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I realize it is a matter of personal preferrence, but I am curious how important the accomodations are to you. My wife and I travel on a somewhat limited budget, and I am debating whether to pay $2000 for a fairly nice villa (1 week, off season), or $3000 for a much nicer villa. My inclination is to spend less on the villa and use the difference for more day trips or more dining out, but on the other hand it is nice to relax in the evenings with better views and nicer accomodations.
Which way do you lean on this? Joe.
I think it depends on how you spend your time while in the Virgin Islands.
For me, I like to get to the beach as soon as possible. I also spend a lot of time snorkeling. So I don't rent a place with a pool, because I'm tired of being in the water when I get home in the evening. And I just use the villa for a place to cook, sleep, and get ready in the morning, so I don't need a mansion.
However, other people do the islands differently. You just have to decide what your dream vacation looks like.
We stayed at Sago Cottage - Clalbash Cottages - on STJ. Relatively inexpensive and very nice for a couple. Take a look.
Check out www.starvillas.com
We just returned from our 4th trip to STT ( not sure which island you are going to, but it doesn't matter..)- Our first trip we stayed at the Marriott. 2nd and 3rd trips we stayed in a beautiful villa for about $5k for 10 days. This 4th trip, we decided to save a little money ( about 1k, bc we wanted to spend that $$ on a day charter to the BVI's) and rented a Villa for about 4K for 10 days. There were major differences between the Villas- the more expensive one had a much grander feel, the furnishings were Top of the line, the kitchen was pristine. The less expensive villa, while it had everything we needed, was a little " tired"- bed linens were worn and gray from so much use/ washings ( I hope)... some things were rusty- things like the master bathroom fixtures were all mis- matched, bc it's a work in progress, rather than all being updated at once. The pool was nice, but again, had many miles on it- but a view to die for.
We didn't spend a lot of time at either villa- we would beach it everyday, and come back and spend the afternoons/ evenings at the house. ( so maybe we did spend a decent amount of time there..).
When you are talking a difference of 1k, I think that next time I will absolutely go for the higher end villa- when spending that amount of money on a vacation, I want to feel pampered and as if I am living in the lap of luxury.
That being said, we also consider just doing a condo some year, to cut our vacation costs in half! We aren't really picky and snobby travelers, but that was my experience choosing between two villas " similarly priced". Hope it helps.
i feel that when it comes to accommodations of any type, just like a home, you should get as close to what you want as possible.
it's an investment, and i just don't think you should spend a dime on anything you have to settle for.
be sure you have the best selection by looking around early, asking lots of questions (not just of the rental agent but of the members of your party to make sure you know what they like) and learning about the destination. what could be worse than ending up on a sleepy island with a group that likes to go out dancing at a different club every night?
why wait to find out ;-)...
bottom line, methinks the villa is very important!
