Flying into St Croix instead of St Thomas

[Larry]

End Destination: St John

From what I gather its about the same price to fly from JFK NY to STX as it is to fly to STT.

Anyone ever tried this?

Curious what tips might be out there regarding it, I know you can catch a ferry pretty easy to St John but is it as easy as the Cyril E King taxi to Red Hook?

Curious what its like to take the St Croix route

[STX lady]

Wow...wish we could help.....it will be a longer ferry trip. BUT if you need an overnight or a pick-up at the airport we'll be there in a second. Good luck & please contact if you need assistance.

[Larry]

Oh I wasn't asking for assistance -- I was just asking for some info on what its like to take the st croix route. I appreciate the offer though, very kind and islandy

How long is the ferry from croix to st john?

How hard/expensive is it to get from airport to ferry?

that kinda stuff

[Exit Zero]

There is no STX-STJ ferry.
The STX_STT ferry takes about 90 minutes - is commonly Very Rough - not running every day - would land you in Charlotte Amalie - you would have to taxi from Rohlsen airport to Christiansted to get the ferry - not a good option in any case IMHO

[catbat]

ExitZero is right; there's no STX to STJ ferry. Unless you want to spend part of your vacation on STX as well, there's no reason to do this. It would add significantly to your costs and travel time compared with flying in to STT.

[Margy Z]

Generally, I've found airfare to STX to be higher than airfare to STT - at least from Chicago. To visit all 3 islands, I would run this route (or the reverse) - start on STT/STJ and then take Seaborne (a seaplane or airport shuttle - 20 minutes) over to STX. I would never count on the ferry - the schedule is erratic and they don't call it the "Barf Barge" without reason. I do hear that the crossing from STX to STT is the particularly rough direction while STT to STX can be much calmer.

- Margy

[54b]

Speaking of finding alternate routes...Living in Dallas, we always fly from DFW to STT through Miami or San Juan, PR on American...no matter how far in advance we try to book, that's always a pretty expensive flight and I've heard a cheaper alternative is to buy a ticket only to San Juan, PR (because there are more non-stop flights going there daily) and then book a separate flight with a local or small time operator over to St. Thomas.

Never had the guts to do it that way, but wondered if anyone on the forum has tried it and what they thought of doing it that way. And of course, was it a whole lot cheaper and did the savings warrant having to re-check bags?

Just curious, thanks.

[elisa_nj]

The airfare is also higher from NJ to STX than STT. My husband and I might be going to STX in November and so far if I buy tickets to STT then ferry over to STX its still cheaper even with the ferry cost.

I'll be watching the fares in May and June for MY November trip and if they don't come down I'll be doing the STT to STX. (I know you asked about STJ but I'm a firm believer taht the fares are generally higher to STX and besides you have all those extra stops to get to STJ.

[catbat]

Speaking of finding alternate routes...Living in Dallas, we always fly from DFW to STT through Miami or San Juan, PR on American...no matter how far in advance we try to book, that's always a pretty expensive flight and I've heard a cheaper alternative is to buy a ticket only to San Juan, PR (because there are more non-stop flights going there daily) and then book a separate flight with a local or small time operator over to St. Thomas.

Never had the guts to do it that way, but wondered if anyone on the forum has tried it and what they thought of doing it that way. And of course, was it a whole lot cheaper and did the savings warrant having to re-check bags?

Just curious, thanks.

I've done it -- used Cape Air for the STT-SJU portion and other airlines for the rest. The cost of a Cape Air flight varies widely depending on time of day, day of week, and time of year -- check their website for some idea of the variation.

Your bags are automatically checked through as long as you book your entire journey at one time, and mine always made it -- but who knows how reliable that is. I don't know if Cape Air charges another fee per checked bag on top of the major airline's fee -- my last experience with them was before all that nonsense.

During slow season, if Cape Air has extra seats and you want to be on an earlier flight, they'll change you to the earlier one with no hassle if there's room.

Bottom line, it's worth checking into, but there are lot of factors that go into whether it will actually save you any money and/or time. If you want to do an overnight in PR, you might have more options.

[Pia]

You will have to catch a flight back to STT and then ferry to STJ (so really what is the point) or catch the ferry when or if it is running - it is 100% unreliable - and crossing can take 90 mins in open, often rough water, and I have heard that a recent crossing took close to 6 hours (I overheard the ferry operator talking to a friend) as the water was sooooo rough.

Pia

[khud]

We are trying to book a trip to STX for Oct. for our whole family. (2 adults, 3 young adults, and 2 teens). After going there last Oct. on a last minute great deal, hubby and I thought that the "kids" would like the variety on STX. This is proving to be much harder than I thought. The airfare from Boston has been hovering around $600 RT for 4 months. This is twice what we've paid to STT. I remember last summer, the airfares went way down for fall travel and the deals where fantastic. So, I'm waiting for summertime and hoping I can still put this trip together. I think that after taking 2 flights to get to STT, we would not want to take another one or a rough ferry ride to STX. Cheap Caribbean is starting it's deals for the summer already. I hope they get better for the fall. Plan 'B' and 'C' is hoping for another deal this year or going back to STJ. I hope something works out or I'm going to have some very disappointed 'kids' on my hands.

[54b]

Thanks for the info Catbat...I'll look into it considering there are still no direct flights from DFW to STT and I have to change planes regardless.