We are leaving Oct 28, and will be in St. Thomas the next Wednesday (Nov 1). I have found that there will be 5 other ships there- one of which will be Disney - the same day. We have been trying to decide if we want to spend the day at Trunk Bay or go to Coral World and Coki Beach. Will either of these two locations be overwhelmed with passengers and children? Does anyone have any suggestions to avoid people overload while in St Thomas?
I went to trunk bay once when in st. thomas
there were only 3 ships there that day but it was still crowded...it was however the best beach i've ever been to. It has white sand the texture of baby powder. We avoided the crowds
by going the do it yourself route...we got up early and got off the ship at 7am caught a taxi to the ferry pier (scary ride but we made it just before a ferry left) when we got to st. john we shared a cab out to trunk bay..we got there before the ticket booth opened so we didnt even have to pay admission to the beach!!
just walked on down and set up our stuff...the place had a great underwater trail with placards set in stone telling about the local fish and coral..there are bouys above water making the trail, it was really cool...the lifeguard showed up early and spent most of the day telling tourists not to stand up on the reef (it kills it)...it got crowded a couple of hours later when the shore excursions got there but they only stayed an hour or 2 and the ships staggered them so it was not overwhelming and after they left we had a few more hours with very few people there. the place had a snack bar and even sold cokes and beer for cheap.
we saw some wild donkeys there, it was strange but i thought if i were a donkey i would want to hang out on the beach too...i'm suprised no local was making money selling pictures with them all they needed was a big pair of sunglasses and a sombrero and a few carrots (heh heh)...most people wont make the effort to take the ferry to st. john so i think it would be less crowded than staying on st. thomas...take it from me, even if you have to take a shore excursion to get there , visit trunk bay...it's awesome.
Like wise2u said, Trunk Bay is totally awesome. Coki beach is nice as well as Magen's Bay and Sapphire beach, but Trunk Bay is amazing. It is one of the top 10 beaches in the world, and truly deserves its ranking. With 5 ships in port, it will be busy anywhere you go. The ferry ride over to St. John is $6/pp, I think cab fare to Trunk Bay is $4.50/pp and admission is around $2/pp. The cab fares for St. Thomas are standard and are posted. They have mini-vans, most not air conditioned, that they cram as many as they can in before they'll move. Best wishes!
wise2u: So you can spend more time there if you go on your own? I agree, it was probably the most scenically pretty beaches I've ever seen, we were very dissapointed with the Royal Carribean's Excursion there becuase they only give you an hour or so there. If I go again, I'm definately going to catch the ferry and do it that way. Sounds like more of an adventure. If I stay too long and miss the ship, I think I'll just stay there!
I wanted to stay there but if we missed the ship my wife would have a stroke, we allowed 90 mins for taxi-ferry-taxi to get us back....time your way out and add time in case you miss your ferry, or the taxi is slow.
yes you do get much more time than the tour with on your own excursions. Make sure you research well and be prepared (things sometimes look better on the website) We even went to another beach (Caneel bay) and snorkeled by a fancy resort, it was practically deserted. I listed a link to st john's beaches on another thread, pick a beach and go for it. Taxi's were not a problem at any of the major beaches or the piers.
Getting cloae now Susan, Doing research on St. Thomas , found the capacity of the 5 other ships plus ours exceeds 13,500 people. Looks like EVERYTHING at this stop will be crowded. But we port there FIRST and will be at the main dock. I've been checking out http://airforce1fun.com/ since we have older folks along with us. if you want to see some pics from a Zuiderdam Eastern Carrib cruise you might check out http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/zuiderdam.html gives a lot of info. See you onboard... I'll be the Grumpy looking Guy,
Grumpy & susanmaz, Oh the Zuiderdam Eastern Caribbean - you lucky ducks! I can't wait to go on that one. Been looking at an Eastern Caribbean on the Zuiderdam that goes to Tortolla, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk,Turks & Caicos, sounds heavenly. I really enjoyed your photos of the trip Grumpy,thank you!, especially Half Moon Cay! Didn't rent a cabana last time, but after seeing your pictures, it looks like it would be a lot of fun. When we were there we did find some nice hammocks in the shade though. Can't wait to go back there, isn't that place the best?
Grumpy - - - can't believe we're down to three weeks - and busy weeks they are going to be. We closed on a house last week, so we have been spending our weekends preparing to move. We won't actually move until after we return, but things are certainly hectic - making sure we haven't packed our vacation stuff. To make matters worse, my office is moving to a new building a few weeks after we return! Moving twice - Yikes! I will be the frazzled looking woman with the tired man on her arm. I'd tell you to look for the couple with their Mariner pins, but I'm sure we won't be the only ones... HA HA.... You'll know me by the Chandler & Udall sun visor - somewhere around the aft pool. I'm sure that you won't be looking Grumpy by the time we've lifted anchor, set sail and had your first Bahama Mama... See you there.
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