Just Returned from Another (almost) Perfect Trip to St. John (USVI)
 

Just returned from 10 absolutely spectacular days on St. John. The weather was great, albeit extremely hot and humid. Only had rain one morning for about 30 mins -- no rain after that and, believe me, we prayed for it every day just so we could cool off a bit.

Stayed at the Westin as we own a 2 bedroom villa there. Villa was wonderful and had been completely renovated -- even nicer than we remembered it. BUT, there were a few problems this year that we didn't encounter last year. Service at the front desk was HORRIFIC!! Incompetent is putting it extremely mildly. We had purchased groceries ahead of time and most of our order was incorrect. It took 2 days and alot of arguing to get it even close to being right. We arrived at the resort two days before we could check into our villa so stayed in the hotel. The process of moving our bags from the hotel to the villa (not far at all... maybe a half a mile) took almost the entire day. First they "lost" the bags then they delivered them to the wrong room *three* times. Well, you get the picture. The 2-3 women working at the front desk had the WORST attitude and just couldn't have cared less. One woman seemed to be sick and while she was entering something into the computer, proceeded to throw up on the counter and then laughed about it. Ok...

Anyway, we rented a boat for three days and travelled all over the island to all the great beaches, snorkled at Waterlemon and made it to Tortola and Virgin Gorda (great).

Dinner at Stone Terrace, Asolare and Joe's BBQ (always fantastic).

All in all a fabulous trip. Any questions, please advise.

- Michelle

Michelle,
She "threw up on the counter and then laughed about it"????? Did you speak to the manager about this behavior? I mean if someone is so ill that they are vomiting, it's time to go home.
That would have turned me off completely.
Obviously you didn't allow such boorish behavior to ruin your vacation and for that you are to be congratulated. It just seems extremely odd to me not to mention disgusting.

It was so disgusting and, yes, we spoke with the manager/supervisor that was on-duty. They pulled the girl aside and I guess she was sent home as I didn't see her again that day. The manager sent a flower arrangement to our villa to apologize for her behavior. It just seemed that each and every time we needed help from the front desk it was an exercise in futility.

And, no, I wouldn't let that ruin my vacation because look where I was!! I love St John!! She would have needed to throw up on *me* in order to ruin even my day.

Michelle,
You are my kind of person!! I agree, you really have to try hard to have a bad time on St John. I'm happy to hear the manager did the right thing and apologized for the employees behavior.
Glad you had a great vacation!!

I loved this report. So much went wrong - yet you had the best time. Way to go!! My Aunt recently said to me and my new husband before our honeymoon "don't go looking for good times on a vacation. Bring it with you. You open up your suitcase and there it is." I love that!

Thanks for your trip report. I feel so bad that you had to see that lady throw up, how gross.

I guess you won't be staying there again on your next visit. Was this your first visit to St. John?

Actually, this was our third time on St. John and we just absolutely love it and plan to return for many years to come (which is why we purchased at the Westin). Next year I'll just keep my dealings with the front desk to a minimum and do all my shopping at the Starfish market.

I always go on vacation with a very open mind and great attitude -- look, I'm not in my office in Midtown Manhattan, that's the way I see it!

I should mention that we ordered room service twice and requested pillows and towels and everything was delivered well, on-time and with a smile. All was not lost... now if they could just work on that front desk.. :-)

I stopped in to check out the place when I went to STJ.I looked like the kind of place that belonged on Paradise Island(loud,overcrowded etc)The beach at that resort is pretty shitty also,I loved STJ but that place needs to be bulldozed.

Michelle, Your trip sounds like mine & my wife's first trip to St. John in May of 1999. Delta used to arrive in the early evening and we had to scramble just to make the 9:30 ferry at Red Hook. Having never been to St. John before we couldn't the ride we had to take in the dark up to Maho Bay! We were met by security at Maho Bay, the guy had hair to waist and tatoo's everywhere(not that there is anything wrong with that) it just wasn't what we were expecting. When we got to our room in the Harmony Studios I laughed in horror when he told the electricity only works with the key in the slot. Man I knew then I was prepared for this lovely place.

The next morning we walked down to breakfast and man there were steps everywhere. When we went to the beach on our way back to the room my wife told me to go on without her that she would be okay. Neither of us were in shape for Maho. Today we love the place, what a difference exercise makes. We left after nights and headed for the Westin. After checking and enjoying the A/C we went to the pool for the afternoon. When we finally got back to our room there was no power in the entire building. They moved us to another building, pool side and gave us free breakfast for the remaining 5 days of our stay.

Even after all that we had the time of our lives. We came back in 2001 and bought a 2 bedroom villa also. In less than 2 weeks we will be making our 8th trip to St. John.

Remember on St. John everyday's a holiday and every meal's a picnic!!!

Hi MichellenNYC. Can you tell me more about the boat rental you had. How big of a boat, how much $. Did you retun back to your villa or sleep on the boat each night ?

Hi! Oh no, we only rented a 20ft or 24ft Naughty Nymph boat (nowhere to sleep) and returned to the Westin at the end of the day. We also rented a 14ft dinghy from Noah's Little Arks (ask for Noah -- he's great!!) in Cruz Bay right behind the Beach Bar. I believe the Naughty Nymph boat (with oil and gas and insurance) was about $500 per day and the dinghy came out to about $185 per day.

Yikes, my daughter and her brand new husband left for the Westin in St. John on Monday. Hope they weren't greeted by the sickie at the front desk.