St. Thomas cruise port

Where do cruise ships dock in St. Thomas?

At one of two piers, or at anchor. Havensight is the West Indian Company Limited Dock at Long Bay, on the east side of the harbor, which the company has owned and operated for more than a century, per its own site. Crown Bay is the Austin "Babe" Monsanto Marine Terminal on the west side, owned and managed by the Virgin Islands Port Authority. Charlotte Amalie, the town, sits between them.

When both piers are full, a ship anchors in the harbor and brings passengers ashore by tender. Which of the three you get is set for each call, not for each cruise line, so a line that used Havensight last year may use Crown Bay this year.

How to tell which pier your ship uses

Your cruise line's itinerary is the first place. The second is the schedules themselves. The Port Authority publishes the Crown Bay schedule as a PDF for each fiscal year, October to September, and codes the berths: AMSS is the south berth, AMNS the north, AMHP the homeport dock. The same page codes the harbor anchorages IANCH (inner) and OANCH (outer). The West Indian Company publishes the Havensight schedule on its own site, where any ship listed is at WICO.

It matters more than it looks. Brewers Bay is 7 minutes from Crown Bay and 20 from Havensight; Morningstar is 9 from Havensight and 20 from Crown Bay. The table below gives both.

Taxis from the cruise piers

Taxis wait at both piers, and they are shared: a driver fills the vehicle with passengers going the same way. Each passenger pays a fare the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission sets by destination, on its tariff in force since October 2022, and the tariff prices four runs from the piers themselves:

The other beaches it prices from Charlotte Amalie, not from a pier: Coki Point is $18 for one rider or $14 each, Sapphire Beach $21 or $15 each, so ask the fare from your pier before you get in. Bags are $3 each, a round trip is two one-way fares plus $2 a minute of waiting after the first five, and a pickup time is worth agreeing if the driver offers one.

The tradeoff on a busy day: several ships put their passengers on the same harbor road at once, and every measured minute below is a quiet-road minute. Add time when more than one ship is in.

St. Thomas cruise port to the beaches, measured

From Havensight the nearest beach is Morningstar, 9 minutes by car; from Crown Bay it is Brewers Bay, 7. The drives below are measured from each pier on the road network, not quoted from a guide.

Measured from the West Indian Company Limited Dock and the Crown Bay cruise terminal on October 9, 2026, to each beach's lot or sand.

Is it walkable to town? From Crown Bay the walk is 40 minutes, measured, so most passengers take the taxi. From Havensight the walk into town follows the waterfront road. Magens Bay gets crowded when cruise ships arrive, per the Magens Bay Authority, so go early. The East End beaches, Coki, Lindquist, Sapphire and Secret Harbour, are worth the longer ride only if the ship stays into the afternoon.

Does St. John work as a day trip?

Yes, from a ship that stays most of the day, and only one way round. The boat from downtown Charlotte Amalie to Cruz Bay leaves at 10 am, takes about 45 minutes and costs $13 an adult one way, per Transportation Services of St. John as of October 2026. Its timetable lists the return boats to Charlotte Amalie at 8:45 and 11:15 am only; the Virgin Islands Port Authority's schedule adds a 3:45 pm as of October 2026. The two disagree, so do not build the day on the afternoon boat.

Come back through Red Hook instead. Boats leave Cruz Bay about hourly, cross in 20 minutes and cost $8.15 an adult as of October 2026 per Transportation Services of St. John, and the taxi from Red Hook is 24 minutes to Havensight and 33 to Crown Bay, measured. That is under an hour from Cruz Bay to the Havensight pier if you time the boat, and nearly two if you just miss one. Inter Island Boat Services' boat from Crown Bay to St. John leaves at 3:30 and 5:30 pm, and 2:15 pm at weekends, per the Virgin Islands Port Authority's schedule as of October 2026, which is the wrong end of a ship's day. The St. John ferry page has every boat and fare.

Staying before or after the cruise

A cruise that starts or ends on St. Thomas leaves a night or a week on the island at either end, and the houses below are listed by the people who own them. Plan the last day backward from the all-aboard time printed on your ship's daily sheet, not from the last boat.