Hi if your are staying in a villa they come fully stocked with pots,pans, silverware, It is just like home. Are you stinging in the new ones?

Be sure to enter into the crab races that they have at the beach. They give out a lot of 2 for 1 deals and some free gift cards for local establishments. They also have "dive-in" movies some evenings at the pool. When you check in they will have a list of daily activities. Have a great time!

Molly

Before you bring assorted condiments, I would check out what's been left by previous renters. We didn't stay at the Westin, but our villa had most of the basics. Had they been low, we would have bought some and left it for the next folks.

We like to keep our karma on the good side. 😉

We have a timeshare at the Westin. As Rodney said, they have all the pots, pans, silverware, plates, glasses, etc that you'll need. There's no food left by previous renters. That all gets cleaned out. The frig will be empty when you get there. The Westin does supply some complementary coffee (in packets), sugar and creamer, but that's it.

Enjoy!

WW

A good source for condiments, etc that you may want to look into is Minimus.biz. They sell little packets of just about everything. We've frequently gotten packets of ketchup, A-1, etc as it sure beats buying, or hauling down, bottles.

We found we had enough coffee for a pot a day; they will bring you more if you ask, and will replenish the supply when they do the mid-week cleaning.

Lori

We just came back from our timeshare a few weeks ago. After my 4th trip here are my tips:

I work in a hospital and I kindly ask the cafeteria ladies for permission to take a sandwich baggie full condiments (s&p, mustard, ketchup, mayo, hot sauce, soy sauce and even maple syrup.)

We usually pack a lunch cooler filled with frozen meat (a few steaks, burgers, hotdogs) and ice packs. The rest of the time we eat out in local places on the island and we spend about $75 in groceries for bread, sandwich meats, fruit and snacks. A few times we headed out to the beach early in the morning (Trunk Bay to beat the cruise crowds) head back to the villa for lunch which we grill at the little pool. We would spend the afternoons at the big pool. You can bring the same lunch cooler to the beaches for snacks and lunches. Bring Nalgene bottles and at the grocery store look for the 5 gallon or gallon jugs of water to bring back to the villa. But the tap water tasted fine to me. Fill the Nalgene bottles half full with water and freeze them. We usually pack extra storage bags which are handy for everything. I always manage to find some room to pack some special snacks only my kid likes and my husband's cereal.

The villa also has a washer, dryer and detergent. PACK LIGHTLY - after all, you'll be living in tshirts, shorts and your swimsuit. We use the "wear one and pack two" rule. We wear layers heading over to the island - by the time we are at the airport, we quickly change into capris or shorts and t-shirts and flipflops. You see a lot of first timers sweltering in their fleece, heavy jeans and shoes. Also in our carry-on is our swimsuit - if there is a delay in getting into the villa, you can always change into your swimsuit. Then we do wash maybe every 2 days. Since the Westin also provides plenty of beach towels, you do not need to pack them either. Instead, use that space to pack diapers, wipes, some bugspray and suntan lotion, stuff that is really expensive on the island.

For toddler advice: We love our LL Bean sun shelter. Once you've put it up once and figure out how it goes, it will only take a few minutes to put up at the beach. It is very roomy and tall and we've used this sun shelter on Lake Tahoe as well. Use its sandbags and fill it with soaking wet sand to anchor down. WHen it starts to shower and everyone scrambles into the trees and bushes and bugs, we stayed in the shelter and kept dry. Got alot of comments from other families admiring it. Bring binder clips - you can clip clothes and the beach towels to dry or add additional shade. Bring your carseat to use in your rental car. If you use the local taxis, I didn't get obsessive about the car seats, our kid just sat in our laps.Apparently the Westin also provides bedrails and strollers - we've never asked so I don't know if there is a fee. Best beach is Maho bay for really young kids. It is very calm and shallow with beautiful sand. Our second favorite beach is Little Lameshur although it is rockier. Most fun place to eat: Miss Lucy's in Coral Bay - our child fell asleep in the car so we parked in the shade and ate lunch while she napped. When she woke up she had fun with the goats and chickens wandering around the tables. We tried to eat at restaurants fairly early (before 6) so service was fast and it wasn't crowded. We also called in orders to Ronnie's Pizza (they deliver to the Westin) or call ahead to Joe's BBQ, run downtown and picked up those ribs and chicken back home.Bring a deflated floatie and some sand toys from home - we always look for little kids coming in as we leave and offer it to them.

The locals are friendly and really want the tourists to spend a little money but they are never pushy. We never felt unsafe except once on our first trip. It was late and we were headed back to the Westin - a local guy kind of flagged us down, jumped in the back and told us to drop him off at the Westin entrance.

Have a fantastic trip - our child has been there at 18 months and just before she turned 4. She loves her island and we look forward to many more years. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Great advice JubiLee,

Condensed version: Pack light, snag the local condiments and have a great time!

Molly

I was very careful not to overbuy too many groceries as my previous trips. We have asked the housekeeping staff if they could use some of the food and other items that we hadn't touched (sticks of butter, leftover diapers, etc.) They thanked us but said if they were caught taking anything home it was considered stealing from the guests and they could be fired - so everything is tossed. That's why we often find other families who are arriving and offer them some of these items.

Is there such a thing as a food bank on the island? I just hate to see it go to waste.

No food bank, unfortunately. After hurricane Marilyn in '95 a lot of restaurants had perfectly good food they wanted to donate when they didn't have generator power to maintain freezers during the prolonged power outage but Federal regulations prohibited those foodstuffs being given away. Again, after Hurricane Hugo in the late 80's. some cruise ships were diverted to STT on an emergent basis from down island where Hugo wreaked more havoc than on STT and also wanted to drop off food but were likewise prohibited from doing so.

That said, canned goods and dry goods can always be left off at several STT island locations which take care of people. The Nana-Baby Children's Home in Anna's Retreat (country/East End) is always looking for donations to help support the displaced children they care for (340-775-0044) and then there's always the Bethlehem House in town (340-774-4663 or 777-5011) who take care of the homeless.

Thank you so much for thinking, JubLee. I realize you're talking STJ and not STT but it's worth giving both these organizations a call and see if they would like to pick up what you have left over even if it means they meet you on STT at the ferry dock. I have yard sales once in a while at my place and the last time around we had a lot of left-over baby/children things which Nana-Baby picked up. Merry Crimble!

Great info.....Thanks for sharing it. This will be our 3rd trip to STJ, but the first time with the little monkey (as well as at the Westin Villas0 - looking forward to him loving it as much as we do

We are planning on bringing down meat, etc. in coolers for about 3-4 meals. (And btw, if anyone is looking to pick up a cooler, polar bear is having a 2 for 1 deal til the end of the year - coupon code 2112).

Also going to definitely check out the LL Bean Sunshade.

The Polar Bear Coolers are the best ever. Kept meat frozen for 18 hours and was still frozen when we took it out at 18 hrs. The 2 for price of 1 is a real deal. Bought them for my 6 son in laws for xmas. Excellent company to work with.