USVI-On-Line

Wow, interesting feedback. I too would be rather disappointed by the smell, and especially the lack of service by Caribbean Villas...that's too bad. We've rented from them in the past too without any major complaints, but it's pretty frustrating that you shelled out a lot of money for poor service.

My exp. w/ Caribbean Villas has been when the house is good then your experience is good. However, when there is a problem, response time is less than favorable.

But that is only in 2 exps. I am sure it just depends on lots of factors - owners, who's taking the complaint calls that day, etc.

Hi - Can you provide more details on Christopher's taxi service and Dohms water taxi? Thanks.

Wondering about the downstairs bedrooms. Were they furnished as well as the upstairs, and did they have sufficient light? How was the view from the downstairs bedrooms patios?
This villa was on our short list but when we called Caribbean Villas in early March, they said they were not renting it yet for November as it was for sale. I was also worried about the lower BR's.
This settles it. While we were waiting to hear back about when we in fact could place a deposit for November, they raised the price for this villa $1000. And now this issue.
Think we are going to go with Sol Inclination for our November trip.

Hi Jamie
This the the web site for Dohms and Christopher
http://www.watertaxi-vi.com/ We were very pleased with the service! It might be cheaper for your group to do this vs. taking the ferry from Red Hook! I think they only leave from Red Hook, I prefer the ride from CA! What day do you arrive?
Betty

Thanks for the info Betty. We don't leave for six months but I am a planner and want to have as many details as possible!!

We had originally booked Christopher and Dohms just for our arrival transfer. We liked them so well we used them for the return as well. Depending on the size of your group the taxi portion could work out to be less expensive than a public taxi. Dohms is significantly higher however traveling with a 1, 5 & 8 year old it was worth the extra cost. Both captains were really class acts.

The downstairs bedrooms were furnished just as nice as the upstairs masters. The bathrooms were almost identical with the exception of the jacuzzi tub. By the way we had a problem w/ that too. The 1 year old needed to take baths. The hot water in the jacuzzi tub in one of the masters didn't work. Not one drop of water came out. No big deal we used the other tub.
The view was definitely not as good downstairs as up. You could see the hill across from the villa but you couldn't see the water which was off to the left. The lower patio had a beautiful table chairs, rattan couch and a 2 person hammock. Again as with the rest of the villa really topnotch.

I called Caribbean Villas this morning. They directed me to a believe the manager. I left a message but have yet to get a return phone call. In addition I spoke w/ our friends who were on the island at the same time we were. I stated earlier CV had responded to their issues in a timely manner. I was wrong about that. Their last phone call to request a late check out was never returned. They had to call CV back to get it taken care of. Again, nothing major but all these little things really add up for me.

I did hear back from Caribbean Villas. She was very nice, very understanding and said she was going to look into the lack of follow up. She was going to be on the island in the next 2 weeks and was going to check on the villa. I found her to be sincere in her concern and feel alot better after our conversation. While CV may not be my first choice in the future I wouldn't rule them out either.

I did hear back from Caribbean Villas. She was very nice, very understanding and said she was going to look into the lack of follow up. She was going to be on the island in the next 2 weeks and was going to check on the villa. I found her to be sincere in her concern and feel alot better after our conversation. While CV may not be my first choice in the future I wouldn't rule them out either.

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Very thorough. It wouldn't have occured to me to bring my daughter's nebulizer. Sounds like it could be a lifesaver as it was in the case of your son.

Vie's snack shop is a must! My husband loves fried chicken and road-side stands.

How was your driving experience on the island?

Keep the details coming.

Our driving experience was fine. We rented a Dodge Durango from O'Conners. They were great to work with. It was in great shape w/ a spotless interior. I drive a Durango at home however, this was a newer model which had more room than mine. There were 7 of us. 4 adults, a 1 year (in a car seat), 5 year old & 7 year old. Plenty of room including beach chairs and beach bags. Easy to get in and out of even the 3rd seat. We kept 1 gallon jugs of water in the back to wash our feet after the beach (idea someone here posted) and that was a great!!! No sand in the car or in the villa upon arriving at home.

We are early risers. Left the villa every day for the beach around 730a. We would stay until 1200p or 100p and go back to the villa for lunch and lounging at the pool. This worked great with our group. The big plus was we always found a great parking spot at each of the beaches.

We went to Francis twice. This was by far our favorite beach. Everyone had great luck snorkeling (no turtles though). They had several picnic tables to put your stuff on. The surf was very calm. Not alot of people and an easy place to find shade. We also went to Cinnamon. We like Cinnamon but found there to be very little shade and alot more people (understand this is relative to St. John crowds). The parking would also be a huge drag if you weren't there early. Vie's beach was different from North Shore beaches I'm not sure I can put my finger on what the difference was but it was a great place to spend the afternoon. The drive to Vie's is beautiful. Not to mention Vie was so friendly!!! Our last day was Friday. There weren't any ruise ships in town so we thought it would be a great day for Trunk. We were the 2nd group on the beach it was so nice. The surf was ROUGH!!! There were signs everywhere warning you of the rough surf. The kids were so bummed as I had talked up the underwater trail. We did snorkel anyway out by the island. We didn't see much as it was really murky. We brought Neat Sheets (again another tip from this board) and LOVED them.

A note for parents with small kids. I bought 2 small nets at the Dollar Store before we left. My kids used them everyday to look for lizards. My 5 year old actually CAUGHT one. He was so excited. Of course he thought we could bring it home. I never in a million years thought he would catch one but he did. We kept it long enough to get a picture and let him go. But I have to tell you those nets kept my kids occupied for hours. The best $2 I spent!

We shopped at Starfish Market and found it met all of our needs. Some things were more expensive some things were priced the same as home. We bought a six pack of bottled water and the remainder of water we bought by the case in gallon jugs. We refilled our bottles everyday for the beach. This worked out great for us and was alot less expensive than buying cases of bottled water.

Thank you to everyone on this board for all the tips that past 8 or so months. While I haven't posted alot I have READ everything. At first my family was giving me a hard time because everything I would say was prefaced by "I read on the message board...." But by the end they were thankful I took the time to read everything and take notes. When I found something useful on the board I would cut and paste it to a Word Document (that ended up being 8 pages) and brought it with me. I can't tell you how many times I referred to it. Thank you to everyone for all your input. It was our 3rd visit to St. John and I still feel like a newbie!

Another great report Arenee. Thank you.

Couple follow-up questions...Did you find any other markets on the island that might be a little cheaper than Starfish? Also, I'm kind of stickler for expiration dates. Were the items like milk) fresh at Starfish. Thanks again.

Great tips on getting to the beaches early and the nets.

Pine Peace is cheaper than Starfish and just past it a little ways. Its easy to miss but its right before Jacob's Ladder on the left.

I never noticed any out of date items in the stores, but we did get funky milk 1 time --- even though the date indicated it should be good I think something must have happened and it got warm in the trip over from STT.

I could ditto flip-flop exactly.

You are talking to one of the biggest stickler of expiration dates. It drives my husband nuts. I won't keep anything a day after the expiration date. We purchased milk on April 14 w/ an expiration date of April 18. We opened on the 14th and it was curdled. The remainder of the week our milk was fine but we purchased it at Pine Peace. As flip-flop said it is less expensive and they carry items Starfish doesn't. I'm sure there are some items vice versa. We did small trips to Pine Peace and found everything we needed at a reasonable price.
All other expiration dates were fine. All produce was fresh and surprisingly farely reasonable. We bought lettuce, apples, bannanas, grapes, carrots, and green onions. I will say watermelon was a whopping $13.99!!!! Needless to say we didn't buy any.