USVI-On-Line

I know that we all have had our less than stellar experiences from time to time but I must say I have been either extremely lucky or my number will come up soon.

I would love to hear kudos for those who have done a great job or gone above and beyond on your trips to STJ.

Just a few of mine are:

- STJ Spice Ruth & Pia - these two go WAY above and beyond to answer a question or help a girl out. Pia went so far as to check the stock at Starfish of a special formula my then 10 month old was on and offered to stockpile it for me in advance of my trip.

- Christy's Classics - always come through for us no matter what we need, from picking up our box and delivering it with the rest of our stuff to getting a last minute sitter for the kids. Crystal herself babysat one night and my children adored her!

- Conrad Sutton - they have always been great to us and had exactly what we reserved ready and waiting, always found a spot in the lot, and let us cancel well within the no cancellation window once when we had to cancel a trip due to medical complications.

- Destination St. John - Also allowed us to cancel when we were well within the "NO cancellation" window and let us drive them nuts as we tried to determine the best house for our changed group.

- Surf da Web - very friendly and competent staff. I always go here to print my boarding passes. Always flawless and cheeeeeap!

- Skinny Legs - love the way they treat our kids. Always go above and beyond.

- Island Blues - also were great with our kids. The first night of our last trip the skeeeeters were awful when we were there for dinner and they kept bringing over bugspray to help us out.

- The Ferry Dudes - I know these guys sometimes get a bad rap and sometimes even I cringe when my bag gets tossed aboard but a few trips ago when our older child was 3 we had WAY overpacked and had less hands than necessary to maneuver. We got to CA a LONG time before the next ferry and didn't relish the thought of sitting in the blazing sun with our pile o' crap. They took one look at us and said "leave your stuff, we'll take care of you. Go get food." I have never been more grateful in my life to a bunch of guys! The suspicious side of me thought, hmmmm....will I come back to no luggage, but I fought the urge to worry and just walked away. We returned a little over an hour later to our stuff right where we left it with the guys getting ready to load the boat.

- The guys at Big Belly Deli are always super busy but take a moment to crack a joke while they put together a sandwich for us.

- Also a kudos to the staff at the Love City convenience store - always served me with a smile.

- Ditto to Skinny Legs!

great idea.

Courtesy Car Tental has been great to us.
We love Candies Ribs and they treat us like everyone else.
Sogos-the family that owns it is wonderful to all of their customers, local or tourists.

I like this topic too...
Although I've experienced some less than stellar customer service, I'm not sure of the value of everyone pitching in with their stories. Let's accentuate the positive!

So Forum Oscars go to:
RickG
StJohnRuth
Pia
Gromit
Flip-Flop

Delightful island service was given by:
Jason at La Plancha del mar
A couple of waiters at High Tide (sorry don't remember their names)
Vie at Vie's Snack Shack
Mic at the Soggy Dollar Bar
Everyone at Dependable Car Rental on STT
A great waitress at Miss Lucy's (was it Holly?)
The guy who I usually see at Love City Market checkout
Dennis at the Jolly Dog next to Shipwreck

All of these people enhanced my vacation experience.

Thank you!

Hats go off to:

Slimmans parking crew in Cruz Bay. Always a smile and something nice to say.

Cpt Joe of Scubanu. Great personality and all around nice guy. Recommend his day sail.

Guys and gals from Thrifty car rental on STT.

Crew from the Car Ferries (both companies). They have jobs that are for the most part not a lot of fun, but always friendly.

Margaret from the front desk at Secret Harbour STT. She is a living fixture.

Rich from the Lime Inn. Always consistent.

Ruth...the Spicy lady!

Staff at Into the blue (I think that's it) jewelery stores at Wharfside.

Bartending ladies at Trunk Bay...funny and great painkillers.

Ok...that's my start...

Great topic! I second the kudos for our forumites. They made planning our first trip a breeze. Wish we'd been able to meet.
On island, big kudos to these very special people:
1. Fabian the cook at Cinnamon Bay, who opened his closed kitchen to cook us a delightful meal when we arrived late, exhausted, lost, and HUNGRY, in the rain, on our first night! Fabian works at Caneel, too. We were so grateful to Fabian
2. The Tourist Trap folks. STANDOUT friendly customer service, and great food to boot! We felt like we'd come home for a meal, and that didn't happen everywhere.
3. St. John hardware found a great, cheap alternative for what we'd come looking for.
4. Connections staff were wonderful.
5. The lady at Hercules was very friendly and helpful in deciding what to order.

I just love Mark and all of his staff at the Aqua Bistro - always above and beyond and the friendliest people, always willing to help with whatever (ok, usually a cocktail, but .. .)

Also Larry and his crew from the Tourist Trap, always a great crowd willing to give good ideas for secluded beaches, cheap eats and good snorkling spots and of course tasty cocktails. (I'm noticing a pattern)

St John Car Rental has always been great to deal with, never a problem.

I love Mark and his group at Seaview Homes, also the folks at High Tide have always been awesome and hands down some of the best service we've had on island is the group at the Lime Inn...all of these people have made every trip for my family and I even better...thanks guys!

Thanks guys!

I also have to add the Waterfront Bistro crew. Great service there and the next day we had a desperate potty situation with a little one and the bartender didn't hesitate to let us use the restroom. It was the middle of the afternoon and kind of dead in there so it wasn't like we could sneak in!

R & I Patton

The host/manager at Morgan's Mango for teaching/educating me about homeopathic remedies for toddler head bumps

The staff at the Lime Inn. We ate here at least once each trip since our first trip in 1995.

Penn's - we are returning to them for Feb 2010

Catered To

Mike and Eileen at Sailview-staying there during Omar and they completely kept us informed and prepared for the storm. Invited us to their "Hurricane Party" and are just the perfect hosts!

Not a vendor, but Puddlejumper on the forum provided info and invite to his church and everyone at 3Sail was extremely friendly and even sent us home with flowers!

Always great service at St. John Car Rental and Skinny Legs. Also enjoy staff at Lily's and Aqua Bisto in Coral Bay.

Todd and Chad at Woody's, last trip we were blocked in Courtesy's lot by a local and we were tired of waiting for them to come to their Caneel truck. Chad came out and looked at the truck and proceeded to help us by going into the surrounding restaurants until he found the owner and asked him to move.

I could go on and on. Have we had bad service, yes, but the good has always been more frequent!!

Ruth & Ron at STJ Spice

Donkey Diner folks (nice young couple, new owners)

Cathy Noonan who managed our villa Just Enough

Hightide staff

Miss Vie and her daughter

Slimman - on our last trip to STJ, there was something unusual going on in the night sky (can't remember what, I know nothing about stars) and he pointed it out to us and explained why it was so special

LOVE the Donkey Diner folks! They gave me some much needed time with their adorable puppy just when missing my dogs was becoming unbearable.

Sheila of Sheila's Pot - gracious service with a smile serving great food- and lots of it!

The garlic sauteed conch was a real treat!