Hi everyone:
I'm trying to plan a 5 night/6 day quick getaway for my teenage daughter and me. We are basically looked for a nice beach vacation with good snorkeling, some relaxation, and plenty of things to do and places to explore.


St John
pros:
-gorgeous beaches on the island
-great snorkeling
-easy day trips to The Baths, Tortola, and Jost Von Dyke.
-Westin is pretty nice even if beach isn't stunning
cons:
-Westin price would be same as Buccaneer price but doesn't include breakfast..
-I'm not sure if I want to drive all around St. John alone with a 15 year old.

St Croix
pros:
-half day trip to Buck Island
-THE BUCCANEER (looks like the perfect resort for us..why can't it be on St John?!)
-pretty good deal on Buccaneer that includes breakfast and a deluxe oceanfront room.
cons:
-beaches aren't as nice as on St John
-We wouldn't be able to take day trips to any of the other islands. I think this is the major con because we would really like to see other islands and do the trips to the baths and tortola..
-island as a whole isn't quite as beautiful as St John

Basically, I think St John fits better for us than St Croix, but the Buccaneer is better than the Westin. So what do I do???

A potential idea would be to stay 5 nights on St Croix and 2 nights on St John..any thoughts on that? We are flying into St Thomas anyways, so a few days on St John wouldn't be entirely out of the way.

O.k. Ingrid...I just found this other post so it answers the question I posed to you in your other posting.

I appreciate your pain! I wish the Buccaneer were on STJ as we loved the beaches on STJ when we were there 15 years ago. But I never liked the idea of driving around to find good beaches everyday (at least not when my kids were younger) and so we got hooked on the Buccaneer and haven't turned back.

I think your plan of adding two days to the end of your STX trips makes sense. You can try out the Westin and see which spot suits you best. And I'm not sure (others will be of more help) whether you really need to drive yourself to the STJ beaches. Could you take taxis???

I personally would avoid STT for a variety of reasons and opt for the STJ two nights.

Seems to spend only 2 nights in STJ would be more trouble than it's worth. Remember, you have to ferry over from STT to STJ and depending on what time your flight gets in, go to the docks, and ferry over, that could already be half a day. You'd really only end up having 1 day in STJ to explore.

Something to consider. Oh, decisions, decisions right? ;-)

Thanks ccrosner and mymoosie..you both have very good points. Do you think it would be better to just stay 5 nights on St John at the Westin and skip St Croix/the Buccaneer?

With only five nights I would not split my time, too much travelling for so short a time. I would choose St. John, it's far superior to St. Croix in my opinion even though the Buck Island trip is great. If you had little kids my answer would be to stay put at the Buccaneer because driving around to the beaches with small kids is a pain in the neck but it will be fun with your teenage daughter and overall I think St. John feels safer than St. Croix. Did you rule out Caneel Bay? That would be ideal with its seven beaches -- it can be a good value with the special packages and discounts for the summer but you didn't mention when you were going, it's very pricey in high season. My kids (ages 10 and 15) love snorkeling and I can't wait to take them to St. John!

I'm starting to lean towards the Westin because of St John, but giving up the Buccaneer is such a hard thing to do!

If you would consider not staying at an actual hotel, you might want to have at look at Gallow's Point Resort or Estate Lindholm on St John. I think EL includes breakfast and is pretty close to town and very close to the North Shore Beaches. You could walk to Solomon or Honeymoon Beaches from there (no facilities though). It is one of the National Park Trails, but is an easy walk.

We always stay at Gallow's Point which is a condo complex right in Cruz Bay. No sandy beach there, but they have a nice pool and hot tub. The beach is rocky but is reportedly good for snorkeling. The nice thing about GP is that you can easily walk into town for dinner and or some shopping. There is also a full kitchen so you could have some meals in. http://www.gallowspointresort.com/