Part I: Do you know St. John has wild donkeys? 7/6 - 7/13
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:26 pm
Part I: “Do you know that St. John has wild donkeys?”
I told my husband about the donkeys when we booked back in January. I was excited about the possibility of seeing sea turtles, rays, and mongoose dem – who wouldn’t be? – but for some reason the charm of driving along a winding, hilly road canopied with dense foliage, rounding a corner and coming upon a passel of donkeys appealed to me. I was determined to find the donkeys.
But I digress. We never really need a reason to travel, but this trip was for a special event. We went to St. John to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. St. John wasn’t our goal when we started planning, but we found a great hotwire deal at the Westin for $79 a night back in January and jumped on it. Yes, it was an amazing deal and it will never happen again. Combine that with our Spirit airfare ($299 with all taxes from Atlanta) and this was one inexpensive vacation.
Well, until we got to St. John, that is.
This was our first trip to St. John, excepting a brief three hour stop during a cruise vacation in 2005. I knew then that I wanted to go back. We’ve been to many Caribbean islands and our usual haunt is St. Martin. I wanted less people and a bit more activity on this trip (not that lifting fork and wine glass to mouth isn’t a great activity, but my last few trips to French St. Martin have been tough on the scale).
Our general impression of the island? We love St. John. I love St. Martin too, but in a different way. St. John had friendly people, visitors excited to tell you about the best places on “their” island, cool animals, great snorkeling, and uncrowded beaches. We’ll be back. I can’t say St. John is the only place for me – I’m too much of a foodie and frankly St. John does lack a bit in the restaurant department – but we will make return visits in the future.
This installment will be “just the facts.” Here are the details on travel and accommodations.
Spirit Airlines: I’ve heard mixed reviews about this self-described budget airline and their constant add-ons for checked baggage, drinks, etc. I have to say, Spirit was one of the most pleasant flying experiences I’ve had in a long time. All four of our flights were on-time, smooth (which I know the airline can’t control, but still), comfortable and cheap. What else could you want? We carried on for our week-long trip, and our suitcases fit nicely in the overhead compartment. We’ll definitely use them again.
Carry-on Only: We did it. I am anything but low maintenance, and I still took too many clothes. We were quickly ushered into a cab with other carry-on only folks and driven directly to Red Hook. We made the 3:00 pm ferry and were on our way.
St. John Car Rental: Holy car rental racket. We liked STJ Car Rental just fine. Our candy apple red Wrangler was reliable and shiny, but just shy of $500 for a WEEK? Seriously? I’m used to St. Martin, where car rental is less than $250 per week in high season. But I digress, we used their lot and never had an issue. I’d recommend this company to anyone needing a car rental on St. John. It’s not like any of the others are less expensive.
Coconut Coast Villas: We stayed there our first night, as I was only able to get six nights at the Westin at $79, and flatly refused on principle to pay $400 for one night when the other six nights were only $600 with taxes. Call me cheap, just don’t call me stupid.
Coconut Coast was nice but basic. If I really needed to getaway and didn’t have much cash on hand I might consider it for a whole week. The pool is lacking (which I know we all go to St. John for the beaches but it is nice to have a refreshing pool to come back to), the neighborhood is local and a bit cramped, but the proximity to Cruz Bay is excellent and the ocean views are beautiful.
Our room had great A/C and a comfortable bed, but I woke up at 5:30 the first morning because I could hear birds through the jalousie windows. Not an unpleasant alarm (and my excitement may have contributed to my early wake-up), but worth noting if you are a light sleeper. Management is very friendly and helpful and a great island guide prepared by Coconut Coast is in each room.
The Westin: I told myself I wouldn’t be critical of this resort since we paid $79 a night. However, I couldn’t help but think “how would I view this place if I paid full price?” A tip for everyone out there: please don’t pay full price to stay at this place. It’s not worth it. This is not, I repeat, NOT a $500+ per night place. The Four Seasons in Maui is worth $500 a night. The Westin on St. John is not. If you’re going to pay that, rent a luxury villa. End of rant. You do what you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Upon arrival, our room wasn’t ready. No biggie, we didn’t expect it to be as it was around 9:30 in the morning. We checked our bags with the bag check folks and headed to check out the grounds. The hotel grounds are nice, I’ll give the place that, and we were bombarded with golf carts whizzing by asking if we needed a ride. We later joked that the Westin front desk must have sprayed us with “new person” scent, because that morning enough people couldn’t seem to say hi and ask if we needed a ride, but it never happened again. We dress properly, don’t smell, and are overall pretty normal 30-year old couple, but we were largely ignored after that first morning. Go figure. Maybe we had “$79 a night” scent on us or something.
After our day out (to Maho, lunch at Sun Dog – but more on that in later installments), we returned and were assigned to Room 2126 in Building 21. This building backed up to the construction, but we never heard much, aside from a few trucks backing up. The building was nice and we had a partial ocean view. We didn’t have a “renovated” room, but it was nice.
The clientele at the Westin was about what I expected. Most people seemed nice, but there were a ton of kids and teens. Most were well-behaved (I’m talking about the kids, but there were some ill-behaved adults as well), but there was the occasional spoiled brat sporting $500 sunglasses mouthing off to mommy. Nice. We did have two bad encounters with Westin clientele, one where a drunk guy kept making racist comments abut the hotel staff and another where a yelling match ensued over bad cell phone etiquette. These events served as a reminder that sometimes the phrase “Ugly American” is entirely warranted.
The Westin pool was too crowded for my taste and we never used it except for early morning or late afternoon. It was a beautiful pool with warm water, but just a lot of people. The beach was so-so. The Westin seems to want to keep everyone on-site and I did notice there were people who stayed at the Westin pool all day, every day. Why they didn’t just go to Florida confuses me, but hey, it’s their money.
Service at the Westin was spotty and just plain weird. I didn’t expect much, and my expectations were met. It seems like they have a lot of 20-something Americans who are seasonal workers there and aren’t trained very well. The concierge staff is not terribly effective – they didn’t have flight information for St. Thomas (and were unable to point me to the computer specifically for flights placed near the watersports desk) nor did they willing give directions to any location. It was always – “get in a taxi and ask the driver.” Gee thanks, but we have a car. I just stopped asking for assistance as it wasn’t worth the hassle. We even made our own dinner reservations because we were tired of being asked about our “welcome gift” (read: timeshare trap).
Maid service was bad. We tipped the maid, but clearly she didn’t think it was enough. We were denied washcloths, a bath mat, and she never put our ironing board up. We were only in the room about an hour a day aside from sleeping and getting ready, so it didn’t really matter, but still. If I’d paid $500 a night, I’d be ticked.
Westin rant over, it really wasn’t all bad. But I wouldn’t pay full price to stay there. It was perfectly acceptable for $79 a night. But next time, I’m definitely getting a villa.
TEASER ALERT:
The second installment will come tomorrow… the first half of our trip. I’ll cover Maho, Leinster, Waterlemon, New Horizons II, Rhumblines, Morgan’s Mango, The Beach Bar, Skinny Leg’s, Baked in the Sun, a friendly mongoose named “Bob,” and a sea turtle the size of a Honda Civic (okay, that’s pepper). And what about those donkeys, anyway? Just where do they hang out?
A tasty bit for your viewing pleasure, Maho Bay on 7/7/07. Way better than Eva and Tony's wedding, if I do say so myself:
[/b]
I told my husband about the donkeys when we booked back in January. I was excited about the possibility of seeing sea turtles, rays, and mongoose dem – who wouldn’t be? – but for some reason the charm of driving along a winding, hilly road canopied with dense foliage, rounding a corner and coming upon a passel of donkeys appealed to me. I was determined to find the donkeys.
But I digress. We never really need a reason to travel, but this trip was for a special event. We went to St. John to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. St. John wasn’t our goal when we started planning, but we found a great hotwire deal at the Westin for $79 a night back in January and jumped on it. Yes, it was an amazing deal and it will never happen again. Combine that with our Spirit airfare ($299 with all taxes from Atlanta) and this was one inexpensive vacation.
Well, until we got to St. John, that is.
This was our first trip to St. John, excepting a brief three hour stop during a cruise vacation in 2005. I knew then that I wanted to go back. We’ve been to many Caribbean islands and our usual haunt is St. Martin. I wanted less people and a bit more activity on this trip (not that lifting fork and wine glass to mouth isn’t a great activity, but my last few trips to French St. Martin have been tough on the scale).
Our general impression of the island? We love St. John. I love St. Martin too, but in a different way. St. John had friendly people, visitors excited to tell you about the best places on “their” island, cool animals, great snorkeling, and uncrowded beaches. We’ll be back. I can’t say St. John is the only place for me – I’m too much of a foodie and frankly St. John does lack a bit in the restaurant department – but we will make return visits in the future.
This installment will be “just the facts.” Here are the details on travel and accommodations.
Spirit Airlines: I’ve heard mixed reviews about this self-described budget airline and their constant add-ons for checked baggage, drinks, etc. I have to say, Spirit was one of the most pleasant flying experiences I’ve had in a long time. All four of our flights were on-time, smooth (which I know the airline can’t control, but still), comfortable and cheap. What else could you want? We carried on for our week-long trip, and our suitcases fit nicely in the overhead compartment. We’ll definitely use them again.
Carry-on Only: We did it. I am anything but low maintenance, and I still took too many clothes. We were quickly ushered into a cab with other carry-on only folks and driven directly to Red Hook. We made the 3:00 pm ferry and were on our way.
St. John Car Rental: Holy car rental racket. We liked STJ Car Rental just fine. Our candy apple red Wrangler was reliable and shiny, but just shy of $500 for a WEEK? Seriously? I’m used to St. Martin, where car rental is less than $250 per week in high season. But I digress, we used their lot and never had an issue. I’d recommend this company to anyone needing a car rental on St. John. It’s not like any of the others are less expensive.
Coconut Coast Villas: We stayed there our first night, as I was only able to get six nights at the Westin at $79, and flatly refused on principle to pay $400 for one night when the other six nights were only $600 with taxes. Call me cheap, just don’t call me stupid.
Coconut Coast was nice but basic. If I really needed to getaway and didn’t have much cash on hand I might consider it for a whole week. The pool is lacking (which I know we all go to St. John for the beaches but it is nice to have a refreshing pool to come back to), the neighborhood is local and a bit cramped, but the proximity to Cruz Bay is excellent and the ocean views are beautiful.
Our room had great A/C and a comfortable bed, but I woke up at 5:30 the first morning because I could hear birds through the jalousie windows. Not an unpleasant alarm (and my excitement may have contributed to my early wake-up), but worth noting if you are a light sleeper. Management is very friendly and helpful and a great island guide prepared by Coconut Coast is in each room.
The Westin: I told myself I wouldn’t be critical of this resort since we paid $79 a night. However, I couldn’t help but think “how would I view this place if I paid full price?” A tip for everyone out there: please don’t pay full price to stay at this place. It’s not worth it. This is not, I repeat, NOT a $500+ per night place. The Four Seasons in Maui is worth $500 a night. The Westin on St. John is not. If you’re going to pay that, rent a luxury villa. End of rant. You do what you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Upon arrival, our room wasn’t ready. No biggie, we didn’t expect it to be as it was around 9:30 in the morning. We checked our bags with the bag check folks and headed to check out the grounds. The hotel grounds are nice, I’ll give the place that, and we were bombarded with golf carts whizzing by asking if we needed a ride. We later joked that the Westin front desk must have sprayed us with “new person” scent, because that morning enough people couldn’t seem to say hi and ask if we needed a ride, but it never happened again. We dress properly, don’t smell, and are overall pretty normal 30-year old couple, but we were largely ignored after that first morning. Go figure. Maybe we had “$79 a night” scent on us or something.
After our day out (to Maho, lunch at Sun Dog – but more on that in later installments), we returned and were assigned to Room 2126 in Building 21. This building backed up to the construction, but we never heard much, aside from a few trucks backing up. The building was nice and we had a partial ocean view. We didn’t have a “renovated” room, but it was nice.
The clientele at the Westin was about what I expected. Most people seemed nice, but there were a ton of kids and teens. Most were well-behaved (I’m talking about the kids, but there were some ill-behaved adults as well), but there was the occasional spoiled brat sporting $500 sunglasses mouthing off to mommy. Nice. We did have two bad encounters with Westin clientele, one where a drunk guy kept making racist comments abut the hotel staff and another where a yelling match ensued over bad cell phone etiquette. These events served as a reminder that sometimes the phrase “Ugly American” is entirely warranted.
The Westin pool was too crowded for my taste and we never used it except for early morning or late afternoon. It was a beautiful pool with warm water, but just a lot of people. The beach was so-so. The Westin seems to want to keep everyone on-site and I did notice there were people who stayed at the Westin pool all day, every day. Why they didn’t just go to Florida confuses me, but hey, it’s their money.
Service at the Westin was spotty and just plain weird. I didn’t expect much, and my expectations were met. It seems like they have a lot of 20-something Americans who are seasonal workers there and aren’t trained very well. The concierge staff is not terribly effective – they didn’t have flight information for St. Thomas (and were unable to point me to the computer specifically for flights placed near the watersports desk) nor did they willing give directions to any location. It was always – “get in a taxi and ask the driver.” Gee thanks, but we have a car. I just stopped asking for assistance as it wasn’t worth the hassle. We even made our own dinner reservations because we were tired of being asked about our “welcome gift” (read: timeshare trap).
Maid service was bad. We tipped the maid, but clearly she didn’t think it was enough. We were denied washcloths, a bath mat, and she never put our ironing board up. We were only in the room about an hour a day aside from sleeping and getting ready, so it didn’t really matter, but still. If I’d paid $500 a night, I’d be ticked.
Westin rant over, it really wasn’t all bad. But I wouldn’t pay full price to stay there. It was perfectly acceptable for $79 a night. But next time, I’m definitely getting a villa.
TEASER ALERT:
The second installment will come tomorrow… the first half of our trip. I’ll cover Maho, Leinster, Waterlemon, New Horizons II, Rhumblines, Morgan’s Mango, The Beach Bar, Skinny Leg’s, Baked in the Sun, a friendly mongoose named “Bob,” and a sea turtle the size of a Honda Civic (okay, that’s pepper). And what about those donkeys, anyway? Just where do they hang out?
A tasty bit for your viewing pleasure, Maho Bay on 7/7/07. Way better than Eva and Tony's wedding, if I do say so myself:
[/b]
