USVI-On-Line

My wife and I are hoping to make our 3rd trip to St. John in early 2008. Both prior trips we stayed at the Westin, one time with our then 6 month old.

We would like to get a villa for us, our now 4 year old and her baby sister/brother who will be ~9 months old by then, and one set of grandparents. So 4 adults, 2 kids = 3-5 bedrooms.

The villa should be kid friendly, have a crib, a wading/toddler pool and play area would be a plus, a hot tub for us would be great. Don't have a preference for location. Cost is not the primary concern.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

I can't offer any recommendations but I will share some thoughts on our "toddler-friendly" rental in February. The agent said it would be good for kids but in reality, it really wasn't.

It had crank-out, floor to ceiling windows inside and out that had sharp corners right at eye level. It never would have occured to me that we would encounter joulise windows that openned to the inside of the house.

The house we rented had a pool, which we all really enjoyed. There was no safety gate or cover.

The house was basically open to the deck area, the only barrier being walls of screened doors, which are basically worthless as a means of kid-containment.

The entire patio was tiled. When wet, this made for a very slippery surface. The patio was essentially the only outdoor area for play.

If a pool cover and kid-friendly design of the house in general is important for your family's enjoyment and piece of mind, make sure you really question the rental agent on the subject.

These factors didn't impact our enjoyment in any way, except for the wet tile wipe outs, but are things I now know to ask about next time.

I haven't come across a villa with a toddler or wading pool or a play area but would be very interested in learning about one. I hope someone can give you some recommendations that fit the bill.

This trip, we travelling with our own toddler bed but last year, a different agency provided a nice, clean pack-and-play with linens free of charge.

DELETED

DELETED

If anyone wants a high end child friendly villa, you could try Hakuna Matatta--belive they have a childrens pool also.

We stayed at Great Expectations in Feb. w/5 kids, one of which was a 3-yr old. I would say the villa is definitely kid-friendly. The pool is right outside of the great room building, BR buildings on either side of the great room, nice hot tub, small wading pool in addition to the slightly larger, slightly deeper pool. Everything on one level. I believe a crib, pack-n-play, high chair could all be available. The bedroom buildings each have 2 BR, 2BA. The bedrooms do not have access to each other through a connecting door, but the slider doors are pretty much right next to each other.

We booked directly through the owners...very nice to work with. I'd be happy to answer any other questions.