I don't know if there is a board for it...

We've rented a villa in St John before. Happy to answer questions here.

bob

Betsiann,

This board is for everything, villas, beaches, weddings, moving.... all about the USVI. So ask your questions here, what are you looking for, any villas you are comparing that someone might have stayed at already???

--Islander

Been looking at the Argonauta. Sure does look beautiful...Is it a pain to get to a beach?Is it well maintained? Difficult to get to? Any other observations and experiences?
B.

Betsiann -

I haven't stayed at Argonauta...but, I see that Vacation Vistas is one of the rental agencies that represents the villa see: http://vacationvistas.com/index.html

We rented a villa (Splash) from Lisa at Vacation Villas last year. I highly recommend her and her team. They did a great job for us. We had been to St. John before so it wasn't all new to us yet Lisa made it easy.

To start with, you get what you see in the photos on her website. The villa we rented looked like the pictures...the pictures did not tell a different story than what we saw on our arrival. That was comforting. I would assume the same is true of the pics of Argonauta.

Lisa also arranged our jeep rental for our stay. You'll certainly need a rental of some sort. If you have a large group you may need two, especially if you have people with divergent interests. That way different groups can go thier own way at different times if need be. You could do taxi's, but that's far more difficult from a villa than from a hotel.

Upon arrival Lisa met us at the ferry, we grabbed the rental vehicle and she lead us to our villa and gave us the tour and instructions for the week. She also stocked the fridge with some welcome beverages for the adults and kids. Lots of good recomendations on local groceries, shopping, resturants, beaches, snorkling, etc.

The villa was fully furnished in every way. Kitchen utinsils, supplies, sundrys, beach chairs, cooler, towels, you name it. The unit was well-maintained...not that everything was like brand new.
On arrival the spa was inoperative...Lisa had the repair guy there the next morning and all was fine by mid-afternoon. The beach chairs were a bit old and rusted, your truely busted up a couple the first day - okay, so maybe I could lose a few pounds. I bought some new ones up at hardware store and Lisa took care of that later.

Argonauta appears to be up on top of one of the hills. The second picture from the top on the Vacation Vistas website shows what looks to be the driveway...no doubt it looks a little narrow to you. By St John standards it looks pretty tame. If you haven't driven on St John before it's an adventure, but not a bad adventure...drive on the left, narrow roads, lots of hills, but everyone is driving pretty slow so no big deal. You'll get used to it

Betsiann -

They all look beautiful...especially on days like today when it's 10 below zero here.

I haven't stayed at Argonauta...but, I see that Vacation Vistas represents the villa see:
http://vacationvistas.com/index.html

We rented a villa (Splash) from Lisa at Vacation Villas last year. I can highly recommend her and her team. They did a great job for our family - a group of four including two teens. We had been to St. John before (stayed at the Westin) so it wasn't all new to us yet Lisa made it easy.

To start with, you get what you see in the photos on her website. The villa we rented looked like the pictures...the pictures did not tell a different story than what we saw on our arrival. That was comforting. I would assume the same is true of the pics of Argonauta.

Lisa also arranged a jeep rental for our stay. You'll certainly need a rental of some sort. If you have a large group you may want two vehicles, especially if you have people with divergent interests. That way different groups can go thier own way at different times if need be (like for baby grandkids naps). You could do taxi's, but that's more difficult from a villa than from a hotel.

Upon arrival Lisa met us at the ferry, we grabbed the rental vehicle and she lead us to our villa and gave us the tour and instructions for the week. She had also stocked the fridge with some welcome beverages for the adults and kids. Gave us lots of good recomendations on local groceries, shopping, resturants, beaches, snorkling, etc.

Is it well maintained?
Can't speack for Argonauta, but our villa was fully furnished in every way. Kitchen utinsils, supplies, sundrys, beach chairs, cooler, towels, you name it. The unit was well-maintained...not that everything was like brand new. On arrival the spa was inoperative...Lisa had the repair guy there the next morning and all was fine by mid-afternoon. The beach chairs were a bit old and rusted, yours truely busted up a couple the first day - okay, so maybe I could lose a few pounds. I bought some new ones up at the hardware store and Lisa took care of that later.

Is it difficult to get to?
Argonauta appears to be up on top of one of the hills. The second picture from the top on the Vacation Vistas website shows what looks to be the driveway...no doubt it seems a little narrow to you. By St John standards it looks pretty tame - at least it appears to be paved. If you haven't driven on St John before it's an adventure, but not a bad adventure...drive on the left, narrow roads, lots of hills, but everyone is driving pretty slow so no big deal. You'll get used to it quick. Hard to get lost, there just aren't that many roads.

Is getting to the beaches a pain?
I guess that depends on your pain level...you obviously won't walk out your door from Argonauta to the beach - but you'll have a pool and spa right there if you don't want to leave. It looks like the Westin Beach is the closest you could walk to (maybe) but I'm guessing that the hike up and down would not be easy, especially with baby grandkids. No big loss, there are lots nicer beaches anyway. So that leaves driving to the beach.

Which is okay, because that's what just about everybody does. The best beaches are in the national park which will be about a 15-20 minute drive. The drive to the beaches will seem difficult the first time you make it (hilly and narrow, longer than you think from looking at the map since you're driving so slow, taxi's pulling up right behind you and honking just when you want to slow down to soak in the view, not to mention that left hand side of the road thing) but by the second day you'll be zipping around like a local laughing at the newbies. Cinnamon Bay and Trunk Bay will be great beaches to start with for the little ones then branch out from there...lots more beaches than you'll have days to spend on them all.

The villa rental worked great for us. I would do it again with Lisa with confidence at another of the properties that she represents. Also, her husband owns and runs the Cinnamon Bay Motor Yahct and does day trips for snorkling etc. See http://motoryachtcinnamonbay.com/

Hope that helps...let me know if you have other questions.

Enjoy.

bob

oops...sorry for the double post...
somehow posted before I was finished.

Thanks for the info Bob. Just knowing that you enjoyed working with Lisa and do trust her was very important .
I know I will have more questions and I appreciate your answers.
B.