Doing things different this time

SamanthaL · Post by **SamanthaL** » Fri May 16, 2014 3:44 pm

Hello all, it's been many many years since I have posted here... so many that either I forgot my sign in name and password or I was deleted.
My husband and I just decided to book our 5th trip to St John. Our last one was in 2006!
Anyway, we normally travel in or around May and rent villa and a car on St John. This year we are going at the end of October/early November time frame. We are going to be using American Express points to cover most of the trip, so we decided to stay at the Westin. Normally I would never be interested in staying there but in addition to plane tickets and rental car being covered by points we should be able to get at least 4 nights at the Westin.
We will be staying for a week and we are trying to decide if we want to stay at the Westin for the whole trip and pay out of pocket for the nights not covered by points, or stay somewhere less expensive like the Cruz Bay Boutique Hotel. We will have a rental car so where ever we stay we will need parking, I'm assuming there is no parking at the CB hotel, correct?
Also, something new to us is renting a car in STT and taking the car barge.
Any input? How easy or difficult is it to find the car barges in Red Hook? We are used to getting a taxi to Charlotte Amalie.
Any other input would be great regarding traveling in October vs May. Similar crowds?
Thanks in advance, I am excited to be back in ST JOHN mode!!!!!

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Fri May 16, 2014 4:16 pm

I wonder if you can use points for through this Amex site?

http://villas.americanexpressvacations. ... let/Search

jerseygirl062 · Post by **jerseygirl062** » Fri May 16, 2014 4:20 pm

We fall on the STT side of the car rental equasion. We just find it so convenient to put the bags in the car once and drive right off the barge onto St. John and right to the villa. The ferry fares and per bag charges have risen so it's also pretty comparable when you consider no taxi, ferry and tips. We usually rent from Discount which will have a mechanic look at your car on St. John if an issue. They have new model jeeps and we've never had a problem. The barge is easy to find at Red Hook.
I remember reading some trip reports not too long ago (maybe here, maybe tripadvisor forum) and the poster spoke fondly of their stay at the Westin and enjoying private time by the pool with cocktails each evening. I'm sure you will have a blast. Since you have a car you can be anywhere on island during the day.
Maybe consider a few days in the Coral Bay area if you can find someone to rent for three days.
We like traveling in the fall. The crowds are less - you may find some restaurants closed in Oct. but many still open and you are pretty safely past the worst of the hurricaine season.
Enjoy

SamanthaL · Post by **SamanthaL** » Fri May 16, 2014 4:26 pm

PA Girl wrote:I wonder if you can use points for through this Amex site?

http://villas.americanexpressvacations. ... let/Search

HMmmmmmm, I wonder if rewards can be used for that! I will look, thank you!

SamanthaL · Post by **SamanthaL** » Fri May 16, 2014 4:59 pm

Just found out that I can use rewards for the villas, but it just wouldn't make sense for us financially. We could use 30,000 points/night at the Westin (210,000 for a week), but for a villa it would be 134 points per $1, so as an example a $2500/week villa would be 335,000 points.

Thank you for that info though!

Capn Dan and Ruby · Post by **Capn Dan and Ruby** » Sat May 17, 2014 7:59 am

On where to stay ... we are trying out Lavendar hill for a few days this trip. They are every reasonable and have a kitchen. Haven't done it yet so watch for my review.

usvi-on-line