anyone ever been to Villa Bijou at Great Cruz Bay?

[nikkiyipp]

booking a trip for next year and was wondering if anyone has been to this villa

thanks

[cypressgirl]

It is in my top 3 for June. I don't know much about it except Lisa Durgin from Vacation Vistas told me she really didn't want to take on another rental, but when she saw it she fell in love with it. I'm a bit worried about bugs and skeeters if it happens to be a rainy season. It has ac in the living areas, but she told me the unit that was installed is too small to keep it cool during the day. I think you'd have to keep all the sliders open to not sweat to death. But I'm a baby about being hot and sticky, so I may not be the one to ask about that.

[iowaguy]

Hi--We are going to St. John next Spring Break and our good friends have rented Villa Bijou (and we are staying just up the hill in Indigo). I like this location, because its close to town, has nice western sunset views, and a vista of sailboats in the bay. Although the house appears to be brand new, I believe it was an older home that was completely gutted and remodeled. Lisa told us that there was nothing really left of the original house except the walls and roof---even with the walls, additional stonework has been added.The floors, pool and pool deck were gutted and installed new also. The kitchen and baths are new, which was viewed as a big benefit by our friends. I like the look of the house with the big open great room. The lack of A/C in the great room wouldn't really bother me----thats the way most houses are in St. John. Also, we're going in March and its not quite as hot as in summer. One thing I would note about the house is that the two upper bedrooms don't appear to have an ocean view, if thats important to you.

[cypressgirl]

Iowaguy, I think you are going to STJ the BEST month. Not that there are any bad ones, but March is just wonderful! It's usually pretty dry (bad for residents though), it's not too hot, the water is perfect, no haze, no worry of hurricanes. I wish I were going Spring Break.

[iowaguy]

Thanks Cypressgirl--we're looking forward to it. I have to choose wisely since I only can seem to manage one trip a year instead of 3 trips a year like some people on the Forum!

By the way, have you checked out "Indigo" for your trip next Summer? Its right near Villa Bijou, but has full A/C in the great room. They have new pictures of it on Destination St. John website.

[cypressgirl]

Actually Iowaguy, I've had my eye on Indigo for a while. I looks absolutely perfect! Since I've traveled to STJ so many times as of late, I was trying to keep the cost down. If Jace goes with us that bumps it up to the 5 person rate, which is a little more than I wanted to spend. But in the scheme of things, what's a few hundred more dollars. Right??

[cypressgirl]

I took another look at the Indigo web site. Are you sure it has ac in the great room? I didn't see that mentioned.

[iowaguy]

Yes---Mike from Jackson, Miss mentioned the A/C in the great room at Indigo. Honestly, its not an issue for us----we just liked the look of the great room, the porch, the pool, and weve never stayed at a brand new villa in St. John. Here was Mike's post:

Just got back from another week in SJ.We stayed at Indigo Villa.I didn't notice when I booked it that it was completely AC'd.
WOW
Never experienced anything as wonderful as that.No sweating cooking at night,fixing coffee in the morning was an enjoyable task,laying on the sofa watching TV and almost wanting a blanket.All new experiences for me.
Now the problem is how can we go back to a normal villa w/o AC.Some of our favorite places are up in Catherineberg with no AC.Should we just slip over to the Dark Side and be spoiled tourist on SJ and stay at total AC villas or continue our tree hugging purist attitudes and experience SJ as it is meant to be.Or do you even care?
Never Mind
Just ramblings of a totally depressed individual who realizes that it will be at least 10 months before he can even think about laying on Frances Beach again.
P.S. Indigo Villa was a wonderful place to stay and I would highly recommend it.We have never stayed on that side of the island before in amongst all the other villas but it was really neat.

[mbw1024]

Does Indigo have its own web site?

[cypressgirl]

Does Indigo have its own web site?

It does seem to have it's own web site but it's actually the Dest. St. John site.

Iowa, I slipped over to the dark side many years ago and I really love the feel of no humidity in a climate controlled kitchen. I think Indigo is perfect.

I have also stumbled across a villa called Sol Inclination that looks amazing, but it's a ways from town. It's brand new and the rates seem really low. I wonder why.

[mbw1024]

I think Knolmom is staying there soon.

[iowaguy]

Sol Inclination is beautiful too, and a better value for 5 of you. I suspect rates are a little lower than you might expect because its a new house.

Miles Away might also work for you---its about $1000 less than Indigo or Sol Inclination, and will take up to 5 people. Only 2 br though. Its gotten rave reviews on another forum, and was the other house our friends were thinking about when they rented Bijou.

[cypressgirl]

I think even if it's just the 4 of us, we need 3 bedrooms. My 2 girls are like oil and water. I'm about to show hubby the choices and see what he says.

[St. John Lover]

Can't help you with Villa Bijou (though I can tell you after 18 years of visiting St. John--the views of sunsets, sailboats, & other islands melting into the dusk at night later followed by twinkling lights is our FAVORITE view!!!).

Reason I'm posting is your line re: your kids being like "oil & water." I had 2 boys and just had to laugh & nod when I read that--my 2 boys were DEFINITELY water & oil--still are!!

[cypressgirl]

Took hubby on a stroll through the internet to check out villas. Indigo was the big winner!