Jan&Mike's Trip Report - Part ONE

[Coden]

I'm getting nervous, very nervous!! We rented from Great Caribbean Getaways, who at the time were on island, but now are not and have told me that Caribbean Villa will meet us at the dock, that I am just supposed to call them and they will be there. I will absolutely freak out if I get left at the dock. I too am the vacation planner in our family and I have worked my butt off and I will just have a friggin' melt down!! Hopefully this was an isolated incident and will not happen to me, or any others in the near future. Yikes!!

Other than that, I am waiting on pins and needles for the "rest of the story"!!!

[FlaGeorge]

Caribbean Villas did have an office on-island when we were there last year. I know that their main office is in Maine, but the STJ office was located in the lumber yard across the water/ice place. Did they close that office?

[Berkfamily]

I was told by Diane in Maine that they do have an on-island office. As a matter of fact she said that if we weren't able to arrange a late check-out at the villa (there is no one arriving the day we leave), we could leave our bags at the office and enjoy the day on St. John. Adding my voice to the chorus that will be very upset if there's no one at the ferry when we disembark. Hopefully this was an isolated incident. Wonder if arriving on a Friday rather than the weekend will make any difference. I wonder if its ever a problem if there are a lot or guests arriving on the same day at the same time for multiple villas.
But this whole incident is making me nervous. They booked my car too. I think I will call Maine and St. John directly to confirm everything, including whether all pertinent appliances are in working order!

[Mango]

CV still has their on-island office in the Lumberyard complex. We also had a problem with them meeting us at the ferry dock back in Oct. Same scenario - no one answering the office phone. When they finally did show about 30-40 minutes late, the rep told us he had picked up another couple thinking they were us. He took them to OUR villa. When they told him that wasn't their villa, he realized his screw-up. So he still had to take them to their villa, do the orientation & drive back to the dock for us. I guess they have some work to do in the customer service dept.

[AlabamaSusana]

We rented from Donald Schnell (vehicle and villa) a couple of years ago. Working with him was great. He has several villas - we were in Bougainvilla just up the hill from Cruz Bay. We talked to other renters at the ferry dock - we all agreed that he was a great person to work with - laid back, but responsive.

[RickG]

I'm sitting here writing the section of trip report about arrival. <Groan> That first day arriving on island can be a serious stresser. It's a long hard travel day and expecatations are high. Christine and I have gone down a day earlier than our group before and I REALLY like that - get the rental cars, house keys and non-perishable groceries at a relaxed pace. Greet the gang with cold beverages.

We've never had a problem with Caribben Villas meeting us at the ferry dock. One nice thing is that my Cingular mobile phone works great on island.

Cheers, RickG