tp3039

Greetings!!

My wife, 17th month old son, and I plan to travel along with twelve other family members to St. John (USVI) from July 19th-28th. We have booked a rather large/sprawling villa for our large group and are more than excited about our upcoming vacation. However we are a bit nervous about traveling such a far (and remote) distance (or location) with our young son. Can anyone offer helpful advice regarding logistical issues upon our arrival in St. John (i.e. locations for renting a safety/car seat for infants, kid friendly eateries, family friendly beaches, etc.).

Any helpful hints are much appreciated!!

Adios,

TP3039

MIM04

I just took my (now 9 month old) to Nevis. I brought my own car seat. We are going to St Barths in Nov. and will bring her current car seat with us. I would suggest bringing your own. You will not find one new and great quality if you rent. You might, but its a crap shoot. I just check it on the plane when I fly. Eddie Bauer sells a cover that fits all car seats and there is even room inside for tons of other things.
Plus since you will be taking the ferry to St John you will want a car seat for the taxi ride I am sure, if you have yours then no problem.

As far as being remote, etc. I really would not worry about it too much. There are Drs there if you really needed one. There is another office in Red Hook (St Thomas) that has a few Doctors. I used to go to one of them.

The water is very calm in St John so there are lots of beaches to explore. Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, etc. Trunk can be crowded. I really prefer Cinnamon. But there are a lot. I am not sure what area your villa is in.

There are lots of places to eat in Cruz Bay, mostly very casual so you should not have a problem with that at all.

christiegr

tp:

Just to be safe..drink bottled water while there.Even if your villa has a filtration system..I would still drink bottled water.It is really inexpensive in the grocery store there.

Caneel Beach at Caneel resort was the most calm beach that we went to.You can go to it even if you are not staying at Caneel.They also have pattle boats that my kids enjoyed with the other kids that were there.

You could always check your carseat with your bags at the airport..to insure that you have one.

Have a wonderful time in St John..it is a beautiful place.

Tuxedocat

MIM04 and Christie have great suggestions. Don't worry about traveling with your child to St. John. Our now 2 and 1/2 year old daughter has been there 4 times since she was 6 months old. Her favorite beach hands down is Maho. Very calm water, wonderful sand, and you park on the side of the road and walk right onto the beach. I tell everyone with kids the same thing: load up on 45+ sunscreen and bug spray. By being a little paranoid about these two elements, my daughter has had great vacations in the tropics. I once met folks whose guests had to leave after only 2 days because their infant was so miserable from sunburn and mosquito bites. Yipes!! As for restaurants, most of them expect to serve kids and are pretty accomodating. The more bar oriented ones of course are less equiped to deal with kids e.g. Woody's. A great place for kids is a Mexican restaurant ("Polly's&quotoverlooking the ferry harbor in Cruz Bay. St. John is a pretty laid back place so you will have a wonderful time.

MIM04

Tuxedocat - thank you for mentioning maho. I have stayed there several times but forgot to mention it! It is a great beach.

And yes lots of sunscree and bug spray! also, I would get a mosquito net for the crib if you son is going to be sleeping in one. I had 2 for my DD in Nevis and got one for St Barths. That was a life-saver. Also, I put bowls of water underneath the legs of the crib so that nothing could crawl into it. I never saw a spider during my trip, but with a baby you get paranoid

crowisland

Tp3039

I have heard good things about:

www.christysclassics.com

They rent out baby necessities during your stay on St.John.

Tuxedocat

I also understand christysclassics babysit and they are very well-screened sitters. They provide sitting for the resorts and I've never heard anything negative about them. I haven't used them yet, but next time we go, I'll definitely give them a try and post a review.

tess53

since you are renting a villa,contact the rental co. and ask them about car seats..i don't know which co. you're renting from but most with offices on island can get you a seat,ready for your arrival.as for beaches there are many that are calm water,Maho,Francis are easy acess with a child.as for restaurants...there are many to choose and almost all a child friendly.for sure, Skinny Legs,Miss Lucys,Shipwreck,Banana Deck,Morgans Mango,Island Blues,Lime Inn,Tamarind court(breakfast)..just to name a few. a new place, Compass Rose(Pastory Gardens)is child friendly/has great sunset views so if needed to eat early w/child you still get a nice place to enjoy yourselves too. travelling w/ a child does have its challenges but relax and enjoy st.john....curious, what villa are you renting for this large group?

christiegr

The restaurant just mentioned is at the Mini Golf place (Pastory Gardens)we ate there and it was our best meal while on St John.The sunset views from there were awesome.

Tuxedocat

I just want to suggest that you pick up a tube of anti-itch cream made by Benadryl. It's fabulous for any skin irritations like knat or mosquito bites. It works really well on my daughter.

laurieb128

St. John is very family friendly. There are car rental places on the island, but most are small, so if you need a car for your entire trip, I'd book in advance. Everything is less expensive on St. Thomas, so you might consider renting your car there, and taking the auto ferry over to St. John. It's $35 round trip. Since you're staying in a villa, you could also buy whatever groceries and supplies on St. Thomas, and save a few more dollars! The only time we were bothered by bugs was in the late afternoons on the beaches. Avon makes a great repellant that comes in individual wipes, which would be handy for kids. Good luck!!

kcameron23

Hello. Just got back from St. John 3 weeks ago with our 6 month old daughter. Had a blast! I would recommend getting a sit-n-stroll - it was amazing...It is a carseat, stroller, and booster seat. It straps into the car, taxi, etc. then pull the handle bars out, push a button and it turns into a stroller! Also skinny enough to go down airplane isles...Everywhere we went parents stopped us and asked us what the neat contraption was and where to get it...Just type in sit-n-stroll on yahoo or google and many will pop up. Its about $200 and well worth it! They also come with mesh bags to carry them in and a sunshade(extremely important in St. John) Other than that St. John was friendly and accomadating for children!

petepie

Took an 18 month old to St. John back in January and it worked out well. Booked a separate seat on the plane for her, so used the carseat on the plane, in the taxi to Red Hook, and then in the rental car while on St. John. A cheap Kolcraft stroller worked well, the airlines will let you check it at the gate, and then have it there for you when you get off in St. Thomas. Plus, since it's light and cheap, you're not worried about keeping an eye on it or stuck lugging a 30 lb stroller around. The beaches are great. In the winter, only Maho was calm enough for our toddler, the swells were too much at the other north shore beaches. But we spent a lot of time at Maho, Salt Pond, and Lameshur. We had a "spring float" float thing with a seat in the middle of it for her. The water is really calm, and she was very happy floating along in the water with an adult holding on. We also brought 2 beach umbrellas with us. They worked really well--the little tents get hot in the sun, the beach umbrella lets the breeze in, keeps the sun out. By the way, Maho is shady in the morning. Everywhere in St. John was very accomodating towards children. Even Woody's. We were out around 6pm for dinner every night, don't know how it would have been if we'd been later (8pm or so), and we pretty much stuck to the casual places like Joe's BBQ, Woody's, Lime Inn, Fishtrap, Skinny Legs, Island Blues. As for medical, never needed it, but there is a medical center on St. John (Myrah Keating up on Centerline Road), there are pharmacies, grocery stores with all regular US items (pampers, formula (not a big selection of brands), milk etc.), and there are doctors in Cruz Bay. Take bug spray and sunscreen!