USVI-On-Line

Are you willing to eat in some? Which meals? For eating out, are you willing to try small local places with local foods? Adventurous, or not?

Our budget is DIRT cheap. Booze is DIRT cheap. We eat breakfast in, lunch out at a local cheap place, and half of our dinners out at a local cheap place, other dinners at home. We bring our meats, cheeses, butter, etc, frozen in a backpack cooler that acts as a personal item on the plane. We stuff other foodstuffs into our luggage or we mail it ahead. So we're basically bringing almost all of our food from home.

Still, this is your vacation! If you don't feel that you're on vacation if someome isn't catering to your needs, than you might choose an AI. For us, a do-it-yourself kind of couple, we. love. St. John.

We are more the eat when ya want to eat and not pack anything. Breakfast lunch and dinners are a must. I'm sure we'll still eat out some as well...

A bottle of rum at the Captain's Corner is was under $12. Groceries are higher than where we live, but still an economical way to go. You can cary on a cooler (Polar Bear) with pre prepaired food from home. Eating out is not cheap. You can go on line and find menues for most of the resurants on St. John. Staying in Cruz Bay can save you a rental car. Taxi rides to the north shore beaches are reasonable from Cruz Bay, and you could choose to rent a car for a day to do one or 2 of the South shore beaches. ( We stayed in Cruz Views http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/st-john-c ... ruz-views/ and it is super reasonable and comfortable with a pool.) Woodie's has a really good happy hr. I think there is another place that has really good happy hr. as well. It all depends on what you do and what you want. Last year we did one of our weeks as a "cheep week" with a rental car and did a 1/2 day dive. (did not include air fare) We spent around $2500. There are so many options, you will have to do your own research. Your all inclusive deal may be more what you want if you just want to know how much every thing is, and don't want to do the planning and prep work.

mindehankins wrote:Booze is DIRT cheap.

I would just clarify this by saying that bottles of booze, mostly rum, are cheap, but drinks out are no bargain. You can expect to pay $7 to $8 for a drink at a bar or restaurant. The savings are not passed on to you in this case

Mixers like juice, pop, etc., aren't cheap.

Dinners out for us are usually in the $75 to 80 range including tip for two people to eat and have one drink each. There are restaurants that you could easily pay twice that but we don't visit them often.

Yeah, we are not the type to prepare food, pack stuff in advance etc. We don't need people bringing us drinks to the pool etc but we do want a selection of drinks. We mainly would spend time on the beach and we would also enjoy going to little shops if there are any. I must note also we are 36 years of age and have no children. Would we be better looking into St Thomas or Marteen? Again, thank you all so much for taking the time to respond to my topic...

icanrace - If you do STJ you would have to do a little planning/packing in advance if you want food and drinks at the beach. There are a couple beaches where you can purchase drinks and food but a majority of the beaches are in the National Park and simply don't have facilities,so that might be a deciding factor for you. There are shops to visit, but I wouldn't say that there are alot of them. There are reasonably priced options for places where you can pick up food/drinks to take to the beach or to eat after you leave the beach. You can certainly find affordable places for meals, that's not a problem, but you'd be limiting yourself if you don't want to carry in anything when you go to the beach. Almost all of the rental condos/villas will have coolers available for you to use and a lot of people simply stop at a deli or store on the way to the beach to pick up provisions. Most of the beaches on STJ are not in populated areas where you can walk across the street to an outdoor restaurant or that type of thing. Think more along the lines of a Grand Canyon type of atmosphere rather than Jersey Shore. (I'm not being a smart ass here, just trying to give you a better idea of the surroundings.) Just based on your age I'm thinking that STJ may not be a good fit because it tends to attract an older age group who are looking for a slower paced vacation. If you're more for a nonstop Spring Break type atmosphere than hiking in the Grand Canyon then you'd probably be happier picking another island.

>>>Just based on your age I'm thinking that STJ may not be a good fit because it tends to attract an older age group who are looking for a slower paced vacation.

I'm not sure that STJ is a good fit for this couple, but not because of their age (or lack thereof) .

STJ does offer a very slow paced vacation, which is why my husband and I fell in love with it when we were in our early 20s. We'll be returning on our 10th annual honeymoon this summer and I can't imagine falling in love with another island more than we love STJ.

Some people may find STJ boring, but I find it relaxing. This is a typical beach day for us: lie on beach, nap, lounge in water, read book, consider snorkeling but nap instead, eat lunch from cooler, lie on beach, snorkel, nap, float in water. Repeat for 10 days, with a hike or two thrown in for good measure. That's my kind of heaven, but it's not for everyone

If you buy breakfast items at the grocery store (it's close to double what we pay at home)and eat at the villa, buy sandwiches at a local deli (can't remember for sure, but probably $10-12 per sandwich) and dinner at a cheaper restaurant ($60-70 for both of you), you could probably do food for $100-$120 a day. I'll second an earlier responder to check out some menus on-line to see selection and price. Restaurants on STJ can be found above, under dining reviews and dining guide. Also searching through trip reports can give you some ideas for restuarants to look up.

We're younger, our first trip was when we were 26, with no kids, second trip was for our 10th anniversary, and we're going again in June with both kids. I think its a wonderfully beautiful island to spend quiet time with nature and your loved ones. We eat breakfast in the villa and head to a beach to snorkel for the morning. We either pick up a sandwich on the way back to the villa, or have something simple from the grocery store to fix for lunch. Spend time relaxing near the pool, reading a book, family time, and then head out to dinner for the evening. We prefer the solitude, not crowds. Why don't you search through some trip reports on this forum and you'll see lots of great pictures, of Cruz bay, restaurants, and beaches. You'll be able to get a sense of the STJ vibe. Good luck in your decision!