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Mahogany Tree Villa ( Carib Sea )
Mahogany Tree Villa ( Carib Sea )
I have debated since we returned from our trip in June, whether I should post a report on the Villa we stayed at or not. And well the earlier thought has won....so here goes,
We spent 9 days at Mahogany tree in Carib Sea and I have to say I was disappointed in the Villa up on our arrival. The web site shows older pics. Im not one that requires 4 or 5 star hotels but I do feel like we were mislead and over charged.. The Home page actually shows the exterior of Gallows Point on the home page, We had never been to St John other than a day trip, we assumed that was pics of Mahogany Tree, and the home page also has older interior pics of Carib Sea. Although the villa was clean and Marilyn from Cimmaron was nice and helpful. There was no welcome basket waiting as stated in the email and the honesty bar well..honestly was a joke..under the bar was all pool chemicals and only about a 1/4 of triple sec was in the fridge. . The Blender in the villa didnt work we found this out thru trial and error ,Glad we are not big drinkers but if we had wanted one it would have been nice to have and by this time I didnt want to call Cimmaron because I had called a cpl times already. Had we not already been paid in full I would have asked for a refund and tried to find another villa..The furniture in the LR was not what was pictured on the web page instead we had a footon for a sofa and I can assure you it is not comfortable in the least...the switch for the lamp in the LR was broken and had to be plugged in by hand to get it to turn on and off. The wooden slats in the doors would not close and some were sagging therefore making it hard to cool the upstairs and some of the hand cranks were missing or stripped therefore no way to close some them at all. We hung a blanket upover them to keep the cool air in. One of the screen doors leading out to the deck on the bottom floor had been caulked shut at the bottom and one of doors upstairs had been nailed shut. Honestly, the Furniture on the decks of the other villas looked better than what we had in our villa. We couldnt enjoy sitting and watching TV for being uncomfortable on the footon. The Bar stools had an ulpholstery job that my 10 yr old could have done . Bulbs were blown and missing inside and out, but there was a 100 watt bulb in the lamp beside the bed ..also there were no outside lights to be able to see to get back in the gate after dark.. The were no lights leading down to the pool even after I called Cimmaron to let them know they were not working..the guy only repaired the landscaping ones at the pool itself. There was no cooler waiting as promised..I called...she told me they had just bought one for that unit 2 weeks prior...she said she would have one brought to us..which they did when they repaired the lights...problem was...it was mildewed and the zipper was broken so it wouldnt close, O rings on it were rusted. I took it to the office and complained ...they replaced it with a new one..( I left wondering why they didnt give us that one to start with) finally we got a cooler..this was Tuesday...we arrived on Sat.. The staircase needs painting you can actually see the numbers on the hand rail..it is made out of PVC pipe..There was barely water pressure... I was wondering how I was to save water when it took 10 minutes to get the hot water upstairs and it took twice the time to get a shower due to the trickle of water,Im not kidding...a full 10 minutes from cold to hot.. due to no pressure..We were given 1 washcloth and 2 towels ea. for the week...and 1 beach towel ea..some of the chairs needed to be trashed..we didnt even attempt to take them to the beach with us ...maybe this is norm at the villas there...I wasnt sure... the good thing about it...there was a washer and dryer that was private (something thats not on the web page) that we did have access to use .. I called (once again) to ask them to come unlock the door to be able to get to the Washer/Dryer...Also There was no curtains on the bedroom window upstairs the neighbors could have had a great view if we hadnt used a sheet over the window. the bed was comfortable...but no head board which wasnt a big deal , but the bed itself was on wheels with a tile floormade it a little mobile ....The views werent very good as the web page says...I couldnt see thru all the trees...I assume the pics of the views were made before the trees were so big...the only thing we could see was the pond...and the car barge that goes to the back side of the island . All in all....I would not reccomend the villa to someone...would I rent it again...probably not...This was our honeymoon and all in all...we had a great time on the island and will be back again.... but not at Mahogany tree...this was probably a nice villa at one time but it does need repairs and some TLC. And for what we paid per night, I was dissapointed ...I do have pics and would be glad to answer any questions just drop me a note..and I will email the pics as they are not on the Flickr page
.. ( As a side note ).. I did contact the owners secretary and she apologized and said he would be making a trip there asap to get it in the order as to which it should be...She also offered us a 30% discount upon our next visit should we decide to return to Mahogany Tree..
We spent 9 days at Mahogany tree in Carib Sea and I have to say I was disappointed in the Villa up on our arrival. The web site shows older pics. Im not one that requires 4 or 5 star hotels but I do feel like we were mislead and over charged.. The Home page actually shows the exterior of Gallows Point on the home page, We had never been to St John other than a day trip, we assumed that was pics of Mahogany Tree, and the home page also has older interior pics of Carib Sea. Although the villa was clean and Marilyn from Cimmaron was nice and helpful. There was no welcome basket waiting as stated in the email and the honesty bar well..honestly was a joke..under the bar was all pool chemicals and only about a 1/4 of triple sec was in the fridge. . The Blender in the villa didnt work we found this out thru trial and error ,Glad we are not big drinkers but if we had wanted one it would have been nice to have and by this time I didnt want to call Cimmaron because I had called a cpl times already. Had we not already been paid in full I would have asked for a refund and tried to find another villa..The furniture in the LR was not what was pictured on the web page instead we had a footon for a sofa and I can assure you it is not comfortable in the least...the switch for the lamp in the LR was broken and had to be plugged in by hand to get it to turn on and off. The wooden slats in the doors would not close and some were sagging therefore making it hard to cool the upstairs and some of the hand cranks were missing or stripped therefore no way to close some them at all. We hung a blanket upover them to keep the cool air in. One of the screen doors leading out to the deck on the bottom floor had been caulked shut at the bottom and one of doors upstairs had been nailed shut. Honestly, the Furniture on the decks of the other villas looked better than what we had in our villa. We couldnt enjoy sitting and watching TV for being uncomfortable on the footon. The Bar stools had an ulpholstery job that my 10 yr old could have done . Bulbs were blown and missing inside and out, but there was a 100 watt bulb in the lamp beside the bed ..also there were no outside lights to be able to see to get back in the gate after dark.. The were no lights leading down to the pool even after I called Cimmaron to let them know they were not working..the guy only repaired the landscaping ones at the pool itself. There was no cooler waiting as promised..I called...she told me they had just bought one for that unit 2 weeks prior...she said she would have one brought to us..which they did when they repaired the lights...problem was...it was mildewed and the zipper was broken so it wouldnt close, O rings on it were rusted. I took it to the office and complained ...they replaced it with a new one..( I left wondering why they didnt give us that one to start with) finally we got a cooler..this was Tuesday...we arrived on Sat.. The staircase needs painting you can actually see the numbers on the hand rail..it is made out of PVC pipe..There was barely water pressure... I was wondering how I was to save water when it took 10 minutes to get the hot water upstairs and it took twice the time to get a shower due to the trickle of water,Im not kidding...a full 10 minutes from cold to hot.. due to no pressure..We were given 1 washcloth and 2 towels ea. for the week...and 1 beach towel ea..some of the chairs needed to be trashed..we didnt even attempt to take them to the beach with us ...maybe this is norm at the villas there...I wasnt sure... the good thing about it...there was a washer and dryer that was private (something thats not on the web page) that we did have access to use .. I called (once again) to ask them to come unlock the door to be able to get to the Washer/Dryer...Also There was no curtains on the bedroom window upstairs the neighbors could have had a great view if we hadnt used a sheet over the window. the bed was comfortable...but no head board which wasnt a big deal , but the bed itself was on wheels with a tile floormade it a little mobile ....The views werent very good as the web page says...I couldnt see thru all the trees...I assume the pics of the views were made before the trees were so big...the only thing we could see was the pond...and the car barge that goes to the back side of the island . All in all....I would not reccomend the villa to someone...would I rent it again...probably not...This was our honeymoon and all in all...we had a great time on the island and will be back again.... but not at Mahogany tree...this was probably a nice villa at one time but it does need repairs and some TLC. And for what we paid per night, I was dissapointed ...I do have pics and would be glad to answer any questions just drop me a note..and I will email the pics as they are not on the Flickr page
.. ( As a side note ).. I did contact the owners secretary and she apologized and said he would be making a trip there asap to get it in the order as to which it should be...She also offered us a 30% discount upon our next visit should we decide to return to Mahogany Tree..
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Sorry you had such a "crappy" villa - next time you are here (and I hope it is soon) I'm sure between us all we will find you a fabulous place to stay 
I wish they would give you a 30% (at least) cash refund then you could stay where you want and not be tied into the same villa - but if you do decide to stay there again and take them up on the offer I would love to go check it out for you in advance (just give me a complete list of things to double check - but trust me I can spot something substandard a mile away
) and I will be brutally honest with you. Maybe that can be my new business
I really enjoyed your photo's - especially the palm tree at Cinnamon - great shot.
Congratulations on your marriage and hope to see you soon.
Pia
I wish they would give you a 30% (at least) cash refund then you could stay where you want and not be tied into the same villa - but if you do decide to stay there again and take them up on the offer I would love to go check it out for you in advance (just give me a complete list of things to double check - but trust me I can spot something substandard a mile away
) and I will be brutally honest with you. Maybe that can be my new business I really enjoyed your photo's - especially the palm tree at Cinnamon - great shot.
Congratulations on your marriage and hope to see you soon.
Pia
Kirk....I forwarded you the email I sent to Michelle..please let me know if you get it and are able to view them.
Pia....That sounds great...we WILL be back and we had a good time on the island inspite of the villa. And you can bet I will do alot of research and reading before we book another villa and of course I will be looking on the forum too..I think your idea would make a good business Im glad you enjoyed the pics..we have about 250 on there, trying to add more as we get time..feel free to check them out anytime...
Pia....That sounds great...we WILL be back and we had a good time on the island inspite of the villa. And you can bet I will do alot of research and reading before we book another villa and of course I will be looking on the forum too..I think your idea would make a good business
Im glad you enjoyed the pics..we have about 250 on there, trying to add more as we get time..feel free to check them out anytime... [/url]
Oh my, Yes i received the pics. thank you. this wasn't the unit i wanted in the first place, Bougainvillea was. I see Dolphina is still listed as available the week i'm there. maybe i can change to that one. anyway thanks for posting this and i will be calling Michelle tomorrow.
ETA: this might also explain why the listing price of MTV dropped $300,000 about a month or 2 ago. also the units now rent for $895 a week
ETA: this might also explain why the listing price of MTV dropped $300,000 about a month or 2 ago. also the units now rent for $895 a week
From what we could see Dolphina looked nice. And you are right..it could very well be why the price dropped so low. We paid the reg rate for our rental...not the discounted one. We booked it back in January of this yr. We saw the rate drop also... Before we left..which only made it worse once we got there..but hey...live and learn .. right ?...
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It's really a shame. We stayed at Mahogany Tree Villa Caribsea often and had many good times there, when it was run by the previous owners (who lived on the property). It was never luxurious, but was really clean and comfortable. The honesty bar was always fully stocked, and filled with interesting and eclectic items. It really makes me sad. I hope someone buys the place and restores it to its former glory!
kirk wrote:So, i've got to ask....How was the bed on wheels on your honeymoon. wink wink nod nod.
well it was ummm....ok ... but to put it in racing terms it was fun doing laps except for turn # 4 which had a severe drop off at the stairs...
...no,all kidding aside..the bed was comfortable. More than I can say for the footon. ..[/url]
We werent expecting luxurious, just something nice. And I gather from looking at the pictures that are on the site it was a nice Villa at one time. I do hope when it sells the new owner will let someone know that it has a new owner and it has been renovated. The Honesty bar not being stocked wasnt a big deal to us as we are not big on drinking. In fact we donated well over a half bottle of Cruzan to who ever came in the Villa after us. We didnt even buy any to bring any home with us. But it was advertised and I felt like it should be known that it was far from being well stocked as what is promised on the web page...sunlover wrote:It's really a shame. We stayed at Mahogany Tree Villa Caribsea often and had many good times there, when it was run by the previous owners (who lived on the property). It was never luxurious, but was really clean and comfortable. The honesty bar was always fully stocked, and filled with interesting and eclectic items. It really makes me sad. I hope someone buys the place and restores it to its former glory!
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I'm not/wasn't expecting anything fancy, i just want everything to work like the blender. i don't really plan on hanging around the villa, just wanted a place to sleep and shower that was close to town in case i didn't rent a jeep. i do plan on cooking a steak on the grill(with Cruz Bay grill rub) one night but other then that i'm eating out. and as far as the pool goes, it looks like a large tub to me anyway.
Damn, I love the internet.
Just got off the phone with Michelle. at first it was "I hadn't heard about these problems" till i mentioned that i had copies of the emails she received and sent in regards to this matter. water pressure is still an issue and she doesn't know if the other problems have been fixed yet. she trying to move me over to the Bougainvillea unit on the 26th, which is the unit i wanted in the first place.
Just got off the phone with Michelle. at first it was "I hadn't heard about these problems" till i mentioned that i had copies of the emails she received and sent in regards to this matter. water pressure is still an issue and she doesn't know if the other problems have been fixed yet. she trying to move me over to the Bougainvillea unit on the 26th, which is the unit i wanted in the first place.