TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI International Ferry Schedules released to press

284 Media reports:

284 Media reports on BVI International Ferry Schedule

"The British Virgin Islands Ports Authority (BVIPA) would like to inform the public of the new international ferry passenger schedule at Road Town Jetty and that the seaport option will go live on bvigateway.bviaa.com on 8 April 2021.

There will be only one daily round trip ferry service for this initial period. Ferry passengers arriving and departing the British Virgin Islands must reserve a ticket with the scheduled ferry operator through their booking portal. The new international ferry passenger schedule is as follows:

All ferries will depart Road Town, Tortola for Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas at 10:00 a.m.
All ferries will depart Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas for Road Town, Tortola at 4:00 p.m."

Found the official release from the BVI Ports Authority and added that below.

Well let's hope it loosens up a bit before our July charter. We arrive STT on Delta at 3:19pm and depart on Delta from STT at 3:15pm. Makeable but not a whole lot of leeway if any part of it is late.

We might do a water taxi instead assuming they open it up for them as well.

Hoping for the same in June - these times are fine for us as is? But I think I might still opt for joining a water taxi if they get the go-ahead.

4 pm out of STT is not bad and I suspect that the ferry's know the flights that come in and perhaps will accommodate if one is a little late (when has the ferry ever left on time LOL). I do wonder about the cab ride from STT to the ferry. Are they cramming tons of people in like usual ~ Private would maybe be the way to go.

What is a water taxi? What is the difference between water taxi and ferry?

Check out this link for information on a water taxi. Convenient, but a lot more expensive than a ferry.

A whole bunch of cash but a lot more convenience!

Check Dolphin Water Taxi. Yep, pricier than ferry, but potentially way more convenient. They will coordinate with your flight arrival so no waiting around a the ferry dock. I'm also thinking about the processing time on arrival at Roadtown. That's a lot of people to get through C&I plus Day 0 PCR test. In normal times it can take an hour or more to get out of the BVI ferry terminal. It could be well into the evening before you get to your boat or accommodations.

and current limit is 30 pax, they don't even mention that

Anyone have any information on when the ferries will become bookable?

I think it says April 8, 2021, right?

They will be available on the travel gateway 8 April. I'm sure each company will have their own time frame for online reservations to be available.

Laura- 30 people on the ferry?
Ugh, my flights changed so I had to cancel and am now back at square one deciding between flying into EIS and than Cape Airs last flight of the day over to Beef, or fly into STT and ferry over.
Flying on a Friday so it may be busy.

Just tried Smiths web site and it looks like you can make reservations now. Obviously I didn't complete the purchase process but, at a minimum, it is showing correct available dates and ferry times.

I understand that the ferry rates are up quite a bit. Not sure if this correct but I heard $150 which is about double what it was. So to go to the BVi will cost $150 for ferry, 175 for BVI covid, $75 for return covid and probably around $100-200 for the mandatory transportation from the ferry dock to virgin gorda, then the cost of the mandatory taxi (2x) so maybe $100 on virgin gorda. So add all this up and there is a large amount of money to be spent to go to the BVI. from STT

I would love to hear..GUARANTEED, that once you book/buy tix that you have a reserved seat and they wont oversell the boat ..as they have done in the past. With so few passengers I know they will be tempted to do that.

Brings to mind the Seinfeld episode about the car reservation . . .

“You know how to book a reservation. You just don’t know how to hold a reservation.” Love Seinfeld.