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Help with villa selection
Help with villa selection
We are looking for a villa on St John, for about 10-11 days, for this August for our 25th wedding anniversary. The main focus of this vacation is SNORKELING! We like to rent a vehicule, pack a cooler and go out for the day to various snorkeling sites to come back in the afternoon to our base camp villa. We would like a safe villa with privacy but not too secluded, with AC throughout,that is well equipped with a small pool and preferably facing east as we prefer sunrises to sunsets. Proximity to a few good (but not too fancy) restaurants for dinner would be a plus. Budget is $2000 max per week. After searching various forums on the web, we have come up with a lists of villas that would fit our bill:
St John Livin'
Island Dreams
In Harmony Retreat
Villa Aria
Seabiscuit
Lille Paradis
Any comments and suggestions welcomed!
St John Livin'
Island Dreams
In Harmony Retreat
Villa Aria
Seabiscuit
Lille Paradis
Any comments and suggestions welcomed!
We stayed at Sea Biscuit and loved it. Simple, not too fancy, great views, convenient, great pool.
It was our first time staying in Coral Bay and I really liked being able to be to maho or francis in a matter of 15 minutes.
It only has a/c in the upstairs (the bedrooms) the downstairs was cooled by opening the sliders and letting the fans go. We were there in the dead of August and never were uncomfortable. It was especially pleasant at night.
If you have more questions let me know.
It was our first time staying in Coral Bay and I really liked being able to be to maho or francis in a matter of 15 minutes.
It only has a/c in the upstairs (the bedrooms) the downstairs was cooled by opening the sliders and letting the fans go. We were there in the dead of August and never were uncomfortable. It was especially pleasant at night.
If you have more questions let me know.
It is a cute villa though 
St. John Livin' is a really cute house in Coral Bay. It's the first house at the top of a driveway shared by Island Dreams and Pink Horses ( which is where we stayed). It has a small pool and hottub and is relatively private. I would think if you wanted to take a skinny-dip you could without any problem. We walked around it when we stayed there and it's decorated really cute. Very tropical. I truly loved the Coral Bay area (we're going back next month!). You can eat at Skinny's or Shipwreck Landing or Island Blues (and there's several other choices). The breezes are wonderful all day up there. It's a really great location.
You're also close to so many great snorkeling beaches when you're in Coral Bay. Salt Pond, Maho, etc.
Happy 25th!!! That's remarkable in this day and age. We're celebrating our 29th this year!!!!!
You're also close to so many great snorkeling beaches when you're in Coral Bay. Salt Pond, Maho, etc.
Happy 25th!!! That's remarkable in this day and age. We're celebrating our 29th this year!!!!!
My husband and I spent 12 very good days at Lille Paradis in November 2007. The following is a review I did for someone on another forum in March of 2008.
(My husband and I were there Nov 2007; we had stayed in the area once before and chose it for the rustic "off the track" feel. The villa is five or six years old I guess, with a new hot tub which we did not use. The pool was great for cooling off and totally private. La Sirenia villa shares the driveway and sits above L Paradis, but isn't noticed except in coming and going and when looking out the kitchen window. The great room, loft and kitchen, plus 1 bath, are on the top floor. The washer and dryer are in a closet off the second floor deck; the bedroom and other bath are on this floor too. A metal spiral staircase joins these decks . The pool and hot tub are down another flight of regular wooden steps to another deck with two lounge chairs. Both upper decks have tables and chairs. There is a well maintained path (only for Lille Paradis) down to Kittel Bay, just a five minute walk or less. The road to the villa turns off Rt 107 just after the Salt Pond parking lot; it is very rough and passes serval houses with old vehicles around them. But, the villa is well landscaped, very well equipted and comfortable. It is entirely air conditioned. We rented through windspree.com and found them very helpful. The website pictures are quite realistic; the view is a little distant but lovely and seen from all decks and rooms; at times St croix can be seen in the distance. I just checked the website: the pond and ocean views are not as far away as it appears in the pictures. The kitchen has several more appliances on the counters, etc. There is a microwave and a toaster oven not seen. Complaints we had were that the sofa needed to be recovered and another chair or seat could be aded for comfort in reading or tv (there is a tv in the bedroom too). The sliding glass doors on the top deck did not lock from the outside leaving me feeling a little insecure and the screens were not in good shape; however, I have been told by windspree that new doors and screens were installed shortly after our stay there. With the windows open the breezes were very good. If you want forested hills, pond and ocean views with peace and quiet in a very natural , very private, setting you will like Lille Paradis. It is comfortable and very clean but not luxurious. The queen bed is comfortable. There are good ceiling fans. Large stone showers are in each bath. We did not use or climb the ladder to the loft so can't detail that. The kitchen appliances worked well, but there is no dishwasher. Beach chairs are light and comfy; coolers, towels, etc. are provided. We bought drinking water at Concordia which is close by; the shop there has a good selection of simple necessities. We are in our sixties and wanted nature, simplicity, AC, a pool and closeness to Salt Pond and the Lameshur Bays. We only went to Cruz Bay three times in twelve days.)
Concordia and The Tourist Trap would be very close places to eat; next would be Miss Lucy's, Shipwreck Landing, Aqua Bistro, and Big Belly Deli.
The view is pretty much to the south and I don't recall sunrises or sunsets as being anything to note.
I expect that the sofa has been replaced by now.
It is a long drive from almost anywhere on the island except the above mentioned bays, but they are good ones.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridalin ... 393009893/" title="Lille Paradis by lprof, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/339 ... 0401a1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Lille Paradis"></a>
view of a salt pond and Kittel Bay from a Lille Paradis deck.
If you have any questions please PM me. We did very much enjoy our stay there.
(My husband and I were there Nov 2007; we had stayed in the area once before and chose it for the rustic "off the track" feel. The villa is five or six years old I guess, with a new hot tub which we did not use. The pool was great for cooling off and totally private. La Sirenia villa shares the driveway and sits above L Paradis, but isn't noticed except in coming and going and when looking out the kitchen window. The great room, loft and kitchen, plus 1 bath, are on the top floor. The washer and dryer are in a closet off the second floor deck; the bedroom and other bath are on this floor too. A metal spiral staircase joins these decks . The pool and hot tub are down another flight of regular wooden steps to another deck with two lounge chairs. Both upper decks have tables and chairs. There is a well maintained path (only for Lille Paradis) down to Kittel Bay, just a five minute walk or less. The road to the villa turns off Rt 107 just after the Salt Pond parking lot; it is very rough and passes serval houses with old vehicles around them. But, the villa is well landscaped, very well equipted and comfortable. It is entirely air conditioned. We rented through windspree.com and found them very helpful. The website pictures are quite realistic; the view is a little distant but lovely and seen from all decks and rooms; at times St croix can be seen in the distance. I just checked the website: the pond and ocean views are not as far away as it appears in the pictures. The kitchen has several more appliances on the counters, etc. There is a microwave and a toaster oven not seen. Complaints we had were that the sofa needed to be recovered and another chair or seat could be aded for comfort in reading or tv (there is a tv in the bedroom too). The sliding glass doors on the top deck did not lock from the outside leaving me feeling a little insecure and the screens were not in good shape; however, I have been told by windspree that new doors and screens were installed shortly after our stay there. With the windows open the breezes were very good. If you want forested hills, pond and ocean views with peace and quiet in a very natural , very private, setting you will like Lille Paradis. It is comfortable and very clean but not luxurious. The queen bed is comfortable. There are good ceiling fans. Large stone showers are in each bath. We did not use or climb the ladder to the loft so can't detail that. The kitchen appliances worked well, but there is no dishwasher. Beach chairs are light and comfy; coolers, towels, etc. are provided. We bought drinking water at Concordia which is close by; the shop there has a good selection of simple necessities. We are in our sixties and wanted nature, simplicity, AC, a pool and closeness to Salt Pond and the Lameshur Bays. We only went to Cruz Bay three times in twelve days.)
Concordia and The Tourist Trap would be very close places to eat; next would be Miss Lucy's, Shipwreck Landing, Aqua Bistro, and Big Belly Deli.
The view is pretty much to the south and I don't recall sunrises or sunsets as being anything to note.
I expect that the sofa has been replaced by now.
It is a long drive from almost anywhere on the island except the above mentioned bays, but they are good ones.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridalin ... 393009893/" title="Lille Paradis by lprof, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/339 ... 0401a1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Lille Paradis"></a>
view of a salt pond and Kittel Bay from a Lille Paradis deck.
If you have any questions please PM me. We did very much enjoy our stay there.
Last edited by lprof on Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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cruiserkcs
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