Havensight cruise port guide

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands · from StThomasThings, the offline iPhone guide

Where ships dock

All-aboard is in ship time. Check the daily programme and be back at the gangway 30 minutes early.

Top places near the pier

Walking times come from the app: straight-line distance plus 30% for streets, at an easy 4.5 km/h. Places further than an hour on foot show the distance instead.

1. Havensight Mall

   4 min walk · Shopping & Souvenirs

   The long, low duty-free shopping centre directly opposite the Havensight piers: jewellery, watches, liquor, souvenirs and a pharmacy, in old warehouse blocks built for the dock.

2. Yacht Haven Grande

   7 min walk · Shopping & Souvenirs

   The superyacht marina just west of the Havensight dock, with a promenade of high-end boutiques, restaurants and bars.

3. 

   Skyride to Paradise Point

   8 min walk · Family Fun

   A gondola that lifts you about 700 feet from Havensight to Paradise Point in a few minutes, for the best view of the harbour, the cruise ships and the islands.

4. 

   Paradise Point

   8 min walk · Forts & Landmarks

   The ridge-top viewpoint at the top of the Skyride, 700 feet above Havensight: Charlotte Amalie, Hassel and Water Island, the ships and, on a clear day, St. Croix on the horizon.

5. Legislature Building

   19 min walk · Forts & Landmarks

   The lime-green former Danish barracks of 1874 on the waterfront beside Fort Christian — now the seat of the Virgin Islands Legislature.

6. 

   Hassel Island

   20 min walk · Parks & Reserves

   The island that guards Charlotte Amalie harbour, part of Virgin Islands National Park, with 19th-century forts, a ruined marine railway and short trails.

7. 

   Fort Christian

   20 min walk · Museums & Culture

   The rust-red Danish fort on the waterfront, begun in the 1670s — the oldest standing building in the US Virgin Islands.

8. 

   Emancipation Garden

   22 min walk · Parks & Reserves

   The town square of Charlotte Amalie, where freedom for enslaved people in the Danish West Indies was proclaimed in July 1848.

9. 

   Vendors' Plaza

   22 min walk · Markets & Craft

   The open-air stalls beside Emancipation Garden: T-shirts, sarongs, local jewellery, hot sauce and hair-braiding.

10. 

    Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church

    23 min walk · Forts & Landmarks

    One of the oldest Lutheran congregations in the Western Hemisphere, founded under Danish rule in the 1660s; the present yellow church with its tower dates from 1793.

11. Government House

    23 min walk · Forts & Landmarks

    The white, three-storey 1860s seat of the Governor of the US Virgin Islands on Kongens Gade, with wrought-iron balconies and a view of the harbour.

12. Charlotte Amalie Waterfront

    24 min walk · Forts & Landmarks

    Veterans Drive and the harbour promenade from Fort Christian to the ferry terminal: seaplanes, ferries, day-sail boats and the pastel town climbing the hills behind.

13. 

    99 Steps

    24 min walk · Forts & Landmarks

    The most famous of Charlotte Amalie's step-streets: a brick staircase built in the 1700s from ballast bricks shipped from Denmark, climbing Government Hill between old houses and bougainvillea.

14. Morningstar Beach

    25 min walk · Beaches

    The beach below Frenchman's Reef at the mouth of the harbour: soft sand, gentle water most days, chairs and a bar, ten minutes by taxi from the Havensight piers.

15. Gladys' Cafe

    25 min walk · Restaurants

    A Charlotte Amalie institution in the Royal Dane Mall: West Indian breakfast and lunch — saltfish, conch in butter sauce, callaloo — and a wall of her own hot sauces for sale.

Ready-made port days in StThomasThings

Each is a timed plan in the app, starting and ending at the ship (17 in all for this port).

• Charlotte Amalie on Foot
  From the Havensight gangway: the Danish fort, Emancipation Garden, the 99 Steps, Blackbeard's Castle, Main Street and the Skyride
• Mountain Top & Magens Bay
  The island's high viewpoint, Drake's Seat, then an afternoon on its most famous beach
• Coral World & Coki Point
  The underwater observatory, the island's easiest shore snorkel, and Sapphire Beach
• Rainy Day at Havensight
  Pirate museum, children's museum, duty-free and coffee — steps from the ship
• Rainy Day in Charlotte Amalie
  The fort museum, the warehouse alleys, lunch at Gladys' and the Weibel Museum
• Charlotte Amalie for Free
  Walk from the pier: the waterfront, churches, the 99 Steps and the old market

Getting around: what the app tells you

Ask the fare, and count heads

Taxi fares are per person and per destination, set by the VI Taxicab Commission, and every taxi should carry the rate sheet. Say the destination, ask 'how much per person?', and agree before you sit down. Share a safari with other passengers going the same way and it's the cheapest ride on the island.

St. John: go early, come back early

The best day on St. John starts on the first ferry you can reach from Red Hook. Coming back, allow the 20-minute crossing, a wait for the next boat, and 30–40 minutes of taxi to the pier — so catch a ferry at least two hours before all-aboard.

Set an alarm on ship time

Island clocks are Atlantic Standard Time, all year. Ships often keep a different time. Before you go ashore, check the time on the ship's app or a clock on board and set your phone alarm by that — the ship will not wait.

Get StThomasThings for iPhone

Every place, description and opening time is stored on the phone, so the guide works at sea and ashore with no signal. Only the map background needs one. $4.99 once, no subscription, no ads, no tracking.

Coming soon to the App Store · About StThomasThings

Other StThomasThings ports

Crown Bay · St. John