USVI-On-Line

We stayed at Kaleidoscope last year and it was absolutely amazing.

lazylane wrote:In our group, I am the vacation planner, picking villa, renting Jeeps, water taxi, everything so I GET FIRST PICK on bedroom!!!!

Same here!! We try to get the rooms as equal as possible, but I get first dibs after all the planning work

We have stayed at Kalorama in Virgin Grande- very modern- a different look than most of the houses- but we loved it- 4 great bedrooms (the 5th is for kids only), amazing views, whole living room wall opens. A/C in bedrooms. Great place. There are a lot of great houses in Virgin Grande. Another on our wish list is Island Stones in Catherineberg. Amazing- but may be too big for you.

I'll second Casa de Sonadores through villavacations.net for a four equal master bedrooms.

I have my own rules for traveling with a group and they've been stress tested for groups up to 24.

1. Don't invite anyone who is a whiner. Don't invite anyone that you would not spend a week with 1-on-1.

2. I pick the villa and the week and people get to decide if they want to come. It's okay if no one wants to come with me.

3. You get to pick your room in the order that you pay. I've already paid the deposit, so I go first. This deals with the equal rooms problem and #1 deals with whiners.

4. One vehicle per 2 couples with at least one person from each couple on the contract for each car. Expect there to be an early group and a late group each morning. This is not a problem. I get my own vehicle. I'm in the early group and my lover is in the late group.

5. Pick a beach each day that you want to visit; 11AM is a good rendezvous time. The late group can usually make it and the early group will have done a hike and another beach already. It's okay if no one meets me at the beach.

6. Do some happy hours at the villa. It's cheap and 6-8 people is a party. Bring Twister.

7. Dinner out for 6-8 is a pain in the a$$. Do some dinners at the villa and do some date nights. Meet for drinks before and after dinner. There's always room at the Beach Bar, Quiet Mon and Larry's Landing for 6-8.

8. Expect to spend a day without leaving the villa. Make sure that there is not a mid-week maid visit scheduled that day. Start the blender at 10AM, but put sunscreen on all exposed skin first.

9. Put $100 per person in a food/drink kitty for villa provisions. If someone is concerned that they won't spend that much and want differential treatment, that breaks rule #1 - they don't get to come. $800 will cover food and booze at the villa for 8 adults for a week. Dinner for 8 at Zozo's is $680.

Lessons learned:

- If someone whines at home, they will whine more on STJ.

- If someone pitches in at home they will pitch in more on STJ.

- The herd moves at the speed of the slowest beast.

- Don't be afraid to say "I'm heading out. I'll be back for sunset."

- Newbies will assume the villa is on the beach, even if you tell them otherwise and show them pictures. If they can't get over this, they stay at the Westin.

- #1 takes care of almost every possible problem.

Cheers, RickG

Thank you Rick for posting that again! My favorite. You should re-post that every time someone new posts on the forum and is planning a trip. GREATNESS!

Schnell- truer words were never spoken

La Bella Vita is a fabulous villa in Virgin Grande with four equal bedrooms. However, it only has AC in the bedrooms. The living area has plenty of high speed ceiling fans as do all of the outdoor spaces. I highly recommend this villa. We rented through Catered To and they were wonderful.

RickG,
I've copied and sent that to our friends, several trips! Great advice and so true!!!! I'll be sending it again soon! Love it, thanks, perfect!

Perhaps consider Ristaba or Villa South Palm also.

And, RickG- I think you should post that as it's own topic! Priceless.