St. Thomas coral world and beach (eastern Caribbean)

uandmfan

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 2, 2014
We're doing a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise in feb. My kids (5 and 7) love animals of any kind and have been asking to go to an aquarium lately so we were thinking of going to coral world while there. I'd also like to spend an hour or two at the beach and maybe take a short tour.

First, how long should we plan on spending at Coral world? Second, is the beach right there good or should we find another one?

Does anyone have any tour recommendations? The taxis to coral world will run us almost $200 round trip I think (there are 8 of us). If we could spend a bit more and get transportation and everything we want that would be great.

Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations? We've never been to St. Thomas before.

Thanks!!
 
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I'm going to assume you mean Coral World Park on St. Thomas. We've been there (not with a cruise). We liked it. The kids will enjoy it. You definitely don't need a whole day there. I'd say there are about 8 or so exhibits. There is a beach next to it. We didn't go on the beach so can't say if that was nice or not.

If you truly want to go to St. John, isn't there a St. John "Do your own thing" excursion. I'd sign up for that and once on St. John just take a taxi to one of the beaches. We love Hawksnest the best. There are no zoos or attractions of that type on St. John. Although walking through the old sugar plantations is fun.
 


Coral World is interesting but not that interesting. TBH I think you’d get more out of your local aquarium.

There are some 3rd party excursions that offer Coral World plus a quick island tour. Might be something else to look into.
 
Coki Beach (next to Coral World) was awesome in March 2016! We took private transportation in the morning and got there before any crowds. The snorkeling was amazing right off the beach. We spent the afternoon at Coral World, then came back to the beach it was packed! I'm not sure what the hurricane did to that area though. :( I still want to go back someday!
 


We went to Coral World in April of this year and it was very nice...there were still some exhibits closed down due to the hurricane but over all it was very nice. We ended up taking the excursion via DCL but it was only for a family of 4 and it included transportation. We did not do the beach portion so I cannot speak to that.

I would really be careful of taking transportation independently as there are some folks on the island who are rather dishonest in regards to what you agree to pay and then what they say you owe after you arrive.

We had a run in with a taxi driver when we left Coral World earlier than the excursion ended. He never said he would charge for the ride back as he approached us and asked if we needed a ride..there were other people also that boarded his truck/shuttle/taxi (it was a pickup truck with lots of benches on it) When we arrived back at Havensight, I tipped him for the ride and he then told me that it was 20.00 per person. I told him that he never said that and had we known we would not have taken his taxi. He told me that he would have to call port security (think mall cop) So we explained what happened to the mall cop and he told my husband we had to pay or would have to visit the customs officials and may not be allowed to board. I heard this and told the security guard that I would like to talk to the customs official very much and to lead the way. Oddly enough the taxi driver walked away at this point and suddenly the mall cop told me that he "misunderstood" the taxi driver and we were free to return to the ship. :)
Left a very negative vibe for St. Thomas for us. We were just there again a few weeks ago and just got off the ship to walk around and shop. No excursions.

Moral of the story...be VERY careful and make sure you have witnesses in regards to rates and fees that folks want to charge.
 
Thanks for giving me the name of the limo company

And thanks for your warning about private transportation. I think we will try to book something through a company with lots of reviews. I wouldn't have thought to worry about the taxis. So thanks!!
 

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