Today’s story is going to be rather short and sweet. All I want to say is that the new Crown Bay ferry is great!
I was finally able to take the ferry earlier this month, and it was such a nice experience. For those of you unfamiliar with the ferry service here, we now have three options for traveling between the islands. 1. We have the regular Red Hook to Cruz Bay ferry that leaves every hour on the hour from 6 a.m. to midnight. 2. We have the car barge that transports vehicles back and forth, although I do not recommend this for tourists visiting the island. 3. We have the new Crown Bay ferry.
The Crown Bay ferry has limited runs, so your schedule has to work with its. It travels between the Creek in Cruz Bay and the Crown Bay Marina on St. Thomas four times a day. The ferry leaves from Cruz Bay daily at 11 a.m. and at 4:15 p.m. It leaves from the Crown Bay Marina in St. Thomas daily at 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. (The Creek is the area in front of the National Park Visitor’s Center in Cruz Bay.)
The ferry ride is about 35-40 minutes. When I took it earlier this month, we left a few minutes before 11 a.m. and my friend and I were ordering beers at Tickles (a bar/restaurant) at Crown Bay by 11:30 a.m. We downed two rather quickly (don’t judge! haha), grabbed a nearby taxi and were at the airport by noon. This is the same time we would have arrived if we had taken the regular Red Hook ferry and then taken the taxi ride across the island.
What I personally loved about the Crown Bay ferry is the fact that I did not have to take the long taxi ride across the island. The roads are steep and windy, and this little blogger gets a tad nauseous by that, so I will skip it any day of the week! The staff on the boat was also great. And the best part, there were taxis waiting for us at Crown Bay, so the whole process is just so simple and relaxing.
The cost is a tad more, but worth it in my opinion. I paid $25 for a one-way ticket with one piece of luggage. The taxi ride was either $6 or $8. Sorry I can’t remember the exact price… I blame those two Coronoas I had!
We have heard that a few of the taxi drivers are trying to sway people from taking the ferry when leaving the airport. Just be adamant that it is where you need a ride to, and they will take you.
So, if you want to take the ferry from St. John, make sure to arrive a bit early. I arrived about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. You can enter the gates across from Cool Breeze Car Rental and the ticket office is to your right. If you want to take it from St. Thomas, get a taxi to the Crown Bay Marina. The boat leaves from the dock near Tickles.
The Crown Bay ferry is operated by Inter Island Boat Services. Click here to visit their website.
Do you know if the Westin Ferry is departing from Crown Bay again?
No. They depart from Red Hook.
I was told n April that the Westin Ferry would not be going out of Crown Bay….we loved going out of there…guess we will be switching to the new ferry if schedules work out.
We took the Crown Bay ferry when we were in St. John in April. The times worked well with your flights both ways. We agree, it was nice to not need to drive across St. Thomas. And the staff of the ferry could not have been more accommodating. Highly recommend!
We’re actually taking this ferry on our trip to St. John this weekend! Can’t wait.
Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for this article about the Crown Bay ferry! We took it on May 6th to St. Thomas to catch our flight home and they couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating. We were able to sit on the top (outside) with a cover, which was great. Much better boat than the regular ferry. What was upsetting is that none of the ferry schedules show the Crown Bay ferry and when we asked at the regular ferry dock about it, the employees all insisted that the Crown Bay ferry wasn’t running and didn’t have a regular schedule. That was so false! It was running that day and on time. The Crown Bay ferry has a much more professional crew, the boat is nicer and you don’t have to take that long taxi ride across St. Thomas!! I highly recommend! They also go to Anegada on the first Sunday of every month from St. John–great day trip!
Crown Bay ferry and the “regular ferry” are operated by different companies. The regular ferry employees wouldn’t know the other ones schedule.
Marketta–I was being nice. What the regular ferry employees said was that the Crown Bay ferry did not have a regular schedule and that you couldn’t depend on it to run. They said it didn’t run when it was scheduled and hadn’t been running recently–which wasn’t true. I don’t expect them to know the schedule, but they shouldn’t disparage it. Competition should be a good thing.
Can you purchase tickets at the ferry or do you need to pre-purchase them ahead of time online?
You purchase tickets on the boat at Crown Bay when departing St. Thomas. There is a ticket office at The Creek that sells tickets just before you depart St. John for the journey over to Crown Bay. No need to purchase in advance, but do heed the advice to arrive at the departure point early. I have taken this ferry multiple times and it often leaves a few minutes ahead of schedule.
Is there still a Charlotte Amalie ferry??
We decided to avoid the trip across St Thomas for our 23rd annual vacation and try Crown Bay ferry. Our plane was late but the 5 minute trip from the airport was great. The deck hand even took our bags and told us to grab some food at Tickles. We were very impressed with the service. We will definite l use it again
Thanks. What is the taxi fee from the airport to the Crown Bay ferry? I don’t see it listed as a destination in the STT taxi tables. I’ve had poor experiences with taxi drivers overcharging and ignoring the price tables to begin with.