USVI-On-Line

Since every vacation I have planned this year had been put on hold, I talked my husband in extending our trip to St. John in Dec.
We are timeshare owners at the Westin. Since buying the timeshare, family and friends really want to come with us. At first I was excited about owning but it did not occure to us at the time when buying that the days of being by ourselves are gone. I love my family a lot but I really miss our alone time together on St. John. So this year before the family arrives, we are going down 3 days early. Booked the airline tickets last night. So now I am searching for beachfront Hotel on St. Thomas that has great snorkeling. The Ritz Carlton is too expensive. Any suggestions? I have heard to Saphire Beach, is this a good place to start our vacation?

Sandy

Sapphire has a beautiful beach - restaurants and bars being open is iffy. Take a look at Secret Harbour - nice restaurant and beach bar, beautiful beach, decent snorkeling off to one side, good dive shop.

I have also heard that secret harbor has excellent snorkeling, although we have not gone yet. Plan to on the next trip in November. We stay at the Marriott and its not a far trip at all to S. Harbor. You might check out the Marriott's rates to see if they are worth doing. Nice grounds with a nice beach as well, just not really any snorkeling right on their beach.

Sandy, I can't help you with STT hotels but have you considered extending your stay at The Westin? We got a GREAT rate for 3 additional nights there in Dec. We will be staying in a new villa for a week beginning the Sunday of T'giving weekend and then moving over to a room for 3 additional nights. I have been led to believe they will even move us. The Westin ferry is part of our deal, so it's a nice extension with minimal interruption.

We are staying at Crystal Cove for 2 nights in Nov. We booked through bestbeach.com. I found out about it on TA and it gets great feedback. Take a look....
Lisa

How did you get a good deal at the Westin? We have points but they want 25,000 points a night. Seems a lot to me. The quotes I was getting is 450.00 a night with out using our points. I looked their first, but more I thought about it, I would like a place I can just go and not have a rental car and relax. Then take the ferry over to the Westin on Sunday. This is mainly to spend some time together before the friends and family come for the week. So far I'm looking at Sapphire Resort.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Sandy

My husband is a gov't employee and the rate was available for under $200/nite. I agree that 25,000 starpoints is excessive. I thot they were in the 16,000 range. We would have used points ourselves but at the rate we got it was worth the good rate and earn those points for something else. I understand the traveling alone thing...that's pretty much how we go. What part of Dec are you going to be there?

Is there a website for government employee deals? My husband works for the VA but this is the first I have heard of there being discounts available for govt employees. Thanks!

we rented a condo on cowpet bay and at the elysian hotl sor 9 days just 2 weeks ago. had a fabulous time. restaurants and bars open. nice pool.....right on the beach.....

There is a place for Gov't employees to get great vacations very cheap.
http://www.getravelop.com/html/ge_index2.asp I know someone who took advatage of this.
Bluebeard castle in St. Thomas,is listed for less than $400.00 for the whole week.
It's a way for condo's and timeshares to make money when they would sit empty.
It is just not Federal Gov't it for local Gov't employees also.
I'm self employed so I can't take advantage but hope someone here can.

I'm really trying to talk myself into Caneel, but the rates are scaring me a bit. I just want to snorkel there with out being told to leave.

We are going Nov. 27 through Dec 7. It is hard finding a place for 3 days. I'm still searching. We might just end up at the Best Western by the airport

Sandy...thanks for the gov't link. Will pass that along to my husband . I don't know if he is aware of it! We usually just look at whatever hotel we want to stay for a gov't rate. I don't think very many rooms are reserved for that rate and once they are gone, thats it for that date.

I almost said to you, why not try Caneel? It would be perfect for a few days for the 2 of you. We did that last trip in Jan. , a week at the Westin, but started out w/ 3 nites at Caneel. We snorkeled to our hearts content and spent time w/o a car, until it was time to move over to The Westin. I will do that again. We booked the lowest level room available and were upgraded to Garden view....LOVED it! We spent all of our days on their grounds, beaches, etc. I sooo look forward to doing that again!

We arrive on STJ on Nov 30 and leave Dec 10, so our trips overlap. Did you buy in the new hillside section? This will be our first "villa" at The Westin. It was still finishing up in Jan, but looked like it was going to be nice.

SC - thanks so much for the link!

Sandy,

Have you thought about staying at Estate Lindholm on STJ? We always do that a couple of extra nights either at the beginning or end of our trip.

Lauren and Brion are great; the grounds are gorgeous, it's just above Honeymoon and Soloman (if you don't mind a hike back up the hill) and so convenient to town.

nothintolose

I've stayed at Secret Harbour twice, and both times had a really nice experience. One time we spent three days there before heading to St. John, and the second time we ended our trip there--again for three days. The units are individually owned so the decor varies, but some of them were recently renovated and they are very nice. The snorkeling is quite good there, especially on the right side as you are looking at the water. They have a nice restaurant on site, and a dive shop. All of the units have water views, and there are hammocks to relax in, as well as beach loungers and a beach bar. It's a quiet spot and great for relaxing.

If you did want to stay at Caneel instead, at least your dates are still in the "fall" rates!