USVI-On-Line

Long time reader, infrequent poster, thought it would be time to share. This board was very helpful in putting together this trip, and thanks to everyone that shares details.

My wife and I made our second trip to St. John last week. First time was 3 years ago at Caneel Bay. I've seen the mixed reviews on Caneel, but we absolutely loved the place. We stayed on their grounds almost every day, only renting a car one day to see the island. We would've happily done it again, but thought we'd try a different approach. This time we stayed at a villa.

TRAVEL
Easy down and back from Cincinnati through Atlanta on Delta. Plane arrived early a little before 2PM, we grabbed our bags, and made the 3PM Red Hook ferry. It would not have been possible without a private taxi. Our villa company recommended Bazile's Taxi Service (340)771-5759 and he was great. He was there waiting as we walked into baggage, drove straight to the dock, and also picked us up at Red Hook on the return. Also great commentary on the ride to Red Hook.

VILLA
Based on comments from this board and other boards, we stayed at Splendore through Lisa at Vacation Vistas. What a wonderful place!! You can tell the owners care for their villa. I honestly cannot think of one thing to complain about. The pictures on the website do not do it justice. The views are great (too far from the ocean to hear waves). It is very private. It has a pool and hot tub. The pool was just about right at 5PM. While only the bedrooms had AC, we never needed to use it. The breezes this week were great. Simply loved this villa, and would rent it again in a heartbeat. Lisa Durgin from VV met us at the dock, took us to the rental car (more in a moment) and then on to the villa. She toured the villa with us, pointed out important places on the map, and was off. I think we were officially on vacation a little after 4PM.

RENTAL CAR
Rented a jeep through Cool Breeze. Again, Lisa helped arrange and even had a discount. No issues with the car. With her help, we were only at the rental office (shack) for about 5 minutes before we had the jeep and were off to the villa.

BEACHES
We spend our days on the beaches, and really try not to do anything else. Having done the research, we tried to see about every beach on our list. In hindsight, I should have probably narrowed the list. For most of the week, we visited a beach in the morning, ate lunch somewhere, and then went to another beach. Next time, we'll do what we did the last day: same beach morning and afternoon. Favorites: Francis Bay and Cinnamon Bay. Also went to Jumbie, Trunk (only walked, did not swim), Maho, the Westin and Hawksnest. So many more on the list that we just did not have time to visit. The best snorkeling for me was at Cinnamon (around the cay) and Maho/Francis (turtles).

FOOD
We are not on vacation to wait on ourselves, so we eat out for lunch and dinner. We did visit the Dolphin market for water and enough snacks and breakfast items to last the week. Also, rum and pina colada mix. All the necessities.
I think we did pretty good on our choices. Lunch was Skinny Legs (twice!), the Westin, Caneel and the Beach Bar. Dinner was the Stone Terrace, Waterfront Bistro, Zozo's, La Tapa and Lime Inn (3 times!). All were very good, we just love the atmosphere and food at Lime Inn. Made it for shrimp night, and just as good as I remember. It says something when the owner recognizes you from your one visit a few nights before, and Rich (I think that is right) is perfect for the place they've created. Food is great, service is great; I could eat there every day and be just fine.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Walked the Caneel/Margaret trail the one cloudy day. Great walk, until we almost made Caneel Bay and the downpour started. It poured the rest of the day!

Took a sunset cruise with Captain Craig on Calypso. Nice cruise, good appeitizers and drinks. Well worth it.

Took in the timeshare presentation at the Westin. We usually avoid these like the plague, but Pat at the booth in town provided incentives that we felt were worth the time. It only lasted 2 hours, and it was actually very interesting. The new timeshares they are building are very nice. Jennifer (the timeshare presenter) was not pushy, and when we said no, the presentation was over. Like I said, I think it was worth the time.

WEATHER
A great week. Rained one day (monsoon!), but every other day was partly cloudy in the low 80s.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Hopefully it will not be another 3 years until we go back. It was a great week. I'll be glad to answer any questions. Hopefully this will help as others are putting together their vacation.

I am so glad you enjoyed Splendore - we loved it!!But have not been able to return because our next vactions on STJ have been w/our teenage children and we need twin beds for them. So now we stay at Long View which has twin beds in the second bedroom. Maybe next year for our 25th anniversary we will return Splendore!!!

What a great report ! we were intersted in splendore when booking last yr, but was not available, we ended up with Beautiful Miles Away! will b there for 3 1/2 wks. ! can't wait !! but will b checking out splendore along with some others while on island. Thanks for info. !! glad all was great for u & hope u get back soon !!

Hey, thanks for the great trip report!

Nice report thanks Were are ya from?

Thanks for the trip report!

Glad to hear you liked Splendore. I have raved about it in the past and after our last trip (not at Splendore) I am even more impressed with the quality of the house and finishings.

I remember Lisa raving about the owners. She said they spent a lot of time (months) at the house and want everything perfect.

Thanks for the report. I do have a question. We've stayed in villas on other islands, but stayed at the Westin on our first trip to St. John b/c of a great room rate found on a discount site.

We're going back in October, and are trying to decide between a villa and Gallows Point. Since you've done the "resort" thing on STJ and the villa option (and clearly loved your villa and Caneel), which would you do next time and why?

Excellent Trip Report! Thanks! Can I ask what those incentives were at the Westin? Hubby and I were planning on checking it out. Thanks!

We also plan on dining at the Lime Inn and would like to hear more?

Thanks for the trip report! It sounds like you had a nice time.

Splendore is on my short list for a future trip. I have not heard one bad thing about it.

Sounds like a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing.

Just checking back with a few answers:

We're from Northern KY.

On the question on a resort versus a villa, that's a great question. My wife and I actually had this discussion on the island, and could not decide. I think it was actually a toss-up. We liked the beaches and setup of Caneel, but we loved Splendore as well. Having the villa actually pushed us to explore the island more, so I think that would lean me to the villa. Next time we're likely to bring the kids, which will probably push us to a villa. My first shot will be at Splendore if we can get it.

As for Westin incentives, we were able to get a dinner on the island out of them.

Finally, I do have pictures. Still recovering from vacation, so look for pictures from Splendore and the island next week.

Thanks.

Thanks Goracers for your report...we will now give the Lime Inn another go. It had been our favorite rest for years, but we went last year twice and were disappointed each time. We'd been debating...

Lastyear we rented a villa and it didn't happen this year as our other folks cancelled so we planned on St Thomas this year. totally lucked out and got a last minute villa at the Westin from an owner with only a week to spare so here we are. Posting from the Westin tonight where we stayed in with BBQ chicken from the Starfish market...

This is for the question on which is preferred...villa, hotel, or condo.
We also rented though Lisa at VV last year and it was great, didn't think anything could be better. While a villa was nice...we are def into the condo here. We've been coming to STJ for almost 10 years...we've done the Westin htl a numberof times, a week at Gallows, the villa and now a condo at the Westin.
Let me just say, this condo comes with the benefits of a resort. This resort is in the middle of paradise. It doesn't get better for us. Last year it was nice in the villa, but its water rationing there...comes with critters and it was way too much like being at home workwise. Here it's all the comforts of the westin with all the benefits of the home, pool, kitchen, etc. We ate last night at ZOZO's and it was excellent (our first time there), talked about how much we loved Gallows property also but with kids the westin works better. We are a family of three BTW. Can't speak for Caneel as we've never stayed there, would like to someday but worry with kids it's more a quiet romantic type of destination.

We're finding the island busier than ever this year, we went to Maho beach yesterday and it was hard to find a place to sit, we remember the first time we came years ago and we the only ones on the beach for hours...guess thta is referred to as the "good ole days"...

Trip is going way too fast as it always does though...already planning next year...