Are the ferries for St. John marked at the pier? How do you know which one to take? Can you haggle with the cost, or is it a set price? Also, once at St. John, are there taxis at the pier to take you to Trunk Bay? Sorry for all the questions, but we have never done an excursion outside of the ship. Just a little nervous about it, that's all. Want to make sure we don't get ripped off, or that we make it back to the ship on time. How much time should we allow to get back? We would probably leave earlier though because we want to do a little shopping at Charlotte Amalie. Let me know. Thanks.
When you get off the boat, the ferry for St John is NOT right there, you take a taxi. There will be PLENTY of taxis for you, so do not worry about that. Depending on the time, they will have to take you to the ferry launch closer to your boat, or the one in Red Hook (which leaves every hour, both ways, the one in Charlotte has fewer times, and in fact has cut down on the number of times for the season, so plan on the Red hook). The ferry from Red Hook is half the time, so you probably save money and time going there anyway. When you get to Red Hook, the ferry prices are a set price, no haggling. It's only $6 per person I think, and a 25 minute ride. You can find prices on line easily, along with schedules. It is not a glamorous ferry, and a lot of people use it for work, and they don't get discounts either unless you buy tickets in bulk. But remember, when you get to St John, there are only 3 ferries back to Charlotte Amalie, and they are at like 7 am, 3 pm and 5 pm approximately, but they leave for Red Hook every hour. That changes sometime in October though, to where they leave for Charlotte more often. In St John, again there will be PLENTY of taxis to take you to whichever beach you want. If Trunk Bay is choppy they can take you to the other side of the island. It's only about a 10 or 15 minute cab ride to Trunk Bay. And there will be PLENTY of cabs there to take you back to Cruz Bay (where you catch the Ferry, regardless of whether you go back to Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie). There is ample shopping just minutes from the boat - the cab can drop you off there and you can walk to the boat it is very close by.
Thanks, CruiserBarb. Sorry for all the questions, but just needed to be sure. Sounds like going to Red Hook first is the way to go. We'll probably try that.
Thanks, IslandCruz. I printed the schedule and will take it with us. It's very informative information. Sure seems like we'll save money doing it this way as well. Ship excursion was $69 each. Won't spend nearly that much. Leaves some extra $$ for rum punch!! We have our own snorkeling equipment, so won't need to worry about rentals as well. Appreciate the info.
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