One Day In The British Virgin Islands – Cruise Port Guide To Tortola

I took a solo Virgin Voyages cruise and here is how I spent my day in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. This was the very first port day of our cruise and one of the shortest days we had in port.

Date Visited: January 25, 2026

Arrival Time: 8:00 AM

All Aboard Time: 5:30 PM

On this port day, I did a “Shore Thing” – what Virgin Voyages calls their shore excursions. In hindsight, I am very glad that I did. One, because the place I visited was incredible but hard to get to (more to come). Second, because we came into port on a Sunday, pretty much everything in the port was closed. I don’t typically spend a lot of time at the port anyway, but I’m glad I had my tour arranged.

This Shore Thing was a 5 hour tour, so it did take up most of the day. The Virgin Voyages staff was extremely helpful and made getting where we needed to be extremely easy. They grouped us together onboard, and assigned us a number. Once you disembarked for the ship, there was a Virgin Voyages employee outside with a matching number. The staff members were helpful easy to find, and made the whole process smooth and organized!

We got off the ship around 10 AM and headed to our ferry boat to head to Virgin Gorda. Virgin Gorda is located about 15 miles from the main island of Tortola. The ferry boat ride was 45 minutes to an hour. If you get motion sickness, be sure to take precautions as this was one of the choppiest boat rides I have ever taken. Thankfully, I wear motion sickness patches for my cruise anyway so I was covered!

Once we arrived at Virgin Gorda, lunch was included with this Shore Thing. The restaurant featured a massive buffet with so much to choose from. We spent about an hour here before going on the main event of the excursion. There was a small beach, a pool, and tons of seating areas. It was really relaxing and the view was spectacular!

From the marina area where we had lunch, we boarded some open air vans and headed over to The Baths National Park. It was about a 45 minute drive, and our drivers were fantastic. I will say, this drive was a little scary at times. We were driving up and down large hills, around tight curves with little to no visibility, and the roads were very narrow. If you do this excursion, just mentally prepare for this drive.

Our drivers did stop at a scenic lookout and pointed out some of the nearby islands – one owned by Google and the other owned by Richard Branson. We were able to take pictures, enjoy the view, and ask questions about the island.

Once we arrived at The Baths, there were several guides that helped us find our way around and to the entrances of the different areas of the park. There were two options for the day. You could go down to one beach and then do the climb/hike through the rock formations, or you could head right down to the other beach and skip that all together.

Note: This area is down (and back up to leave) a very long set of stairs, and it is not wheelchair or handicap accessible. I would not recommend this excursion for someone with mobility issues.

I opted to go down to the first beach and do the hike/climb through the rock formations and I’m SO glad that I did!

We got to spend some time at the first beach checking out the formations from there and they were stunning! Then we headed into the formations to hike through to the other side. This was definitely a high energy level excursion! You got up and down stairs, hold on to ropes as you go across steep rocks, but get to see some beautiful photo spots like the iconic Cathedral Room!

It took us about 20 minutes to hike through to the other side, and then we were able to hang out on the beach. There is a food location here that serves alcohol as well, a small store, and plenty of room to lounge and enjoy the beach.

As mentioned before, leaving the beach area did require a climb back up a set of stairs that was a combination walking trail and built in stairs. This excursion is not meant for anyone with movement restrictions, and does not have an accessible option.

We were given a time to be back at the vans, and this was probably the most chaotic part of the day as there were other excursions there from a different ship. My recommendation, especially if you’re solo, is to make friends with the people in the van on the way to The Baths. Make sure when you get back to your van, you’re boarding with the same people you were with on the drive there. The guides try to get the same people in their vans in both directions so it’s easier to keep track and make sure they have everyone.

We headed to a different Marina to board a ferry to return back to Tortola. This ferry ride was a little bit shorter than the one going to Virgin Gorda. When you leave The Baths, you are on the other side of the island so the route is slightly different. Returning, it only took about 30 minutes.

When we arrived back at Tortola around 4 PM, me and the friends that I made on the excursion walked around the cruise port. As mentioned previously, this is the point in which we realized that it was Sunday and everything was closed. Luckily, it was an earlier all aboard time (5:30 PM) so I took the classic picture with the cruise port sign and then headed back to the ship.

This excursion was truly so much fun, and I am so glad that I did it. It would’ve been nearly impossible to arrange this same day on my own, especially in the amount of time that we were docked in Tortola. I would absolutely do this excursion again, and other excursions with Virgin Voyages in the future.

I love booking Shore Things with Virgin Voyages because they not only work with local vendors who are highly rated and meet their criteria for health and safety, they also choose vendors who align with their goal of being environmentally conscious.