Several minutes later a ferry from Tortola arrived. Since they were already in the BVI, they were not required go through customs so the hundreds of us that were coming in from the US were moved to the side to let the Tortola arrivees pass. Many of the US arrivals got the bright idea to get in line with the Tortola arrivees and walk right through customs without being processed. The customs officials finally figured out what was going on and made everyone stand in line and go through customs, including those from Tortola. My wait in line got longer (I got separated from my friends and they jumped into the Tortola line!!!)

I finally made it through customs about 11:45 and went to Foxy's for the celebrating.

Then the real nightmare started - getting back. The 1 AM ferry to St Thomas was delayed b/c of all the other 1 AM ferries to Tortola and God knows where. The dock quickly filled with hundreds of people- drunk, belligerent, frustrated, in-a-fighting mood people. The 1 AM ferry finally left after 2 AM, full and with not enough room for everyone, so hundreds of us waited for the return ferry which arrived at about 4 AM. We finally made it back to St. Thomas at 5:30 AM.

Again, I am happy I went, but I am not sure I'd do it again. I think I'll stay in St. Thomas next New Years Eve.

But all in all wouldn't you say it was quite an experience? Something you would pass on to your grand kids?

What is the ferry schedule from Red Hook to Jost Van Dyck on New Year's Eve? Is it safe? I am going with my 21 year old daughter and a friend. I am a long time visitor to St. Thomas and have used the ferries extensively - just not on New Year's

I don't believe any schedules have yet been posted. It varies from year to year between the ferry companies doing special runs and the charter boats who make special trips and the postings usually start coming out early December. Yes, it's safe.