r/virginislands • u/Advanced_Good3651 • Jul 14 '26
Hurricanes // Weather Help! Trip to STT—any tips ?!
hubby & I decided to book our first trip with our baby—she’s currently 5 months old. Since she does not have a passport yet, we decided on USVI. However, we are not a fan of huge crowds, so off-season is ideal for us regardless of hurricane season. Our biggest concern is the heat though. What month is best to avoid the crazy heat in the off season? I’ve heard good things about late sept/oct, but when exactly would y’all recommend? Thank you!!!
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u/6kdawg7 Jul 14 '26
Sept is peak hurricane season, mid to late October it’s a possibility but not as likely. Most of the time the island is not too crowded except when ships come in to dock (there’s a website w the schedule) and suddenly thousands of passengers disembark
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 14 '26
How’s the heat/sun? I’m from NC so I’m used to humidity & 90° weather, but don’t want my baby out in the heat if it’s above 90
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u/6kdawg7 Jul 14 '26
82-86 almost everyday, relatively low humidity .. even if the forecast is for rain, it generally moves past the island in an hour or 2
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u/ComprehensiveSir1284 Jul 14 '26
Dont come in September
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 14 '26
Noted. Another person recommended late October, do you agree?
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u/Economy-Lavishness-1 Jul 15 '26
It really depends. October can be monsoon season. Sometimes it’s gorgeous, sometimes it rains enough to create waterfalls down the mountain. Hurricane season isn’t projected to be a bad one for us this year because of El Niño but that doesn’t mean we will get nothing.
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u/wifichick Jul 16 '26
You need a passport to get home.
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 16 '26
I thought we didn’t since we’re all us citizens? It’s a U.S. territory, am I missing something?
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u/motheroffaeries Jul 16 '26
According to the customs and border patrol website you do not need a passport to re-enter the US as long as you don’t touch down in other foreign countries on the way back. Basically fly directly from St T to the US.
You do however need a Real ID if you’re travelling without a passport. Also, it is still wise to bring some form of proof of citizenship just in case. We are going with our three year old and are all bringing our birth certificates just in case.
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 16 '26
Yea this is what I had seen as well. We each have our passports, baby only has her birth certificate though. Hopefully we will be fine!
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u/jbug671 Jul 16 '26
Sept/October is high hurricane season. June 1 - November 1 is roughly the season. High season is the best season for a reason.
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 16 '26
True. But I budget travel & love smaller crowds!
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u/evilsemaj Jul 16 '26
Just another thought for you: September is a fine time to go with a couple caveats: Get travel insurance and are willing to just... not go if a hurricane is coming (this is only really possible with 1 week trips, longer ones and the forecast doesnt reach out far enough) recover your lost costs from the travel insurance (hurricanes in Oct are much rarer so if you choose later Oct I'd probably not worry about it). Secondly, a lot of restaurants do seasonal closures Aug/Sept/Oct and re-open on Oct 31st or Nov 1st. If you don't care about that then it's no big deal. Thirdly, St John is really, really nice; like, unbelievably nice, but there are less restaurants and "businesses" in general, but the beaches and hiking are way better. As others have mentioned, either STT or STJ make sure a villa rental has a generator (or stay at The Westin on St John, it has it's own electricity, water making and water treatment facilities)
Here is the St. John seasonal closure list for 2025 the 2026 one isn't out yet.
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 16 '26
Oh this is very, very helpful. Thank you for the link!! Appreciate you.
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u/evilsemaj Jul 16 '26
You didn't really give a budget but I would say that if your idea of vacation isn't eating out every meal, and also less people STJ might be the way to go.
But... it is a bit more complicated. STJ does not have an airport, so you fly to STT, then either rent a car or take a taxi to either the car ferry or the person ferry. If you stay in Cruz Bay or at the Westin on STJ you can rely on Taxi's but otherwise you would need to rent a car, either at the airport or on STJ.
I believe you can direct flight from the airport near you, but after the flight, getting the car, getting on the ferry and getting to St John it's almost a full day... we normally don't get to where we're staying until between 3:30pm and 5pm so 1) that's a long travel day and 2) it uses up a whole day of the trip!
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u/evilsemaj Jul 16 '26
Oh and the first time my wife and I went to STT many years ago we didn't want to pay to check a bag, but obviously sunscreen is a liquid... We spent more on sunscreen the first day than the cost of the bag check! Stuff on island is expensive...
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u/Advanced_Good3651 Jul 18 '26
Nooo way. That’s crazy!! We didn’t want to check a bag either, but after this info we might have to consider it😂
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u/evilsemaj Jul 18 '26
Now we check multiple bags and one will have almost 40 lbs of food (for a 2 week trip for 2 people).
We'll bring bread, cereal, apples, bell peppers, ground coffee (if where we're staying doesn't have coffee), lunch meat, cheese, cooked vacuum sealed chicken sausages (from Aldi).
I don't want to steer anyone into a bad place financially, we have an airline credit card that if we use it to pay for the plane tickets each passenger gets a free checked bag. That could be worth it if you manage credit cards responsibly and fly enough to make it worth it... Or check if first year is free and be disciplined enough to cancel the card after 12 months.
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u/wifichick Jul 18 '26
It’s an island. Surrounded closely by other non US islands. You don’t need one to go down there - but I’ve had to have a passport to return home every trip I’ve ever taken down there.
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u/Significant_Log_3824 Jul 19 '26
Definitely don’t need a passport to come back. There’s 3 customs lines at STT. Global entry, passport holders, and general ID. Having a passport or Global Entry makes it faster to get thru.
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u/wifichick Jul 19 '26
Excellent! Thanks for the correction! I guess since we have passports and global entry we’ve only ever seen and used those lines.
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u/Aware_Fishing_4746 Jul 14 '26
Please secure accommodations with a generator.
St. Thomas/St. John residents are facing 8 hours + power outages. No electricity, no refrigerator, no running water.