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Message
1
Posted on 3/8/21 at 11:36 am to Gabby1954
Yep.
Posted on 3/13/21 at 6:42 am to damonster
Enjoyed reading this thread. It had me craving a return to St. John after after 15 years since my last visit. Secured a great deal using Delta miles so taking the family in May!
Posted on 3/15/21 at 9:11 pm to lostNkansas
We just got back yesterday and it was wonderful! There are some spring break type assholes there right now but, lucky for us we had the private beach at Peter Bay. I don’t believe it is usually this crowded but, it is still one of the best places on the planet. I’ll post more maybe this weekend but, for now I’ll leave you with a couple pictures from Peter Bay. Peter Bay
Posted on 3/16/21 at 12:36 pm to damonster
hell yeah. looking forward to your recap because we're going in a month and those photos have me itching to leave...
Posted on 3/28/21 at 8:08 am to damonster
Any more pics or review/link to the place you stayed? My 15yr anniversary is in July and I’m scrambling to come up with ideas. I realize I’m late planning, but due to staffing issues at work I’m just now seeing that I’ll be able to break free for a week.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 8:32 am to damonster
quote:
St. John
One of my all time favorite places to vacation.
Posted on 3/31/21 at 6:19 am to damonster
quote:
The place I found had a million dollar view and a private walkway down to Peter Bay Beach.
damonster, do you happen to have a link to this place and your thoughts on it? Feel free to email if you’d like. Username @gmail.com
Posted on 3/31/21 at 3:58 pm to iwantacooler
I'm sorry I haven't responded sooner. Ever since we got back, I have been balls to the wall. I'm going to post a little more about our trip soon. Hopefully this weekend since it's a long weekend but, I'll tell you a little about the place that we stayed.
Below is a link to the place we stayed. The owners have a hotel in Cruz Bay but, they have a totally separate apartment below their house in Peter Bay. It is a gated community and they give you the code to the gate once you arrive. The owners are really nice and accommodating and we only saw them twice the entire week. Once was when we asked for some more washcloths. As with anywhere, this place has its pros and cons. I'll start with the pros. Location, location, location! It is extremely hard to beat the location and views from the apartment. You are about 20 minutes from Cruz Bay and have access to the private beach at Peter Bay. Having access to the private beach was extremely helpful on days when we went to Trunk Bay and Maho Bay. We went to those two beaches early in the day and by 11:00-12:00 they were becoming packed to the point where you really couldn't enjoy yourself like you would want to. We just went back to the apartment and went down to the private beach at Peter Bay. It is a really nice beach. I've got GoPro videos of me snorkeling with the sea turtles and there is a really good reef for snorkeling out on the point towards the west side of the beach. It is very close to Little Cinnamon Beach. You can actually swim over to Little Cinnamon and it is pretty quite over there also. Another pro is the beach is shaded. The owners have 6 lounge chairs that stay down at the beach. You are shaded by the side of a mountain on one side and palm trees and coconut trees behind you. However, you can get plenty of sun if you want to. Another pro is that we saw a few deer each day. They would be up and down the mountain and would not scare off easily because they knew they were safe. The owners actually told me that they have seen the deer swimming in the ocean. Another pro is being able to look at all of the multi million dollar homes that surround you. The nicest and biggest one is on the point and used to be owned by Kenny Chesney.
Now for the cons. This apartment had to be the oldest house in Peter Bay. It is an old West Indies type home. It's not a dump but, compared to what you are surrounded by it is definitely not comparable. The kitchen and living area do not have windows and only have screen where the windows were. We had to be careful to keep the door closed because the second day that we were there, I found a scorpion under my snorkel mask that I left sitting on the porch the day before to dry off. Later that night before bed, I was laying in bed and I looked up on the top of the closet door and saw a tarantula. Needless to say my wife was ready to pack our shite and get the hell out of there right then. Honestly, I can't blame her. Another con is the water heater is only like a 5-10 gallon water heater. I was fine because I take a pretty quick shower but, my wife would run out of hot water when she would rinse her hair. She didn't like that at all. Another con is the water is from a cistern which I believe is normal in the Islands. It was fine for showering and brushing teeth but, not to drink. However, the apartment has a 5 gallon water dispenser that the owner will supply you with all of the 5 gallon jugs you want. We had a couple of cases of water so we would freeze a few of them and put them in our ice chest to keep snacks and drinks cold. Another con is the kayaks and beach chairs that the owner provides you have seen better days. The beach chairs were really nice at one point but, they were starting to rust and they broke on us after about the third day where the rust was at.
One issue that could be a pro or con depending on how you look at it is cellphone service. On the private beach, you are picking up very weak signals from Jost Van Dyke which is directly in front of you. You have the possibility of being charged international roaming fees. I let my cellphone provider know ahead of time that I was going to the USVI but, would be picking up BVI towers so they waived all of the charges. In the apartment, you have to use Wi-Fi for calling anyone that you may want to call.
Overall, I would stay here again in a heartbeat but, my wife has made it clear that she wouldn't. My wife isn't high maintenance and she loved the views and private beach but, she didn't care for the shower situation and bug situation at all. This place isn't for everyone but, it is in paradise. If you guys are considering it, I would say talk to the owners and have all of your questions answered. They will answer any questions that you may have.
Hotel Cruz Bay-Suite on The Beach
Below is a link to the place we stayed. The owners have a hotel in Cruz Bay but, they have a totally separate apartment below their house in Peter Bay. It is a gated community and they give you the code to the gate once you arrive. The owners are really nice and accommodating and we only saw them twice the entire week. Once was when we asked for some more washcloths. As with anywhere, this place has its pros and cons. I'll start with the pros. Location, location, location! It is extremely hard to beat the location and views from the apartment. You are about 20 minutes from Cruz Bay and have access to the private beach at Peter Bay. Having access to the private beach was extremely helpful on days when we went to Trunk Bay and Maho Bay. We went to those two beaches early in the day and by 11:00-12:00 they were becoming packed to the point where you really couldn't enjoy yourself like you would want to. We just went back to the apartment and went down to the private beach at Peter Bay. It is a really nice beach. I've got GoPro videos of me snorkeling with the sea turtles and there is a really good reef for snorkeling out on the point towards the west side of the beach. It is very close to Little Cinnamon Beach. You can actually swim over to Little Cinnamon and it is pretty quite over there also. Another pro is the beach is shaded. The owners have 6 lounge chairs that stay down at the beach. You are shaded by the side of a mountain on one side and palm trees and coconut trees behind you. However, you can get plenty of sun if you want to. Another pro is that we saw a few deer each day. They would be up and down the mountain and would not scare off easily because they knew they were safe. The owners actually told me that they have seen the deer swimming in the ocean. Another pro is being able to look at all of the multi million dollar homes that surround you. The nicest and biggest one is on the point and used to be owned by Kenny Chesney.
Now for the cons. This apartment had to be the oldest house in Peter Bay. It is an old West Indies type home. It's not a dump but, compared to what you are surrounded by it is definitely not comparable. The kitchen and living area do not have windows and only have screen where the windows were. We had to be careful to keep the door closed because the second day that we were there, I found a scorpion under my snorkel mask that I left sitting on the porch the day before to dry off. Later that night before bed, I was laying in bed and I looked up on the top of the closet door and saw a tarantula. Needless to say my wife was ready to pack our shite and get the hell out of there right then. Honestly, I can't blame her. Another con is the water heater is only like a 5-10 gallon water heater. I was fine because I take a pretty quick shower but, my wife would run out of hot water when she would rinse her hair. She didn't like that at all. Another con is the water is from a cistern which I believe is normal in the Islands. It was fine for showering and brushing teeth but, not to drink. However, the apartment has a 5 gallon water dispenser that the owner will supply you with all of the 5 gallon jugs you want. We had a couple of cases of water so we would freeze a few of them and put them in our ice chest to keep snacks and drinks cold. Another con is the kayaks and beach chairs that the owner provides you have seen better days. The beach chairs were really nice at one point but, they were starting to rust and they broke on us after about the third day where the rust was at.
One issue that could be a pro or con depending on how you look at it is cellphone service. On the private beach, you are picking up very weak signals from Jost Van Dyke which is directly in front of you. You have the possibility of being charged international roaming fees. I let my cellphone provider know ahead of time that I was going to the USVI but, would be picking up BVI towers so they waived all of the charges. In the apartment, you have to use Wi-Fi for calling anyone that you may want to call.
Overall, I would stay here again in a heartbeat but, my wife has made it clear that she wouldn't. My wife isn't high maintenance and she loved the views and private beach but, she didn't care for the shower situation and bug situation at all. This place isn't for everyone but, it is in paradise. If you guys are considering it, I would say talk to the owners and have all of your questions answered. They will answer any questions that you may have.
Hotel Cruz Bay-Suite on The Beach
Posted on 3/31/21 at 5:21 pm to damonster
Once you get out of Cruz Bay it's all cisterns which are filled by rainwater.
Posted on 3/31/21 at 6:28 pm to damonster
Awesome. Thanks for the info.
Posted on 3/31/21 at 6:34 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
Once you get out of Cruz Bay it's all cisterns which are filled by rainwater.
The cisterns really didn’t bother me one bit. We had plenty of fresh water. I just wanted to give the guy an honest assessment. I really like where we stayed but, I know when we go back my wife is going to want to be closer to Cruz Bay. She’s going to want the infinity pool and granite counter top type villa with a view. And she wants windows. I can go along with her because one thing that we missed out on was being able to go out in Cruz Bay for drinks because I had to drive back. BUT that Peter Bay location is pretty perfect.
Posted on 3/31/21 at 7:41 pm to damonster
Grande Bay is just in a great location. You’re right in the middle of it all but I understand the want for some space. I like walking to pretty much everything.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 6:30 am to VABuckeye
My wife wanted to be in walking distance of everything and I don’t disagree with her and we will probably be closer to Cruz Bay on our next trip. However, being away from people for a while with some amazing views was just what was needed for both of us after the past year.
Posted on 4/1/21 at 7:04 am to damonster
This is what I’m looking for. Unfortunately the place you stayed is booked for my dates.
Posted on 4/7/21 at 6:56 am to damonster
Areas of the island to stay: I would rather be away from the crowds and don’t mind having to drive to get to restaurants/shops. I would prefer a less crowded, more laid back beach to read/nap. The place damonster stayed looks perfect for me, but is booked for my dates. My question is how important is it to stay within walking distance of a beach if I will have a vehicle rented? Do the more secluded beaches have ample parking (mid-July)? I’ve been exclusively looking at places to rent that have beaches within walking distance, but if access is fairly easy with a vehicle it would open up other rentals for me.
Posted on 4/7/21 at 7:07 am to iwantacooler
quote:
Do the more secluded beaches have ample parking (mid-July)?
Low season which is your best bet time wise. I've never had trouble getting a parking spot if I headed to the beaches at a decent time.
Posted on 4/7/21 at 11:13 am to iwantacooler
Most of the beaches on the North Shore have ample parking but, the parking filled up really quick when we were there. I would suggest going early in the morning if you are planning on going to Trunk or Maho. Those two seemed to be the busiest when we were there. We went during what would normally be considered the busy season. From what I have read mid July wouldn't normally be overly busy but, I don't believe this year is a normal travel year. I fully expect it to stay really busy for quite some time. As far as areas of the island, we really enjoyed the Peter Bay area and again you have access to the private beach. It's just expensive in that area. We didn't spend much time on the East Side of the island but, it did seem to have a really laid back vibe to it. Only problem is Cruz Bay would be quite a drive if you wanted to spend some time there. As far as walking distance to a beach and a rental car goes, I don't think you would be doing too much walking to a beach unless you lucked up and found a really good spot. I only saw one couple the entire week packing all of their beach stuff along the side of the road going up the mountain. It didn't look like they were having fun. When we go back, we will probably stay closer to Cruz Bay and not even rent a vehicle. My wife and I talked about it and it seems like the open air taxis are the best option for getting to the more popular beaches for a beach day.
Posted on 4/11/21 at 7:59 pm to damonster
quote:
Damonster
In another post you mentioned getting the Blood Center antibody test prior to traveling to the USVI. My fiancé and I both had COVID in late December and both just tested positive for antibodies last week. She donates regularly, but I went specifically bc of your comment.
Can you elaborate on the travel protocol? Were you positive for antibodies? Did you get a printout from the Blood Center and present it at the arrival airport? Was there anything you needed to do prior to traveling?
We are getting married in June and thinking that USVI may be an easier Honeymoon than anything international.
I’d appreciate any info you can provide.
Posted on 4/11/21 at 9:04 pm to SeasonOfSam
Yes, I found out I was positive for antibodies by donating blood. There was a printout but it didn’t give all of the specifics that were required to travel to the USVI. I called my doctor and asked for him to order an antibody test at LabCorp. I tested positive again and was able to print out the results. You would need to go to the USVI travel portal for all of the specifics. Basically, if you are trying to use an antibody test for travel to the USVI, the test results must be dated within 4 months of your travel date. The test results are uploaded into the travel portal within 5 days of travel and then you wait for approval. My wife never tested positive for Covid or antibodies at the time I got my test results. She took her first vaccine shot and waited a couple of weeks and then had an antibody test ordered through her doctor. She then tested positive for antibodies due to her shot. We got our approval and we’re on our way. Congrats on the honeymoon! St. John is certainly a great place to spend it!
USVI Travel Portal
USVI Travel Portal
This post was edited on 4/11/21 at 9:07 pm
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