For a lot of US guests, St Thomas is the easy place to fly into. The slight snag is that the BVI is somewhere else. You can take a private water taxi, which is fast, fun and expensive. On a flat day, bouncing across the islands in a powerful speedboat with some music playing is a pretty good way to start a holiday. On a windy day, it can also be a very efficient way of discovering how well your lunch was secured.
The other option is the regular ferry. Cassie recently tried what is probably the sensible compromise: the ferry, with BVI Concierge Services doing all the annoying bits around it.
ST THOMAS TO TORTOLA
Upon entering the arrivals hall at St Thomas Airport, Shelby, a representative from BVI Concierge Services greeted us the entrance. She guided us to baggage claim, we retrieved our bags and were escorted outside to our private taxi. No hoards of strangers crammed in a bus. Just us, our bags and our friendly driver.
Shelby called ahead to her colleague at Smiths ferry who was waiting on the curb as we pulled in to the ferry dock. Marjorie greeted us, handed us our tickets, and collected our luggage. We didn’t even step inside the ferry terminal – it was that easy. She carefully attached a tag to each of our bags, so they could easily be identified from the rest of the pile for retrieval in Tortola.
Now here is the only snag – in the off season, with a reduced schedule we had a 2 hour wait for the next boat. We headed upstairs to the ‘Pump Room’, where we indulged in some Conch Fritters, BBQ wings and cold beers. There are worse ways to pass the time!
When the ferry was ready for boarding Marjorie came to find us, introduced us to our Captain, Kai, and escorted us through the crowd and straight onto the empty ferry ahead of all the other passengers.
Smiths Ferry has a new boat ‘I Legend’. Its clean, comfortable, air conditioned and has TV’s throughout.
Now we get to the best part. The moment I legend touched the dock in Road Town, the captain came over the loudspeaker and asked all passengers to remain seated while the bags were offloaded, except for their VIP passengers who they would come and collect momentarily. With my modest English heritage, I found the term VIP passengers slightly embarrassing, but the kids eyes lit up like Christmas Morning and for a brief moment they felt like real celebs.
True to their word, the captain appeared, and we disembarked, while all the other passengers remained seated. They fidgeted in their seats wondering who these VIP’s were and how we got this treatment.
On the dock, Megga (the brains behind BVI Concierge Services) was waiting for us. He led us into an empty immigration hall, where we were processed immediately. The entry portal had already been completed, immigration was empty and the bags which they had cleverly tagged were waiting as we came out.
Literally five minutes from docking to being outside.
That is quite clever.
Same bit of sea. Proper ferry. Much less hassle.
TORTOLA TO ST THOMAS
Basically the whole story in reverse. Completely seamless transfer, with zero queuing from arrival at the ferry dock in Tortola, to the TSA Check Point at St Thomas airport. Probably the most ‘wow’ moment, was arrival to the airport in St Thomas. We were greeted at the curb, walked right passed the line at American Airlines Check In, and were handed our pre-printed boarding passes. From ferry docking, to grabbing a coffee airside in the airport, can’t have been more than 15 minutes.
IN SUMMARY
Its no secret that sometimes immigration on our little island is overwhelmed. Its no secret that the airport in St Thomas can be a nightmare at peak times. If you are short on time or you haven’t done this route before. Or you are travelling with kids or elderly passengers. Or if you find travel stressful and just don’t want the hassle – you should 100% try this service. Consider it first class, without the first class price.
The costs works out to be about $75 more, per person, than it would cost you to do this route yourself. In my opinion it was totally worth it!
BVI Concierge Services also offer VIP services at the Beef Island airport. If the ferry is anything to go by, its worth looking into.