We are visiting Vieques 12/13 - 12/14. Just called Bananas and Trade Winds. All rooms with A/Cs are booked. Any other recommendations?

Hi xgao. I haven't actually been there yet but I can tell you what we did to help plan our upcoming trip to Vieques. If the Wyndham wouldn't have had a 3 day sale recently where we got a great rate at Martineau Bay we would have stayed at Acacia Apts. A/C wasn't important for us but tv was for boyfriend.
For lodging decisions I found the best resources were the following websites:
www.tripadvisor.com
enchanted-isle.com
www.vieques-island.com
I hope that helps.

Just made a round of phone calls. Most of the guest units with A/Cs at Esperanza are all booked during the weekend of 12/13th. (Some of the nicer guest houses do not accept kids) How bad really is it for rooms without A/C? We wouldn't care too much if it is just two of us. However, we have a 2 year old with us. We really like to stay in Esperanza since we are joining the boat tour with Island Adventure to the Bio Bay. If we do stay in other part of the island, is it easy to find parking space in Esperanza? How convenient are taxi services in Vieques?

I'd rent a car...driving and parking is easy. enchanted-isle.com is a great site, I think I planned my visit completely off of that site. I wouldn't be too worried about no AC if there are ceiling fans or simply good windows to catch breezes. This is a very small island, and you shouldn't have any problem finding your way around. The only taxi I remember taking was a guy who had a van and was waiting at the airport when we flew in.

I think the car rental offices are not right near the ferry dock. Then how to travel from the ferry dock to hotels or rental car offices except publicos or taxis?

xgao I'll find out this weekend for sure but I was told there are taxi's standing by at the ferry and airport eager for business. I sure hope so anyway. We don't get in till 7 at night and won't be picking up our rental till the next morning. If taxi's aren't waiting I have a list of phone numbers that I can call one of them. I got this list off of one of the Vieques websites I told you about previously.

Thanks Deborah. Which company are you renting the car from?

Martineau Car Rental. They were recommended to me by several people on this board. (787) 741-0087 is their number.

Just returned from Vieques & PR. Stayed at Wyndham. It's beautiful. People there couldn't be nicer. They are very genuine and really want to help you see Vieques..Rented from Martineau car rental across from hotel. Tony is a real gentleman and even drove us to the ferry after we returned the car. He had a few stories to tell which made the trip so much more interesting.
Wyndham By Request had a special for $108. Also got breakfast and were upgraded to oceanfront room in one of their villas. You really feel you are in a pristine place there. Do not leave Vieques without eating at the Blue Macaw. It's heaven and the food is just wonderful gourmet.

How are the beaches on Vieques? Anything close to St. John, USVI?

Just curious to see if it's worth going there for 4-5 days..

thanks!

We stayed at Wyndham Martineau Bay Resort for 5 nights in late Nov '03. I don't recommend this island nor the resort. People on the island are rather miserable and unpleasant. The beaches are really not that great. We've travelled extensively in the region and seen many more beautiful beaches. Also, the resort faces the Atlantic so the water is cold and pretty rough. The beaches (2) are small and dirty.
 In general, when we called with requests, the front desk staff would put us on hold rather than simply take and fulfill them accordingly. Over the phone, their attitude was not pleasant for the duration of our stay.
 We came back from dinner one night to discover dirty towels from the nightly turn down service in the front porch. The towels were there until mid day next day. We were often missing face towels and had to call for them 3 nights out of 5. There were portable beds left on porches of our neighboring rooms for 2 days (when most guests left after the weekend).
 Dirty towels were left by the pool area and only picked up at the end of the day. There was no one from the hotel to enforce safety around the pool as there were quite a few older kids using real hard soccer balls around the pool. The pool area was simply unsafe and unkept, not to mention the water was "cold..........."
 One night, I noticed the crib with our daughter (14-mo and 21 lbs.) in it was collapsing. I picked her up just before the bottom went out. I called the front desk immediately and explained what had just happened, the person was indifferent (neither apology nor any expression of surprise) and told us that a replacement crib will be delivered. We waited for 30 minutes and saw no crib so we called again. This time, another person answered the phone, put us on hold and came back to tell us that there was no more crib available. She didn?t even offer to send someone to fix it. I just couldn?t imagine how they didn?t realize ?the implications of a broken crib? and not even offer to have it looked at. I asked to speak to the manager on duty and he offered to send someone right away but we decided to wait until the next morning as it was getting too late. The crib was repaired the next day but unfortunately, it collapsed once again sometimes 2 nights later. I was awaken at about 5:30 am to find our little girl on the floor crying. I noticed her bruised knees the next day (after reporting to the security staff) and realized just how lucky she was to be alive. She could have gotten caught at the gap in the crib where she fell and literally choked to death.

The massage was pathetic. You'd think that at $100 for 50 minutes they could find capable therapists? I mentioned my problem area and the therapist didn't do a bit to help or maybe he forgot?! Should I go on.

Sorry you had a difficult time there - especially with the crib. There is no excuse for that. We too just got back and had some difficulties with service at this hotel. You can read about it in my trip report.

We did find people on the island (outside the hotel) to be quite friendly and the island does have some very nice beaches. We didn't spend much time at the Wyndham however. In fact other than sleeping we weren't there at all. Did you get out and explore?

We noticed quite a bit of garbage as well and figured it was due to all the heavy rain the island received in November, as well TS Odette which past thru the weekend of our arrival. Perhaps others who have been there in good weather can confirm this or not. I've heard that on St. Thomas/St. John they are experiencing the same problems and St. John is known for having some of the prettiest waters you can imagine.

To answer your question 'floridabound': No Vieques beaches are not in the same league as St. John, USVI. Sun Bay, is the nicest beach on Vieques and probably prettier than anything on the mainland of PR. However, St. Johns may have 7 or 8 incredible beaches on it's north shore that are world class.

I couldn't agree more with jhkc. I will never understand why people enjoy the Wynham Martineau. Not sure if the staff is poorly trained or just plain lazy but, in any event, I would strongly recommend staying elsewhere if you plan to go to Vieques.

I have to respectfully disagree. We stayed at Wyndham Martineau Bay for eight nights the end of October beginning of Nov and the staff couldn't have been more cordial, friendly and responsive. They went out of their way to ensure we had a nice stay. Hilda the concierge was very accomodating to all our requests and most helpful. Eric, Hector and Randy the bartenders were excellent and very outgoing. The maid even gave us her umbrella one day when it was raining. The director of maintenance stopped to shake hands, introduce himself and said if there were any problems with the room to let him know and he would handle it immediately. In fact we plan to go back for 5 nights in Feb on the way back from another Caribbean island.