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We just returned from 12 wonderful days on St. John. Thanks to the general information gathered from this board and the responses to the various questions that I posted, I almost felt like I knew what I was doing when we got there. We stayed right on Scott beach at Caneel Bay which is quiet. As a side note, no children under 12 on this part of the property. The property is great and the staff ever so friendly.
We more or less lucked out on the weather as it had been overcast and raining much of the week before we arrived on May 17th . We had some heavy rains over the weekend of the 22nd, 23rd but no big deal. When we left on the 28th, it was 92° F at 9 AM. We did not “try” to rent a car (see my previous discussion on this subject) and utilized the taxi services. With the multiple beaches on the property (six), there was no strong desire to travel elsewhere other than to Cruz Bay for dinner and whatever. Had dinner in Cruz Bay at The Stone Terrace (Great), Lime Inn (Good), and the Fishtrap (Good). Other times off the Caneel Bay property were to go to St. Thomas (when there where 0-1 ships in port) for the prerequisite shopping and lunch.
Not wanting to repeat other information posted here about a St. John experience, I will keep this brief but will answer any questions that I can about our experience in general or the Caneel Bay Resort in particular.
Again, thanks to Islander and all the others who have so graciously answered my inquiries.
I guess the point of a message board is to post your experience. Most of our experience with food on the island of St John was bad. Very bad. So therefore, I can paint a broad picture.
Donna,
You're absolutely right. One purpose of this board is to post your experiences, good and bad. I would hope though that one would post not just to vent, but to offer details to the readers so that their upcoming visits might be more productive enjoyment wise.
You did a great job explaining why the lack of air-conditioning in a villa located on the hill overlooking Coral Bay should not sway someone from renting it. This is especially helpful information considering your trip was in the late May, early June timeframe.
However your initial comments on restaurants in St. John left the reader with more questions than answers or information. Even at that your comments were about the food without offering any details. When pressed, your complaints appear to be only about the poor service.
I've lived in the Virgin Islands for almost 20 years and I've visited every year for another 20+ years. I can tell you that I've had my share of poor service and with it, some good and bad meals. I can't say however that I've had "horrible food" each and every day for the entire visit, which appears to be what you're saying. Given that, it's hard for me to take your critique of the food in St. John seriously unless you offer more details than you have so far.
I'll be arriving in St. John on July 11th and staying until the 20th. With me will be 6 other people. If you indeed have had horrible food at one or more of the restaurants, it would be most helpful to me to know which ones, and what food you ordered that didn't meet your expectations.
Richard N. Kurpiers
DONNA wrote:
> Chilly Billy's rude young americans working there. We entered
> to a please wait to be seated sign.
I would expect americans to be working there. It is a U.S. Territory and they are citizens. Also if the sign said "Please wait--" it means please wait.
--------------------snip-----------------
> Then they walked away for another three-five minutes
> without a word. Then they come back and give us menus and
> walked away again. We waited ten minutes in a barely empty
> place for them to come back and ask for our order. No smiles,
> no how you doing.
Maybe you irritated someone by not observing the sign. If you did not want to wait, then you should have left and went to Mickey D's.
>We even tried to lighten them up. No
> response. Unfortanetly this was isolated, we were silly enough
> to go back for a second helping of rudeness. Same thing. We
> also experienced rudeness in Mongoose Junction restaurant.
> Again, island time of not rushing to serve your customer must
> be the problem. I don't expect people to run, I only expect a
> nod or a hello, we'll be right with you. There they looked at
> you and walked away for 5 minutes before returning. Another
> restaurant in Coral Bay was also cold service. Skinny Legs was
> the only place with friendly servers.
From the comments, one may draw inferences as to the real source of the problem.
We spent 12 days on the Island and ate at the Stone Terrace, Lime Inn, and Fishtrap as well at Caneel Bay and have nothing but good to say about the food, service , and attitude at these locations. We did not meet a rude island person during our stay.
Curmudgeon
I have to agree with Donna's comments as well. I will say though the the Fish Trap was excellent service. The people there were very friendly. We stayed at Caneel and found the service pretty good too. We had one instance at Morgan's Mango which was very disheartening. We arrived late (9 p.m.) one evening and we were told dinner was not being served anymore, but we could have drinks at the bar. So, we said what the heck, we'll just get a daiquri and eat a large breakfast in the morning. Well, about ten minutes after we had our drinks, a local group comes in and sits at the bar. After they ask the waitress can they still order dinner, she says yes and they proceed to order. Appalled, my husband asked the waiter if you had to be a local to get served. The waitress just look at us and said under her breath the customer is always right, the customer is always right. About twenty minutes later as we were finishing our drinks, the manager came over and offered to let us order a salad. By then, we were just ready to get out of the place. We found the same type of service at the restaurant next to Panini Beach and the powerboat rentals place. We sat at the bar and the girl who was working was very rude and asked like I was asking for cavier when I would ask for another glass of water. Caneel was a lovely oasis and we loved the beauty of St John, but I don't think we will back to spend money on the island. It is not very fun to spend $150 on dinner and have awful service repeatedly. I am more than happy to leave large tips, but a pleasant demeanor is helpful if you want to receive that. I am not talking parting the ocean, just a simple hello or friendly chitchat. It is unfortunate because we have many friends who have been to the USVI lately and everyone we have talked to had the same experience as us: beautiful beaches, great snorkeling, but awful service at restaurants, bars, shops, etc.
To Islander and all those un-named helpful responders (Pamela, Chris et al);
I would now ike to end this thread. I ( we ) greatly appreciate all the helpful information/responses that we received from this message board to the inquiries that were posted relative to our stay in STJ. It was a great experience. To those who have posted about what they felt was less than acceptable service and attitude; were there any mitigating circumstances?
Again, my screen name tells it all. If I don’t sign off now, I will really pi— some one off.
Enjoy! I really envy the “islanders”.
Curmudgeon
I just wanted to ask you if there are any suggestions that you have for a 1st time traveler to the islands. I will be going to St. John for my honeymoon July 11-18. We are renting a villa through St. Johns properties. (hope that they are a reputable company). Could you name a few good resturants? What about rental cars? Are the taxis just as good? Any great things that we should not miss while we are there? snorkeling? things to see? I would appreciate your imput since you lived there for a while. THANKS!
Bride to be!!!
What kinda food are you looking for?
Hello Angelia,
You might want to start a new thread with your questions. If you go to the top of the message board there is a text link that says New Thread - click there and start a new thread with your questions.
--Islander
