i have been looking into maho for 6 nights with my husand and almost 2 year old. does anyone have any advice if this is a good idea. and how to get food to the island?
maho bay camping with a toddler
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People travel to the islands with young children all the time - my granddaughter made her first trip when she was 6 months old. The only thing to remember is YOU will be your child's main source of entertainment as 2YO's are really too young to take part in any of the normal tourist oriented activities. If you are comfortable camping with a 2YO then you'll be just fine.
Getting food to the island is simple - pack a cooler with the food you want, make sure it's properly secured and check it just as you would any other piece of luggage. FYI - frozen foods will stay "frozen" for more than 24 hours in a cooler so you won't have to worry about anything thawing out on the trip.
If you don't want to check your cooler there are smaller coolers that meet the carry-on size restrictions. If you go this route make sure you bring only solid foods as any liquids or gel products (even if they are frozen) will be confiscated by the TSA.
Keep in mind that some airlines charge for extra checked luggage (go to your airlines website for more information) so keep that in mind when deciding if taking food with you will be cost effective.
While food prices are somewhat higher in the Caribbean you have to decide if the hassle and potential added luggage is worth it since you can buy just about everything you need once you get to St. Thomas. For instance, if your normal weekly food budget is say $300 you can figure the same amount of food purchased on St. Thomas will run you around $350 to $375. So, ask yourself, is it worth $50 to $75 bother with bringing food from home.
Good luck, enjoy your trip.
Isn't there a grocery store? Would you plan to rent a car?
Why wouldn't you just shop there after arrival?
There are a couple very good markets in Cruz Bay. They are expensive, priced like a gourmet market in the states, but they are well stocked.
Car rental is a great idea, just remember you are driving on the left. We always rent on St Thomas at the airport, saves having to hassle and pay for expensive taxi rides to the ferry, and you can shop on st t if you have time. The car ferry is $50 round trip plus a port fee.
I don't know if you know this but Maho has a lot, I mean a lot of steps everywhere. When we went years ago they did not recommend bringing a child under 3- we did and wound up carrying our 2 year old a lot. Otherwise it is a nice place for kids- the beach is very good for small kids. We went to Cinammon for a number of yeqrs which is all flat but the ocean can get rough there.
Now that you have to pay to check a cooler to the USVI on any flight, it's a more difficult decision as to whether you really save much money taking your own food. You have to expect that food will cost at least 40% more than it does at home (it's only slightly more than I pay here in NYC). But for a week of groceries, that's not a huge amount unless you are feeding several hungry teens. For a toddler, the differential is even smaller.
Maho has both a reasonably priced restaurant and its own market, and there is another market in St. John and a good market in Red Hook, near the ferry to St. John. While I'd certainly take things that might be difficult to find (a particular brand of cereal for instance), I'm not sure it's really worth it to pack a lot of food. I've always thought that, but when you consider that you'll have to pay $25 to check a big cooler, that's even a more important issue.
You do need a car to do much exploring on St. John, but there are regularly scheduled, fixed-price shuttles from Maho and even some organized trips that can save money and make a car less of an important thing there.