4 St. Thomas Photo Stops

St. Thomas In-Focus
"Seeing" a Familiar Destination 

If you cruise to the Caribbean often, odds are that you will return to familiar ports. When doing so, you are faced with several possibilities.

In this article, we'll suggest one idea for the photography enthusiast. You don't need to be a pro to accomplish the assignment.In this introductory article, we'll describe the tour and in subsequent articles, we'll look at the results.

About the Tour

We have been to St. Thomas before, so we decided to do a different type of shore excursion. We booked the St. Thomas In-Focus Photography Tour . We met our guide on the pier just after 9:00 AM and waited for the rest of our group to gather.

Our guide was a local photographer's assistant. The tour took us to several locations around St. Thomas which are known as photo spots. The favorite stop of the tour was the one at Magens Bay. While there I spotted a hawk overhead and my husband was able to get a beautiful shot of the hawk with wide-spread wings back-lit by the sun. We couldn't have asked for a better photo opportunity.

Throughout the tour, our guide would take pictures of us if we wanted. She'd also offer advice and answer any questions. This was a most enjoyable tour, quite different than any other shore excursion we've been on.

Paradise Point

Our first stop was at Paradise Point, St. Thomas Skyride which is located just minutes from downtown.  There are several vantage points and photo spots at this location, with some of the best views of St. Thomas.

Insider tip
Three tram cars always travel up the mountain together in a row. Your least-spectacular view will be from the middle car, because the windows on two of the four sides look directly into the surrounding tram cars. So for the best view on the ride up and down, get into the third car going up and the first car going down. The last car's view is definitely better than the middle car, too.

Bluebeard's Castle Resort

Bluebeard's Castle Resort is located in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the heart of St. Thomas.  The hotel has spectacular views of the surrounding area.  The grounds of the resort have a wealth of photo spots.  This wouldn't be a location on a typical shore excursion but I'm sure a local taxi driver could get you here if you wanted to venture off on your own instead of taking an organized tour like we did.

Mountain Top

World Famous Mountain Top is one of the most popular attractions in St. Thomas.  The view of Magens Bay above was captured from the observation deck as well as the hawk's picture.  This attraction is located at the top of St. Peter Mountain, 2100 feet above sea level. 

Besides having some of the most breath-taking views of the surrounding islands, you can also shop in its stores or enjoy one of the famous banana daiquiris or other beverage.

Find Your Beach

The Caribbean is known for its many shades of blue waters, but few places offer so many different views from which you can capture beach activity.   We don't recall the name of this particular beach.  It was not a very popular location which is perfect if you are seeking some photo opportunities without the clutter of too many people.  Be sure to have someone take your picture as well, with the sea as the background.

St. Thomas - Photographer's Paradise

You don't need to go on an organized tour to find photo spots like this, but having someone to offer advice and give you tips to take better photos at a fraction of the cost of a photography tour is well worth it.  Our local pro was Gary Felton.  Check out his website for some more inspiration.

Venice Cruise Terminal to Pizzale Roma

 Inexpensive Transport 

Cruise Terminal

to Airports & 

Train Station

If you've been to Venice on a cruise ship, you know that you are docked far from the center of activities and the main squares of Venice.  Typical transportation is via a water taxi (vaporetto).

While you are sightseeing via ship-provided tours, reaching the heart of Venice isn't a problem, however getting to the airport or train station on your own, when the cruise is completed, can be a daunting and expensive task.

HINT: Take Tram to Piazzale Roma

Piazzale Roma is a square in Venice, Italy which serves as the main bus terminal.  There are bus links to Venice Marco Polo Airport and Treviso Airport. The square is close to the main Santa Lucia (Ferrovia) railway station for Venice, linked by the Ponte della Costituzione, a modern footbridge over the western end of the Grand Canal.

We can tell you from experience this is the way to go as long as you are able to handle your luggage on your own, especially over the footbridge.   If you can't, you might be lucky enough to have a good looking Italian fellow assist you over the bridge (of course he'll be expecting to be rewarded for his good deed).

Short Walk to Tram

Getting to the tram is pretty easy.   Just cut through the cruise terminal and walk along the footpath for about a five-minute walk to the peoplemover tram entrance.  Tickets are vended from the machine on ground level (they’re €1 each, machines take euro coins or cash).  Take the escalator or elevator to the platform where you'll board modern cars that can accommodate you and your luggage in comfort.

Santa Lucia Train Station

The tram is a recent improvement (2010) in Venice and not widely known.  Our destination from the cruise terminal was the train station for our return to Rome (Civitavecchia) for our final post-cruise night before flying back home.  

By taking the train to and from the ship, we were able to purchase round-trip air from Rome instead of one-way tickets to Rome and from Venice, which saved us on overall cost.


Best spent €1  during the entire Mediterranean Cruise - very convenient

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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