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Keeping an Eye on the Cruise Ships

Jenn Manes 2 Comments
A ship docks at the Crown Bay marina on St. Thomas

St. John’s first cruise ship visit of the 2022-2023 season is scheduled for two months from today, so we figured this is a great time to start talking about the cruise ships.

The majority of the cruise ships that visit the USVI dock over in St. Thomas, either at the West Indian Company (Havensight) or at Crown Bay in Charlotte Amalie. St. John receives a small number of cruise ships each year, however these are much smaller ships that typically only carry a few hundred guests.

When a ship visits St. John, it anchors just off of Cruz Bay, and then it tenders guests ashore to the bulkhead area in the Cruz Bay creek. This is located between the Customs building and the National Park Visitors’ Center.

A cruise ship visits Cruz Bay (Pic from 2019)

Looking ahead at December, SeaDream2 is scheduled to make three stops (thus far) in Cruz Bay – December 11th, December 16th and December 28th. Roughly 110 passengers are slated to be on SeaDream2 each visit.

When ships anchor off of Cruz Bay, it doesn’t affect the island too much because of the small amount of guests onboard. When we have numerous ships visiting St. Thomas, we definitely feel the effects on St. John. On November 17th, for example, more than 20,000 people are scheduled to visit St. Thomas via a cruise ship stop. A good amount of those folks will likely venture over to St. John, often checking out Cruz Bay, Trunk Bay, Maho and more. These are great days to venture a bit further out if you don’t love crowds, like out to the East End or Salt Pond Bay, for example.

According to VINow.com, there will be more than 163,000 guests visiting the US Virgin Islands via 51 ships during the month of November. (St. Croix numbers are included in those figures.) Nearly 217,000 guests are scheduled to visit in December with similar numbers the following month. Click here to check out the current cruise ship schedule on VInow.com.

As of today, it looks like only the three Seadream visits have been added to the schedule for December 2022. It is very likely that there will be additional cruise ship visits in Cruz Bay for the rest of the winter months and into early spring.

So is today’s post exciting? Not really. But is it important when planning your St. John vacation? Absolutely. 🙂

Click the following links to check out the upcoming cruise ship schedules:

October 2022 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

November 2022 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

December 2022 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

January 2023 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

February 2023 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

March 2023 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

April 2023 USVI Cruise Ship Schedule

Reserve your island tour today at ExploreSTJ.com! Explore STJ island tours is rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

Iconic Hotel Returning to Soggy Dollar Bar

Jenn Manes 0 Comments

Hello everyone, and happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I am ridiculously excited to share today’s story with you!

The iconic Sandcastle Hotel is returning to White Bay! How exciting is that?! For those of you who may not be familiar with the Sandcastle Hotel, it was the original hotel built over in White Bay on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands back in 1970. The hotel was destroyed, unfortunately, back in 2017 when Hurricane Irma rolled through the islands.

Our friends over at the Soggy Dollar Bar announced last week that the Sandcastle Hotel is expected to reopen in late 2022. I don’t know about you, but I think the thought of waking up at the Soggy Dollar Bar in picturesque White Bay sounds pretty darn good to me!

There isn’t too much other information to share at the moment,. You can, however, sign up on Soggy’s website to receive hotel updates. Click here to sign up.

Want to get over to Jost van Dyke sooner than later? Cruz Bay Watersports now offers per person trips  every Tuesday. Click here for the details on that. You can also take the Inter Islands Boat Services ferry over on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. (There are a handful of St. Thomas boats that are currently able to bring guests over to the BVI too.)

Want to see Soggy Dollar in real time? Check out their webcam plus more than two others on St. John over on our webcam page at IslandTidbits.com/webcams

The view from Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost van Dyke

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Cafe Roma to Start Serving Lunch!

Jenn Manes 1 Comment

Well folks, there’s going to be another spot to eat lunch in Cruz Bay next month. And it’s air conditioned! With a full bar! It’s the little things in life sometimes. 🙂

Cafe Roma has decided to try its hand at the lunch game once again. And I have to say, I am pretty excited about it. Cafe Roma will begin serving lunch Sundays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. beginning on Tuesday, November 1st. Cafe Roma serves dinner daily from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and is currently open.

For those of you who are not familiar with Cafe Roma, it’s been dishing up great Italian fare in Cruz Bay since 1980. It is located just one block from the ferry dock, upstairs from The Longboard. It consistently receives the top spot for Italian food and pasta dishes in the Virgin Islands Daily News Best of the VI poll.

Take a peek at Cafe Roma’s new lunch menu.

Lunch begins on Tuesday, November 1st.

Curious about dinner? Click here to see the full dinner menu.

That’s it for today, folks. Have a great weekend!

 

Go off the beaten path. See beautiful beaches. Explore centuries-old historical sites. Grab a cocktail or two along the way. But most importantly, have fun! Explore STJ island tours is rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

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Beach Break! Saltwell Bottom

Jenn Manes 1 Comment

Hello everyone, and happy Friday! Who needs a little beach break to start the weekend? Today we’re heading out to one of my favorite Explore STJ stops – Saltwell Bottom beach on St. John’s quiet East End. Turn up the volume, listen to the waves, and enjoy one minute of pure island bliss.

This video, and all of our videos, can be see at www.islandtidbits.com/videos.

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Go off the beaten path. See beautiful beaches. Explore centuries-old historical sites. Grab a cocktail or two along the way. But most importantly, have fun! Explore STJ island tours is rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

 

Great News! Miss Lucy’s is Reopening Much Earlier than Expected!

Jenn Manes 1 Comment

October 11th 9am Update: Miss Lucy’s just announced that they are unable to reopen today as expected. We will keep you posted.

Hello everyone, and happy Thursday! Today’s post is short, sweet and to the point. Miss Lucy’s, one of our favorite restaurants out in Coral Bay is reopening for lunch well over a month earlier than expected! Cheers to that!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Miss Lucy’s, it’s been a St. John staple for quite some time. It’s located right on the water in Coral Bay, about ten minutes or so from the Coral Bay triangle. Not only does Miss Lucy’s have amazing waterfront views, but it also has great food and even better staff!

Gorgeous views at Miss Lucy’s…

Miss Lucy’s was expected to reopen in late November or early December, but they announced this week that they are now reopening for lunch next Tuesday, October 11th. Miss Lucy’s will be serving a limited menu Tuesdays through Fridays from noon to 3 p.m. Despite having a limited menu at first, they will be offering a full bar. (Let’s be honest, that’s important when you’re on vacation!)

And for those of you who love a good open mic night at Miss Lucy’s, that will resume on Thursday, November, 3rd. No word on when hours will be expanded beyond that, but I will definitely let you know when I know.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited for some Johnny Cakes! Grouper Ruebens, soon come…

Want to visit Miss Lucy’s but you don’t want to rent a vehicle? Please check out Explore STJ for information on full & half day island tours.

Oh and before I go, I would like to publicly give a big CONGRATULATIONS to Candy, Miss Lucy’s amazing manager, on the birth of her new baby! Congrats to you and your family!!

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Go off the beaten path. See beautiful beaches. Explore centuries-old historical sites. Grab a cocktail or two along the way. But most importantly, have fun! Explore STJ island tours is rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.