Sapphire Breeze or other villas for group with kids?

[Jersey Shore]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and have only been to St John once before - but thats all it takes apparently to get hooked! I was hoping that some of you guys could help me out.

We are planning to go for 2 weeks next April 11th - 25th and we will be traveling with another couple and a 7 year old and a 5 year old. So, there are a couple of must haves ....
- at least 1 king
- pool
- private and clean
- A/C in beds and ideally all of us on the same level.
- Budget < 3000 - 4000 a week. This is proving hard as some places are quoting me off season rates which is great but others are still quoting high (Easter is late next year).
- interior stairs

It would also be great to have the pool and outside dining on main level.

A 3 bed would work great. We could manage with a spacious 2 bed if there was a pull out somewhere for the 2 girls to share, preferably with air. A 4 bed would give us options if the girls decided they didn't want to bunk in together.

When I started the search for this ideal villa - beach access, kayaks and sunsets were on the list too but like i said i am new to this so i didn't realize that all was not happening!

With regard location we are flexible. We stayed in Virgin Estates last time and it was very nice but there was no way we were eating in town any evening and driving home. We have done the rainy sliding out of control downhill backwards in our "4WD" and dont need to do that again. For that reason I had been ruling out the more mountainous regions (and also the kids will want a warm pool). So private and relatively easy drive to a restaurant or bar would be good.

I had been looking at Sapphire Breeze (Viva. Sherrolyn has already been wonderful at responding to all my questions) I was concerned about a post saying that guests arrived and it was really dirty. Also upstairs loft gets hot.
Splendore looks possible but might have same issue with pull out in loft?

Can anyone help me out with this please - starting to get a little computer enhanced daze going on ..

Thank you!

[loverotties]

We stayed at Sapphire Breeze in 2012 it was just the 2 of us . First I'll give you the positives the view is amazing . The outdoor space of the villa is great, lots of room, this is where we spent almost all our time . There was always a breeze so not many bugs . The pool gets lots of sun , plenty of pool toys & the hot tub is large . We loved the Great Cruz bay location . The tile murals are beautiful through out the villa . The welcome basket from Viva was a nice touch too .
We had to call Viva to have the cleaning lady come ( our 1st full day ) to clean the kitchen it was that dirty . The stove had burn't on food all over it & the microwave looked like it hadn't been cleaned in along time . The sad part was someone had rented it right b4 we got there so it should of been clean for us just arriving . The villa was not cleaned very well in most areas, there was thick dust was on glass surfaces etc . The bathroom by the pool was so gross we didn't use it all week . The furniture was well used & there was no cushions on the dining table ( outside ) & the chairs were metal . It's an older villa in a great location but for the $$$ we wouldn't stay here again . . .

[Jersey Shore]

Oh boy, definitely dont want to spend my first day on beautiful STJ cleaning. So that is really something to consider. Thank you for the info loverotties.

[Jersey Shore]

Also, any thoughts out there on a good Sapphire Breeze alternative?

Many thanks

[sherban]

I grew up going to the Jersey Shore...mostly Stone Harbour and Avalon...

Here's what I would do if I were in your shoes...first, make sure you want to go in high season rather than low season, then once you are sure of your dates you have to narrow down the choices somehow...it sounds to me like you want to be on the Cruz Bay side of the island because it is closer to town and not super mountainous and maybe warmer than Coral Bay. If you can choose one or two locales, then you can use the villa map to see what some of the choices are in the areas you want most...
http://goo.gl/maps/WSgLn (note that the map has two pages of villas listed)
... then do your rental site searches from there...
http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/ca ... vi-st-john
http://www.windspree.com/homes.php
http://stjohnrentavilla.com/index.html#index flower
http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/st-john-villas/
http://vacationvistas.com/
http://www.vivacations.com/
Cheers!

[54b]

Got a great place in mind, but first, like Sherban mentioned above, your dates are right on the cusp of low season, so you may want to consider pushing your vacation back two to three weeks to take advantage of significantly lower rates.

Starting on May 1, the villa linked below goes from $5600/week to $3900...

My wife, 7 year old son and I and another couple and their 9 and 5 year olds stayed in the Reef Bay Holiday Villa last June.

http://stjohnhouserentals.com/reef-bay- ... -villa.htm

Lot of pluses...all the bedrooms have A/C and their are basically two master bedrooms instead of just one like at most villas. It's a really neat lay out, neat view, and there's a quick trail from the back of the villa down to reef bay (about a 5 minute walk) where the kids can boogie board in the surf.

The one hangup of course is it is out of your price range on those April dates, but would be in your price range about 3 weeks later.

Anyway, thought it was worth the mention just in case.

[Jersey Shore]

Hi guys, Thank you so much for all your help.

I can't really change the vacation dates as we are basing it around school holidays and A retirement from 25 years in the State Police .... whoo hoo....!

I have seen about 100 villas at this point I think! But have been narrowing it down. Thank you so much for that map Sherban ... very helpful .. and I think we might have a top 3!

The Reef Bay Holiday Villa is beautiful (thank you 54b) but their off season rate doesn't start until May, beautiful though.

Virgin Seabreeze overlooking Reef Bay:
http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/property/ ... seabreeze/
Owners of this villa are actually using their villa for one of my weeks but what a great spot. . So great that I am thinking of splitting the vaca up between 2 rentals just so I can grab a week there! Their off season rate starts 12th April which works for me too.

Then there is Eminence on High
https://www.seatopeakvillas.com/EminenceOnHigh/
Superb villa - though its up there in the mountains - at the end of the day we are going to STJ for the scenery and this spot looks great and may be a lovely counterbalance to the villa above if we did a week in each. Their rate and low season dates work too.

And believe it or not Sapphire Breeze is still in the mix:
I asked Viva about the condition that the villa was in when loverotties got there and she did have a plausible reason for it and assured me it would be cleaned before we got there...

So that is the update - i feel like i am getting there - thank you for all your help again. If there are any other thoughts floating out there on this I would be delighted to hear them.

Cheers!

(hey Sherban , we are in west Belmar - jersey shore is still rebuilding but at least in Belmar they are making great strides. Looking like they will be open for business by Memorial Day which is amazing. I am actually originally from Ireland but the last 15 years I have been here and I really like it - great people.)

[cocosmom]

I just watched a 2 utube? Videos on Virgin Seabreeze. A renter went through the entire place. 2 things I wouldn't like
1. Are you comfortable with a 5 and 7 year old in a separate building?
2. Also, the master bath is up the stairs, out the door across the hall.
Both would be deal breakers for me.

[Jersey Shore]

I wouldnt put the children in a unit by themselves, no. The girls could share the guest house with adults.
hmmm ... you've given me something to think about with the placement of the master bath though - across the courtyard is a bit unusual to say the least!
So, thank you for alerting me to that
ta

[cocosmom]

Oops, I missed that another couple is coming. On that note, the video showed the guest house and I would not like the bathroom situation there. One bedroom on the 1st floor, bathroom to share on the second, another bedroom on the 3rd. Again a walk out of the room and up/down stairs to go to the bathroom. There is another bedroom off the pool with its own bath but that still leaves the kids alone. Just google utube Virgin Breeze and watch both:)

[Irish34nd]

Villa Maria would work out well for you - it is a 3BR on Great Cruz Bay. Great master BR in separate building, 2 BRs in main building, so 1 couple could be in the same building as the kids. Great views and very nice pool/deck area.

[Jersey Shore]

Hi, thanks for the recommendation ... Does look like a nice villa. I think we are going to go with Eminence on Bordeaux ( formally Bordeaux Mtn Villa) as we could all be in the main villa together. Thanks for all the help.