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St. John's/St. Thomas VI

HoustonHorn

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VABuckeye

VABuckeye 2472

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Stay on St. John.  It is vastly superior to St. Thomas.

Food.  ZoZo's and Extra Virgin are top notch.  Morgan's Mango is a level below but still very good.  Charter a boat for a day trip around the island and have lunch at LimeOut for floating tacos and drinks.  If you have a car head over to Skinny Legs one day for lunch.  There are several other good places to eat around Cruz Bay.  The beaches are beautiful but they're more crowded than normal with the BVI not open to day trippers.  If the BVI opens up then a day trip to White Bay and the Soggy Dollar Bar, One Love, Hendo's Hideout and Getrudes is a must.  If you are adventurous and the BVI is open you can take a longer day trip and head out to the Willy T on Norman Island.  It's a floating bar/restaurant and be forewarned it is likely to be the raunchiest bar you've ever been to.  If you have kids do NOT arrive there after 2 or 3 PM as it gets bad but it's a ton of fun for adults.  Pirate's Bight is a restaurant on Norman Island that is excellent.  You can also stop at Cooper Island for lunch.  Your first stop that day should be the baths on Virgin Gorda.  You can also hit the Indians or Monkey Point for some great snorkeling.

We stay at Grande Bay on St. John.  It's right in the middle of things at Cruz Bay.  You can also stay at Gallows Point but it's a little further to walk into Cruz Bay.  About 5 minutes further.

 

ETA: Banana Deck in Cruz Bay also puts out a great plate of food and there are a couple of restaurants on the waterfront in Cruz Bay that are pretty darned good.

Edited by VABuckeye
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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11447

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2 hours ago, Longhorn94 said:

We go next week. We are staying at the Westin for 3 nights and the Ritz for 1.

 

Any other must sees? Any hidden beaches or places to visit in the NP? Snorkeling / Scuba?

Is there a particular reason why chose to stay at a hotel/resort instead of an Airbnb or Vrbo? 

People swear by renting a house on St. John. 

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Longhorn94

Longhorn94 2448

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1 minute ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Is there a particular reason why chose to stay at a hotel/resort instead of an Airbnb or Vrbo? 

People swear by renting a house on St. John. 

its our first time to the island so wanted to make everything as easy as possible. and there were very few houses for 2 available on such short notice - we just started planning this trip two weeks ago.

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11447

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1 minute ago, Longhorn94 said:

its our first time to the island so wanted to make everything as easy as possible. and there were very few houses for 2 available on such short notice - we just started planning this trip two weeks ago.

I understand. Enjoy. 

I wouldn't recommend the Marriott in St Thomas. It was fine. Just much more expensive than staying in St. John with limited shuttle service. 

I probably wouldn't recommend renting a car if you're staying in St. Thomas. There are a lot of taxis, and driving on the island is an adventure. 

Red Hook is pretty cool for night life. Magens Bay is awesome, a must visit. Glady's Cafe in the old quarter of Charlotte Amalie is pretty good eats and daiquiris. 

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HoustonHorn

HoustonHorn 1062

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1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Is there a particular reason why chose to stay at a hotel/resort instead of an Airbnb or Vrbo? 

People swear by renting a house on St. John. 

Same as above, first time there. Mostly just don't want to have to worry about anything and have amenities ready for the kids. We usually do VRBO/ABB but just did it differently this time. Plus the time in St. Thomas will be at the Ritz, which by all accounts is very nice.

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11447

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There's KMart in St. Thomas. Most of the local get their groceries there. There's a million duty free shops near the cruise ship piers in Charlotte Amalie. Great place to load up on booze for your trip. 

Jewelry is also duty free. I'm not sure if the big shops like Tiffany's and Cartier are still there, but there are dozens of local shops in Little Switzerland. 

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Zepol87

Zepol87 9185

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Went for the first time back in November. Enjoyed it and stayed near Sapphire beach. Red Hook is cool, Coki beach was actually chill and I enjoyed talking and hanging out with the locals, didn't see many tourists at that beach but it isn't the nicest. If you walk around by the pier holy shit be ready for all the vendors stopping you down. 

Had dinner one night at Prime at Paradise Point. The view was badass and food was pretty damn good. 

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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I’ve made many posts of detailed trip St. John trip reports on longhorn boards of old. We stumbled upon St John while honeymooning in St Thomas 19 years ago. I can’t imagine spending any time in St Thomas when St. John is right there.

Pros:
About 3/4 national park, so very pristine
Unbelievable beaches and water
Some nice hiking
Very laid back
A ton of gorgeous reasonable villas to choose from

Cons:
Difficult to get to, lots of travel time
Not many villas are on the beach, short drive required
Some don’t love driving the hills and on the left side. You get used to it IMO


We’ve stayed at Carnival Beach House, Villa Capiz, Tortuga Cottage, DejaView (5 king suits with an insane kids bunk room), and a hotel in Cruz Bay while in for a quick trip to look into buying a sail charter business.

All the North Shore Beaches are amazing and each offer something different. Trunk bay is the most famous, Maho had incredible snorkeling with turtles, Honeymoon & Solomon are so pristine and gorgeous, Hawksnest is my wife’s favorite and my least favorite, Francis is long and uninhabited. Hike to Waterlemon for great snorkeling.

The Coral Bay side of the island is quieter and a bit more arid. We stayed on that side and explored over there a few years ago and fell in love with Salt Pond (I think the best snorkeling on island) and Hansen Bay.

We are renting a catamaran in July and will be mooring/anchoring around St John for 10 nights. Would love to hit BVIs but are happy to stay in St John the whole time if we have to.

Trunk Baye3a507e50272506faf577ae5e746b1fe.jpg

Hawksnest
1eac80ba179f4b8976d5e37d3fd1606b.jpg

Maho
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Francis (left) / end of Maho on right
73550301ba9c050da6a74964989073b5.jpg


View from DejaView - Rendezvous Bay
7333bd9b1a866540ece1434b9dd99d7f.jpg

Honeymoon
a2206ae46750597d7552c914b1babeb9.jpg

Honeymoon
db3b3126ece97f0b3ace71b149dad352.jpg

The Lime Out (floating taco bar) old location in Hansen Bay
8171f0a299af00cfe0f979b88f90e3d5.jpg

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kmac30

kmac30 416

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Wow. Great info. We are going with another couple in September. Fishing trip is booked. That’s it. So what I’m hearing is we should stay on St John? Wives will not be fishing so I want to make sure they are taken care of. I would book that Deja place but it’s booked solid for a long time out.

I’m not opposed to vrbo, but think we’re leaning hotel on this one. Thoughts? As of right now, other guy is saying St Thomas and ritz, but he doesn’t want to pay for ritz. His wife will make him...

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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Wow. Great info. We are going with another couple in September. Fishing trip is booked. That’s it. So what I’m hearing is we should stay on St John? Wives will not be fishing so I want to make sure they are taken care of. I would book that Deja place but it’s booked solid for a long time out.

I’m not opposed to vrbo, but think we’re leaning hotel on this one. Thoughts? As of right now, other guy is saying St Thomas and ritz, but he doesn’t want to pay for ritz. His wife will make him...

There are so many Villa options in St. John. The hardest part is trying to decide which part of the island you want to stay. The Coral Bay side is quieter and fewer options for dining. Cruz Bay is a nice area with lots of eating options. The downside of St John is there are very few options on the water. If you find a Villa, you can message me and I’ll give you my thoughts.

https://www.caribbeanvilla.com/vacation-rentals/st-john-villas/

https://www.destinationstjohn.com/villa-rentals
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dlatin

dlatin 328

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A couple other random thoughts…

I loved cooking at the Villa after spending the day at the beach. Groceries are crazy expensive on the island as I heads up. I often check a cooler of frozen meats to bring in.

I mentioned above, 1 time my wife and I stayed in Cruz Bay, it was only a couple nights but we really enjoyed being able to walk to breakfast and dinner and happy hour. Not sure this would be ideal for an entire week, but we really enjoyed ourselves for that quick trip.

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Longhorn94

Longhorn94 2448

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The Westin on St John was really nice and very convenient.

We will definitely stay in a house next time but we were really happy staying at the Westin for our first time on the island. It made everything easy. There are kitchens in the Westin villas if you want to cook and there are couple of dining options on property as well. 

Edited by Longhorn94
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mchookem

mchookem 16320

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ohhhh i'm feeling impulsive lol...

tripadvisor tells me Secret Harbor Beach Resort is the #1 hotel in St. Thomas...hmmm... 

 

ETA: so i went with my impulse and @Longhorn94's suggestion...and booked 5 nights in September!

i booked St. Thomas, not St. John's...read all the above, i think we'll be fine, yeah? we like bars and restaurants and shopping :)

looks like it's a pretty short ferry from St. Thomas > St. John - am i right that seems feasible for a day trip, if we want to do a beach day on St. John's? 

i can cancel up to 14 days ahead for no charge, so the risk was minimal. i'll look for airfare separately now. 

i know nothing about USVI, St. Thomas, or Secret Harbor Beach Resort haha...like i said, tripadvisor says it's finominle, so wtf, you only live once, right? 

now, can i keep the secret until August?? 😜

Edited by mchookem
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mchookem

mchookem 16320

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if it's that easy to get to then we'll probably go more than once 😊

but really, i didn't want to mess with a car, and nice beachfront access is priority. i'm assuming we can get a taxi or public transport to beach areas if we go over. 

i'm betting they are both pretty lovely 🙂

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VABuckeye

VABuckeye 2472

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Stay in Cruz Bay and you can taxi or ride the taxi bus to beaches.  St. John is 60% national forest and covered with trails.  St. Thomas is the single most visited cruise ship destination in the world so you get all that comes with that.  Yes, it is easy to get to St. J from Red Hook and quick.

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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20 hours ago, mchookem said:

ohhhh i'm feeling impulsive lol...

tripadvisor tells me Secret Harbor Beach Resort is the #1 hotel in St. Thomas...hmmm... 

 

ETA: so i went with my impulse and @Longhorn94's suggestion...and booked 5 nights in September!

i booked St. Thomas, not St. John's...read all the above, i think we'll be fine, yeah? we like bars and restaurants and shopping :)

looks like it's a pretty short ferry from St. Thomas > St. John - am i right that seems feasible for a day trip, if we want to do a beach day on St. John's? 

i can cancel up to 14 days ahead for no charge, so the risk was minimal. i'll look for airfare separately now. 

i know nothing about USVI, St. Thomas, or Secret Harbor Beach Resort haha...like i said, tripadvisor says it's finominle, so wtf, you only live once, right? 

now, can i keep the secret until August?? 😜

We honeymooned in St. Thomas 20 years ago and did a day sail over to St. John and was blow away.  We took the ferry back on another day and rented a jeep and explored the island and fell even more in love.  It is an easy day trip there and back.  That being said, we've never spent more time in STT than it takes to get from the airport to the ferry to get to St. John since that first trip.  The vibe of St. John is pretty different than STT.

Note that if you plan to take the ferry and rent a jeep to explore you'll want to get one reserved because I'm reading rentals are in very short supply these days.

 

We are sailing out of STT in late July for a 10 day sail, probably spending the entire time around STJ.  Here's the boat we rented.

https://www.virginislandsyachtcharters.com/ndoto

Edited by dlatin
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dlatin

dlatin 328

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1 hour ago, VABuckeye said:

Stay in Cruz Bay and you can taxi or ride the taxi bus to beaches.  St. John is 60% national forest and covered with trails.  St. Thomas is the single most visited cruise ship destination in the world so you get all that comes with that.  Yes, it is easy to get to St. J from Red Hook and quick.

what he said :)

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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2 hours ago, mchookem said:

if it's that easy to get to then we'll probably go more than once 😊

but really, i didn't want to mess with a car, and nice beachfront access is priority. i'm assuming we can get a taxi or public transport to beach areas if we go over. 

i'm betting they are both pretty lovely 🙂

You are right, the actual beach front options are limited in St. John.  They do have the Westin that is right on the water.  We normally rent private villas but you have to drive to the beach, all are pretty close unless you are staying on the Coral Bay side of the island, but even over there, there are some nice beaches.  Driving takes a little getting used to but you are normally going no more than 20 mph so its easy to navigate as there aren't many roads.

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mchookem

mchookem 16320

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well... now y'all have me very intrigued, and since i haven't booked airfare yet...i may explore St. John add-ons..🤔

i feel like the answer is obvious, but just to make sure...you just fly into St. Thomas, catch a taxi to the ferry terminal, then catch a ride to your place on the other end, yeah? that's easy...

 

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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12 minutes ago, mchookem said:

well... now y'all have me very intrigued, and since i haven't booked airfare yet...i may explore St. John add-ons..🤔

i feel like the answer is obvious, but just to make sure...you just fly into St. Thomas, catch a taxi to the ferry terminal, then catch a ride to your place on the other end, yeah? that's easy...

 

For a first time I recommend a jeep on St. John so you can see the whole island, its not big and won't take long but I like the option.  Also, unless you are at the Westin or staying in Cruz Bay you'll need to car to get from your villa to the beaches.  You can Taxi to Red Hook ferry and get your ride in Cruz Bay or you can get a car in STT and take the car ferry.  There are pros and cons to both.  Jeeps in STT are cheaper but if you have problems on island renting in St. John is better.  Also, many rental places let you park at their site in Cruz Bay as parking is pretty limited.  If you go the taxi route while on St. John you are more limited to the beaches you can hit, all of which are amazing but you miss out on Francis and hiking to waterlemon for snorkeling.  I've also fallen in love with Salt Pond, which is on the other side of the island, where I think the best snorkeling is.  If driving isn't your thing, staying at the Westin or in Cruz Bay and taxing to Hawksnest, honeymoon, trunk, cinnamon and Maho work fine.  All of those are about as good a beach as you'll find anywhere.  Maho is known for turtles and rays.  Trunk is the most famous.  Honeymoon is stunning.  My wife's favorite is Hawksnest, its chill.  I like to explore so I alway get a Jeep.  We stayed in Cruz Bay once when we were there for just a couple of days looking at a sail charter business and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would because you could walk to all the bars and restaurants and we took a taxi the day we weren't sailing to Trunk.

Edited by dlatin
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mchookem

mchookem 16320

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so tbh, what y'all are describing on St. John's sounds way more up my alley and is the type of trip i would normally put together...we've always rented a jeep in Cozumel, for example and do just what you describe, cruise the whole island and visit all the beach clubs, different local places, etc.

but i'm planning this one as a pure treat for him (precisely because i normally plan more for what i like... but that's the price of me being the travel coordinator 😄)

so i'm looking to reduce stressors for him (longer travel, car rental/driving, navigating, etc) for him, and he really likes the 'luxury' feeling...i think STT wil be just perfect. 

y'all point out it's the busiest cruise port in the Caribbean...well that's kind of an example of what i mean, he has wanted to go on a cruise for 20+ years, and i just can't. i abhor the idea (especially post-covid)...but he would love it. so nothing yall are saying about STT raises red flags at all...altho you are making StJ sound verrry attractive to meeee...😄

the nicest beach I've ever seen, truly one of the nicest in the world...was on the back side of Oahu, we'd also rented a jeep there, and gotten some recommendations from locals. it was in the middle of a neighborhood, way off the beaten path, with like some local moms and guys doing construction taking a break...it will be hard to beat 😎

20171207_132747.jpg

Edited by mchookem
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dlatin

dlatin 328

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TBH, it is work to get there, which isn't completely relaxing so I get that.  We're really excited they've now added non-stops from DFW which was never an option. The travel end was a BEATING at times.  STT may be more your speed and a daytrip or 2 over to STJ may be more warranted. STT has nice beaches too and the water is stunning, its just a different vibe as has been noted.  Once you get to STJ I think its pretty relaxing but the journey can be long.

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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mchookem - I saw on the PR thread you are thinking September for travel. I probably would not recommend USVI then due to hurricane season unless you feel comfortable with your trip insurance. I’m going late July and I’m stressing about it a bit. September is in the heart of hurricane season for that area.

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dlatin

dlatin 328

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Incredible. 

Maybe you can start another topic on this as I’m very interested to learn more. My wife is very interested in sailing the Bahamas. Our plan in a few years is to move onto a boat and we would likely want to sail those waters. I’d be interested in doing a charter there before we do that. The waters look amazing.
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riloh05

riloh05 107

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1 minute ago, dlatin said:


Maybe you can start another topic on this as I’m very interested to learn more. My wife is very interested in sailing the Bahamas. Our plan in a few years is to move onto a boat and we would likely want to sail those waters. I’d be interested in doing a charter there before we do that. The waters look amazing.

You will not be disappointed. We sailed for 4 hours one day and could see the bottom the whole 4 hours. Sopping at random sand bars and islands having them all to yourself is simply incredible. We chartered a cat and had a captain and chef. We will next do a power yacht now that we wet our whistle as this was our first time.

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mchookem

mchookem 16320

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On 6/25/2021 at 2:46 PM, dlatin said:

mchookem - I saw on the PR thread you are thinking September for travel. I probably would not recommend USVI then due to hurricane season unless you feel comfortable with your trip insurance. I’m going late July and I’m stressing about it a bit. September is in the heart of hurricane season for that area.

yeeaah... i'm weighing this right now. i knew it was hurricane season when i booked... just trying to fit it in b/t other big life events. October is booked more, and looks like last year there were actually more storms (C3+) in Oct than Sept. 

we can cancel 2 weeks prior without penalty...but question if anybody knows...

if we are still a go up to the point that a hurricane is imminent, within like 3 days or something, where they're maybe evacuating tourists or closing the airport... what is SOP for hotels in general? surely they don't expect people to fly into a likely hurricane? 🤔

like i said we haven't visited the Caribbean much beyond Mexico.

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