Which is the best Villa in St John?
 

My fiance and I are trying to narrow down our choices for our honeymoon next summer. We are looking for people who knows about the following villas and could tell us if there have been any problems in the past, or if any of them ar outstanding. Also, tell us if there are any others you have been to that are wonderful. <BR>Are there any suggestions for the best travel or villa reservations group to work with.<BR>Here is our list.................<BR>Belle Mer<BR>Splendore<BR>Ciellodonna<BR>Beija-Flor<BR>Villa Ambience<BR>Andante<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>Janet

I don't see it on the list, but Orchid Hill is the best. Have friends who have stayed their and loved it. It's over on or near Chocalate Hole bout 10 minutes to town and the view is beautiful. Pool and deck incredible. Take a look at it. Very popular for honeymooners. jt

website for orchid: vacationvistas.com/orchid_hill_villa_st_john.html

Another one to add to the list is:<BR>Argonauta -We spent our honeymoon there a little while ago and loved it. I also<BR>heard that Splendore is also beautiful and very sought after.<BR><BR>vacationsvistas.com<BR>lime-coconut.com<BR><BR>Congratulations, we loved St. John.

Hi Janet,<BR>My fiancee and I just booked the Orchid Hill villa through beachnuts vacation.com. for our honeymoon in 3/03. Marilyn at beach nuts was very helpful, they don't charge a "service" charge like alot of agents for villas do and their security deposits are lower than most as well. Sometimes you don't find out about the service charge {anywhere from 2% to 5%} until you read the fine print.They can also arrange snorkel trips and food to be delivered upon your arrival. I did an extensive search for villas on St John and we finally decided on Orchid Hill because of the stone work, privacy, the pool/deck and the beautiful veranda. The other villa that looks really nice is Southern Cross. You can find that one via a google search {southern cross villa}. Good luck with your search and congrats!!!<BR>Brad

Splendore is one of the most sought after villas on STJ. Orchid Hill is very nice also. Lisa Durgin is an awesome manager and she manages both. Book early, I would not be surprised if both are taken already for next year.

We just returned from Cielodonna and loved it! The villa is wonderful with a very nice master suite. Large master bath with a 6 x6 stone shower. Certainly big enough for 2! hehe Nice pool and excellent deck space. We rented from Caribbean Villas and werre very happy with their service. They arranged jeep rental for us which was very convenient. Excellent breezes from this villa! We would rent this villa again. Path down to bay is walkable but Chocolate Hole isn't the greatest beach. Very rocky/pebbly! Please e mail me if you have specific questions.

How is Hart Bay and did anyone ever here any feedback on Andante Villa

How was the road into Cieladonna. A lot of the villas are extremely difficult to drive to. Also, was it private? <BR><BR>I will check it out. <BR><BR>Thanks

Ann, the road to Cielodonna was pretty easy to negotiate. Paved road all the way except for the last 1/4 mile. Turned into dirt road but still easy to navigate. I am not sure if you are referring to Cielodonna being private, but yes, we found it very private. I would think you could sunbathe in any manner you wish! We didn't as we had a diverse group including teens! Hope this helps!

St. John is gorgeoous and has many, many beautiful villas. To be honest--it's really hard to go wrong. If you do a search of this forum you'll find very few complaints about any specific villa, but lots and lots of rave reviews. Orchid Villa looks very nice, but I don't care for the Chocolate Hill area as much as some others. I think you could find a nicer view. Think carefully about the location of the villa you choose. Some are a pretty long drive from Cruz Bay and the majority of the island's restaurant options. Of course, if you plan to eat most meals in your villa this doesn't matter so much. Think also about how far you'll be from the North Shore beaches. If you plan to spend much time there you might want a villa that's within the National Park boundaries. Some possibilities would be Cinnamon Ridge, Cinnamon Bay Estate, or Jungle Stone, all carried by Caribbean Villas (the agency we used and were quite satisfied with). Here are some urls:<BR><BR>http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/cridge/cridge.html<BR><BR>http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/cinnamonbay/cinnamonbay.html<BR><BR>http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/junglestone/index.html<BR><BR>Good luck!

Check out the new cottages on the beach. They are awesome! www.destinationstjohn.com/gibney.htm

Don't rent Jungle Stone..Terrible mosquitos(almost 40 bites in a week), lots of roaches( not just 1 or 2..we saw 5 or more a day mostly in the bedrooms) and either mice or rats..didn't see them but the droppings were huge and were found next to the bed..The villa looks great on the website but is a bit rundown and the pool is almost always in the shade.<BR>The road leading to the villa is really steep, extremely challenging to drive with all the rocks and not fun at all.<BR>Maybe I was there on a bad week or something but I would never return there..<BR>Orchid Hill is beautiful and was one of the best vacations for us ever...

In defense of Jungle Stone, St. John has received a lot of rain this season, and the misquitos are out! They especially like feeding on pasty, white tourist skin.<BR><BR>As for the droppings, they were not from mice or rats, but from Lizards. Every house has them and the longer you live here, the less they tend to bother you!<BR><BR>The view from Jungle Stone is spectacular and I am surprised you did not mention this...Oh well, you can't make every vistor happy....

Has anyone stayed at Splendore! How's the location? Is it on Great Cruz (hillside)? Any comments, would love to hear.

Chocalate Hole has some great views and the main reason it's so popular is because it's very convenient to cruz bay and the beaches. It's by far the most popular area.

Anon..Yes the view from Jungle stone is spectacular I should have mentioned that..It is actually a lovely home but they do need to update it with better furniture (couch cushions with huge rips), redo the kitchen (stains all over the counter)and replace all screens and sliding doors..The screen door in front of the couch came right of the tracks so we were never able to open it. When you are paying almost $350 a night none of these problems should exist. Not to mention the bug thing. I know that's nature and hard to control but the other problems with the house coupled with that incredibly rough road leading to the villa make me unable to recommend this villa to anyone.