TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Ferry or private taxi

Big price difference. Can anyone explain pros and cons of both? I realize you’re getting a premium service with a private water taxi but wondering why people would pay so much more? Is the ferry unreliable, long waits, etc?

Water taxi is on your schedule, not theirs. This is particularly important when arriving late in the day.
When you arrive at the customs office it often is just your group checking in, as opposed to the mass of people on the ferry.
After checking in the water taxi will take you to your final location, as oppposed to having to grab a regular taxi with the ferry.

Thank you for the information. We arrive at 230 at STT. How large are these ferries and how many people are on them?

If you land at 2;30 you won’t have a problem catching a ferry. Flights that land 4 or later have a hard time catching the last ferry.

They're big but take a look at the various webpages for the ferries and you'll see pictures to give you a good idea.

Our last trip, our scheduled Ferry didnt run, were just able to hop on another, nearly missing our flights home. This trip we will take the ferry to BVI and water taxi back to STT. Not worth the stress.

Suggest comparing the flight price to EIS, if you haven’t already bought your tickets. The couple of times I’ve looked lately, the price difference wouldn’t have been worth the price of a water taxi.

Charter out of St. Thomas and you don't need to stress from either. Just saying

Maybe they’re land based. Just sayin’.

Or maybe their favourite charter company is based in the BVI and they don't want to waste time clearing customs both ways etc. Maybe they really like provisioning at riteway. Just saying.

We have previously flown into STT and ferried to Road Town. This year, $1200 r/t to STT. $750 r/t to EIS. Go figure. We get to forget the ferry.🤣

Our flights were running about $75 more into EIS, but we booked non-stop Flights into STT, 4 hours total flight time, on the ground 12:30pm. We'll ferry to Roadtown, AC taxi to TMM.

Outbound, the water taxi will pick us up 9:00am at the TMM dock for a quick trip to STT for our 130pm departure. The EIS departure flights were 10am requiring our last night to be at TMM docks. Now, we can spend our last night at Cooper or Peter (hopefully) and run over to TMM early morning.

Trifecta of decision making: direct flight, extra night on the water, and TMM is our favorite charter company. Just saying...lol

We are flying in from Canada so flights were limited on time, etc. Best way for us was to fly into STT. We have chartered the Virgin Motor Yachts and provisioning we were told was Riteway (no other option given). Originally the only flights we could find were landing at 4:15 so water taxi only option, but now that we're landing at 2:30 we can make the ferry. We were given two ferry options (Road Town Fast Ferry and Smith's Ferry), not sure if one is better than the other. I know not as personal as a water taxi but its a difference of $1,000US dollars between the two for round trip. Hopefully the ferry is reliable and on time.

Make contact with Kevin, he will get you to a ferry.

Kevin Campbell is Taxi operator in STT. We always text him # people, flight #, arrival time and where we are going (ie Ferry to BVI). We never purchase ferry tickets ahead of time as then you are mostly locked into that ferry company. Upon arrival, Kevin meets us at baggage and we are out the door quickly with our group.. no waiting for taxi to fill up. If timing is close, Kevin may call the ferry to let them know we are enroute. Many times we are able to catch an earlier than predicted ferry.

Obviously must consider costs from home to destination. For many, this is STT/ferry/ground taxi. But check prices, as EIS may be better. Sometimes via San Juan with overnight hotel allows you to get there earlier, with less costs, and by leaving a day earlier(That 18-20 hr flight may fit with overnight hotel, with no stress regarding connection).

For some, getting to destination includes getting on charter boat in STT and sailing to BVI(which is destination for most). If waters are calm, like the past several days, this may be good. If winds are 25-30, then most newbies are going to be apprehensive)

Thank you! Do you have a number for Kevin or somehow I can get a hold of him?

His number is 340-643-0025

I know this is not popular on this site, but we always pre-arrange our transfers. We us Marjorie Smith with Island Magic. magicplace@hotmail.com
It saves, to us, a significant amount of money. We book round trip. Transfer from STT to ferry, ferry to and from Road Town, (TMM provides ride to and from there) and then from ferry to STT or for us whatever hotel we stay at for the night. If we arrive early we get on the first ferry, and if we are a little late, we get the next one. On the way back we have several times to catch a ferry. This service is $94 per person. Does not include $10 exit fee from USVI or $20 exit fee from BVI. Maybe we have been lucky, but so far so good. Enjoy

thank you!