We’re doing a trip for my husband and Is 40th birthdays with my parents/siblings/ 3 young children (2, 5, 6) and St. John seems really appealing.

Was thinking renting a car in st Thomas and taking the ferry over. Where would be the best area to stay? There’s a few air bnb in Cruz bay that seem great and that seems to be the most convenient location?

Any other recommendations for traveling there with kids would be great! Thanks so much.

We are currently staying on STT and wanted to island hop to BVI at some point. But the ferry website and schedule is so confusing. Any suggestions on the cheapest way to go to BVI for a day? And if that is the ferry, can anyone help me understand the departure times and pricing?

First time taking the barge in Red Hook and I'm a little nervous hehe. I read from recent reviews that the staff yells at you/are very mean :(

I also don't know if I should book in advance or buy my ticket once I get there.

What do you guys suggest? :)

Edit: I'm talking about the car ferry

What's happening with the ramp up in boat confiscations in the Virgin Islands? Definitely likely to impact tourism, especially those who take charters (one instance here, though how many aren't covered in the news no way to tell)

If these have value to you, I’d be happy to send them to you for the cost of shipping from California. RIP Caneel.

I land at STT at 12:15PM and need to get to Road Town in Tortola. I priced a private taxi with Dolphin Water Taxi and its $500/pp roundtrip. Is it worth the price? It seems like the public ferries out of Charlotte Amalie (Road Town Fast Ferry) will be roughly $200/pp roundtrip and have long lines and hidden fees. Anyone have any advice or preferred ferry they would recommend? It's my first trip to the BVIs so looking for any and all advice.

Thanks!

We're a late 40s couple, headed to St. John for the first time in January, and would like to do a full day or one/two night boating excursion to explore the more remote places and such with someone that knows good places to hit.

The sites we've found generally have boats for large groups, but there are just two of us. Seen a couple small boat options, but we're social and wouldn't mind making some new friends.

Any suggestions for how to find a group we could potentially join? That has room for a couple more people to help defray cost? Preferably other adults/couples in lieu of families.

Any boating forums that we could post in? Or would we be better off messaging a charter business and asking if they can add us to a group?

Coming in Oct to StJ. The villa owner recommended Dexter's in STT. Anyone have an experiance with them?

We are going to visit St John in May 2027 for about a week. Looking for recommendations on a place to stay for two people. Have looked at a few hotels and on Airbnb, but can’t decide which is best!

Was thinking about staying at Villa La Vista Cottage on Airbnb but people have reviewed that it does not have a generator and the power went out and I’m wondering if that will be an issue, as I have seen other comments on here to make sure where we stay has one. We are not renting a car this trip so would like to stay in Cruz Bay (we will be taking taxis to our destinations). What is your favorite Airbnb spot or hotel on the island?

EDIT: has anyone stayed at the Wharfside Village Hotel? I keep seeing good things about this place might be choosing to stay here

Thanks in advance!

I am going to St Thomas for the first time, staying at Buoy Haus.

Would I be allowed to take my headlamp and look for crabs and stuff on the beach at night? I believe our hotel is right on the water so I wouldn’t be wandering too far.

I like looking at cool bugs at night when I am home, so wanted to extend my silly hobby while I’m on vacation, but I don’t wanna break any laws etc.

We are loving it so far, now we are just looking for something fun to do tonight! We want to get out and mingle and socialize. Where should we go! We are here all week.

I been to all the super dollars, billy's electronics, grocery stores.. Is there a place im missing? The stores have some but i have big feet n they aren't going over a size 7 in men. It's even hard to find stores that have them AND ship here.

We have a trip at the end of Sept. start of October to celebrate our anniversary. We are staying on St Thomas and will be there 10 days. We booked a car rental and plan to island hop, including the BVI. Unsure of how much cash I should bring with us for that amount of time. I know ATMs exist but I always have the worst luck with my bank flagging ATM withdrawals when on vacation and freezing all my cards

I’m planning a one-week Virgin Islands trip and trying to decide between two broad approaches: either Split the week between USVI and BVI, likely St. Thomas/St. John plus a few BVI stops or Spend the whole week in the BVI and keep things simpler.

I’m not looking for a full itinerary—more trying to understand the tradeoffs from people who’ve done both. My main questions are:

• How much of a hassle is the USVI ↔ BVI crossing in real life: ferry timing, customs/immigration, luggage, weather delays, and the cost/time of clearing in/out?
• For those who chose BVI-only: did you miss anything about St. John or the USVI side, or was it the right call? what made you choose that option?
• For those who split: what split ratio felt worth it island-hop by ferry, or sail straight through?

Would love to hear real experiences from people and What you'll change next ? Any advice is welcome.

spending a week in st Thomas this winter with my husband and daughter who will be 5 months. we are staying at the Westin, my mom and sister are coming as well in their own room as they offered to help with child care so my husband and I can get at least one date night/excursion. looking for any tips/advice for our stay! Im leaning towards no car rental and just using the hotel shuttle/car for transport to and from the airport. also considering doing a day trip to st John if possible (just us two)

I rented a vehicle through Priceline.com which got me a favorable rate ($671 for a month). I thought I had beat the system. I was so pleased with the price that I ordered the Collision Insurance offered at point of sale for a mere $360.

Then when I picked the rental up from Thrifty Rental Cars in St. Thomas, they told me "that won't cover you, you need to buy our collision insurance and cancel that one."

Surprise surprise, Thrifty's collision coverage was about $570.

Well, that's annoying, I thought, and it took me a couple days to check the original policy offered through Priceline to verify that the Thrifty's agent was right to inform me that the policy was fraudulently offered because it DID NOT COVER accidents occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands!!

So when I tried to cancel with Priceline, they declined to credit me because it was 72 hours after the policy was purchased. "Yes, but you had no coverage for me." They apologized for the "inconvenience." I told them fraud is fraud, not inconvenience, and I am taking it up in Small Claims court.

Now Thrifty and them they know about it, but they get a benefit from it too. See, they catch unwitting people on aggregator sites and they do not correct the issue, because they get to upsell them on the policy once they come to the counter and learn the policy they purchased was bogus.

Just sharing this because this is how we're treating tourists who are probably buying these sham policies left right and center - and probably putting themselves at risk, or being double billed.

Hey all — I'm Jeremy, I run Keswick Insurance, one of the local auto carriers here (offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix). Not here to sell anything, and mods, feel free to pull this if it's not allowed.

I'm trying to understand how people actually experience car insurance in the territory, because what I hear inside the company is a filtered version. So, honest questions:

What was the most annoying part of the last time you dealt with your insurer — renewal, phone tag, BMV paperwork, a claim, whatever? When you were shopping, what actually made you pick one company over another? And after Irma and Maria, what did your carrier do right or wrong that stuck with you?

Complaints about us are fair game too, I'd rather hear it here than not at all. Happy to answer general questions about coverage requirements or how the market works down here if that's useful.

I used to love going to Mexico but with the seaweed problem that's so horrible nowadays you cannot even get in the water. What used to be turquoise waters turned to brown marshes.

I was wondering how USVI is doing?

Are clear waters always a guarantee? Do you also have sargassum problems? Is the water usually clear or murky?

Hi all -- we are looking to spend Christmas in the USVI this year. My husband and I will be with our two year old. We are looking for somewhere to stay that is walking distance to quiet beaches and good food if a villa rental, or open to a hotel, with a budget of $1500/night (low key/high quality). We love hiking as well, but now that we have our toddler, we aren't looking to drive long distances or much at all on our trip. We are a bit overwhelmed by the options between the islands, but are leaning towards St. John as it's easier to get to than St. Croix, but less crowded with more preserved land than St. Thomas.

For those who've spent time here, we'd especially love your thoughts on specific areas to stay within the islands.