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My (long) St. John trip report

Thanks for all your help in planning my vacation, hope this helps others… We returned from a five day vacation to St. John last week. We stayed at the Westin for $100/ night because of Priceline for four of the nights. For the first night I had to shell out $200/night for the Westin because Priceline wouldn’t accept that date. The Westin was very nice. Although I’m not really sure it’s a five star resort. Our toilet stopped up every day even though we were told every day it was fixed. Had a problem with the safety deposit box. And the last day my rental car was vandalized in the parking lot. I tried to report it to security, nobody got back to me about it. Nice rooms though (not worth more than $150/night- if you can Priceline, do it!). We enjoyed sunsets on the trampoline in the water… it was fun to bounce around on them, even though we are in our 30’s. We snorkeled every day. Cinnamon Bay was the winner for things to see for us, but I’m sure it all depends on the day you go. We rented a car from Conrad Sutton’s. $65/day. I liked having it, but there were a couple days we didn’t use it. I wonder if I shouldn’t have rented by the day through the Westin. But that might also be a pain. We decided to “splurge” on the $110 pp trip to the BVI’s through Limnos. It departs directly from the Westin. We got to the Baths and were able to snorkel there for 45 minutes. When we got back to the boat, it was broken. After a long wait they got only one engine back, cancelled the rest of the trip and we took a very slow 3 hour trip back home. Very long waste of a day. We had to really fight Limnos on giving us a refund for 50%. They were only offering 20% since we did get a boat ride and free drinks (I don’t drink, not the reason I went). If you stay at the Westin we heard good things about their catamaran trip to Jost Van Dyke. Maybe that’s the way to go. FOOD: We ate at Las Tapas, very good. Lyme Inn was very very very very bland. I do not recommend them. Morgan Mango’s is good. Our first night we ate at the Westin, not bad. I should have gone to those good restraunts recommended (Chateau Bordeau/Asolare), but we are late eaters which doesn’t work there. They consider 9 p.m. (8 p.m. eastern) late for a reservation so we always made decisions last minute if we were hungry enough to go or not. Breakfast was at Chilly Billy’s nearly every day! Very good! And lunch was at Skinny Legs- GREAT CHEESEBURGERS!!!! So our breakfasts and lunches were the best. Our flight out was at 3pm so we checked out early, dropped off our stuff at the airport and took a cab downtown for lunch and shopping in St. Thomas. Didn’t find anything, but if you know your jewelry, there were LOADS shops. Overall I was not bored, which was my biggest fear in going to the Carribean… my fiancé loves the beach and I get bored with it. I really liked St. John and four full days there was perfect for us!

Obviously the previous two posters (same person I'm sure) is some timeshare owner on SJ or a travel agent. Jacy, your report is EXACTLY the same report I would write from our trip to the Westin SJ. You have very accurately described the Westin as a decent but not spectacular hotel. SJ's biggest selling point is its beaches. The crime is a KNOWN problem there and your incident is not surprising to me. To anyone reading the above report in the future, I would confirm it to a "T".

You're right, I got exactly what I paid for at the Westin. I wanted to stay on St. John and I didn't want to stay at Caneel or in a villa. Yes this was a cheap vacation. Free airfare- USAir frequent flier miles,which I wanted to use up this year. Priceline hotel. No bottlecaps though. I don't like spending a lot on lodging when I am barely there. $1500 is as much as I wanted to pay for this beach vacation. I am saving my money for my vacations to Greece and Hawaii next year... that's worth the splurge in my mind, not St. John. The food was definetly not cheap. Entrees are at least $25 at each place. I didn't go to the 2 nice restraunts purely because of timing issues, and admit that I should have. I came on this board looking for where to go to get the most out of my money. I'm sure others will be looking to save some money or find out where to stay, or where to eat in St. John in the future and I am just offering what my experience was.

I found this post very helpful and informative. Perhaps the criticizers are jealous of your $100/night rate.

I couldn't agree more with the 2 previous posters. Overlook the deviates in our society(their vocabulary clearly shows their intelligence!) It is sad when people are looking for intelligent imput, that we have to put up with these type of posters.

You got a great deal, I paid $200.00 at the Westin in July 2000. We also had a great meal at Lime In. Was my third trip to St John an I do like the Westin. Just think you same room is worth $400.00 this time of year.

sorry but no standard room at the Westin is worth $400 a night and that's exactly why they are on Priceline and other sites and have an endless list of special rates.

I'm curious about what type of room you got with priceline. Could you choose between different room types to bid on for example - oceanfront vs gardenview? I think it's wonderful that you got a good price on your vacation. So many people on this board are able to travel without regard to price constrictions. I think they sometimes forget the pure joy of travelling. One does not need to be rich to travel and the hotel does not have to be a 6 star resort for someone to have fun. The most important thing is that you enjoyed yourself and you spent responsibly within your means.

Thanks for the report Jacy - ignore the trolls who are likely just miffed that they paid more for the same thing....

Gee, I must have stayed at a different Westin on St. John last August! Not even a 3* hotel?! I have travelled extensively throughout Europe, No. Am., the Carib. and Asia and found this to be a lovely property! We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite (due to time of year)and loved it! We also thought the property was very, very nice and well maintained. The restaurants left much to be desired but this was overlooked as we dined in town every night. Service was also very good. By the way... the catamaran trip to Jost is very fun! Take it the next time you visit St. John. We're going back in August again and can't wait!!

Does anyone really think jacy's vacation was worth it? The money spent, no matter how small would have put to better use doing anything better than that. I would rather stay home than go on the trip from hell and there is no convincing me that was any fun. You definately get what you pay for, it is one of the rules in life. Sorry you can have your backed up toilets and your barely edible food, I think you could have done a lot better. You could have used your FF miles and gone to Florida's gulf coast, New orleans...anywhere. You are definately not the poster girl for smart budget travel. Would not want to travel with you!

Great trip report. Jacy I'm sorry you missed out on Jost. I think it's more of a must-see than the Baths at VG.