I think Bluwater would be the go-to person for villas. I've been married 25 years and I usually let Tom Bodette leave the light on for me at Motel 6.

Canoebase, you are bad! The poor girl is trying to get her honeymoon set up and you're ready to send her to Motel 6? I think she should send you back personally to line up a new villa in STJ- make you do all the homework! The walls at Motel 6 are way too thin by the way to properly "enjoy" your honeymoon!
Marybeth- if you haven't all ready done so, scan this huge message board as many messages are about villas with websites attached so there's tons to look at.

Mary Beth, Do not fret you have lots of time between now and May. Call ALL of the on-island villa rental agencies and tell them what you had and what you are looking for. Google "St. John USVI villa rental agents" and look for local phone #s with the area code 340. You will be well served. There will be a lot available in May. This is much easier than you think, and much easier than surfing the web. The agents will give you their best ideas and then visit them on the web.

Mary Beth......Sorry to hear about your villa. We have had good luck the past couple years with BookitVI. Their site is www.bookitvi.com They have a huge selection to choose from. Good luck.

mary beth, sorry you're having to start over. probably deciding on first villa for stj trip is as daunting as planning a wedding (had to help my bride with our 2 daughters'weddings).

my bride and i are partial to west end of island up high enough to have great sunset & st thomas lights views. world's best cocktails and dinner view. we have had great experiences with cloud nine villas. website is www.cloud9villas.com .

have stayed in sundance, moonsong & cloud 9 (going back 12/11), spent one night in gardenia (no view effeciency) and have seen palmello. different sizes and while all have hot tubs, only sundance & cloud 9 have pools. all have exceptional west views (palmello not as good), are clean, well equipped, offer good privacy and they have an excellent manager in marcy appel, she's mighty helpful. all villas are owned by same couple who own another beauty (pebbles?) on east side of coral bay which is also rented when they are not in residence (i understand they will be there till late spring).

also had good experience with "destination st john" last april while staying at temptress way up on rockridge rd (close to gifft type views). lori peity most helpful at that agency.

good luck.
papabou

Mary Beth, Didn't you rent through an agent? I would think that they would help you with this predicament. If you didn't use an agent on island that's the next step for you to take. You have your dates, decide on your budget and start calling agents. There are lots of websites to go to but a good one is www.virgin-island-on-line.com . You will find a long list of agents. You still have time to find a great house for that honeymoon of yours. We sent our daughter and son-in-law to STJ for their honeymoon 11 years ago and they have gone back every year since. I can't think of a better place to spend a honeymoon than STJ. When you have your search down to a couple of house come back to the forum for feedback. Maybe we can help you more. Have you been to STJ before?

Ooops. I forgot to tell you that you that when you go to that website you have to click on 'villas' to get the list.

Hi all...... thanks for all the info. I have been looking at a lot of sites to check out the different villas. Right now we are considering Bongo Bongo (still under construction) and Winsome House.

I had rented the previous villa directly from the owner on vrbo.com.
So for sure all is not lost. I will be able to find another place it's just that I thought I had the honeymoon planned, and there is so much else to do I was glad to have it resolved. Oh well!

We have not been to St. John and think it's a good place for relaxation after all the work of getting the wedding in order!

Mary Beth

Marybeth, I have some bad news for you.....you will STILL be working on your wedding plans up-to and ON the day of your wedding. Then, there are the Thank-You notes after!

Hee, hee!

My wedding was VERY low-key, only 90 people at a small hall, and I was still freaking out! I say that every lady should have to attend a class on wedding prep as a high school student and THEN have a state-funded counselor to vent to once the date is set!

Good luck and remember that all the stress will wash away as you float in the Carribbean blue waters at Maho Bay (or any other calm bay).

My husband and I are heading to STJ on Saturday to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

hehehe, I just got back..my wife and I celebrated our 25th, and it was a LOT less stressful! When my wife-to-be told her Dad that we were going to get married, he thought about that for a minute and said "Ok, here's what we'll do. You are both adults. I'll give you $xxxx for your wedding. How you spend it is up to you. If you want to have a huge affair and get all your friends drunk, that's ok. If you want to get married by a justice of the peace, that's ok. Whatever money you have left over from what I give you IS YOUR WEDDING PRESENT". We ended up with a small "family and close friends" wedding...maybe 30 people, tops, with a nice reception. Forcing ME to write checks made me appreciate what was happening far more than if all I had to do is show up in my tux. If you have time, try snorkeling with Capt. Phil and "The Wayward Sailor".

Thanks! 90-95 is about where were are with the list. And since we will both either be 40 or very close to it when we get married, there's no one but us offering up any money! 🙂
But that's ok .. also no one to say the want aunt so in so invited. So we are doing it "our way". Which I might add isn't exactly cheap!

I'm sure it will all be fine. We will be married 9/30, on 10/1 we will go to Philly to a lovely B&B and chill for 2 nights and visit some of our favorite haunts, then off to St. John and Bongo Bongo for 9 nights. REALLY looking forward to it.

I'm sure I will be around here doing lots more planning before then!

mary beth

Marybeth-

Awwwww! That is really a bummer. I know what you meant about having it all planned and just feeling good to know that part was done. There are way too many details to plan with a wedding and having a big part (such as the honeymoon planned) is a huge step.

Where was the other villa you previously booked and what did you like about it? That might help us make some recommendations on
similar villas.

There is a very secluded little bungalow on STJ on the National Park - called "The Honeymoon Cottage" http://www.stjohnusvi.org/new_page_16.htm

STJ Villa agents with good reputations include:

VIVA (VI Vacations) http://www.vivastjohn.com - I like to work with Jack, but everyone is wonderful there. I've trusted them on recommendations and they've been right on.

Destination St John http://www.destinationstjohn.com Well loved villa agent and used by many travelers on this board.

Catered To http://www.cateredto.com Longstanding STJ rental agent with good reputation.

Caribbean Villas http://www.caribbeanvilla.com

McLaughlin Anderson http://www.mclaughlinanderson.com (Nancy Anderson specializes in luxury villas and she is very discerning - so these villas are creme de la creme!)

Villas Caribe http://www.villascaribe.com (The Gibsons spend lots of time inspecting the properties they represent and they are knowledgeable about STJ)

Island Hideaways http://www.islandhideaways.com Reputation of excellence and integrity. Highly recommended.

Caribbeandays http://www.Caribbeandays.com

There are more and I am sorry if I left out any other excellent agents. Many of the agents represent the same portfolio of properties. Calling or emailing them is a good idea because you might get a repeated recommendation of a particular villa and you'll know it is something special.

Now, that being said - there are so many villas on STJ and they are hard to work through. If you give an approximate budget and details on what you like (pool, spa, A/C, location, etc) I can make some recommendations.

Finally, I receive a syndicated feed of the discounted villas from some of the agents (working on getting it from all of them) - so one I know what you are looking for, I can see if anything is on special to match what you want.

Hope this helps!

This is what we did and it worked great - we were late 30's when we married. Flew to USVI, got married on a beach, just the two of us. Had a great week, returned home and had a reception. Talk bout low stress - and saved tons of money! I have never heard a single person say after tha fact that they wish they had spent more money on a wedding but have had plenty of people bemoan how out of hand it all got!
Relax, it's really about the marriage not the wedding. Invest in creating memories that will carry you through the hard times. A trip to St John is just the ticket!