pegpaz

We are thinking of going to St. John and I wanted to know if they have a big stray dog/cat problem there. I work with a rescue group and don't want to have to be stressed/depressed by seeing that while on vacation.

brenandg

I have seen very few, if any stray dogs on eight visits to St John. The Animal Care Center (ACC) of STJ does an awesome jobs with the islands pets. There are some feral cats and "villa cats" though. They do their best to spay/neuter all pets. They have some "Bush Cat Snack Shacks" set up in a few places on the island to feed the strays. I frequent another forum and we recently raised almost $4000 for the ACC of STJ in memoriam of another forum member who passed away. The ACC is still having financial difficulty. They are a no kill shelter. I'll provide the link for you.

http://www.stjohnanimalcarecenter.com/index.html

brenandg

http://www.stjohnanimalcarecenter.co...hn_friends.htm

By the way, you can go to The ACC and take their dogs for a walk around town if you feel like getting some exercise

pegpaz

Thank you brenandj for the info! I did recently send them a donation after researching St. John and see their website.
Thank you for the info.
BTW- we were thinking of staying at the Westin. Ever stayed there?

brenandg

We have never stayed at The Westin, but our friends have a time share there. They rarely use the Westin Beach. We like Gallow's Point and Grande Bay Resort which are right in Cruz Bay, but, we like being right in/near town.

hawksbill

brendang, I never knew one could take an ACC dog out for a walk around town. Thanks for the tip! Adoption is a little beyond my capabilities at the moment, but I'd love to spend a day with a new furry friend sometime. I haven't seen too many stray dogs either. There are some cats here and there, but I had the feeling they weren't strays, but just people's pets out on patrol.

pegpaz, I'm sure you'll find many thoughts on the Westin if you look around here, but I can chime in with my two cents. I stayed there once when the family house was full. It's okay. The rooms are spacious, clean, and nicely appointed. The overall style of the place strikes me as tacky and antithetical to what I see as St. John's predominant vibe. It's kind of a high-energy resort, by St. John's laid back standards. There are a fair number of organized activities going on there, most of which seem to be oriented toward either young twenty-somethings who want to get drunk and dance to loud music, or families with young children who need to keep the kids entertained. Both kinds of activities get really noisy. If you stay there, you'll want to consider the layout of the property carefully. If you're close to the gigantic swimming pool, there will be a lot of noise from screaming kids playing, and things like the movies that they seem to show there at night. On the other hand, if you have little kids, staying near the pool could be very convenient.

The beach is artificial, and it's at the end of Great Cruz Bay, a deep bay that is one of the few places on St. John where people can moor their boats and live on them. It occurred to me one day, all of a sudden, that all of these boats are probably discharging their holding tanks into the bay, and from then on I didn't really feel like swimming in Great Cruz Bay anymore. There's a fair amount of commotion on that beach. There's a fairly busy beach bar, and unfortunately it's possible to rent jet skis, which I find to be abhorrent machines. So, if I were to stay at the Westin, I'd plan to rent a jeep and drive elsewhere most of my days. I suppose most guests there, on the other hand, are probably attracted to the Westin because of the large number of activities and facilities that are right on site.

For my purposes (peace and quiet, swimming, snorkeling, hiking, and quiet enjoyment of beautiful scenery and tasty food and rum-containing beverages), I'd be inclined to prefer Gallows Point, or ideally Caneel Bay (which is wonderful, but extremely expensive). But I'd have no problem staying in the Westin, with the caveats that (1) I personally would want a quiet room, far from the pool, and (2) I'd get a car and drive off-campus most of the time.

wliwl

Lots of people rent villas. There are some reasonably priced ones that aren't fancy. Here are a few rental agencies:

CaribbeanVilla.com
vivacations.com
cateredto.com
vacationvistas.com

And there is always VRBO.

Here is a great forum - it even has reviews of villas.
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/

brenandg

There is definitely more of a "stray chicken" problem on STJ, LOL. There are some regulars on Maho. Don't dare give them even a scrap. I once make the mistake of tossing a pringle..... They also like to hang around Franklin Powell Park in town. Shela of Shela's Pot leaves her seasoned rice for the iguanas and the chickens have a party with it. Lots of interesting wildlife encounters on St John. Watch out for the seagulls by the Trunk Bay snack bar. They are ruthless, no joke!

hawksbill

Plenty of "stray" goats and donkeys, too! The goats in the parking lot at Miss Lucy's get a little insistent sometimes.

pegpaz

Thanks again for the replies, especially regarding the Westin. We do not have kids, and we like the things that you like "hawksbill". I am thinking we might not like the Westin after all. It is pricey, but Caneel Bay resort was even pricier. We have never stayed at a villa.

hawksbill

Pegpaz, it is possible to get rooms at the Westin that are quite far away from the pool, and therefore quieter. This may not be the ideal option, but you could easily just stay there, skip all the Westin activities, and drive elsewhere for your entertainment, if you wanted. That would seem to be paying for a lot of resort stuff that you weren't using, and therefore wasting money. However, I note that the Westin's rates for October seem to start at $249/night, which compares favorably to the villas I saw while perusing wliwl's links -- even the smallest villas seem to be at least $1800/week off-season, and I think you generally need to rent a villa for a whole week (Saturday to Saturday is the convention, as far as I can tell from talking to locals who rent their places). I guess villas only become economical if you bring a larger group that would have needed multiple hotel rooms, and/or if you plan to save money by cooking your own food a lot.

I'd check out Gallows Point if I were you, too: http://www.gallowspointresort.com/ I've never stayed there, but I'm quite familiar with the restaurant, Zozo's, which has the best higher-end food on the island, IMHO. Unfortunately, Gallows Point's reservations web site seems to be down right now. I hope this isn't because of the hurricane. Hurricane Earl just went right over St. John, with sustained winds of 135 MPH. All my family and friends left the island before the storm, so I haven't heard any first-hand reports. I hope everyone's okay down there. There could be an awful lot of damage from a storm like this.

hawksbill

An addendum: I just heard from the island. Maximum sustained winds on STJ were reportedly 65 MPH. Not as bad as I had feared.

brenandg

We got this for $195 per night before the rates went up. Grande Bay is now finished, so our little gift horse may be over.

http://www.vrbo.com/274240

There are others on vrbo as well.

pegpaz

I will check out the other suggestions. We are only going for a long Thanksgiving weekend. I am not sure if that is a busy time or not down there. I will ask for a room away from the pool, so it will hopefully be quieter.
Glad to hear that they did not get hit bad by Earl.
Thanks!
Peggy

DebitNM

Our go to place is in Coral Bay, we prefer that side of the island with wonderful beaches and restaurants and it is a doable ride into Cruz Bay.

We stay here, price is right too at $160 a night/$1050 a week!
http://www.vrbo.com/162906
http://picasaweb.google.com/DebitNM/PalmCottage

cmt

There's definitely a stray or feral cat problem in St. John, and I think that accounts for the reduction in the number of banana quits and frogs I've been seeing at Maho Camp the last few visits, compared to in the 1980s when I first started going there. The mongoose population is also much reduced compared to the 1980s, but it's possible that the cats are not the only reason for that. I think the dog problem is managed pretty well by th Animal Care Center of St. John, but the cat problem is out of control, in spite of their trap-neuter-release efforts. Newcomers to St. John take their cats with them and allow them to roam, with a harmful impact on the protected wildlife.

traceynt

The Westin is a dump for what you pay. Rent a villa! We have used vrbo.com, destinationstjohn.com, caribbeanway.com, caribbeanvilla.com, villascaribe.com, and seaviewhomes.com. There is always something that is better than staying at a hotel. Just think how much you would save just by cooking your own dinner occasionally. We are not cheap people. But when we travel we travel in style and the Westin is not it (for the money). Good luck!

travelfarandwide

sadly it appears approx. 20 cats were poisoned on the property at the westin st. john. it was one of the great reasons to be there. too bad there aren't enough efforts to find out who it on the property