First Timer - Need Villa Recommendation

beachluvr · Post by **beachluvr** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:23 am

Hello, Everyone.
I just found this site a couple days ago and registered this morning. We have decided to try a new island after many trips to St. Martin and a couple to St. Barth. Our first villa experience was in St. Barth and we really loved the freedom of having our own place.

I am planning our 1st trip to St. John for this summer and could use your help.

My husband and I will be traveling with our 19 year old niece and 8 year old daughter. The girls will share a room.

We would like to rent a villa (2 bdrms) with a nice size pool that has A/C in at least the bedrooms. My husband would love to be able to hike down to a snorkel beach, but that's just a "wish". Our budget is under $2500/week.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

CariBert · Post by **CariBert** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:50 am

Welcome beachluvr, you have joined the elite group of St. John Addicts Annonymous.....I can't speak of the other Islands you have visited....but St. john is pretty special.

I would recommend you contact some of the rental agencies (or hope that Pia will answer, she knows a great deal about the villas on ST. John) Try Vacation Vistas....Lisa is wonderful to work with.

Welcome again, and looking forward to trip reports galore!!

-Bert

lazylane · Post by **lazylane** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:09 am

Daffodil Villa in Fish Bay is a great 2 bedroom with bedrooms being at either end of the great room/kitchen. FABULOUS views.

http://www.islandgetawaysinc.com/daffoldilvilla.html

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:10 am

We stayed at Second Wind in Dec 2007. It sounds like it meets all of your criteria. Here is a link.
http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/secondwin ... dwind.html
The off season price for four is $2555. Keep in mind that Caribbean Villas collects a management fee from the renter also.
As far as a snorkel beach to hike to, you have Genti Beach and Reef bay right down the hill. Snorkeling activity can be limited by the season, wind direction and tide. Fish Bay is also nearby. You can find more information on my travel pages here;
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/736cb/996/

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:12 am

DELETED

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:50 am

Welcome to the forum

How about Reef Madness

There is a "Live from Reef Madness" thread on this page - beautiful villa and don't forget to book your car asap

Pia

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:58 am

Which part of the island?

We recently stayed at Seabiscuit and it would be great for a couple and the two kids. A/C in bedrooms. Great pool. We loved it.

http://www.windspree.com/homes/seabiscuit/ Windspree was great to work with as well.

beachluvr · Post by **beachluvr** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:36 pm

Which part of the island?? I don't know. What are the pros and cons of different areas? We are beach lovers and will probably want to explore different ones. Our daughter is a "pool girl", so we will probably spend half the day at the pool and half at the beach.

I checked out Reef Madness and really liked it, but I believe it is already booked.

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:42 pm

You have a couple of choices depending on what you like to do. Cruz bay is the bigger of the 2 towns not that it is big if you are looking at more things to do at night bar restuarants and shopping then it is your choice. If you are looking at a more laid back trip you might want to do coral bay it has shopping, bar and restuarants but not as many as cruz bay. I like to tell first timers the chocolate hole area is a good place to start till you get to know the island then next trip you can pick more to your likes. Some of us stay there always.
Tom

augie · Post by **augie** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:48 pm

Pia wrote:Welcome to the forum

How about Reef Madness

I don't know about the "hike from the villa to snorkel" requirement, but I'm certainly a Reef Madness advocate!

The Brown Bay trailhead is just a short drive away - and that hike to a secluded snorkel spot is fairly short - unless you're trail challenged like me - in that case Waterlemon is only an hour away!

Lulu76 · Post by **Lulu76** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:15 pm

Dolphin Run isn't a two-bedroom villa (it has four bedrooms), but it might work for what you're looking for. It doesn't have AC, but does have good tradewinds. It's a little further from the North Shore beaches, but nothing's really far away on St. John.

The only bad thing I noticed was that there is construction nearby, but staying above Pond Bay this last trip, I realized that's really only an issue if you like to sleep in. The sun wakes up at 7 every day on St. John!

http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/lelapin/lelapin.html

A few people have stayed here, so maybe they will chime in. I have just always wanted to stay here but have never been able to make it work.

Lulu76 · Post by **Lulu76** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:17 pm

Or maybe Carnival Beach House. I haven't stayed there, but it's one I keep gravitating towards. For our last trip it wasn't available or we would've stayed there. I think it might be rented by another company too, so you wouldn't have to pay CV's service fee.

http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/carnival/index.html

You can rent directly from the owner at carnivalbeachhouse.com. However, I noticed it says children 10 and up only. And they look pretty booked. Can't hurt to ask. In this economy some folks may waive the age requirements.

bevm · Post by **bevm** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:45 pm

Pink Horses in Coral Bay is great!

Chet · Post by **Chet** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:04 pm

bevm wrote:Pink Horses in Coral Bay is great!

Ditto. It's a short drive to Coral Bay, Skinny's, Island Blues, and Shipwreck. The grocery store is at the bottom of the hill by Aqua Bistro. Maho and Francis are 10 min away, and the Lameshures are 15. The hike to Brown Bay is just past Coral Bay, and Vie's is not far away. The pool is delicious. (But if you want a tattoo you have to go to Octopus Ink in Cruz Bay). And they have hurricane screens when it's dark and stormy...

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:08 pm

Miles Away in Fish bay always gets rave reviews. Don't limit your search to just 2 bedroom places. A lot of the villa companies charge by the number of people or bedrooms, so you may find a larger 3 or 4 bedroom house would still fit your budget since it will cost less for 4 people than 6 or 8.

I haven't stayed here but it's been on my short list a few times: Villa Villekula is 5 bedrooms, but is on the water at Great Cruz Bay, very reasonable, and is close to the Westin (which has a huge pool and might be attractive to the 19 year old). Their low rate for 4 is $3000/week, but maybe they'll be running specials.

Blue Tang also gets good reviews.

usvi-on-line

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First Timer - Need Villa Recommendation

First Timer - Need Villa Recommendation