Hi everyone. I am planning a vacation over next New Years to the Carribean? Does anyone have any thoughts on the warmest placest as well as beatiful beaches/snorkeling but not sooo expensive? Any thoughts on the Westin St. John?

If your choice is a hotel/resort and the island is St. John, your only two choices there are the Westin and Caneel Bay. The Westin is a beautifully manicured property with a manmade beach on a bay that has many live-a-board boats. My own personal experiences at the Westin were not very pleasant but I do prefer Caneel Bay because they do offer beachfront accomodations on wonderful beaches on the property. Often the Westin will promote very good rates that will get you to a wonderful island tho. You will want to rent a vehicle (preferrably 4-wheel drive if you are more adventuresome) to commute to the beaches on the North Shore and explore the island a bit. The snorkling on St. John is great and can be done from any of the beaches, most of the island is Nat'l Park and still pristine and there is easy accessability for day trips to the BVI or even St. Thomas for more excitement is a real plus. The Westin's standard rooms are very similiar to the standard American hotel room (small) and depending on the location of your room, it can be many steps up and down between the lobby and beach. The rooms sit semicircle in tiers on a hillside overlooking the pool which is really the feature of the hotel, not the beach. I did not like that the rooms are sealed tite without screening so that one had to rely on the a/c. The balconies are very tiny. The restaurants on site are not inexpensive but a quick taxi or ride into Cruz Bay will give you more options. St. John is a wonderful island! Some people find that renting a villa is more economical and others opt for the camping at Maho or Cinnamon Bay which, if you enjoy that and lack of creature comforts, can be wonderful! www.stjohnlinks.com, www.thebestofstjohn.com and www.vinow.com are all good links for St. John information! BTW, Priceline now features the Westin and I am amazed how inexpensive the winning bids are!

I spent about an hour wandering around the Westin last week, and it's true that the water there is very murky - odd for an island with many beautiful beaches that have crystal-clear water (Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, Francis, etc. etc.).<BR><BR>The grounds are gorgeous and the pool looks nice. I talked to some people who were staying there and thought it was overpriced. They do have specials from time to time when they have rooms to fill.<BR><BR>St. John is a very expensive destination overall, unless you stay at one of the campgrounds. Some of the villas you can rent will cost less than the Westin or Caneel Bay.<BR><BR>We stayed on the east end of St. Thomas for less than half the cost of the Westin and took day trips to St. John and Tortola. This worked well for us.<BR><BR><BR>

Because there are no dumping stations for holding tanks on the boats - need I say more? Not some place I would swim! And the bay there was orginally a swamp before they filled it to build the Virgin Grande (now the Westin) and the beach. There are some very nice spots on the East End of STT with "real" beaches and the ferry is $6 pp r/t. You can also rent a vehicle and transport it to St. John on the barge for $27.

I returned last week from a week's stay on St John at the Westin. I was a little skeptical about the Westin after reading mixed reviews on this site, but it was nice. The grounds are pretty, & the room & service were good. We got the room for $135/night.<BR>(We didn't consider Caneel Bay due to the high expense.)<BR>We spent very little time at the hotel, though...the way to see St John is to rent a Jeep & explore!