After benefitting from information left on this message board, I thought it was time to give back a little and hopefully help some other people.

We have stayed at the above 3 properties within the past 4 years. We love St. John and like to try new accomodations. We are a family of 4 with two children who, 4 years ago, when we started to vacation on St. John, were 10 and 7.

Our first stay was at Cinnamon Bay Estate. We are rather private people and look for places with some privacy. This place was perfect in every way. The location is stunning. Away from the business of town and poised above one of the most beautiful beaches..Cinnamon Bay. The trip to the house is on a bumpy private road right past some sugar mill ruins. Very adventurous and we loved the sense of 'arrival'. It is very high up but one day the children and I walked down the dirt road to Cinnamon Bay beach. It is not far but a little hard on the kness because of the elevation. I'm sure managers don't recommend this because of liability, but it is possible. The house has 3 bedrooms and a large open floor plan. The kitchen is completley everything you would ever want and the outdoor places were very large and accomodating. Very comfortable furniture outside where we spent most of our time. A wood deck with a large swimming pool and hot tub. The views from the deck and from every room in the house were too too beautiful. We loved everything about this place. The only other noise you will hear is some activity from a neighboring Cinnamond Ridge house...but you can't see it. Only hear some splashing sometimes.

So why would we choose a different place for our next visit? Well next time we traveled with another family of 5. We needed more sleeping space. We asked our agent for a 'fun' house for the kids. She was right on with Sapphire Breeze. I personally did not like the location of this villa as much as CBE. It was not private, more in the town of Cruz Bay, but up a hill. The views are to the west, St. Thomas, not to the north BVIs. And there was of course a rooster. But the house is awesome. Very very playful. And well kept..perhaps a little older than CBE but very nice. So what's so fun?? Well the little girls slept upstairs in the loft, spiral staircase, tiny dormer window with stunning view, and teeny tiny bathroom. There's a pool that is smaller that CBE but with lots of toys! A fun waterfall that dumps lots of water if you turn it on. And a way cool window in the bottom of the pool that you can swim down to and look out at the lower level deck. The kids had so much fun making faces and diving down to watch each other. The hot tub is perfect and we all spent a ton of time running from pool to tub. There is a great table on the BIG ceramic tile deck for outside dining. We lived there. Breakfast, dinner, rum and tonics, and Scrabble. The lower level apartment was perfect and private for the other mom and dad and toddler and the two main level bedrooms are the most perfect of all because you can open windows floor to ceiling on two sides...so its like you are sleeping outside. These are the best bedrooms we ever slept in on St John.

South Shore Villa was our most recent visit (December 2005). If you want an elegant house that was designed and outfitted with only the top of the line furniture, fixtures, etc. then this place is for you. This place is not for you if you have smaller kids. As a matter of fact I don't think they allow kids under 8. The location appealed to my 'private' side. It is lovely, perched on a hillside and faces east toward the national park and coral bay way on the other side. It was very quiet. This villa is not good for kids because the master bedroom is up on a different level than the other bedrooms and you need to go outside to get to the other bedrooms. The floor plan is a little strange. There is no bathroom on the 'inside' of the upper, main floor. You walk out the front door to get to the half bath. Then you can go down the stairs to the other bedrooms and the pool. I totally suggest that the owners purchase different outdoor lounge furniture. Our furniture was very fancy teak deck chairs (think Titanic) but they had no cushions. So we could not just lounge out by the pool. Than's really important to us, outside by the pool time. And there is no hot tub. Granted, I knew this from the beginning, but did not realize how much I would miss the cool evenings we spent outside together in the tubs at the other villas. CBE and Sapphire both had great comfy lounge furniture by the pool. Also, unlike Sapphire Breeze which had a great outdoor gathering table, the only outdoor eating accomodation was a tiny IRON table and IRON chairs. And I mean tiny. Like a tea table. We could not even eat breakfast out there. Also when we arrived the managers had a portable fan blowing in the middle downstairs bedroom. They were trying to get rid of a moldy/mildew smell. This bedroom does not have cross ventilation and I think the room backs up to the water cistern. My daughter wanted to stay in this room but we only let her stay in there one night. The smell did not go away. If we needed to use all 4 bedrooms, it would have been a problem. But there were only 4 of us this time so we were ok. We also had to have the managers come out once because there was no water coming out of the faucets. To their credit, they arrived promptly and got a contracter to come and take care of the problem (clogged filter).

So to summarize (these reviews get a little long) as a family of 4 we loved everything, location, accomodations of Cinnamon Bay Estate and would return anytime but it can only sleep 6 (It is my favorite). Sapphire Breeze is so much fun and a beautiful villa. The location is not as great for a private person, but it more than makes up for it in pool/deck/hot tub/playfulness. We would return with another family (it is my children's favorite). South Shore Villa we will not return to. Again, if you like the very best in fixtures and fancy rooms, then you will love this place. It is private. But make sure you get some comfortable lounge furniture, make sure the smell is gone from the middle downstairs bathroom, and check out the floor plan to make sure it fits your family/group. Mine included one scared 11 year old girl who did not like going outside to the bathroom and to her bedroom.

You can email me if you have any other questions about these villas. Thanks to everybody for contributing to this board. I have found it very helpful.