USVI-On-Line

I'm going to throw in my vote for Gallows too if it's just two of you. Really the best of both worlds - you get a larger place with kitchen and living area, resort grounds and daily maid service, a pool, nice restaurant. That said, the beach at Gallows does not compare to Caneel's, but if you have a jeep, you can get out and explore all the beaches on the island. It depends if you want a stay-put vacation (Caneel) or an explore a new beach every day vacation (villa or Gallows)

The big advantage Gallows has over Caneel (or even a villa) when there are just two of you is that it's easy walking distance into Cruz Bay, so that if you go out at night and want to have a few drinks, you don't have to worry about driving back to your villa or Caneel on the roads. When there were just two of us, it was nice to both be able to drink with no worries about driving home.

Thanks petepie for your Gallows input.

We're going to have a jeep so even if we stay at Caneel we're going to restaurants in Cruz Bay for dinner and we have a tentative itinerary:

Sat-travel
Sun-Caneel Hill/Margaret Hill/LindtPoint Trail Loop
Mon-Trunk Bay/Jumbie
Tues-Reef Bay Hike
Wed-Maho/Francis/snorkel Waterlemon
Thurs-Salt Pond-lunch at Skinny's
Fri-Cinnamon-rent kayak
Sat-travel

So if we do stay at Caneel, we're still gonna be adventurizing!
When I write this, it seems like we'll never be at our home base anyway.

turtlegirl, that is an action packed itinerary! Sounds like fun.

One of the best things about staying at Caneel is the access to their private beaches. They are absoultely beautiful, and there is excellent snorkeling there. If you are not planning on taking advantage of this, I would think the price of the room would not be worth it. Just my opinion!

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Turtle Girl-- Be sure to check the cruise ship schedule before planning your Trunk Bay day. The higher the number of cruise ships the more crowded it will be -- as the passengers come over to STJ for the day and are dumped off.

I love to watch this commotion from the safety of Jumbie. Here i am on a beach with virtually no one around me and can see Trunk Bay with people piling off the tender asses to elbows.

Crowds on vacay? No thanks!

However if few ships are in, you'll have a better experience at Trunk.

Thanks, Gromit, I have checked the cruise ship schedule and unfortunately, there are cruise ships in port at STT every day of our trip.

On Tuesday, there's 4! (on Wed., 1/7-b4 our trip- there's 6!) The rest of the days there's 2 so that's why I've got Jumbie on there as well-if Trunk gets tto crowded we'll move over. I've learned all of the important details to check thanks to all of you.

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If we stay at Caneel, we'll definitely snorkel all their beaches-my original itinerary (and we'd still do a lot of it) was made with staying at a villa in mind.

If you got a great rate than go for it! It is a wonderful property.

WWWT, I once stayed in a first floor room of a two story building--room 38, which is in the two-story building set back from the main Caneel beach. I did not think I was going to like it, but I ended up loving it. We had a really nice spacious porch with comfy chairs and a partial water view. The room was not too dark at all. When we stayed there the building was not renovated yet so I won't post a picture of the interior. This photo shows the view:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/550109504/" title="view from caneel room by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/5501 ... fb44be.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="view from caneel room"></a>

The Turtle Beach and Hawksnest Beach ocean view buildings are a lot closer to the water, but they are considered "premium" ocean view. This building was "regular" ocean view.

I actually think you get better views of the water from the lower rooms. We had an upper level room off Hawksnest once. On the upper level you are looking out through the tree foliage.