Ferry, flight how late is too late to arrive STT?

I am trying to figure out when the last ferry should leave St Thomas for Tortola. Ok, really I'm asking for a consensus on how late TTOL'ers think one can arrive in STT and still make it to Tortola that day. Over the last dozen or so years we've pushed our luck a few times both coming and going but we have never been burned, yet. That's getting a little old and so am I. But the airlines are conspiring against us on arrival time, ticket prices and some crazy short layovers.

Part of the problem is we've been pretty lucky with airfare, heck last November we hit an all time low of $465pp (but we arrived late, like 4:30 late, were told there was no RTFF at 5:30 that we expected, had to rush to Redhook only to wait until 7:30 for it to leave - on the way back I didn't know the 10am ferry was the only one that would get us to CA in time for our 4pm flight, we barely made it - stressful).

So just for excruciating fun I checked bestofbvi, vinow and the RTFF, Native Son and Smith's websites. Looks like 4pm or so should be a good time to pick? Yeah, I know there might be a RTFF at 5:30 or at least 4:15, maybe a Native Son at 4:45 or maybe a Smith's at 4:30 all leaving CA and that the ferry from Redhook should leave at 5pm. But I know that everything listed doesn't always happen. And a water taxi or flying into EIS doesn't work well at all for us.

So if you had to put a hard time on airport arrival time to make it to the "last" ferry when would you consider it safe, when would you consider it ok if everything works out and when would you say no way? In your own mind when do you think the last "I'm pretty sure it will go today" ferry leaves St Thomas? I'm not really worried about which ferry terminal it leaves ST Thomas from or if we have to taxi from WE or RT.

BTW I will be calling the ferries a few times right before we leave and I'll contact Kevin to get help get us wherever we need to be.

Text Kevin and ask. If anyone has the best sense of the ferry schedules, he does. He could be wrong, but no one will know better.

Kevin is your best bet..its a waste to even ask the ferry companies til you are standing at the counter..that said there should be a 4/4.30 Smith's or Native Son and a 5/5.30 RTFF..

The 5:00 Native Son from Red Hook is usually the general "go to" when you're in a pinch. Kevin will know on your arrival day what's running and will do his best to get you on a ferry. All it takes is a flight delay and your best-laid plan goes out the window.

Not sure when you're trip is, but it looks like US Air is an option from Memphis....we arrived last summer on the US Air flight at 3:25 (via Charlotte) as scheduled. We had one checked bag, and we made the RTFF from CA to RT without much stress.

Ok guys thanks. I'm starting to think of this as a psychic learning experience. Instead of needing to get there kinda late, quick taxi to CA and a ferry ready to go (straight to RT by the way) to hit my zen, I should be thinking as long as I get there, even if it means taxi rides to Redhook and one to/from West End it's all just a small part of "the trip". Maybe the ferry services exist to teach us to reach deep inside - a not so gentle introduction to Island Time. Yep, I'm feeling better already, hummmmmmmm!

Looks like our arrival "comfort zone" is going to be 3pm'ish and we will rely heavily on Kevin to get it to work. This time we'll just have to get up at 0-dark-thirty to catch our flight and add another $400 for airfare. First world problems.

Boatloaner,

Yes it looks like USAir via CLT will work out the best for us this time (late June). Our choices are via CLT, ATL or MIA but it does make it difficult to get there early afternoon (to help with the ferry options). They have a flight thru MIA at the best rate but it's only a 49 minute layover and the plane parks away from the terminal and you ride a bus in. I'm cheap and stupid but I'm not crazy!

Or fly Delta and Seaborne directly to Tortola. We did that in December and the Delta check-in guy said he had checked in ten people that week doing the same thing. They checked our bags all the way through and we did not need to re-clear security in San Juan. Just saying' - it's a lot less hassle.

I have always wanted to fly into EIS to avoid the hassle but the price/value ratio just doesn't work for us.

I wish I could remember how much the price difference was to fly into EIS instead of STT so I could do a comparison. This past year my husband and I got lucky and flew to EIS from SJU. My kids and rest of our family came a few days later and flew into STT. With the cost of the cab from the airport to the hotel and the hotel for a night (flight got in too late for the ferry) and then the ferry with all the taxes and fees, it probably comes pretty close to costing the same or more as to flying right to EIS! Not to mention the ease of EIS...no stress. Planning our trip for next year, I'll do a cost comparison and post.

I just recently checked flights for Nov 2015. We saw flights from Columbus (we'd go see our kids before & after trip) to San Juan for around $350 round trip Was wondering how much a flight was on average from San juan to Tortola. When it's just my husband and I it might be nice to avoid the ferry.

It cost more to fly from San Juan to Beef Island than to fly from Columbus,OH to San Juan. About $400. CMH to STT in Novemberis about $550 right now so the premium to EIS would be about $250/person against worst case $120 from STT to Tortola.
Add to that from many locations total travel time can often be less via STT.

Glenn,

Is that "worst case $120 from STT to Tortola" for a flight? I just looked and Air Sunshine is showing $250 roundtrip STT-EIS.

Just comparing flying vs the ferry/taxi from STT to EIS that would be $250 pp roundtrip to fly vs about $100 pp roundtrip to do the taxi/ferry. So a $300 premium for the two of us to avoid the ferry? That has me thinking!

Just as a point of reference from Memphis to EIS (going in late June via SJU) the airfare is just over $1500 pp/rt. The best workable flight to STT is just under $900. So even considering taxi/ferry cost, say $100 pp/rt that's a $500 difference pp - or $1000 out of pocket. We've averaged closer to $700 MEM/STT so on a normal trip it has been closer to $1400 extra for us to fly. Last November we paid $465 pp/rt to STT and IIRC the EIS ticket was still around $1500 so it would have been $1800 extra to fly. As Glenn said most of the flights for us were much longer (20 hours) than the ones to STT and the few that were shorter (11 hours) are pricey.

Not saying this would be the case for everyone or that there is anything wrong with paying more if it's worth it to you. I just bugs me that it's going to cost us $900 to get to STT when we only pay $1200 to get to Athens Greece.

No. $120 is worst case round trip for the ferry, taxes & fees and STT taxis. I don't ever consider flying from STT to EIS unless I'm staying on Necker or my megayacht is waiting for me at Trellis. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Hee hee! If you'd get the flat fixed on your Gulfstream you could fly direct to EIS! My jet's a little big for that runway so we have to land the 747 in Antigua and just stay with Eric at the Clapton residence.

Memphis to Tortola we paid $332/pp one way on Dec. 11. We bought the tickets on Orbitz because the Delta web site did not recognize EIS and we wanted all the flights on one ticket.

Wow! I'll take a little closer look at that.

We left Memphis on the 6 am Delta flight through Atlanta and arrived at Beef Island at 6:30 pm.

Thanks to all the tips garnered here over the years, I've become pretty good at spotting good fares. So use ITA Matrix and Kayak, clear your cookies frequently, shop for tickets after midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday, don't shop on Sunday, etc. Fly midweek (usually, but not always cheaper) and be flexible with your dates.