Wife and I are cruising in January with 2 daughters (10 and 13) and my parents. Wife and I also come to STT and STJ each year for a week, spending a couple of days on STT, then moving to STJ for 5 nights. Background given only so you know that I'm walking in your shoes, except I have experience in the islands.

Right or wrong, here's what we're going to do in January: Off ship to a taxi to Red Hook; passenger ferry to STJ Cruz Bay; taxi to Cinnamon Bay for a couple of hours; taxi from Cinnamon to Trunk Bay for another couple of hours; taxi from Trunk into Cruz Bay for some last minute shopping then walk back to the passenger ferry to either Charlotte Amalie or Red Hook, whichever leaves first when we're ready to go; taxi back to the ship pier. I say we'll take taxis because it is neary impossible to get a single day rental on STJ - especially for a group of 6.

FYI, we also bring our own soft-sided cooler. That way, we can get sandwiches from room service the night before (or from the buffet at lunch the day before) and pack them in our cooler for lunch on STJ. I personally HATE to buy meals on an island when I've already purchased meals via the cruise line. Thought you might like that tip!

Congratulations on your decision to visit STJ during your cruise! While STT has some great sites, if you are a "beach" person, you must visit STJ.

Good Luck! Have Fun!

Goldie: As VI Lover pointed out, obtaining a car rental for just one day is virtually impossible. If you're coming here on a cruise ship for just one day, your really best bet is to investigate the innumerable shore tours and decide what works best for you.

If your druthers are to go to STJ during the relatively limited time avaiable on a cruise ship stop on STT, I'd basically advise against it. Have you cruised into STT before, have you been to STT or STJ? Is this your first Caribbean cruise? What are your expectations? What do you expect to learn from your brief stop here?

Sorry not be of too much help on an immediate basis but you might think about being more specific. Cheers!

Hello Goldie,

Looks like there will be six ships in that day. Ships either dock at Havensight or Crown Bay and with six ships one might be at anchorage in the harbor and passengers tendered in to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. There are two ferry departure points on St. Thomas for the St. John passenger ferry, Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook. Regardless of where you are docked/anchored the Charlotte Amalie ferry is the closest, its about a mile and a half from Havensight and a little further from Crown Bay. Red Hook is about a 20 minute drive from Havensight in low/medium traffic and from Crown Bay 30-35 minutes. The ferry ride from CA to St. John is about 40-45 minutes and from Red Hook about 15 minutes. So time-wise, taxi plus ferry, it works out about the same. With 6 ships there will be traffic so the drive times may be more than approximated. The Red Hook ferry runs more frequently than the CA ferry. You can find the schedules on this site, under the Plan Your Trip drop down, Ferry Schedules.

Don't know of any car rentals on St. John that take one day rental reservations.They will rent for one day though if you walk up to their office and they have something available. You can research the car rental option more. If you can't find one that allows for one day rental reservations then plan on walking to a few of the agency offices in Cruz Bay from the ferry dock. They are several within a very short walk. And if you have no luck finding a car then taxis are readily available right by the ferry dock so you can get to the beach or a tour by taxi. Another option some cruisers that head to St. John do is rent a dinghy in Cruz Bay and beach hop a bit that way. And if you wanted to hike to a beach you can do the Lind Point trail right from Cruz Bay, starts behind the National Park visitors center.

If you are considering renting a car on St. Thomas and taking it to St. John then there are a couple car rental agencies located close to the two cruise ship docks. You'd want to look into reservations for this option, particularly with 6 ships in port. The car barge schedules are available on the same page with the passenger ferry on this site. The car barge can be smooth sailing (usually when all the barges are working) and can also be a mess (when some aren't working). If you do rent a car on St. Thomas, traffic gets congested on the road into and out of the Havensight and downtown areas when there are multiple ships in port so you'd want to keep that in mind when planning your time.

--Islander

We've cruised to ST twice already. The last time we visited SJ and loved it. We went to Trunk Bay with an excursion tour. We only spent about 3 hours there. The ferry ride was 1.5 hours. Pricey and much too short of time spent there.

We want to go to SJ for the entire day and get to see more the beaches, go snorkeling, and visit the Westin. We're
thinking of learning more about it to see if we'll stay for a week there next year.

We've also have a chance to visit a villa in ST someone we know owns over looking Magen's Bay. It looks lovely on
paper. It would be nice to see it before renting.

Thanks for your advice...can't get enough of SJ. Based on other response we may decide to taxi instead of renting a car.