USVI-On-Line

I'm making plans for our second visit to St John next summer so I'm working on narrowing down the villa list (which fortunately is much less challenging the second time around!!). It will be myself, husband and our 14 yr old daughter, pool and a/c in the bedrooms would be a necessity and trying to keep it around $2000.

Hawksbill - Great Cruz Bay / Intima Sea - Chocolate Hole (caribbeanvilla.com)

Tesseract - Upper Choc Hole (privatehomesvi.com)

Paloma Blanca - Gift Hill (destinationstjohn)

Sea Dream - Choc Hole (vivacations)

And two other maybes on my list are Cloud Nine villa (Gift Hill) and Star Villa (Cruz Bay). Cliffside through caribbeanvilla would probably be at the top of my list but unfortunately there's no a/c.

We rented from VIVA last time and stayed in the Contant Point area overlooking the Westin and we liked the short ride into Cruz Bay. We're leaning more towards the first week of July this time so we can see the Carnival parade (last year we were there the last week of June so we saw some of the festivities but missed the parade and fireworks). Also wondering if any of these places in the Choc Hole/Gift Hill area would have good views of the fireworks?

I'm leaning mostly towards Tesseract, we seriously considered this one for our first visit but the hesitation that I continue to have is that there's a/c in only one bedroom but it has a large pool and appears to have great views although from the pictures the villa looks a bit dated.

Any advice or input on any of these villas or the Gift Hill/Chocolate Hole area would be greatly appreciated!!

We were also considering Tesseract for our trip next week, however, like you. I was thinking that it might be dated.
Unfortunately and too late, I found a very favorable review, along with some of the poster's photos of this villa on another forum.( Traveltalk online USVI forum)
I believe I read a trip report about Paloma Blanca stating that the foliage has grown up around the villa and that the views are not as good as they once were.
I am not familiar with Hawksbill or IntimaSea but the pools look very small.
We were on St John for Carnival in 2003. I dont think you will see the fireworks from any of the villas you mentioned. The best viewing spot would be from the area to the right of the ferry terminal just at the shoreline. Also from the area above Gallows Point.
Perhaps someone could advise if they can be seen from Perelandra Villa. That might be a good choice for you if it is available.

We've stayed at Villa Capiz on Gift Hill and just returned from Sundance Villa on Hart Bay which was one hill past the Westin.

We liked both areas for different reasons. The views from Gift Hill are amazing! We loved the pool and deck area at Villa Capiz. It is just perfect up there.

The view wasn't as great from Sundance, but the price was sure right. Sundance was very basic, but did have a pool and hot tub and great a/c throughout the house. We loved having the shorter drive into Cruz Bay. It's basically the view vs the drive. We don't know which we prefer.

Sundance is managed by Cloud Nine (noticed youar are considering Cloud Nine Villa) and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one of their properties. The villa was perfectly clean and Marcy the manager was so helpful and very quick to respond.

Have fun picking!

Hi, Have stayed at intama sea near chocolate hole like 4 or 5 yrs. ago when it was called Sundance it was a newer villa than & very nice but the pool is very very small..... it was very clean with a great view . tesseract is right at the bottom of intama sea was not inside but checked out the outside of villa very lrg.pool with wooded area behind pool, have stayed on gift hill twice Fantastic views!!!!( Coconuts & cielo vista Highly reccomend cielo! check out thier website stjohncielovista.com will be at miles away near fish bay next spring has gotten great reviews! we alway's go in off season so rates r lower & we stay over 3wks. & get discounted on villa. good luck!!!

Hawksbill - Great Cruz Bay / Intima Sea

Last summer these were the two final villas on our list. We ended up choosing Hawksbill for a couple reasons…one, the seating area in IntimaSea is small…we had two couples that trip and IntimaSea really doesn’t have enough room for four people to hang out (I asked this question because the seating area appeared small in photos, and the villa rep confirmed it)...it looks like there is seating enough for three, so maybe it would work for you. There are two seating areas at Hawksbill (kind of like a family room and a living room). The villa rep also told me that Hawksbill has a lot more sunny deck area than Intimasea. And while others here might think the Hawksbill pool looks small from the pictures, it is actually a decent sized pool...no complaints there.

Below is what I posted about Hawksbill several months ago when someone asked…
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I stayed at Hawksbill for 10 days about 6 months ago...what do you want to know?

A couple comments that I can think of off the top of my head...

- There is a wonderful, sweet black kitty who "lives" at Hawksbill...she'd be waiting for us in the tree by the front every night when we got back from the beach. I fed her twice daily while we were there and left a supply of cat food when we left...she is such a sweet kitty!

- It is very easy to lock yourself out at Hawksbill...the front door can get accidentally locked, so we hid a key outside (we had two couples staying there, and one person or another got locked out like 10 times!)

- The washing machine and dryer are on the lower level (they're the only thing on the lower level)...bring detergent if you intend to wash clothes, as we had to buy some that was pretty pricey.

Here are some pictures that I happen to have saved from our trip:

The view from Hawksbill:


The kitty:


The entrance to Hawksbill:


One of the master bathrooms at Hawksbill:


If you have any more questions about Hawksbill, let me know and I'd be happy to answer them

We stayed at Paloma Blanca in 2005. The view from the south side of the villa was absolutely breath-taking. I'm not sure that could change much as the the south side drops steeply away from the villa, but you never know. We enjoyed the pool and the hot tub was great!

Thanks so much for all the replies, they were all really helpful although I still haven't made up my mind for certain. I'm still leaning pretty heavily towards Tesseract but haven't completely ruled out Hawksbill, Paloma, Sea Dream and Cloud Nine. I crossed Intima Sea off my list because of the small pool.

Of course, just coming back from Cloud 9 last week, that would be my choice! The views are fabulous if you like beautiful sunsets over St. Thomas.
Pool, spa & A/C worked great and 15 minutes to get to town or north shore beaches!

Good Luck on your decision!