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Trip Report August 16-26th, "Bliss" Cruz Views Condo #1
Trip Report August 16-26th, "Bliss" Cruz Views Condo #1
11 Days on St John
My wife and I traveled to STJ for 11-days. We were on Island from August 16th-26th. This was our 2nd time being on STJ, but our first time was just a day trip to Trunk Bay while in port in STT in 2001... We typically travel to Mexico once a year, but wanted to return to the beaches of STJ to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.
Condo (http://www.vrbo.com/380848)
We booked “Bliss” which is unit #1, the upper most condo in Cruz Views. I located “Bliss” on VRBO and spoke with the owner, Cynthia. Cynthia was wonderful to deal with and answered all of my questions in a timely manner. Cynthia provided me tons of useful information and even emailed a “tip sheet” for dinning and beaches.
The Condo is situated within walking distance to town…but is located at the top of a steep hill. Just up the road from Centerline after passing the Dolphin Market. We walked into town most nights and took a quick cab ride home for $4 to $5 a person. After figuring out where we could easily park we started to park our jeep in Cruz Bay to save a few bucks on the cabs.
Bliss has terrific views of STT and the town of Cruz Bay. The condo has everything needed for a short or long term stay, A/C, a nice patio, Gas Grill with two full tanks of propane, cable TV, three flat screens, DVD players’ beach chairs and coolers. The condo has been recently remodeled from top to bottom and is completely finished in upper end materials. We would highly recommend the condo and dealing with the owner Cynthia.
Travel
We traveled on AA leaving O’Hare, connecting in Miami and arriving in STT at 12:50PM. Travel was uneventful, but I would advise against a 40-minute layover in Miami, as there wasn’t enough to make the connection and several people who were seated towards the rear of the plane did not make the connection.
Jeep Rental
We rented a 2-door jeep through Discount Car Rental on STT. Discount provided us a great deal for the 11-day/10-night rental…only $375! This deal was too good to be true…and we learned at the end of our trip that it was indeed too good to be true! More on that later… Discount promptly picked us up at STT airport and brought us to their facility. We rushed through the process of renting the jeep…and on our way in about 15-minutes.
This was my first time navigating the roads on the left side of the road…after a few minor mistakes (trying to make a right hand turn on a red!) I managed to get the left side of the road rules into my habits. We stopped at a grocery store on STT and picked up some essentials and were off to STJ. (I didn’t notice a substantial difference in prices from STT to the Dolphin) so I don’t know that I would shop on STT again. We made it to the car ferry by 3:30 and were on STJ by 4PM. Met our greeter and were settled at Bliss.
I don’t remember what we did from day to day…so I will provide our restaurant/beach/snorkeling impressions.
Beaches
We went to Trunk, Jumbie, Cinnamon, Gibney/Oppenheimer, Maho, Salomon, and Honeymoon. All of the beaches were great…some better than others. My favorite was Openheimer. My least favorite were Maho and Jumbie. My wife’s favorite was Honeymoon and least favorite was Jumbie.
Oppenheimer was deserted while we were there and I enjoyed having the beach to ourselves. Maho was packed with kids and Jumbie seemed to the “dirtiest” of the beaches…and by dirty I just mean seaweed, sticks and rocks in the water/beach.
Snorkeling
I love to snorkel, my wife will snorkel with me once at each beach…and only because I want to! We snorkeled the Cay at Trunk and the right side of the beach if you are facing the water. Snorkeling was average. The water at Jumbie was “cloudy” and visibility was limited. We snorkeled the Cay at Cinnamon and the right side of the beach. I enjoyed the snorkeling and we saw some large Tarpon being dive bombed by pelicans by the Cay.
We snorkeled the right side of Gibney and I thought the snorkeling was above average. I saw a lot of variety of fish and corals. I snorkeled at Maho and saw several large turtles and sting rays. The turtles were easy to find and they were smaller than the turtles I am used to seeing on our trips to Mexico.
I snorkeled the left side of the beach at Honeymoon and thought the reef was outstanding. Saw a large variety of fish, corals and underwater life. We also snorkeled Waterlemon Cay. This was by far the best snorkeling on STJ. The reef on the east side of the cay was AWESOME. I even saw a turtle on the reef…which is a first for me as I have only seen on them eating on the beds of grass. I also snorkeled the shoreline from the Cay back to the parking lot and this was reef was also in great condition with a variety of underwater life and fish! The current on Waterlemon was running moderately and at times we were turned around from the direction we were trying to head. Fortunately we knew this was possible before heading out and we acted accordingly.
Restaurants/Bars
We ate at the Beach Bar, Joes Rum Hut, Banana Deck, Driftwood Dave’s, DaLivio and Morgan’s Mango. All were good…Our favorites were the Tuesday Night Lobster night at Morgan’s Mango and my wife said the hamburger that she had at Driftwood Daves was the best she ever ate. I had the ribs at Driftwood Dave’s and they were above average. The Beach Bar, Joes Rum hut and Banana Deck all served decent bar food. Nothing above average.
We picked up sandwiches from Sam and Jack’s Deli and from Deli Grotto. Sam and Jack’s was excellent and I would definitely return to them.
We also stopped for drinks at most of the local watering holes and tried most of the “happy hours”. Had the smoothies from the stand at Centerline and North shore Road. They were good and lasted us till we made it back to Cruz Bay!
We hiked Rams Head and the Reef Bay Trail (both down and up). Rams Head had outstanding views and Reef Bay was interesting…It took us one hour to hike back up the Reef Bay Trail…and we were pretty winded. We also hiked the Lind Point Trail from the National Park Center to Salomon (lower trail) and from Asolare to Honeymoon (upper trail). I wouldn’t recommend either in flip flops (which we were wearing!) but the reward of Salomon and Honeymoon Beaches was worth the hike!
Charter Trip (http://copelandboatcharters.com/)
We took a day trip on Copeland Charters with Captain Kevin. We went to snorkel at the Indians (best snorkeling on the trip!) and the caves. Stopped for lunch at the Willy T….the fish and chips were great and then made our way to Sandy Spit and Sandy Cay. Both were great. We finished the day at Jost Van Dyke/Soggy Dollar. Bought our T-shirts and had a few Pain Killers. Captain Kevin was great and we really enjoyed his boat and stories. The weather didn’t really cooperate and we only saw the sun for a few minutes….but we had a great time on the water.
We saw a variety of wildlife while on STJ, including goats, cows, chickens, sheep, iguanas, lizards, large spiders, soldier crabs and other wildlife I am probably forgetting.
We attended the “wedding party for no one” at Motu and had a great time. I learned that if you drink 6 or 7 pain killers at the Beach Bar, you will feel no pain until the next morning (and afternoon and night!!!)!!!
Overall we had a great time on STJ. We intended to rent a dinghy one day and to head to Jost on the ferry on Sunday….but just didn’t fit it all in. Next time I guess!
On our final day we took the car ferry to STT. Did some souvenir shopping in Charlotte Amalie and then took a drive around STT.
We returned our rental vehicle to Discount Rental. I was then told that I caused a dent on the tail gate of the jeep by closing the door incorrectly. They wanted $250 for damage. After a 15-minute discussion about the damage, which didn’t go well, they charged me the $250 and we left for the airport. I know that I didn’t cause this damage, but they would not change their position on the damage. I believe the damage was present on the vehicle when we took possession, but it wasn’t documented. The vehicle was parked so closely to other vehicles when we took possession of it, that we were unable to walk around the entire Jeep to look for damage. The damage was so minor that it was noticeable until was pointed out to us. Not a good way to end the trip….but we didn’t let it ruin our great vacation! I would not recommend Discount Car Rental on STT. I contacted MasterCard and it appears that they will be covering this damage under the Rental Coverage’s that they provide…too soon to know!
Flight home was through Miami and was uneventful. I did see several people that were attempting make a 2PM flight still in line at 1:15PM. They didn’t check in prior to one hour before their flight and were denied boarding and put on standby for the 4:15 flight. Several of them didn’t make it onto the standby list….so I recommend arriving at STT airport with plenty of time to spare!
Not sure when we will be back to STJ, but we had a great time! Thanks to all of the people who posted answers to my questions….it made our trip more enjoyable!
If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask!!!!
DRD434
My wife and I traveled to STJ for 11-days. We were on Island from August 16th-26th. This was our 2nd time being on STJ, but our first time was just a day trip to Trunk Bay while in port in STT in 2001... We typically travel to Mexico once a year, but wanted to return to the beaches of STJ to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.
Condo (http://www.vrbo.com/380848)
We booked “Bliss” which is unit #1, the upper most condo in Cruz Views. I located “Bliss” on VRBO and spoke with the owner, Cynthia. Cynthia was wonderful to deal with and answered all of my questions in a timely manner. Cynthia provided me tons of useful information and even emailed a “tip sheet” for dinning and beaches.
The Condo is situated within walking distance to town…but is located at the top of a steep hill. Just up the road from Centerline after passing the Dolphin Market. We walked into town most nights and took a quick cab ride home for $4 to $5 a person. After figuring out where we could easily park we started to park our jeep in Cruz Bay to save a few bucks on the cabs.
Bliss has terrific views of STT and the town of Cruz Bay. The condo has everything needed for a short or long term stay, A/C, a nice patio, Gas Grill with two full tanks of propane, cable TV, three flat screens, DVD players’ beach chairs and coolers. The condo has been recently remodeled from top to bottom and is completely finished in upper end materials. We would highly recommend the condo and dealing with the owner Cynthia.
Travel
We traveled on AA leaving O’Hare, connecting in Miami and arriving in STT at 12:50PM. Travel was uneventful, but I would advise against a 40-minute layover in Miami, as there wasn’t enough to make the connection and several people who were seated towards the rear of the plane did not make the connection.
Jeep Rental
We rented a 2-door jeep through Discount Car Rental on STT. Discount provided us a great deal for the 11-day/10-night rental…only $375! This deal was too good to be true…and we learned at the end of our trip that it was indeed too good to be true! More on that later… Discount promptly picked us up at STT airport and brought us to their facility. We rushed through the process of renting the jeep…and on our way in about 15-minutes.
This was my first time navigating the roads on the left side of the road…after a few minor mistakes (trying to make a right hand turn on a red!) I managed to get the left side of the road rules into my habits. We stopped at a grocery store on STT and picked up some essentials and were off to STJ. (I didn’t notice a substantial difference in prices from STT to the Dolphin) so I don’t know that I would shop on STT again. We made it to the car ferry by 3:30 and were on STJ by 4PM. Met our greeter and were settled at Bliss.
I don’t remember what we did from day to day…so I will provide our restaurant/beach/snorkeling impressions.
Beaches
We went to Trunk, Jumbie, Cinnamon, Gibney/Oppenheimer, Maho, Salomon, and Honeymoon. All of the beaches were great…some better than others. My favorite was Openheimer. My least favorite were Maho and Jumbie. My wife’s favorite was Honeymoon and least favorite was Jumbie.
Oppenheimer was deserted while we were there and I enjoyed having the beach to ourselves. Maho was packed with kids and Jumbie seemed to the “dirtiest” of the beaches…and by dirty I just mean seaweed, sticks and rocks in the water/beach.
Snorkeling
I love to snorkel, my wife will snorkel with me once at each beach…and only because I want to! We snorkeled the Cay at Trunk and the right side of the beach if you are facing the water. Snorkeling was average. The water at Jumbie was “cloudy” and visibility was limited. We snorkeled the Cay at Cinnamon and the right side of the beach. I enjoyed the snorkeling and we saw some large Tarpon being dive bombed by pelicans by the Cay.
We snorkeled the right side of Gibney and I thought the snorkeling was above average. I saw a lot of variety of fish and corals. I snorkeled at Maho and saw several large turtles and sting rays. The turtles were easy to find and they were smaller than the turtles I am used to seeing on our trips to Mexico.
I snorkeled the left side of the beach at Honeymoon and thought the reef was outstanding. Saw a large variety of fish, corals and underwater life. We also snorkeled Waterlemon Cay. This was by far the best snorkeling on STJ. The reef on the east side of the cay was AWESOME. I even saw a turtle on the reef…which is a first for me as I have only seen on them eating on the beds of grass. I also snorkeled the shoreline from the Cay back to the parking lot and this was reef was also in great condition with a variety of underwater life and fish! The current on Waterlemon was running moderately and at times we were turned around from the direction we were trying to head. Fortunately we knew this was possible before heading out and we acted accordingly.
Restaurants/Bars
We ate at the Beach Bar, Joes Rum Hut, Banana Deck, Driftwood Dave’s, DaLivio and Morgan’s Mango. All were good…Our favorites were the Tuesday Night Lobster night at Morgan’s Mango and my wife said the hamburger that she had at Driftwood Daves was the best she ever ate. I had the ribs at Driftwood Dave’s and they were above average. The Beach Bar, Joes Rum hut and Banana Deck all served decent bar food. Nothing above average.
We picked up sandwiches from Sam and Jack’s Deli and from Deli Grotto. Sam and Jack’s was excellent and I would definitely return to them.
We also stopped for drinks at most of the local watering holes and tried most of the “happy hours”. Had the smoothies from the stand at Centerline and North shore Road. They were good and lasted us till we made it back to Cruz Bay!
We hiked Rams Head and the Reef Bay Trail (both down and up). Rams Head had outstanding views and Reef Bay was interesting…It took us one hour to hike back up the Reef Bay Trail…and we were pretty winded. We also hiked the Lind Point Trail from the National Park Center to Salomon (lower trail) and from Asolare to Honeymoon (upper trail). I wouldn’t recommend either in flip flops (which we were wearing!) but the reward of Salomon and Honeymoon Beaches was worth the hike!
Charter Trip (http://copelandboatcharters.com/)
We took a day trip on Copeland Charters with Captain Kevin. We went to snorkel at the Indians (best snorkeling on the trip!) and the caves. Stopped for lunch at the Willy T….the fish and chips were great and then made our way to Sandy Spit and Sandy Cay. Both were great. We finished the day at Jost Van Dyke/Soggy Dollar. Bought our T-shirts and had a few Pain Killers. Captain Kevin was great and we really enjoyed his boat and stories. The weather didn’t really cooperate and we only saw the sun for a few minutes….but we had a great time on the water.
We saw a variety of wildlife while on STJ, including goats, cows, chickens, sheep, iguanas, lizards, large spiders, soldier crabs and other wildlife I am probably forgetting.
We attended the “wedding party for no one” at Motu and had a great time. I learned that if you drink 6 or 7 pain killers at the Beach Bar, you will feel no pain until the next morning (and afternoon and night!!!)!!!
Overall we had a great time on STJ. We intended to rent a dinghy one day and to head to Jost on the ferry on Sunday….but just didn’t fit it all in. Next time I guess!
On our final day we took the car ferry to STT. Did some souvenir shopping in Charlotte Amalie and then took a drive around STT.
We returned our rental vehicle to Discount Rental. I was then told that I caused a dent on the tail gate of the jeep by closing the door incorrectly. They wanted $250 for damage. After a 15-minute discussion about the damage, which didn’t go well, they charged me the $250 and we left for the airport. I know that I didn’t cause this damage, but they would not change their position on the damage. I believe the damage was present on the vehicle when we took possession, but it wasn’t documented. The vehicle was parked so closely to other vehicles when we took possession of it, that we were unable to walk around the entire Jeep to look for damage. The damage was so minor that it was noticeable until was pointed out to us. Not a good way to end the trip….but we didn’t let it ruin our great vacation! I would not recommend Discount Car Rental on STT. I contacted MasterCard and it appears that they will be covering this damage under the Rental Coverage’s that they provide…too soon to know!
Flight home was through Miami and was uneventful. I did see several people that were attempting make a 2PM flight still in line at 1:15PM. They didn’t check in prior to one hour before their flight and were denied boarding and put on standby for the 4:15 flight. Several of them didn’t make it onto the standby list….so I recommend arriving at STT airport with plenty of time to spare!
Not sure when we will be back to STJ, but we had a great time! Thanks to all of the people who posted answers to my questions….it made our trip more enjoyable!
If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask!!!!
DRD434
Re: Trip Report August 16-26th, "Bliss" Cruz Views Condo #1
Great post, with some very specific information. We will be flying out of ORD in May, and I was also worried about that short layover in Miami. They have a flight with a 2 hour layover, and even though we would love to get to St. John 2 hours earlier, I like the idea of the little longer layover in. Less stress worrying about whether or not we will make the connecting flight. That flight right now is $560, but I am guessing we can keep watching and get it a little cheaper?
On our only other visit to St. John, which was 7 years ago, we stayed in a Villa out by the Westin, so we did rent a Jeep for the whole week. This time we are going to stay right in town at Grande Bay, so I am debating whether or not we should get a Jeep for the whole week or if we should just rent one in town for those few days when we want to go exploring on the island. I like the idea of being able to jump in the jeep and go whenever or wherever we want, but I also like the idea of saving a few bucks by only renting for 2-3 days instead of for 8 days.
Did you walk to Solomon from town, or did you drive? That is one of the days that I am thinking we would not necessarily need a Jeep.
Joe
On our only other visit to St. John, which was 7 years ago, we stayed in a Villa out by the Westin, so we did rent a Jeep for the whole week. This time we are going to stay right in town at Grande Bay, so I am debating whether or not we should get a Jeep for the whole week or if we should just rent one in town for those few days when we want to go exploring on the island. I like the idea of being able to jump in the jeep and go whenever or wherever we want, but I also like the idea of saving a few bucks by only renting for 2-3 days instead of for 8 days.
Did you walk to Solomon from town, or did you drive? That is one of the days that I am thinking we would not necessarily need a Jeep.
Joe
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Myheart'sinSTJ
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Re: Trip Report August 16-26th, "Bliss" Cruz Views Condo #1
Great trip report! You sure did pack in a lot those 10 days, STJ is a wonderful island and there could be a new adventure everyday or you could do nothing at all and still have the best time. I think Discount realized they gave you "to good of a deal" and had to make up the difference elsewhere. We have used them a few times with no problems, next time make sure to take pictures before leaving the lot as well as documenting, but I'm glad it didn't let it ruin your vacation. Thanks for sharing! 
Re: Trip Report August 16-26th, "Bliss" Cruz Views Condo #1
Joe,IA Joe wrote:Great post, with some very specific information. We will be flying out of ORD in May, and I was also worried about that short layover in Miami. They have a flight with a 2 hour layover, and even though we would love to get to St. John 2 hours earlier, I like the idea of the little longer layover in. Less stress worrying about whether or not we will make the connecting flight. That flight right now is $560, but I am guessing we can keep watching and get it a little cheaper?
On our only other visit to St. John, which was 7 years ago, we stayed in a Villa out by the Westin, so we did rent a Jeep for the whole week. This time we are going to stay right in town at Grande Bay, so I am debating whether or not we should get a Jeep for the whole week or if we should just rent one in town for those few days when we want to go exploring on the island. I like the idea of being able to jump in the jeep and go whenever or wherever we want, but I also like the idea of saving a few bucks by only renting for 2-3 days instead of for 8 days.
Did you walk to Solomon from town, or did you drive? That is one of the days that I am thinking we would not necessarily need a Jeep.
Joe
I tracked airfare out of O'Hare and Milwaukee for about 8-months prior to our trip. Airfare dropped to about $495 on AA and Delta....we picked it up then. I never saw it drop lower after we purchased it. We flew first class on the way to STT and had we not been in first class we would have never made the connecting flight.
We hiked to Salomon from town...it was a 1-mile hike from the National Park Building. The hike wasn't difficult...but I wouldn't recommend flip flops as it was very rocky and uneven. There were three days of our trip that we easily could have done without a jeep. I suppose it just depends on if you like to walk/hike. We could have easily taken a cab back to our condo for $5 a person also.
Re: Trip Report August 16-26th, "Bliss" Cruz Views Condo #1
Joe, if you want to rent a car for a day on St. John be sure to make your reservation in advance. There is a limited number of rental cars. If you wait til the day you want the car, there may not be one available.
A note about renting on St. Thomas. In addition to the cost of renting the car, you will incur a $50 ferry charge. Also, if you have any problems with the car, you will have to take it back to St. T for an exchange, another $50 ferry ride, and a lost day. Our first trip to St. John we rented on St, T only to find out the 4 wheel drive wouldn't engage. This limited our exploring on St. J but we didn't want to lose a day by going back to St. T. for an exchange car.
A note about renting on St. Thomas. In addition to the cost of renting the car, you will incur a $50 ferry charge. Also, if you have any problems with the car, you will have to take it back to St. T for an exchange, another $50 ferry ride, and a lost day. Our first trip to St. John we rented on St, T only to find out the 4 wheel drive wouldn't engage. This limited our exploring on St. J but we didn't want to lose a day by going back to St. T. for an exchange car.