Thread: Do We have Time to do both, on St Thomas?

We are coming to St Thomas on the Caribbean Princess, I want to take the ferry to St. John to snorkle in the morning and go back to the ship for lunch then go in to St Thomas for a look around and some shopping. My DH says we will only have time to do one of those things. I heard you can do both, I will go to St John without a tour so no time restraints, come back when we want to. Has anyone done both.

The Caribbean Princess is in Port by 7am and will leave at 6pm.

Originally Posted by jp20

We are coming to St Thomas on the Caribbean Princess, I want to take the ferry to St. John to snorkle in the morning and go back to the ship for lunch then go in to St Thomas for a look around and some shopping. My DH says we will only have time to do one of those things. I heard you can do both, I will go to St John without a tour so no time restraints, come back when we want to. Has anyone done both.

When we were in St Thomas last month, the ferry to St Johns left at 1:15 pm, which means your entire morning is free, so you can do both, but in the reverse order you wanted to. Just remember, for excursions, you must meet at the pier 10 minutes before departure, so that's 1:05pm.
Note Well: I do not know if you are going with the same company we went with, and it's not the Catamaran, so times may differ, and you very well may not be able to do both.

If you are taking the St Johns ferry at 1 p.m., before you leave make sure you can get back to the ship by 5, allowing time for a delay, if it is not a ships excursion, and there is any delay getting back to the ship, it will not wait for you!!

Here is what I suggest that you do: get on the earliest ferry that you can to get to St. John. If you are docked at Havensight, it is a quick taxi ride to the ferry at Red Hook. The ferries leave on the hour from there, and returning from St. John. It is a quick taxi ride (about 15 min.) down to Trunk Bay, and a few minutes more if you want to go to Cinnamon.

I suggest that you do not return to the ship for lunch since this will take a LOT of your valuable island time. Doing both islands is really pushing it, especially if you want some nice beach time on St. J. There is shopping right on the pier at Havensight, so that would be a good option to give you plenty of time to do both. If I have to choose which I would do, I would (and always DO) pick the beach time on St. J. It is a gorgeous island!

Have a great cruise!

Thank you for your input I really am putting St John 1st on my to do list.

Going back to the ship for lunch often means doom - a quick shower turns into something longer, just a quick nap after lunch, poof - time for sailaway.

But you do have plenty of time. Probably even with a ship excursion.

This is one of the typical ones:
Captain Nautica, Inc. Snorkel Tour
I've gone with them a couple of times.

I would have a list of the current ferry times from both Red Hook and Charlotte Amalie. It takes longer to ferry downtown, but the rode from Red Hook can sometimes get backed up, also.

One online source for current info is:
St Thomas - St John This Week Home
Just click on the magazine cover.

Here is another:
Virgin Islands Cruise Ship Information

And some Ferry schedules (subject to CHANGE)
Virgin Islands Ferry Schedule

Originally Posted by Sheffie

Here is what I suggest that you do: get on the earliest ferry that you can to get to St. John. If you are docked at Havensight, it is a quick taxi ride to the ferry at Red Hook. The ferries leave on the hour from there, and returning from St. John. It is a quick taxi ride (about 15 min.) down to Trunk Bay, and a few minutes more if you want to go to Cinnamon.

I suggest that you do not return to the ship for lunch since this will take a LOT of your valuable island time. Doing both islands is really pushing it, especially if you want some nice beach time on St. J. There is shopping right on the pier at Havensight, so that would be a good option to give you plenty of time to do both. If I have to choose which I would do, I would (and always DO) pick the beach time on St. J. It is a gorgeous island!

Have a great cruise!

This is good advice except the Caribbean Princess will be docked at Crown Bay which is on the other side of downtown. As of the last reports, no shops were open yet at Crown Bay. So what they could do is go to St. John's in the morning and take the early afternoon ferry back to downtown. Do their shopping in downtown and then take a cab back to Crown Bay from their.

Just remember, St. Thomas only has 2 lane streets and the traffic in the afternoon beginning at 3:30pm is terriable! So traveling back to Crown Bay by taxi may take a while!

We were on the Caribbean Princess in November and on St. Thomas on Thankgiving Day. It was BUSY! We took the 1/2 day catamaran excursion to St. John to snorkel and had the bus driver drop us off in town to shop and have lunch on the way back. Then we took a taxi ($4) back to Crown Bay. We had plenty of time to be back on board before the crazy rush hour and were all cleaned up with cocktail in hand for the sailaway. The catamaran to St. John was a super excursion...very relaxing and lots to see on the reef we visited.