USVI & BVI Group Programs
A separate hub from Sint Maarten, with its own arrival airport, its own ferry network and a real international border in the middle of it.
This Is Its Own Hub
The Virgin Islands corridor is not linked to the Sint Maarten network by any scheduled ferry. Groups arrive through St Thomas or San Juan and work west to east from there. Treat it as a separate program rather than an extension of an SXM itinerary — operators who assume the two join up lose a day discovering they do not.
The Legs
- St Thomas to Tortola — from Charlotte Amalie or Red Hook, arriving at Road Town or West End. The leg with the most operators and departures to choose from.
- Tortola to Virgin Gorda — a short onward crossing that makes a three-island program possible inside a week.
- St Thomas to Virgin Gorda — direct services exist but are thinner. For a group, routing via Tortola usually gives more options and a better fallback if one sailing is cancelled.
We do not publish schedules, crossing times or capacities for this corridor. Destinito's live ferry boards cover the northeast Caribbean and do not extend to the Virgin Islands, so rather than restate operator timetables we have no way to keep current, we confirm sailings, capacity and connection times directly with the operators against your dates and party size, and put them in the proposal. The planning constraint on this corridor is the border rather than the boat.
The Border Is the Constraint
The USVI are United States territory and the BVI are a British Overseas Territory. Crossing between them is a full international border, with immigration and customs on both sides, for every passenger. A group clears as a group, and that takes materially longer than the same formality for an individual traveller — which is the single thing most often under-budgeted on this corridor. We do not quote a clearance time here because it varies with the port, the sailing and the day; we build the connection with enough margin to absorb it and confirm the margin with the operator.
Passports for the whole party, in both directions. Entry requirements differ between the two territories by nationality, and a party travelling on mixed passports is common, so this is worth settling at the brief stage rather than at final documentation. We check the party against the current requirements of both jurisdictions before the program is contracted; we do not publish a per-nationality matrix here, because it changes and a stale one would be worse than none.
What the Islands Suit
- St Thomas — arrival, shopping, and the cruise interface; rarely the reason a group came
- Tortola — the practical base, with the deepest accommodation inventory of the three and the connections to move a group
- Virgin Gorda — the destination most groups are actually there for, and the one worth protecting time in the itinerary for
- Sailing and charter programs are a common fit here, given the density of anchorages
What We Handle
- Sailings confirmed with the operators for your dates, with connection margin that survives the border
- Group immigration and customs handled on both sides
- Documentation checked against the party's actual nationalities before travel
- Accommodation across two or three islands on one rooming list
- A contingency for a missed onward connection, written in before departure
Planning a Virgin Islands Program?
Send the group size, the dates and the party's nationalities — the last one shapes the routing more than operators expect.
Request a Group ProgramFrequently Asked Questions
Can a group connect from St Maarten to the Virgin Islands by ferry?
No. There is no scheduled ferry link between them. Groups arrive in the Virgin Islands by air through St Thomas or San Juan, and the corridor should be planned as its own program rather than an extension of a Sint Maarten itinerary.
How long does the USVI to BVI border take for a group?
Longer than most operators budget for. It is a full international border with immigration and customs on both sides, and a group clears as a group. We do not quote a figure because it varies with the port, the sailing and the day — we build the connection with margin to absorb it and confirm that margin with the operator for your dates.
Do all passengers need the same documents?
Not necessarily — the USVI are US territory and the BVI are a British Overseas Territory, and entry requirements differ by nationality. Mixed-nationality parties are common, so we check documentation against the actual party at brief stage rather than at final documentation.