Scott_AA

I'm cruising with my family in March and will be in St Thomas on a Tuesday from 10am to 8pm - 10 hours. I'm reading Tuesday is the busiest day with as many as 20,000 cruise passengers on the island that day. I have been to both St Thomas and St John prior but my family has not. Looking for advice on how to see both islands in our 10 hours. My plan is to rent a jeep directly off the ship from a company that will allow us to take the ferry over to St John. Once in St John drive the island and stop at Trunk and Cinnamon Bays for snorkeling maybe 3 to 4 hours. Back on the ferry to St John and then go over to Magen's Bay for 2 hours. If time permits possibly a short trip downtown for a little shopping then drop the car off and back to the ship. My question is do I have enough time to do it all? Looking for comments and suggestions.

DebitNM

My 2 cents, slow down. I would spend my time on St John, and skip going to the beach on St Thomas. Shopping - well, that's a personal choice but to me - I want to spend my time on the most beautiful beaches in St John, not trying to pack into stores loaded with people off the ships to get "bargains" that aren't really.

Instead of going to the beaches closest to town, head out a bit and enjoy ones that will have less people on them. Maho is wonderful.

Again, my 2 cents.

hawksbill

I too would suggest cutting down your itinerary. Maybe you could pull off renting the car, driving to all of those places, and dropping off the car again before 8 PM, but there's no reason to.

Like DebitNM, I'm not interested in shopping when I'm in the USVI. However, I realize that there are some people who love to shop while traveling, so I won't tell you not to do it. I will, however, express my opinion that prices in St. Thomas aren't any lower than in the U.S., with the exception of alcoholic beverages, which are indeed cheaper. So go shopping only if you enjoy it, not because you think you're going to get bargains. If you do plan to buy booze, make sure that you understand the rules about how much you're allowed to bring back with you.

As for beaches, I think you should probably just pick one and spend all of your time there. The terrain is basically the same at all of these places, so it's not like the scenery is going to be much different. Trunk and Cinnamon are full-service places with bathrooms, snack bars, changing areas, snorkel rental, etc., whereas the other beaches on St. John are not (I don't know about Magen's). Trunk Bay, being extremely famous and a bit more beautiful than the others, will be mobbed with tourists, whereas Cinnamon is bigger and less famous, so it will be less crowded, especially if you walk farther away from the entrance. Other St. John beaches will likely be more empty than these.

I think the only reason to visit more than one beach is if you're such an avid snorkeler that you want to make sure you don't miss any of the fish that are out there. If that's the case, then your beach choices should should be driven mainly by the snorkeling conditions, which to some degree can't be ascertained without knowing the water conditions on the day you're there. I've had good success snorkeling at Trunk on the leeward side of the cay, which is inexplicable, considering how many novice snorkelers are constantly there chewing up the coral and scaring the fish. I have never snorkeled at Cinnamon. Although this is less the case so late in the season, the swell tends to come from the northeast, which means that Maho and Francis bays tend to be the best protected beaches on the north shore on days when the waves are a little choppy. Magen's Bay is very, very deep, so I suspect that it's calm under pretty much any conditions, but I've never been there.

qwovadis

Rather than cramming yourself in with lots of crowds

schedules personally might just relax and explore St.

Thomas it is a wonderful particularly around

www.magenspoint.com used to own a condo there

Magens and other north shore beaches are wonderful

for snorkel VERY pretty far less crowded than St John..

So for best experience for me relax a bit explore more...

Happy journey,

DebitNM

"If you do plan to buy booze, make sure that you understand the rules about how much you're allowed to bring back with you."

I may be wrong, but I thought I read here on Fodors, that you cannot bring back alcohol to cruise ships for consumption. Not sure how it works if you want to just be able to take it home with you for future use.