We really wanted to go to St. John the last week of March which is Easter... but the rates are about $2000 (package price for air/hotel @ Westin for 3 people) more than July or August prices! Is it likely as time draws near, prices may go down a bit? OR, should I just figure on going in late June, early July? (It's not so much the air as it is the hotel prices).
Thanks!

Rule number one of traveling at reasonable costs is to figure out what everyone else is trying to do and then choose something different. We find the spring break period is a great time to go to Europe. Save the tropical destinations for LATE spring, summer and fall. By simply reversing your pattern against what most people are doing, you can cut a third to as much as half from the costs. You'll enjoy these destinations with far less crowding, too.

We rarely ever do hotels anymore in the Caribbean. Rates are much much better if one rents a condo-- and we enjoy it more also. Especially if there are 3 of you, why not consider that. E.g. Gallows Point is a great place if you want to be close to town and fine snorkeling. Very good accomodations and plenty of room for three people. No beach though.

Also, Easter is during HIGH season in St. John which runs roughly from December until April 15th. Comparing high season & low season weeks will always yield these types of results. You've also chosen an island that only has two resorts. Because of this Caneel Bay & Westin are always charging pretty high rates. Add holiday on top of that and you're likely to only find higher rates there at Christmas!

Everyone is right. Skip the high season unless you want to spend a lot of money! We went last Xmas and milk was about $8.00 a gallon and other prices comparable.

On the other hand, if this gives you any perspective, we were looking at the Westin for next summer. The best rates for the rooms we wanted were well over $300 a night. (We already have the flights.) So, just for the hotel, it would've been over $2,100 for one room and we needed two.

So, if nothing else, it sounds as though the package deal is much better than booking separately!

We just returned from St. John (20Jul) - staying at Estate Lindholm (we stayed at Caneel Bay same time last year). We paid $170/room at Lindholm - I believe the same room is $320 in the high season. Everything is high $$$ mid-Dec until mid-April as everyone says. If you can wait til June/July, do (hurricane season officially starts in July - thru Halloween) - the Westin is a nice resort (depends on what you're looking for) but you'll want to leave the resort if you really want to experience St. John & her fabulous beaches. From where we stayed, up the road and down a 1/2 mile trail is Honeymoon beach. One day we saw no one else - fed some fish in knee deep water & watched some rays glide by -

You have to go on low season, hi season is too crowded. One good thing is that the sun will be there all year round, when it rains more is on Easter.

Lourn2 not sure what you mean about raining just on Easter. Rainy season (thus being low season) begins in mid April. We were there for 10 days this past May and it rained 5 out of 10. Nobody can predict the weather, but typically it is rainier in summer in the USVI, and drier in the winter months, which is why it's High season then. We've also been to STJ in February and didn't find the island extremely crowded, although the Westin & Caneel will most likely be booked, and car rentals will be difficult if not reserved well in advance.