USVI-On-Line

Compiling lists for upcoming trip to St. John. Am wondering if there is a basic list of household items that all STJ owners and/or rental managers typically provide to renters such as: trashbags, dish detergent, hand soap, toilet tissue, paper towels, laundry sheets, dishwasher detergent (if villa has one), etc. or is up to each individual owner as to what is/is not furnished? In that case, of course, it's best to inquire each villa owner/manager.

Is there anything else - in addition to the items noted above - that a renter should think about bringing besides bug spray and sun tan lotion? Thanks in advance for your advice!

It depends on the villa....ask the villa management company or owner to double check!

I've had all of the items you listed; however, once had a w/d, but no detergent or softener. There is toilet paper and towels, but plan on supplying your own napkins, paper plates, etc.

If you plan on doing a lot of cooking, you may want to consider bringing a couple of good knives.

Thanks for mentioning paper plates and napkins. Might be nice to also throw in some plastic cutlery for picnics on the beach.

This brings me to another question....is there a paper/bottle recycling program on STJ? Hope so!

It varies from villa to villa but usually you'll find at least paper towels, toilet paper, garbage bags, dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent and dryer sheets provided. Most times there is bar soap in each bathroom but I always bring my own. Some high end houses even provide shampoo and lotion. Occasionally you'll find paper plates and napkins left over from previous guests along with spices (I bring my own). There MIGHT be sugar in the house but for some reason we usually end up needing to buy sugar.

You can count on there being beach towels and beach chairs but you can never plan on the chairs being in good condition. If they are unusable, call the agency and they will usually replace any broken chairs.

The only recycling we saw when we were there a week ago was for aluminum cans. I guess I'm well trained at home to participate in our recycling program because it felt wrong to throw out glass and paper, but they don't have bins for those items.

Lots of people on island seemed to reuse items though. That was nice to see since there isn't an option to recycle glass or paper.

This might sound unnecessary, but not too many houses that I've visited had drinking & cocktail straws.
Easy fix, sure...just sayin'...
Also 99 % of the fridges weren't too chilly. The freezers were sub zero, though. Strange...
We always keep a spare cooler filled with ice to keep the cold stuff cold.
Smiles-
MJ

Yes, the only island wide recycling program is for aluminum cans. I try to buy in cans instead of plastic or glass so I can recycle. Glass isn't allowed on the beaches either...so that makes the "cans or bottles" decision a little easier! For stuff we can't recycle I try to use it for as long as possible before tossing it. If you find that you need to buy something for the villa, I suggest you go to Pine Peace. They have the cheapest prices and they have a lot of "small size" things in there so you aren't buying way more than you can use.

Am grateful for all the good advice and comments. While you'll always need to grocery shop on St. John, it's nice to be able to prepare ahead and maybe bring things that you'll know you'll need but prefer not to buy. Smaller grocery store list = less time in the market and more time in the land of fun and sun! St. John Julie, thanks for the advice about Pine Peace market having items in smaller quantities. I think that tip will come in handy for a lot of people.

We have found that the villas usually don't have enough dishwasher detergent and often laundry detergent. What we do is bring a handful of dishwasher tablets. Yes, a few laundry sheets also.
And a few tide detergent travel packs (about $1 each). That keeps us from having to buy an overpriced container at the store which we would only use a small portion. And we don't want to drag a bottle from home with us either.

Diana2 wrote: You can count on there being beach towels and beach chairs but you can never plan on the chairs being in good condition. If they are unusable, call the agency and they will usually replace any broken chairs.

We have had bad luck in this area. My advice is to check on both before the rep leaves. Even so, this past trip, the rep told us we were short 4 chairs (9 people in our group) and that someone would bring chairs.

I called after the 3rd day and again on the 4th, no chairs were provided. Stuff like that annoys me....

As far as supplies go, we experienced next to nothing, just tp and dredges of dish detergent to houses with absolutely everything we needed with tons of extra supplies in the pantry. Interestingly, the most expensive house (in Peter Bay) was the least stocked and the lower end houses had the most. Makes no sense.

It sort of makes sense to me. I am sure some of the higher end guests (the snobby ones or those who are kind of germ-a-phobic) consider some of this stuff (half empty containers) leftovers.

I can't remember what villa we were in, but they had a policy of getting rid of anything left behind.

Personally, I I am exceptionally grateful for just anything!

I have several good friends who wont even eat their own leftovers, which is kind of wierd to me.

djmom wrote:It sort of makes sense to me. I am sure some of the higher end guests (the snobby ones or those who are kind of germ-a-phobic) consider some of this stuff (half empty containers) leftovers.
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No, I mean there was one roll of paper towels, a squirt of dish detergent. one roll to tp in each bathroom, that sort of thing. I was surprised as our prior STJ rentals had plenty of the basics. Any rental house should have enough tp for the week.

There were several odd things at that house so I suspect the owners and management company were not working together very well.

I totally support clearing out the fridge, yuck, there is no way I am using someone else's mayo.

Salt, pepper, coffee and of course, booze is ok....

@Shell-

Obviously each house is different, so check what the house lists on the rental web site carefully and then don't be afraid to ask the rental co in advance.

Things I generally bring/buy that are generally not included:

Knives or knife sharpener
Zip loc bags (for snacks or storage)
Spices
laundry detergent
body wash/bath soap (be careful of bar soap, some cna leave a residue and cause sunburn streaks).

It's been my experience that these items can be hit or miss.

Generally we've found that most places have plenty of beach towels, but a couple of years ago we rented a place that literally provided ONE beach towel per person. Given the fact that stuff just doesn't dry out quickly we generally expect 2 per person. Last summer we were travelling with a large group and made sure that they had enough towels that each person had at least two.

We don't use beach chairs but almost every villa we've rented has had them.

Most places will also offer coolers.

Some villas only leave enough detergent to do a couple of loads of laundry (I think that way they discourage the water and electricity use).

We just go buy more detergent cause we know we're going to want to launder stuff.

It's always a good idea to check the villa cabinets, before heading to the store. I know we ALWAYS leave great stuff: olive oil, spices and anythign unopened behind. No doubt the cleaning crewe grabs some of it, but we just want someone to get use out of it!

Tinkerbelldee on another forum mentioned a product called Purex 3 in 1. It is a lightweight laundry sheet that has the laundry detergent, fabric softener, and anti-static all built in. I bought some the other day. If the product works well, I plan to throw a few sheets in a zip lock and bring it to STJ to make laundering easier. Not sure if you go by another name of this forum, Tinkerbell, but thanks for the tip and for the recent tips from DJMom, PA Girl and Gromit!