which island??

We just returned to St. John and loved it!! St. Thomas was a little too commercial for us, but St. John was perfect. Great beaches and snorkeling.

My opinon on villa location on St. John is, well, just about anywhere. We found that we drove to different beaches every day anyway, and the villa location didn't really matter. We were clear on the east end of the island at The Retreat. This villa was so fantastic...can't say enough about it. If interested, let me know and I can go into details about the house specifically.

My recommendation is to get a villa with a good view, air conditioning in the bedrooms, and a built in swimming pool. Hot tub is ok too, but you'll end up turning off the heat and using it as a pool. Having a pool at your villa is so key to having a good time I think. When you decide to spend some time at your place, the pool is a great way to cool off on a hot day. We tended to go out and about to the beaches and snorkeling in the morning, and coming back to the villa mid afternoon for a little rest, swim, and get ready for dinner.

I definitely recommend St. John over St. Thomas. Haven't been to St. Croix, so have no opinion there.

Good luck.

Hey Rick... I have some questions... I have been to St. John several times over the years and I just love the island. But I never stayed in any of the villas. Pretty much been there by myself or w/one other person. Stayed @ Gallows Point, Caneel Bay and some god awful little crap hotel/BB in the middle of Cruz Bay. Gallows Point and Caneel rule! Caneel is waaay overpriced for what it is, but it is definitely great to stay there. Gallows Point is basically just as good as Caneel or better and much less $$$. But anyway... back to the point 😉 ... I am planning to get married in the fall Nov/Dec timeframe, plan is to get there before the $$$ season. And... the parents are coming and possibly brothers etc. etc... so.. need a villa. I have been looking at all the villas for over three weeks now to the point that I pretty much have most of them memorized. But... because of the distance and twisty/mountainous roads I stay away from the east end. The best possible location for the villa is somewhere on the nort shore as close to Cruz Bay/Caneel Bay area as possible. Of course those run abour $10k/wk so I will pobably abstain 😉 ... but... I find that there is a large selection around Chocolate Hole, Great Cruz Bay, Hart Bay etc. This is in the direction of the Westin resort, but past it when driving. My questions would be... how did U do your villa selection process? I ask because I got sxrewed in a major way once, w/aforementioned god awful little **** place in Cruz Bay once. Looked great on the web site, but once I got there it was a major disaster. To the point that I didn't mind loosing my money (paid up front for a week) and went looking for some availability @ Gallows and Caneel. As it turned out they both had some but not contiguous so I ended up moving twice, but that wasn't a big deal. However... ever since then I am paranoid about what I see on the web versus possible reality. If you wouldn't mind sharing some experiences about that place you stayed and how did you decide on this particular one I would be greatful.

Thanks,

Chris

MY 2 CENTS WORTH: I did some extensive research on renting a villa also. There are so many places to choose from, so many different areas. We based our choice on location. Currently there is a lot of construction on St John. I did not want any construction noises to bother our vacation. Looking at the web sites, they are pretty descriptive with lots of pictures. I also spoke to the people on the phone to get a feel for their attitude and sincerity. We didn't mind driving the roads to the beaches, the view is fantastic no matter where you are driving on St John.

We ended up in Coral Bay which I enjoyed, it was only a 30-40 minute drive to Cruz Bay. The scenic drive was breathtaking. Beaches are close by too, 20 minutes. The villa we used had a pool, which the other post mentioned. It was nice to swim in the pool in the afternoon or early morning. We used Windspree Rental vacations. www.windspree.com
Because we were on Coral Bay area the cost was about $500-700 a week cheaper than if were near Cruz Bay. May be worth your time to investigate.

We used Caribbean Villas and can't say enough about the service from phone to STJ. We stayed on the SE side at Reef Bay. All roads are twisting and winding on STJ so location should be based upon convenience and price. If your group is looking for what night life there is on STJ then you need to be near Cruz otherwise you are only limited by size and facilities.
Definitely agree with Rick on pool but AC is only needed that time of year if you are in a valley or close to sea level. On a hillside, you will get plenty of breeze. We had AC in Second Wind bedrooms but never turned it on (June) since the breeze was great all night. I understand higher hillside villas get even more.
Donna has the right idea, talk it over with the rental office and get a feel as to whether or not they know anything or are blowing smoke. The people we spoke with helped us decide between two villas in the same are based upon access to the water. They knew so much I didn't need to ask for directions to the path since they had already talked me through it.
I too had doubts until we actually got there and then it was better than we expected. Our experience with web site presentation was spot on although I understand your concern.
If you plan on being indoors alot, choose the nicer looking villa interior, otherwise look for location and views. If the view is great, the breezes should be also.

You're on a honeymoon so maybe you in Coral and guests in Cruz?

Chris... when you say Carribean Villas do U mean the people @ the following URL?

http://www.caribbeanvilla.com ?

Thx,

Chris

Chris,

I did all my research online when picking the villa. I ended up renting mine through the actual owner of the house. We picked the villa based on the following criteria:

Availability for our specific dates
Pool
AC
Price

As for a honeymoon, I'm sure there are plenty of villas out there that would fit your needs. You DEFINITELY want a pool -- and one with some privacy. You'll also want something that's pretty special in terms of location and views. The honeymoon only happens once, so make the best of it.

As for the villa we stayed in, it was called The Retreat. You can see this house at www.the-retreat.us. That's the owner's website, and she may give you a discount for booking directly through her....no middle man. We got a nice discount. Her contact info is on the last page of her website.

If you want to see some pictures of our trip....go to http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/view?i=EeAMWrVyxbtGrsA&open=1&sm=1&sl=0

It'll bring up a slide show that starts immediately, and you can see some of the pics of the house that we took. Views from the shower are amazing!! The garage doors on the house were the BEST thing about the house....we had them open every moment we were in the house.

Good luck and congratulations!
Rick

Oh yeah!! We were only 5 minutes outside of Coral Bay. The roads were hilly and windy getting to the house from Coral Bay, yes! BUT...remember...there aren't too many people on that side of the island. SO....It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO quiet. We had all of haulover bay to ourselves!! We saw others snorkeling there one day out of 6.

Spacey (Chris)
Yes, that's the one. The photos shown on the web site for Second Wind were very accurate although the real thing was much better as the pics don't do the entire villa justice. We were torn between Reef Bay View and Second Wind villas. Based on availability and easier beach access we went with Second Wind. I looked at RBV while there (can see it from SW) and would have been just as happy with it. It sits higher on the hill (better breeze) and faces East with classic coastal and great sunrise views. We found Reef Bay to have best of all things we wanted. Easy Cruz access (10 min drive), water access (5 min walk) and relative seclusion since it is next to the Nat'l Park.

I would take Donna's advise and ask about construction around Chocolate Hole area.

Good luck with your choice and especially with your marriage.