Trunk Bay is busier when more cruise ships are in St. Thomas. Check the link above for the cruise schedule. Go on a day when few ships are scheduled to be in town.

You can to the beach before and after they are collecting fees. I believe they collect fees between 9 and 4.

The best thing to do is check the STT cruise schedule. If there are 2 or more ships scheduled, Trunk will tend to be busy. Collection time follows 'island time' so official times are seldom followed.

My experience is get there before 9 AM and avoid the fees. Leave around 10:30 as the crowds arrive and return after 5 PM.

We haven't been to Trunk for years. It is a beautiful beach, but there are so many beautiful beaches on STJ and each one is pretty much guaranteed to be less crowded and less expensive than Trunk on whatever day and whatever time of day you go.

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Trunk is like Paris. You need to go once in your life but there are better alternatives after that.

This seeemed very funny to me at least. On our last day in STJ we decided to get up early and hit Trunk Bay (we had not yet been there). It is a beautiful beach and it was empty. I went in to snorkel and when I was done and lifted my head out of the water I almost croaked; the beach was PACKED (not NJ beach packed but crowded!). There was a line of people marching onto the beach.
Needless to say it was cruise ship day in January.
I thought we had beat the crowds.

We went to Trunk last Friday when there were no cruise ships in. It was nice, but still had a good crowd. We could see Cinnamon Bay from our villa, and many days it seemed absolutely deserted. There were only about three other couples there when we went. VERY peaceful. But hey, you gotta see Trunk at least once!

Thanks to everyone for all of the information and tips. I've been to Trunk and didn't even bother to go back on my second trip, but I am bringing my kids (in their 20s) for the first time and figure I will pay the entrance fee to take them to Annaberg, so might as well take them to Trunk. I don't know if I will be able to get them up early enough to beat the crowds. When I go to the link to the cruise ship schedule, the November link goes to the October schedule.

Can you answer iggie's question concerning Novemebr cruise schedule?

Iggie & Chris,

Fixed it. November's link goes to November's schedule now. Sorry about that. Thanks for the note.

--Islander

There is no longer a fee to enter Annaberg.

Thanks Maddie, that's good to know. Does anyone know if they are doing basket weaving demonstrations on Wedsnesdays like it says on the NPS site?

any other beaches on st john you would reccomend

Ginger

You really can't go wrong with any of them. The North Shore beaches get all of the pub but Salt Pond and Lameshur bays on the Sout are also wonderful. What are you looking to get from your visit? Snorkeling, privacy, beauty? Let us know and we can better point you in a direction.
If you do a search you will find a survey string by Islander on favorite USVI beaches

Try this link for the November link for cruise ship arrivals:
https://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/getting_here/cruise-2005/STT-Nov-2005.php