I am planning on spending my honeymoon on St. John. Which ferry should I take: Charlotte Amalie or Redhook? What are the pros and cons to each?

Also, how long does it take to get through the airport on St. Thomas on our way home? Just wondering so I know which ferry I need to take from STJ to STT.

Thanks!

Here is the link to the ferry schedules.

http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/#St. John Passenger Ferry: Red Hook to Cruz Bay

It depends on what time your flight arrives. Most of the time we decide after we get there. Charlotte Amalie is a longer boat ride, shorter taxi. Red Hook is vice versa. For the most part, we find that the cost/time is about the same. In off season, the downtown ferry runs less as well. Lately,on the way there we have just been doing the Red Hook ferry. It is convenient because it runs every hour on the hour and they now have a nice terminal there. There is even a little bar for a cold one while you wait. The Charlotte Amalie is at the downtown dock and there is no shelter at all if it is very hot or raining. On the way back, we often take the CA ferry. The longer boat ride is nice.

You should be at the airport 2 hours before your flight. Sounds like alot, but that airport can be a mess, especially on Saturdays. American Airlines has really been cracking down on people being there early if you are flying with AA.

What time of year are you going and what time does your flight arrive?

I will also add to brenandg sage advice -- if you have an early morning flight out of STT, think about spending your last night on St Thomas. Early morning ferry, [car rental return too?] may not allow you enough time to get to airport and all of that fun stuff.
Deb

I havent book flights yet. I plan on using this info to help me decide when during the day I would prefer to leave. When is a good time to have a departing flight? If its late in the day, am I going to end up wasting the day by carrying my luggage around (depending on what time I have to be out of our villa by)?

I think that it really depends on where you flying to; east coast of US vs west coast, let's say. We have to take a series of flight to get home, the trip takes about 12 -14 hours with layovers, so for us, we take an early morning flight to make all the connections.

If you are flying to east coast, there should be more options and allow you to leave later in day.

Personally, when it's time to go home, I much prefer to get up in the morning of the last day and head home. Spending the last day, checked out, with luggage, no place to shower if you go to the beach etc, makes for a really long day and then you get home so late.

Play around with dates and times on kayak.com and see what's available for your airport.

Deb

We had a bit of time to kill on St. Thomas before our departing flight and we left our luggage with a cab driver. I understand it to be rather routine. We did tip him extra for that.

I too do not want to go to the beach and then go to the airport without showering. I prefer getting on St. Thomas and spending some time around town. We leave in the afternoon. Some days check in goes fast, some days not so fast. Seems a shame to kill time in the airport, but sometimes it ends up that way.

And as to whether we use Red Hook or CA ferry, we just go with the flow on that one. Depends on when you arrive and which ferries are running when. Red Hook seems more reliable than CA. We have yet to see the new terminal and airport! Soon, very soon.

I usually prefer a midday flight to go home (it doesn't involve getting to the west coast). Last trip we wanted to have lunch with some friends on St Thomas before our flight so we left our bags with a taxi driver for a couple of hours on STT. We of course tipped him/paid extra. Maybe because we had never done it, I was slightly nervous, but he did show up. I'm sure they do it often, but he was taking other fares with our bags in the van. This time our flight doesn't leave until 6:00pm, so we were thinking about taking an earlier ferry and spending a few hours on STT. I am probably going to use a very reputable driver that I know from a friend and have used before on the return this trip. That way I have no worries about our bags. Her name is Rachel Brown, Phone # (340)771-2986 if you are interested. She does charge a little more, but you would have the van to yourselves and your luggage will be safe. I don't know whether she prefers to pick up in Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie, she picked us up before in Red Hook.

I'm sure there are places in Cruz Bay you could leave your luggage as well if you wanted to spend more time on St John. I think Connections right by the ferry dock provides this service. I would have to double check.