planning around cruise ships...

[babydocwhit]

I feel like I'm spamming the board. Is there a limit on questions? I just am so excited about my first trip to st. john! FI and I are going to be there on our honeymoon in 19 days!!! I noticed that on wed/thurs of our week there will be 4 and 5 cruise ships in port!!! (checked the VINOW site) How would ya'll recommend that we plan our beach trips/excursions/STT shopping, etc. I know Pia has mentioned shopping on cruise ship days, to catch a lot of open shops. We had though about starting our snorkeling trips at Trunk, just because we're going to be new at it, and Trunk seems pretty newbie-friendly. We are definitely planning to hit waterlemon cay before we leave, and may go to the Baths for a day. That is....if we can manage to leave the villa at all! can't wait to hear your advice...

[augie]

If you get up early and go to Trunk you should have several hours before the cruise ship hordes arrive.

Those would be the days that I might also head to the East End/Coral Bay areas, where most cruise passengers don't know about and/or can't get to.

[Ksea]

I second what Augie said regarding Trunk! As long as there are one or two cruise ships in Port, the STT shops will be open and running. We went on a day where there were two ships in. Stores and restaurants were not too crowded to enjoy ourselves. The only annoying thing was EVERY taxi driver honked their horn at us (several times) asking if they could take us back to our ship. We didn't want to be rude, but it got old having to say "we are not on a ship" over and over and over ......

[babydocwhit]

how early is early? when do the cruisers hit the beaches?

[Ksea]

We left the villa around 8am as I recall. We were not alone on the beach, but we got a good spot with some shade and set up camp. Seems like other folks started arriving a couple of hours later. It wasn't jam packed or too noisy even with all the extra people!

[Schnell]

I prefer to shop on STT during days when no ships, or just one or two, are in port. Shops are obviously less crowded. Yes, you do get bugged a bit more about a cab ride somewhere due to all the drivers just hanging around downtown. As long as you do your shopping mid-day (except sundays) everything should be open. Usually fridays and sundays are ship free days.

[Pia]

I would start my snorkel "lesson" at Maho not Trunk. Maho is very shallow and a great snorkel (as you are standing on the beach start on the right hand side along the rocks remembering not to touch/stand on the coral ) Trunk is a deep water snorkel and it always surprises me that people new to snorkeling would start there - you will be in approx 15 feet of water vs 4-5 at Maho.

Pia

[LandLockedBeachLover]

The cruise-shippers usually start to invade Trunk around 11:00 am or so. I've been there at 9:00 to almost an empty beach (nice!) They also leave around 3 as well, so you can also go there later in the day as well to avoid the crowds!