iblitz

Hello, My husband put me in charge of planning our family vacation to St. John. I am thinking The Westin Resort is best for us (2 teens will be with us). I posted earlier that I was getting awful airfare quotes to St. Thomas for June from Houston. I was advised to be patient and wait until something came up for around $500/person. OKAY!<BR>Now, does $385/night for a ocean view room sound right? That's not even ocean front! That was my quote. a 1BR King Ste. was quoted at $889. MY Goodness!!! Tell me I shouldn't pay this much. The same ste at the MAui Westin Resort was only 599! I'm prepared to pay 1700/person for 7 nights including airfare and hopefully get 2 rooms. Am I dreaming? Should I gamble and try Priceline--never done it before, but will try anything once!

jcb

Hi iblitz -<BR><BR>I am also in the early stages of planning a trip to St. John from DFW in late April/early May.<BR><BR>I have been watching the Westin website daily and am currently getting $399 night for the cheapest room which I will not pay. The prices do seem to change however. Recently, these rooms droppen in March from $399 to 229/night (don't remember what kind of room). I believe that you are looking too early for a good price.<BR><BR>I have been bidding on Priceline every four days with no luck. If you read the comments on BFT, no one is currently having any luck on St. John.<BR><BR>There appear to be some really nice villas on the island at reasonable prices in June if you are interested.<BR><BR>You still have plenty of time to look for a place to stay at a reasonable price.<BR><BR>Happy planning ~ jcb

Vacationer

I booked a $389 rate/night at the Westin in October for a March 2003 stay. The reservation was guaranteed with a credit card, but nothing will be charged until March. I can cancel up until 3 weeks prior to the vacation. Last week, I found a $219 rate. I booked this and cancelled my old reservation. I would suggest you book (make sure nothing will be charged to your card) at the $385 rate and check their website almost every day. You would be surprised how much their room rates vary from day to day. I would suspect that June would be much lower than $385 (especially in light of our pending war with Iraq).

jewels

Why not rent a villa?

LPOWMAC

My family of 4 (me, husband and 2 teen boys) will also be traveling to the USVI this June, although we'll be staying at the Renaissance on St. Thomas. We got a pretty good deal on Cheapfares.com.... I also had similar prices from Expedia and AA Packages (I think they all have the Westin in their packages). We will be flying out of Newark and are paying $2900 for 4 for 7 nights... not too bad. Good Luck!

iblitz

Jewels,<BR>What about a villa?!?! I really hadn't thought about it. Is it possible to rent a villa and still have someone bring me a drink by the pool? (this is my vacation too!) Are the villas you speak of affiliated with the resort? Will my kids have anything to do? As you can see, I'm new at this...

jewels

Your husband can bring you a drink by the pool.<BR>We are renting a villa with a pool, I plan on making breakfast, sometimes packing a lunch or stopping at Baked in the Sun and buying sandwiches before going to the beach, and going out for dinner every night. There are quite a few inexpensive places on St. John to eat like Skinny Legs, Duffy's the Banan deck etc. We will actually take the kids to the Westin to swim in the pool and jump on the water trampoline. I have heard that they don't mind as long as you buy a couple of drinks. You are going in June which is off season and you can get villa's cheaper. Try caribbeanvilla.com, destinationstjohn.com<BR>vacationvistas.com<BR>viv acations.com <BR>Look for villa's with air conditioning int the bedrooms, pool, spa whatever you want. You will definitely have to rent a car. But you were probably going to do that anyway.<BR>Have fun planning!<BR>Any other questions feel free to ask!<BR>Julie

caribtraveler

We just booked a trip to St. John for June. I kept checking airline prices with www.Orbitz.com (every day) for the best price. We wanted a direct flight (from New Jersey) because we have a 1-year-old. Finally, the price went down to $525 from $715 roundtrip! Yeah! We booked it. I suggest you keep doing that for the airline price.<BR>For the hotel, I kept checking Westin's website. They finally had a special for $219/night for gardenview. We stay at Westins all the time so we have points to upgrade when we get there. So try that.<BR>Renting a villa sounds like a good idea, though.<BR>Good luck!

epuzzled

I am also going to st john in june and staying at the westin. I got a room for 239/night and my airfare from DC is 400/person.. check out usair's website that is where i found my airfare.

tropicon

$389/nt sounds like highway robbery to me for June!

tropicon

$385/nt sounds like highway robbery to me for June! I know you said you want someone to bring a drink to you, but you can find villas, condos, etc with much better views and a lot more space with real beaches for less!