Total cost to ferry from STT to BVI

OK I might be crazy but trying to plan a last minute college graduation trip for my son and need to let his friends know what the cost would be. We typically fly into EIS and haven't done the ferry from St. Thomas in years but since ferries should be back up on April 15 and we wouldn't go until May I am considering this alternative to keep the costs down. Can anyone give me an idea of the total cost to ferry into EIS. I know the ferry costs $60 but are their entry fees in addition to the ferry cost when going through customs/immigration? What about departure?

$20 departure tax for sure. There is also a $10 Environment/Tourism fee that is paid on arrival.

Don't forget the $175 testing/tracker fee plus $70 testing fee prior to departure if your destination country requires it. Taxi fares on Day 0 plus roundtrip on Day 4 all depend on where you are staying.

Thanks Jason! I'm trying to figure out why Dolphin Taxi charges $105 in Customs fees and kind of remember hearing about a customs charge when coming in from US waters pre-COVID. Maybe this was not for ferries but for day boats?

I'm sure they can give you a breakdown but I'm sure private vessels pay a different set of fees. There are lots of fees for day boaters.

Don't forget the Covid test and travel portal needed to land in STT for arrival and you will have to have Covid test and portal acceptance again to enter USVI if you take the ferry to STT on departure.

READ this Thread too:

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/ubb...raveling-back-thru-st-thomas.html#UNREAD

I think someone could make some great money running a concierge service for entry, testing while there, and exit of BVI. At the least text/email alerts with links to all the portals and answering questions.

For sure

In addition to the above fees, we have occasionally been changed $5 per checked bag for the ferry

Checking on flight options in January.
Right now .....
1. DCA to EIS on Jet Blue is going for $815 round trip, one stop SJU
2. IAD to STT on United is going for $624 round trip, non stop. (Then add in ferry/taxi cost to get to BVI)

Think DCA to EIS on Jet Blue wins.

I personally would much rather do IAD than DCA, but that may just be me!

Does anyone know if the QR code you receive to return back to the USVI is ok to use on your phone...like boarding a plane? Does it need to be a printed paper copy?

As a long time VI resident I can say that 'paper' trumps 'Technology' in almost any interaction dealing with 'official entities'. If Possible have a paper copy of anything official.

I would very much agree with that. When dealing with folks in the Caribbean--give them a printed copy if possible.

When we arrived into STT this February , they wanted the PAPER copy with the QR code. I saw folks presenting their phones,. They were held back. I don’t know what happened to them. Hopefully just delayed.

Take a printed out copy, folks! Making a customs or immigration official look at your phone to me is inviting someone to have a bad day, and thus make YOU have a VERY bad day. Or, even worse, you lose your phone or you drop it and it stops working.

Thanks everyone. Does anyone know of a place on the island that would be able to print mine out when I exit? I do not believe where I am staying has a printer.

We flew in yesterday. They just need to scan the QR code. Those with the QR code on their phone went through the same line as those with paper.

Cheers, RickG

Option 1 every day...we are doing same in June

We use Island Birds for SJU to EIS but that early Jet Blue flight out of DCA rocks

STT just adds a host of unknowns, delays, and things that can go wrong IMHO and our experience

Bailau - May I ask what the Island Bird rate typically is from SJU to EIS? We flew them from STT in March - great service.

$4500 for 9 seaters...note cheaper if you fly in to alternate airport at SJU and note it doesn't cover arrival tax

We had a quote of $1975 one way from EIS to San Juan in December. We were 2 passengers so it might have been quoted for a smaller aircraft.

4500 for round trip 8 or 9 people on a 9 seater...need to see who gets vaccinated and can make the cut by June...

So looking at the ferry schedules from STT to Tortola, they do not seem to fit our time frame of when we land and take off. Does anyone know roughly what a round trip water taxi costs with Island Time? I have an email into them but was just curious. We plan to rent a boat for a few days, we need a couple of cars and maybe a water taxi. Thanks!! Matt

Don't know about Island Birds. Try Dolphin Water Taxi. Their rates are $169pp each way and they also have a air taxi option for about $100 more.

Here's the pricing and information I just got back from Island Time on their water taxi option, seems pretty reasonable:


From Red Hook, St Thomas to West End for your party of 6 will be a flat rate of $630 + $60 per person for international processing (international processing fees are payable each way and payable in cash to your captain). We can also arrange a private taxi to greet you at the airport and take you directly to Red Hook. The cost for this will be a flat rate of $19 per person for groups of 5 or more including your luggage (taxi fare is payable in cash to your driver).

We can offer discounted roundtrip service for $1,200 + fees & land taxi (each way).

On board we provide VIP service and serve complementary water, soda and beer for your journey.

Please feel free to visit us on www.islandtimewatertaxi.com for more information and pictures of our fleet.

For anyone who needs to calculate West End taxi fares to their final destination, here is a nicely formatted taxi fare schedule that I like...