A/C in Bedrooms Only, St. Thomas
 

I'm looking at a villa on St. Thomas for a family vacation in June and have found one that seems to have everything this 3-generation group needs except that the common rooms are not air conditioned. They do have ceiling fans, and the rooms are open, and the setting is on a hillside. I imagine that during the day we'd be in the pool or out and about, but wondering what the evenings would be like. Has anyone had any experience at that time of year in similar setting w/o central A/C? The name of the place is Fairwinds.

Thank you!

We always go in June. AC in the bedrooms is fine.
But I wouldn't want to be without it all together.

I've never been to St. THomas, but I've been in several situations where only the bedroom portions of the accommodations were air conditioned. I actually prefer it that way, because in most cases I find it comfortable with screened-in open air spaces with ceiling fans to improve air circulation. I also love being able to hear some of my favorite island sounds, like the waves or the tree frogs in the villa, rather than shutting myself indoors entirely.

I also find that when I'm in air-conditioned comfort all the time in the Caribbean, whenever I do go outside the heat becomes unbearable.

Other folks will no doubt say otherwise--it all depends on how tolerant you are of heat and humidity, I suppose.

I agree with ejcrowe-I like to hear the sounds also. :) We rented a villa in St Thomas for our honeymoon May 29-June 3 this year and it didn't have any air conditioning at all. We were also located on top of a hill. (We rented Sea Forever). We found it to be quite comfortable and we are from Iowa where the humidity is terrible in the summer. More than likely you are going to be out and about during the day so by the time you get home in the evening you should have cool trade winds to help cool things down. :) Just my opinion but some people need air conditioning no matter where they go-so go with what makes you comfortable.

My wife and I have a home in St. Lucia that has air conditioning in the bedrooms but not in the common areas. We're there every August, which is the hottest time of the year, and the lack of AC in the common areas is no big deal. I think that you will find that very few homes in the Caribbean have AC in the common areas if for no other reason than, in most houses, the common areas are very open to the outside, making AC impractical at best. However, as ejcrowe and luvstt point out, there are some people who love AC and can't do without it. If you are one of those people, you might not like open air living.

Agree with all above -- AC in the bedrooms is fine. They key for me is to have SCREENS on the windows so not too many mosquitos get in.

We rented a lovely villa in the Peterborg area about 3 years ago. It was expensive, but only had a/c in the bedrooms and unless the bedroom door was shut, it would not run in there either.

This is quite common through the entire Caribbean.

Lois

I live on St. Thomas & never even turn on the A/C in my car as I agree with EJcrowe about becoming accustomed to the climate.

It all depends on how the villa is situated. I'm high on a hill facing SSW & the south side is considered warmer than the north side but I've never had air conditioning & except for a couple nights in September, don't find it hot, especially at night.

Thanks,everyone; it sounds as though this is not a problem at all. I appreciate your input!

Well, it turns out that it was a problem, probably because of the mosquito factor. We just returned from our week on STT last night, and although we had a truly great time overall, the rooms w/o A/C (living room, dining room, and kitchen) were extremely hot and uncomfortable in the evenings, especially. However, had we been able to escape to the many lovely decks surrounding our villa, it would have helped a lot. The mosquitoes were out in full force, morning, noon, and night, despite spraying the house and ourselves. There has been lots of rain recently, and this evidently adds to the insect problem. The mosquitoes were in the house, too, so not only were we sweltering but dealing with the pests non-stop! I can well imagine that there are many times of the year that having only the bedrooms with A/C would be just fine, but I,personally, would never rent in summer again without whole-house A/C. We live in Pgh. and are accustomed to hot and humid in the summer, just to establish a point of reference.

Please understand that I'm not writing this to complain to those who said their experience was ok w/o the air, but just as a "heads up" to others who may be considering renting during the summer months. Perhaps we just hit a week of really hot weather and bad bugs!

grandmere, I am so sorry to read about your experience! An attack of mosquitos can truly put a damper on one's vacation, 'cause you're either spending all of your time swatting at them or they've already done the damage and you spend a lot of time scratching at the bites.

grandmere: I feel awful for you for your experience! Unfortunately, you can hit a particularly bad mosquito time due to heat and rain. It also matters how the house is situated. If it's in a valley or in dense greenery or close to the water, it can be worse. We have ac throughout our little house, and it is comfortable but we still get the stray mosquitos. It would probably be a help to future renters if you would write a trip report and describe the villa and whether it had screens, etc. We stayed in a villa once with ac in the bedrooms only and no screens (open air floor plan) and the bugs were pretty horrific. I wish things had been better for your trip because you were so excited about it. I hope you did have some good times anyway.

Ejcrowe and Tuxedocat, thanks for your empathy. As the days go by since the trip, we are all remembering the good times and the mosquito/heat problems are receding in our memories!

There were screens in the areas that were not air conditioned, and all the rooms had ceiling fans. The villa sits on a hillside on the north side of Peterborg, so it *should* have been fine.

I think the mosquitoes were the main problem, and nobody can do anything about that. On the nights we ate in, we could have cooked, taken our meals outside to the decks, and spent the evening out there,where there was always somewhat of a breeze--but not enough to keep the insects away.
The last day it was actually windy, and we were able to enjoy the decks in the afternoon.

It was really a lovely family vacation, and we're enjoying our pictures and memories.