You are arriving on a cruise ship in St. Thomas but don’t feel like spending the day shopping for jewelry? You are wondering what to do in St. Thomas on a cruise? You are looking for options for you day visit? Come over to St. John and go paddleboarding with us and explore St. John’s beautiful beaches, which constantly make it into the top 10 rankings of the most beautiful beaches in the world!
How would a Day trip from St. Thomas Cruise Ship to St. John look like?
Your cruise ship will dock near Charlotte Amalie, either in Crown Bay or at West Indian Co. You can take the ferry over to St. John, it is only about 25 minutes and costs 14$ round trip. There is a 10.00 AM ferry leaving from Charlotte Amalie and an hourly ferry from Red Hook. If you choose to depart from Red Hook (our recommendation based on better ferry availability), just catch a taxi from the street. There will be many open air taxis heading to Red Hook so hop aboard! Buy a return ticked to Cruz Bay, St. John. Check the ferry schedule here.
Let us know when you will arrive and we will await you at St. John Ferry Terminal. We can give you a paddleboard lesson in Cruz Bay or another beach outside the National Park (65$ per person) and afterwards you can go paddleboarding in the National Park Beaches yourself (we cannot give lessons there). The price for board rental after the lesson is only 30$ more, so 95$ in total for lesson and board rental.
If you have paddled before you can of course also only rent boards. That is 65$ per board per day. From Cruz Bay you can paddle to Solomon (pictured below) and Honeymoon in about 20 minutes and to Caneel Bay in about 30 minutes (depending on wind). It is usually an upwind paddle out, coming back is mostly downwind.
You can also explore St. John from the water by booking a half day trip on our very comfortable Powerboat, Rockhoppin’. It is a 32FS Regulator, with cushioned-forward facing seating and twin Yamaha 250s. It will provide a very comfortable, mostly dry ride.
You can leave St. John on the 2PM ferry to catch your cuise ship leaving at 3:30PM,