USVI-On-Line

I will be traveling in July with 3 girlfriends that have never been to STJ. I want them to have the time of their lives, so I'm trying to problem solve before we get their. (Yes, I'm a worrier)

Do most restaruants and bars frown on seperate checks? I know we will all want to use our credit cards whenever we can. That is how we get our miles to travel and it's easier than carrying a wad of cash. I thought about taking turns picking up the tab each meal, but one lady in particular is notorios for having a tab that's half of everyone elses. She's more of an appetizer and 2 beers type of gal. Let's just say I'm not and leave it at that.

Thanks again for your advice!

How do you that have traveled with friends handle this delicate situation.

I for one think this is a great question not only for your trip but also for our SOTB trip. I'm a credit card girl myself and usually don't carry much cash. I personally don't care what the bill is and who had what, when it's my turn I pay. I know not everyone is like that. Hopefully someone can give us a few good ideas!! Thanks for asking a great question

XOXO
Bug

Whenever I go out with girlfriends, we usually just split the bill equally. But there are times when one person drinks ALOT more, or eats alot less. In those cases, I would look at the bill, see what I owe and then pay accordingly based on what I ordered and drank.( and hope it adds up!) I cannot see doing this with 2 credit cards tho. As a former waitress, it was inconvenient to write 3 separate checks and then try to keep track of who had this drink, and did this person order the dessert. When you travel with other people, you have to give and take. That may mean paying with cash and not credit cards. Have a pow-wow with your friends and decide how to do it.

That is a very delicate situation sometimes.
Don't worry, for the Six on the Beach tour, it sounds like our tabs will be similar.

Maybe you could take turns, but let her take one less turn. ?? One person could charge and the others could pay cash to the person with the credit card and each could take turns using their credit cards. I don't know. If you discuss it before you go, it would bring it all out in the open at home and you will just have fun on STJ!

I believe that if you state up front that you would like to have separate checks, the wait-person will greatly appreciate this. He/she will be able to put the full order in all at once (so that you get your food all at the same time) but he/she can use whatever system they have to separate the checks. I, too, have been in the restaurant business and the most difficult thing (as far as logistics are concerned) is to find out AFTER the bill has been tabulated, that it needs to be divided.

So, just say: "We'd like separate checks."

Some establishments do put the tip on automatically for this, so check that when you are signing off.

Marcia (Mrs. Pete)

As a former St John waitress and a almost life long restaurant business person, seperate checks are a pain in the a$$.
If there is not a computer, that means trying to figure out each persons total with a calculator. On a busy night trying to figure out who had what can just set you over the edge when you have 6 other tables that need you.

Not to sound like a pain, but just splitting the bill is so much easier. With all tht issues we had on our last trip, this was not one of them. One night we spent more, the next night the other couple was up. It all worked out in the wash. We would hand our server 2 cards and ask them to split the bill.

I know it can be a hassle. Always ask ahead of time if you can have seperate checks.

I think it's a great idea to talk to your friends ahead of time about how to handle this. Your friend who usually eats and drinks less will appreciate that someone else brought it up.

I have been in a few situations where someone said "let's split the bill evenly" and that person was the one who ordered the most expensive meal and the most drinks. I always feel bad for the person who had a salad and a glass of water and is paying for someone else's lobster and vino!

Thanks for all your input. I agree with everything I've read from all of you. I told the ladies earlier today that we need to have lunch and discuss a lot of things, that just being one of them. I think we will politely ask if we can have seperate checks and if not then we will need to be prepared to pay cash.

What we have done for all of out trips is to agree before hand that ALL expenses (excluding any personal) would be split equally. A reciept would be taken and whoever paid for the bill would write their name on the back and all reciepts would be put togheter. At the conclusion of the trip we total up the entire amount and devide by how many people and now know how much we all owe. Our names are on the reciepts so we add up what we all paid individually and settle up that way. We feel that this way it probably all evens out in the end and it has worked for us.

I don't think I've ever witnessed four men asking for separate checks.

We do like Mark does, except we keep a running list on scrap paper at the villa. One couple buys dinner, the other gets some provisions, the first gets road brew... whatever, we just take turns. We take a look in the last few days of the trip and try to even things out with our spending, and we're always within $100 of each other by the end of the trip - which is easy to settle up with ferry, cab and tip on the way to the airport.

We run a kitty like Mark mentions for house and grocery expenses for our group trips. Meals out get more complex. Seperate checks are frowned on everywhere I go, not just STJ. So, we split the tab. There's usually a couple of type As that want to figure out what everyone owes. That's a joy kill for me. I put in extra money to cover the inevitable tightwad under-paying and under-tipping. I carry cash because someone else always wants to use credit.

The solution that I finally found was to travel with friends who don't sweat these kinds of things.

Cheers, RickG

RickG wrote: The solution that I finally found was to travel with friends who don't sweat these kinds of things.

Cheers, RickG

Ding ding ding .. that is the sound of RickG once again hitting the proverbial nail on the head! It works wonders.

RickG wrote:There's usually a couple of type As that want to figure out what everyone owes. That's a joy kill for me. I put in extra money to cover the inevitable tightwad under-paying and under-tipping. I carry cash because someone else always wants to use credit.


Cheers, RickG

A joy kill is a major understatment! Charlie is involoved in our local community theatre in town. He does lights and sets and stuff. One night all the "theatre people" were going out to dinner so we joined. We got to the restaurant first, they seated us and we proceeded to order a few cocktails. Then everyone else came and ordered water or soda. No offense but I knew then we were in trouble. The check came (mind you we were like a party of 18 ) and people started passing the bill around and adding on napkins. With that Charlie threw $100 on the table (WAY over what we owed) and told the rest of them to have at it! That was the last time we went out with that group

We did find a way to get past this issue. We ar enot going to travel with friends again