WhtdoIknow about St. John?
Written: Dec 16 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fabulous rentals at Star Villa, Gorgeous beaches and laid back natural vibe, Some great food
Cons: Can be noisy (roosters to jackhammers), A little sketchy in places, Some overpriced food
The Bottom Line: St John is an outstanding Carribean destination providing a great laid-back atmosphere, great beaches and unique vacation dining. The Star Villa properties are highly reccomended.
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| WhtdoIKnow's Full Review: St. John |
Just got back from a relaxing week in St John. Had visited the USVI on cruises and spent a week on St Thomas but this was our first extended stay on St John. Between our amazing accommodations and the gorgeous/friendly St John vibe we had one of our best warm/wet Caribbean weeks.
After landing on St Thomas we decided to take a "taxi" to Redhook. There are ferries available from downtown Charlotte Amalie (much closer to the airport). However, the Redhook ferries run more frequently. As is often the case in the USVI, we ended up getting jammed into a multi-passenger van that was basically already full. They found room for us but it made for an uncomfortable, protracted and jarring ride across the island. On the return trip, we decided to take the St John to Charlotte Amalie ferry (plus short cab ride to the airport) and felt that this was a better way to do it. Note that you have to pay extra on these ferries for any kind of moderately large bag i.e backpack/carry on luggage and up. You have to buy a "luggage tag" prior to boarding and w/out this are sent back to purchase one.
Our first stop at Cruz Bay was the rental car agency. I had rented a soft-top Wrangler for the week and this did turn out to be a good ride. It's a little awkward sometimes to deal with the removable window panels, etc but the open aspect of the car is fun and probably worth the trouble. I only used the 4WD once but really needed it at that point - negotiating a driveway from an extremely steep road - and would have been looking for a tow truck otherwise. I rented from Conrad Sutton and I would recommend them. For one thing, the agency building is a very short level walk from the Cruz Bay ferry - just up a "block" and down that street about 30 yds. Some of the other rental places I noticed are quite distant and up hill from the ferry. Also they had the best rate of the few companies I tried. My only complaint is that the car was not in great condition. To be fair, most of these St John vehicles are somewhat beat-up and shabby inside but the main problem with ours was that the radio antenna had been broken off - something that should have been repaired before the car was sent out again.
After a thorough check-out of the vehicle (necessary to catalog all of the scatches, dings, etc) I was on my way and back down to the ferry where Wonderful Wife was waiting with our luggage. We headed up around Gallows Point - the S arm of Cruz Bay - and just down the other side (a 3 minute drive) where our accomodations were in the Star Villa properties. These are a series of stand-alone cottages and houses arrranged along the far side of this S ridge of land above Cruz Bay. In general, this is a fantastic location. You are very close to Cruz Bay but essentially removed from the noise, minor traffic, sketchy folks, etc associated with it.
The first few days we stayed in a property called Sugarbird which is down near the bottom of this ridge - though still perched high above the water. This was a 1 BR/1Bth cottage. It was quite comfortable with a nice bedroom (with an efficient wall A/C unit) and great living areas. Our favorite spot was a very large screened porch that ran across the whole back of the house and accessed from the bedroom and living room. This had a great view out onto Pillsbury sound over to St Thomas. The kitchen was well equipped and the bathroom was small but serviceable.
After a couple of days we moved up hill to the premier Star Villa property aptly named...Star Villa. This was one of the nicest vacation rental accommodations we have ever had and is highly recommended. We thought that Sugarbird was nice but our first walkthrough of the second property was series of "Oohs", "Aaahs" and "Wows!". Star Villa (we ended up calling it Porn Star Villa) is a 2BR/2Bth pool home sitting at the top of this ridge. Both bedrooms have A/C units. One has a very nice en-suite bath. The second hallway bathroom was gorgeous with a sliding glass door into an outdoor stone shower (a standard hot shower, not pool shower). The house had a nice kitchen, large living room and dining room and a modest but comfortable screened porch. However, the highlight was an expansive deck that wrapped around the entire sea-side of the property and along one side surrounded a beautiful swimming pool. The pool had a perfect smooth plaster surface, tile surround and even a built-in tile table and seating area. It was shaded in the afternoon by an amazing Gumbo Limbo tree that grew right up through an opening in the deck. The deck area was very well equipped with multiple seating areas and tables/chairs, chaise lounges and a nice hammock. We ended up just spending our entire first day lounging around the house/pool and enjoyed every minute. It was great having our own private pool to come home to at the end of a hot day and we loved this aspect of the property. The full ocean views from several areas of the deck and the associated screened porch area were fantastic. I think we caught every spectacular sunset and directly below the main area of the deck was a fragipani tree w/ beautiful fragrant flowers.
The properties were being managed that week by a couple who were apparenlty standing in for the owners. Their service and advice was outstanding. Everything related to the properties (check-in/out, cleaning, the pool service, etc) was top notch and everything needed for a great beach vacation - towels, beach chairs, coolers, etc etc was provided. We thought the rates for these properties were very reasonable and for a small family or two couples, Star Villa would be a real bargain. St John has a ton of rental properties but considering the location, amenities, service and cost, I really can't recommend these Star Villa rentals highly enough. The only minor problem I'll mention was some noise. There was a fair amount of construction going on in the area at the time with hammering, truck noise, etc. Also there seem to be quite lot of chickens around w/ the associated roosters who get up quite early!
OK. What to do on St John once the roosters get you up. We really just chilled out and went to the beach. We had been to Trunk Bay before and this does have some interest and good snorkeling. However, this time we ended up mostly at Cinnamon Bay. This is also a pretty well developed National Park facility with a small store, cafe and modest watersports rental hut but less crowded/touristy than Trunk Bay. There is a real parking lot and modest walk down to the beach. The palm/sea grape fringed beach is expansive and gorgeous. We also really loved the next beach up the coast, Maho Bay. Here you just basically pull your car off the road onto a level shoulder parking strip and walk about 10 yds down to the crystal, turquoise water. The beaches on St John are consistently ranked as some of the best in the world and you really can't go wrong anywhere along the N coast road which is 100% unspoiled National Park property. We did the Cinnamon Bay "Nature trail" which features some modest sugar mill ruins, an old Danish graveyard and a few signs identifying plants and other natural features. This was OK but nothing that great and despite being described as "level" has a good bit of climb to it.
The other thing to do on St John is eat and we had some good meals this time. There are a lot of restaurants to choose from just in/around Cruz Bay. Asolare, up a the top of the N Cruz Bay ridge is deservedly famous and we loved our meal there and one of the best views on the Island (that's saying something). The first night after driving around the dark, somewhat unfriendly streets of Cruz Bay for awhile we ended up in Paradiso in the convenient if touristy Mongoose Junction complex (perhaps the easiest, safest parking situation on St John). We had some outstanding local-caught fresh Tuna and a delicious version of wasabi mashed potatoes. Also in this center is the Deli Grotto (formerly called several other names). We were in and out of there the whole week. In the morning you can't go wrong with one of their fantastic breakfast burritos spiced up with some of the available bottles of hot sauce (West Indies Key lime was fantastic and we bought two bottles to take home). Then at lunch time we enjoyed several of the different specialty sandwiches and on two days took picnics to the beach featuring some of their outstanding salads. The curry chicken salad was particularly delicious. Another more complete food store is up the hill at the Starfish Market and an adjacent liquor/specialty food store. The prices in St John for food items/etc are pretty shocking but hey it's a tiny somewhat isolated island. Back to restaurants, we enjoyed the food but not the atmosphere at La Tappa. The sidewalk tables look inviting but I'd heartily recommend sitting inside to avoid constant traffic noise/car headlights and the occasional profane rant from a local crazy lady on the corner. Margarita Phil's was fun and they do pour a great/huge Margarita but the food is just so-so and a plethora of noisy, singing drunks kind of spoiled our evening's fun. Rhumb Line has a neat setting in an outdoor patio right in the heart of Cruz Bay. I enjoyed my food there but WW did not. We both loved a great lunch up on the Banana Deck with a great view of the harbor.
St John is really a unique location with the National Park keeping the beaches beautiful and unspoiled but enough of a standard Carribbean Island vibe in Cruz Bay and a few othere areas to keep things interesting. We felt that it really delivered a great vacation for us this time and would definitely consider returning again for a do-over.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
WhtdoIKnow
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Location: Maplewood, NJ
Reviews written: 87
Trusted by: 10 members
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