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Westin St John Master Thread - Part 3 [Dec. 2017 and forward]

SandyPGravel

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Did you see the drone video footage from Jan 4 2018? Looks like a safe assumption that Jan 4 2019 is doable. It may be one of those things that require certain approvals be attained before going ahead with reservations. Doesn’t anyone here have a VGV week during early 2019?
My June 2019 shows as available to reserve.


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I have my week 9 reserved. @GrayFal and I are going to miss by two weeks, again!!

I was concerned after yesterdays email and when I looked at the villa finder this morning and it was all white. (Except for the blue triangles for my rez.)

I have not watch the videos yet.
 

DavidnRobin

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http://newsofstjohn.com/2018/03/26/westin-timeshare-board-sends-out-untruthful-email-to-owners/

I like this blog and have relied on it for great STJ info for many years.
Interesting read with her reaction to our VGV owner rep email.

Arg - this just came across my FB News feed...
Isn't it Journalism 101 to first reach out to Bob/Phil for a response to their letter? Especially before posting on her blog and FaceBook...

Also, it fails to communicate without the perspective that this came from Bob/Phil (not VSE/ILG) and what their roles are (and are not...), who they are, and their intent, etc. She just sees it as an some type of assault on StJ. I know Jenn's intent and her biases of her NOSJ blog (get tourists back, everything is great...) - I normally respect Jenn's opinions/positions, but was what Bob/Phil wrote some kind of abomination? IMO, I think she 'doth protest too much'.

Let's see... I keep up with everything WSJ/StJ and have for years - here is my view (OPINION) of the 'Fake News' being spread by Bob/Phil.

THE ISLAND
The resort is likely to recover more rapidly than much of the rest of the island’s infrastructure.


I see this as true - just look at the drone video, and StJ news and social media outlets. I am unsure why this was so wrong to state - they are speaking to VGV owners after all, and very likely correct (thus the word 'likely')

Cruz Bay does not yet have electricity 24 hours a day. Internet service is very spotty and cell phone service is poor, as only AT&T has rebuilt cell phone towers.

This is true even when things are normal. Electricity goes out often - always has - and internet service is also poor (ask anyone that picked up a cell tower on Tortola). The ATT tower has just recently been rebuilt. Certainly, it is better than it has been - but better than pre-H.Irma? Back to normal? Really?

Some restaurants are open, but there are almost no tourists, so now that most of the FEMA workers have departed, many of those restaurants are open only a few days a week with limited menus.

To state almost no tourists is a bit much, but compared to 'normal' - then hard to argue. I see current photos all the time (weekly) - the beaches are almost empty comparatively. Makes me want to go sooner than 2019. This is certainly true of the restaurants - most of the ones open are limited as compared to their normal operations pre-H.Irma.

The public passenger ferry is running but the car ferry has very limited service.

How is this untrue? This was the way it was pre-H.Irma. In fact the folks on St John are imploring people to rent on St John. They need to car barges for re-construction. It is limited - some of the car barge wait times have been long - plenty of reports of these waits. I am thinking of renting on StJ in 2019.

Caneel Bay was severely damaged and it is unknown whether or not it will reopen. In all likelihood, neither ZoZo's nor Asolare will reopen, but Skinny Legs is up and running.

This is also true based on current knowledge. Yes - perhaps ZoZo's and Asolare will open again. Again the word 'liklihood' is used here. As it stands now and near future (2018) this is correct.

The donkeys, deer and iguanas survived; in fact the donkeys seem to inhabit the shells of the beachfront cottages at Caneel, while for the present time, deer graze near our own Lemongrass Restaurant.

Also true.

The north shore beaches have largely been cleaned of debris, but there has as of yet been no survey of damage to the reefs. We all hope that more of the island’s infrastructure will come back by the time our resort reopens, but the island’s recovery may be much slower than that of the Westin St. John.

OMG - they got the fact wrong that the reef damage has not been surveyed???!!! :D
Actually, the response from Jenn that the reef survey has been completed is the first I have read about it. Was this survey that she mentions from locals or the NPS? I have heard many local and tourists accounts, but I had not heard of a NPS survey being completed - I understood that it has been ongoing.

Again - based on video and photo evidence it is true that island's recovering 'may be' much slower than WSJ. So far this is true based on what I have seen/heard from multiple sources.

I hope this opinion/retort doesn't get me banned from St John. ;)
 
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DavidnRobin

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I have my week 9 reserved. @GrayFal and I are going to miss by two weeks, again!!

I was concerned after yesterdays email and when I looked at the villa finder this morning and it was all white. (Except for the blue triangles for my rez.)

I have not watch the videos yet.

The slide show (long) and drone video are worth checking out. I have seen better during Irma and post-Irma videos. Amazing the progress of the resort the drone video from Jan 4'17 shows - it has great shots of our building and rest of resort. Also, the slide shows our building exterior and interior (and B33-34 pool area) - and I think some of the interior damage photos are from our villa or the 2Bd TH above us is shown. The pool shot with the hurricane umbrellas in the pool made me smile. Hope they fix our shower, and water pipes in the other shower (they are backwards) - I should write the GM.
 
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okwiater

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I have two home resort reservations booked -- one for 1/19 and the other for 4/14.

These reservations were both made a couple of months ago and are both still showing in my upcoming reservations.
 

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March 2018

Dear Fellow Virgin Grand Villas Condominium Association Owner:

We recently participated as your elected members of the Board of Directors in the 2018 Annual Meeting of owners. The highlight of the meeting was a thorough, lengthy presentation reporting on the destruction caused by Hurricane Irma and what Vistana is doing to restore the property this year, with an eye to reopening the resort on January 4, 2019. The presentation featured many slides showing the damage. To view the presentation, please click here.

To view videos that were also presented, please click on the links below:

DAMAGE, CLEANUP AND RECONSTRUCTION

The damage to the entire Westin St. John (“WSJ”) resort is estimated to be about $120 million (by contrast the insured value of our Virgin Grand buildings is approximately $43 million). Only part of that damage was sustained by our buildings; nevertheless, there were no buildings on the property that were spared structural or water damage. The water damage was so extensive that drywall had to be removed in every villa, and in many units, studs and rafters that had gotten wet will have to be encapsulated during the next several weeks before the drywall can be replaced. Maximum sustained winds were 220 miles per hour with wind gusts at the WSJ registering 274 miles per hour before the wind meter broke. The resort lost power, and the building containing some of the generator equipment lost part of its roof and was flooded, but General Manager Sam Hugli and his engineers were able to get the generator going after only seven hours. 313 guests were on the property at the time, and all of them were evacuated within days thereafter to Puerto Rico to return home. No injuries to guests or associates were reported.

Vistana and the Boards of the four timeshare associations hired Cotton International, the world’s second-largest post-disaster contractor, to clean up and rebuild the resort. Since last September, about 300 people (130 WSJ associates) have been working to remove the massive amounts of debris left by the storm’s destruction and about 300 people (80 WSJ associates) will work in the rebuilding process. Hurricane Maria, on the heels of Irma, slowed progress because it dumped more water onto St. John and caused the closure of the ports of San Juan and St. Croix. Nevertheless reconstruction has now begun.

The aim of the reconstruction is to make our resort even better than before. All damaged drywall is being replaced, as are damaged ceiling tiles, soffits, doors, windows, cabinetry and lighting. The pools are being resurfaced. The exteriors will be power-washed and repainted. The unit interiors will be restored to their prior condition, with all upholstered furniture and carpeting replaced along with any damaged hard goods such as tables and cabinets. Snorkels will be rebuilt but we do not know whether any high-end restaurant will replace Knox & Ollie’s.

Your Board has been particularly thorough with respect to concerns about mold that may have grown on damaged surfaces in the days and weeks after the storm. The Board hired an independent company, Environmental Analytics, based in Arizona, to evaluate biological problems and report directly to the Board as well as to Cotton. Environmental Analytics had no prior relationship with Vistana or with Cotton. Its president recently spent a week taking samples on the property, and he will return at least two more times to make sure that the buildings do not present biological hazards to owners and guests when the resort reopens.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Vistana took a great deal of care to prevent undue hardship to its employees, many of whom have not only lost the opportunity to do their regular jobs for 16 months but also suffered damage to their homes. Staff associates were paid for a month without having to come to work, and after that were given the opportunity to work on the cleanup and receive their regular pay and benefits. Those who did not want to do this were offered severance packages and help in obtaining employment at other Vistana resorts. Each associate also received $1000 or $2000, based upon need, from a fund set up by ILG (formerly Interval Leisure Group), Vistana’s parent company. Vistana associates provided donations of all types of daily-use items as well as gifts for Santa’s visit with the children of WSJ associates. The resort donated discarded furniture and linens to the WSJ associates and also provided food and clean water to the greater St. John community as well as WSJ associates.

INSURANCE

As we previously reported in detail, even though our insurance policy has a 5% deductible, we do not expect to have to impose a special assessment to pay it. For several years, we have been building up an insurance contingency fund to cover the hurricane deductible, and this fund now has about $2.3 million in it. We also have regular replacement reserve funds that could be tapped into, and we have an operating surplus because the resort was closed during the last three months of 2017. Some of that operating surplus will have to be expended, however, to train new staff associates during December 2018, because some of the people who worked at the resort before the hurricane have found other jobs or moved out of the Virgin Islands. We may also have to make provisions in the 2019 budget for a one-time expenditure to cover some of the costs associated with reopening the resort next January. Any unexpended operating surplus will carry over to 2019 and be available to offset our expenses going forward. We expect to know more about the impact of the hurricane on our budget in a few months, after the damage assessment is final and we know the amount of our liability for the deductible. We probably won’t know how much the additional staff training will cost until late in 2018.

THE ISLAND

The resort is likely to recover more rapidly than much of the rest of the island’s infrastructure. Cruz Bay does not yet have electricity 24 hours a day. Internet service is very spotty and cell phone service is poor, as only AT&T has rebuilt cell phone towers. Some restaurants are open, but there are almost no tourists, so now that most of the FEMA workers have departed, many of those restaurants are open only a few days a week with limited menus. The public passenger ferry is running but the car ferry has very limited service. Caneel Bay was severely damaged and it is unknown whether or not it will reopen. In all likelihood, neither ZoZo's nor Asolare will reopen, but Skinny Legs is up and running. The donkeys, deer and iguanas survived; in fact the donkeys seem to inhabit the shells of the beachfront cottages at Caneel, while for the present time, deer graze near our own Lemongrass Restaurant. The north shore beaches have largely been cleaned of debris, but there has as of yet been no survey of damage to the reefs. We all hope that more of the island’s infrastructure will come back by the time our resort reopens, but the island’s recovery may be much slower than that of the Westin St. John. Click here to view a recent article in The New York Times on St. John’s recovery.

ALTERNATIVE VACATIONS

As you know from previous messages, Vistana is making special efforts to make sure that all owners receive alternative vacation options. Vistana is making its rental inventory available to St. John owners to facilitate exchanges at other Vistana resorts. Banking StarOptions from 2018 is free of charge, and the banked options will be valid for three years instead of the usual two years. You can also deposit your unit week with Interval International, but as usual, the exchange through Interval International depends on relinquishment by an owner at a resort to which you want to go.

OTHER BUSINESS

Aside from receiving management’s report on progress and addressing questions posed by owners, the main business at this annual meeting was the owners’ election of a new director to succeed Robert Werbel, who has served as one of your owner-elected directors for the last eight years. Laurence Pelletier was elected to replace Bob and we are pleased to observe that Larry’s expertise appears to be both significant and relevant. The Association and the Board passed resolutions expressing appreciation for Bob Werbel’s commitment and service. The resolution will be included in the meeting minutes, which is available to owners upon request.

A FAREWELL MESSAGE FROM BOB WERBEL

Thank you for your support eight years ago in electing Phil Schrag and me as your owner-representatives to the Virgin Grand Board of Directors. I appreciate the privilege, which Phil and I have attempted to fulfill responsibly on your behalf. You should know that in deciding not to seek re-election this year I have believed that it is important that my replacement have sufficient opportunity for an orderly transition while Phil remains a director. I look forward to returning to our resort in 2019 and greeting many of the friends that the last eight years have allowed me to make.
Philip G. Schrag
phil.schrag@gmail.com
Robert H. Werbel
robert.werbel@yahoo.com

I've got no stake in this, but as an independent observer, with long history in time sharing, across multiple resorts and developers, I am very impressed by Vistana's engagement and leadership, and in particular, how they looked after their associates. I am similarly impressed by the level of engagement and owner advocacy of HOA Board Members Schrag and Werbel.

I look forward to seeing WSJ and St. John restored to its former preeminence, and pray for the WSJ associates and island residents, who were adversely affected by this tragedy. How touching to read about Santa's visit with the children of WSJ associates. First Class!
 

Jayco29D

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I can’t speak to your needs. I was speaking to our usage and experience.

The 3Bd pool villas are great - and the Plat+ season has one of the best MF/SO ratio. They do not have views, but very roomy and well laid out.

B32-34 has 2Bd TH villa on the ends of the buildings on lower and upper floors.
I would recommend the inside villas for my own reasons (noise from cars on road or shuttles turning around).

As we (me) are lazy - I prefer the lower floor for easy in/out and closeness of the pool/BBQ. (25 steps)

I didn’t realize there was no view in B31-32 lower floors - that sucks.

B31 has the 2Bd Premium villas- never have seen one and would be nice to have single floor - but has same MFs as the 3Bd pool villas. Not sure where in B31 that they are located, or if B31 has the 2Bd TH.

Note that VGV villas are fixed weeks (including checkin day) and fixed units - this is why adjacent weeks are great (no need to move). I imagine these are not easy to find.

Our friends have the exact opposite 2Bd TH villa to ours and same weeks - they found in from a STJ Realtor and paid significantly less than us.

I say the 2 weeks is better than 1 week - especially from the west coast. By the time you travel, get situated and acclimated (it is hot and humid in summer) - it is almost time to go home - in our experience - YMMV.
We almost sold our 1 week until the 2nd week became available from the Owners that we got the 1st week.

Also - check out the Jan 4 2017 drone video - that has clear footage of the buildings - especially B33-34 - ours is the one on lower inside by pool for the building on right (B34).

You could always just rent one during your vacation period, and check it out before buying.



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Do you go to St John annually from California? We are concerned about the long travel distance and many connecting flights required as well as the waiting for the ferry. We went to Caneel Bay several years ago and the connections were horrendous. Once there, it was among my spouse's top three vacation locations in her life. But I still remember being diverted to Philly and staying overnight at a Holiday Inn so I could get back to the Bay Area in time for a work flight to Japan the next day. Even on the way there, we had trouble because the pilot's seat broke and we had to wait for a new aircraft. LOL
 

DavidnRobin

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I've got no stake in this, but as an independent observer, with long history in time sharing, across multiple resorts and developers, I am very impressed by Vistana's engagement and leadership, and in particular, how they looked after their associates. I am similarly impressed by the level of engagement and owner advocacy of HOA Board Members Schrag and Werbel.

I look forward to seeing WSJ and St. John restored to its former preeminence, and pray for the WSJ associates and island residents, who were adversely affected by this tragedy. How touching to read about Santa's visit with the children of WSJ associates. First Class!

I agree. I know Phil personally - he loves St John, and is a great VGV Owner advocate as Bob has been. Unique in the entire VSE system - no other resort or WSJ phase has Owner Advocates that were voted onto the BOD without VSE (SVO) using their vote.

Jenn is being over-the-top in her rant - this was written to VGV Owners who do not have usage in 2018 anyway. So where is the real harm? Glad to see she changed the title of the article.

WSJ phases account for a high percentage of on island visitors (and even worse with Caneel also closed) - it is not going to be same in terms of number of on-island guests until WSJ reopens in 2019. That is just pure math - WSJ occupancy is huge. I hope this reality is recognized by STJ businesses.

Looking forward to June 2019.
 

DavidnRobin

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Do you go to St John annually from California? We are concerned about the long travel distance and many connecting flights required as well as the waiting for the ferry. We went to Caneel Bay several years ago and the connections were horrendous. Once there, it was among my spouse's top three vacation locations in her life. But I still remember being diverted to Philly and staying overnight at a Holiday Inn so I could get back to the Bay Area in time for a work flight to Japan the next day. Even on the way there, we had trouble because the pilot's seat broke and we had to wait for a new aircraft. LOL

We live close to SFO - so ~14 hours door to door if taking the redeye. Robin hates the redeye.
We have gone since 2006 - same weeks. We have tried many different ways.
SFO-ATL-STT (Delta)
SFO-MIA-STT (AA)
SFO-Ft Lauderdate-STT (Spirit - never again)
SFO-IAD-STT (UA)
both by redeye (direct) and spending night in MIA.
I think the nite stay in MIA works best on th3 way there.
Last June we scored 1st/Biz class tickets (UA) thru Houston (redeye) for $1000 each all-in. But Robin still hates the redeye.

I had Spirit go on strike while on STJ. And another time denied boarding onto AA on the day they started to charge for bags for all luggage. WSJ put us up for free - and sent taxi for us and held up WSJ ferry. Kudos.

We have been renting a car on STT and taking car barge. But have also taken public transit and WSJ ferry (back when it was reasonable) and rented on island. In 2019 - we may rent on island again, and take taxi/passenger ferry.

One week is too short.
I have written multiple trip reports - see start of WSJ thread #2 - I posted links to trip reports. Our trip experiences are often discussed in these reports.
 

WBP

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We live close to SFO - so ~14 hours door to door if taking the redeye. Robin hates the redeye.
We have gone since 2006 - same weeks. We have tried many different ways.
SFO-ATL-STT (Delta)
SFO-MIA-STT (AA)
SFO-Ft Lauderdate-STT (Spirit - never again)
SFO-IAD-STT (UA)
both by redeye (direct) and spending night in MIA.
I think the nite stay in MIA works best on th3 way there.
Last June we scored 1st/Biz class tickets (UA) thru Houston (redeye) for $1000 each all-in. But Robin still hates the redeye.

I had Spirit go on strike while on STJ. And another time denied boarding onto AA on the day they started to charge for bags for all luggage. WSJ put us up for free - and sent taxi for us and held up WSJ ferry. Kudos.

We have been renting a car on STT and taking car barge. But have also taken public transit and WSJ ferry (back when it was reasonable) and rented on island. In 2019 - we may rent on island again, and take taxi/passenger ferry.

One week is too short.
I have written multiple trip reports - see start of WSJ thread #2 - I posted links to trip reports. Our trip experiences are often discussed in these reports.

Without knowing any details about your personal experience with Spirit Airlines, I'd venture to bet that you are being extremely kind about your experience on Spirit.

I wish Spirit Airlines would change their name to "Ill Spirit," to better reflect their culture.

In my experience, Spirit Airlines makes United Airlines and Eastern Airlines look like the Four Seasons.
 

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Arg - this just came across my FB News feed...
Isn't it Journalism 101 to first reach out to Bob/Phil for a response to their letter? Especially before posting on her blog and FaceBook...

Also, it fails to communicate without the perspective that this came from Bob/Phil (not VSE/ILG) and what their roles are (and are not...), who they are, and their intent, etc. She just sees it as an some type of assault on StJ. I know Jenn's intent and her biases of her NOSJ blog (get tourists back, everything is great...) - I normally respect Jenn's opinions/positions, but was what Bob/Phil wrote some kind of abomination? IMO, I think she 'doth protest too much'.

Let's see... I keep up with everything WSJ/StJ and have for years - here is my view (OPINION) of the 'Fake News' being spread by Bob/Phil.

THE ISLAND
The resort is likely to recover more rapidly than much of the rest of the island’s infrastructure.


I see this as true - just look at the drone video, and StJ news and social media outlets. I am unsure why this was so wrong to state - they are speaking to VGV owners after all, and very likely correct (thus the word 'likely')

Cruz Bay does not yet have electricity 24 hours a day. Internet service is very spotty and cell phone service is poor, as only AT&T has rebuilt cell phone towers.

This is true even when things are normal. Electricity goes out often - always has - and internet service is also poor (ask anyone that picked up a cell tower on Tortola). The ATT tower has just recently been rebuilt. Certainly, it is better than it has been - but better than pre-H.Irma? Back to normal? Really?

Some restaurants are open, but there are almost no tourists, so now that most of the FEMA workers have departed, many of those restaurants are open only a few days a week with limited menus.

To state almost no tourists is a bit much, but compared to 'normal' - then hard to argue. I see current photos all the time (weekly) - the beaches are almost empty comparatively. Makes me want to go sooner than 2019. This is certainly true of the restaurants - most of the ones open are limited as compared to their normal operations pre-H.Irma.

The public passenger ferry is running but the car ferry has very limited service.

How is this untrue? This was the way it was pre-H.Irma. In fact the folks on St John are imploring people to rent on St John. They need to car barges for re-construction. It is limited - some of the car barge wait times have been long - plenty of reports of these waits. I am thinking of renting on StJ in 2019.

Caneel Bay was severely damaged and it is unknown whether or not it will reopen. In all likelihood, neither ZoZo's nor Asolare will reopen, but Skinny Legs is up and running.

This is also true based on current knowledge. Yes - perhaps ZoZo's and Asolare will open again. Again the word 'liklihood' is used here. As it stands now and near future (2018) this is correct.

The donkeys, deer and iguanas survived; in fact the donkeys seem to inhabit the shells of the beachfront cottages at Caneel, while for the present time, deer graze near our own Lemongrass Restaurant.

Also true.

The north shore beaches have largely been cleaned of debris, but there has as of yet been no survey of damage to the reefs. We all hope that more of the island’s infrastructure will come back by the time our resort reopens, but the island’s recovery may be much slower than that of the Westin St. John.

OMG - they got the fact wrong that the reef damage has not been surveyed???!!! :D
Actually, the response from Jenn that the reef survey has been completed is the first I have read about it. Was this survey that she mentions from locals or the NPS? I have heard many local and tourists accounts, but I had not heard of a NPS survey being completed - I understood that it has been ongoing.

Again - based on video and photo evidence it is true that island's recovering 'may be' much slower than WSJ. So far this is true based on what I have seen/heard from multiple sources.

I hope this opinion/retort doesn't get me banned from St John. ;)

I agree completely.
 

LisaH

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Haha. I read Jenn’s blog and the following comments. Nora said “the island felt like a set from The Walking Dead”, which really got a lot of people riled up. Different people have different perspectives. For Jenn and the locals, saying the island is not quite ready for tourists, whether it’s true or not, is messing with their livelihood. I can understand why they got so worked up. On the other hand, the communication is strictly between WSJ board and it’s owners. I don’t understand why some owners feel the need to forward the email to Jenn. We can’t go there anyway this year. Oh well. Better minding my own business...:) I do hope the island will recover fully soon.
 

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Exactly ... this note is not going to affect tourists ... it was specifically to people who already own property in WSJ
 

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I have been following the news about Caneel Bay and whether the lease will be renewed and whether it will be rebuilt. Has anyone heard what may happen to Caneel Bay if the lease is not renewed? It is among the most beautiful oceanfront properties in the world. It is where I fell in love with St John. Would it just become a national park or would some other developer possibly taker it over with a new lease?
 

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I have been following the news about Caneel Bay and whether the lease will be renewed and whether it will be rebuilt. Has anyone heard what may happen to Caneel Bay if the lease is not renewed? It is among the most beautiful oceanfront properties in the world. It is where I fell in love with St John. Would it just become a national park or would some other developer possibly taker it over with a new lease?

https://www.stjohntradewinds.com/caneel-restoration-awaits-congressional-action/amp/

My prediction- $$$ wins


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DavidnRobin

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Arg - this just came across my FB News feed...

Also, it fails to communicate without the perspective that this came from Bob/Phil (not VSE/ILG) and what their roles are (and are not...), who they are, and their intent, etc. She just sees it as an some type of assault on StJ. I know Jenn's intent and her biases of her NOSJ blog (get tourists back, everything is great...) - I normally respect Jenn's opinions/positions, but was what Bob/Phil wrote some kind of abomination? IMO, I think she 'doth protest too much'.

Let's see... I keep up with everything WSJ/StJ and have for years - here is my view (OPINION) of the 'Fake News' being spread by Bob/Phil.

THE ISLAND
The resort is likely to recover more rapidly than much of the rest of the island’s infrastructure.


I see this as true - just look at the drone video, and StJ news and social media outlets. I am unsure why this was so wrong to state - they are speaking to VGV owners after all, and very likely correct (thus the word 'likely')

Cruz Bay does not yet have electricity 24 hours a day. Internet service is very spotty and cell phone service is poor, as only AT&T has rebuilt cell phone towers.

This is true even when things are normal. Electricity goes out often - always has - and internet service is also poor (ask anyone that picked up a cell tower on Tortola). The ATT tower has just recently been rebuilt. Certainly, it is better than it has been - but better than pre-H.Irma? Back to normal? Really?

Some restaurants are open, but there are almost no tourists, so now that most of the FEMA workers have departed, many of those restaurants are open only a few days a week with limited menus.

To state almost no tourists is a bit much, but compared to 'normal' - then hard to argue. I see current photos all the time (weekly) - the beaches are almost empty comparatively. Makes me want to go sooner than 2019. This is certainly true of the restaurants - most of the ones open are limited as compared to their normal operations pre-H.Irma.

The public passenger ferry is running but the car ferry has very limited service.

How is this untrue? This was the way it was pre-H.Irma. In fact the folks on St John are imploring people to rent on St John. They need to car barges for re-construction. It is limited - some of the car barge wait times have been long - plenty of reports of these waits. I am thinking of renting on StJ in 2019.

Caneel Bay was severely damaged and it is unknown whether or not it will reopen. In all likelihood, neither ZoZo's nor Asolare will reopen, but Skinny Legs is up and running.

This is also true based on current knowledge. Yes - perhaps ZoZo's and Asolare will open again. Again the word 'liklihood' is used here. As it stands now and near future (2018) this is correct.

The donkeys, deer and iguanas survived; in fact the donkeys seem to inhabit the shells of the beachfront cottages at Caneel, while for the present time, deer graze near our own Lemongrass Restaurant.

Also true.

The north shore beaches have largely been cleaned of debris, but there has as of yet been no survey of damage to the reefs. We all hope that more of the island’s infrastructure will come back by the time our resort reopens, but the island’s recovery may be much slower than that of the Westin St. John.

OMG - they got the fact wrong that the reef damage has not been surveyed???!!! :D
Actually, the response from Jenn that the reef survey has been completed is the first I have read about it. Was this survey that she mentions from locals or the NPS? I have heard many local and tourists accounts, but I had not heard of a NPS survey being completed - I understood that it has been ongoing.

Again - based on video and photo evidence it is true that island's recovering 'may be' much slower than WSJ. So far this is true based on what I have seen/heard from multiple sources.

I hope this opinion/retort doesn't get me banned from St John. ;)

I was informed by Jenn (NOSJ) that she did attempt to contact Bob and Phil before her article.

Although... the time line for their response seemed quite short between the letter and her article - 1 day... (arg). However, she claims to have written to them, and that someone got back that they were off island and what they wrote they heard from others. I am sure any back and forth was gracious.

I did respond to her by email with a few key issues (discussed above) and perspective: 1) the letter was to VGV Owners who can’t use their villas in 2018 anyway, and she is the one that broadcast the letter to the public, 2) until WSJ reopens there will be a serious decrease in tourism (pure math), and 3) what they wrote was not overall untrue, and my response (defense of their letter) was not out of line.

What I am truly concerned is if this impacts communications by VGV BOD Phil/Larry and VGV Owners (unique to VGV) - I hope that this is not an unintended consequence caused by Jenn putting this letter on her blog. She has a good amount of readers and requested folks to write to Vistana Management. Being from the ex-Corp world, a bad consequence wouldn’t surprise me. Hope not...

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DavidnRobin

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LisaH

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Caneel Bay is such a special place. I would love to see it reopen and provide jobs to hundreds (if not thousands) of local people.
 

SandyPGravel

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Interesting comment on the Low Key Watersports FB page:

"Everyone agrees that St. John has recovered remarkably well. There are, of course, pockets of damage throughout the island. Rumor has it that the Westin will have a soft opening in November, 2018, and be ready to roll by high season 2019. Caneel is in negotiations with the National Park, and a deal needs to be approved by Congress."

https://divelowkey.com/blogs/news/two-hundred-years-diving-with-low-key-watersports

On a side note, bummer that Low Key Captain Bob has officially retired. Although I think he was retired last May when he captained our dive trip.
 

Jayco29D

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Caneel Bay is such a special place. I would love to see it reopen and provide jobs to hundreds (if not thousands) of local people.

Caneel Bay was among my favorite places in the world, second only to French Polynesia. We spent a few weeks there about 5 years ago and it was amazing. I hope it will be rebuilt and reopen someday.
 

Jayco29D

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I spoke to a WSJ rep and she said WSJ is in turmoil and the WSJ is not selling direct from Vistana right now. She actually said if we want to buy now, we need to buy resale. She tried to sell me on the new Flex program but I was not interested. She then suggested buying resale before Westin St John re-opens. Interesting. I wonder why she would tell me to buy resale. I tried to ask more questions, but she cut me off and said she will call me when they start selling again.
 

GrayFal

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Happy to post here. Glad reserve fund is paying for all.


Dear Fellow Coral Vista Owner,

We recently participated in the Annual Meeting of the ownership of the Coral Vista Association at the Westin St. John which was held in Orlando, Florida. We wanted to thank those of you who joined us in Orlando and especially thank the members of the Vistana team that participated. Vistana presented a very thorough, detailed report and photographic update of the work that has been completed at the resort after Hurricanes Irma and Maria came through in the fall. The clean-up has been completed, debris has been removed and the construction and rehabilitation work is in progress. About three hundred people are working for the contractors and all possible effort is being put forth to allow us to reopen on January 4, 2019. We will give you periodic updates on the work as we receive them from Vistana. To view the presentation, please please click here. To view videos that were also presented, please click on the links below:
One of the most important messages we can share with you regards the usage of your 2018 StarOptions. Sixty-nine percent of the owners have not yet made plans to use their 2018 ownership for the year. There are upcoming deadlines for banking the StarOptions for future use. If you choose to save your StarOptions for a future year, the time for using them has been extended from two years to three so they will be good through the 2021 calendar year. The deadlines for banking your StarOptions are:
You also have the opportunity to use your StarOptions at one of the other resorts in the Vistana network or to exchange your vacation ownership interest with Interval International. As you may remember from prior newsletters, Vistana has set up a special group to work with Westin St. John owners. You can contact them at 888-986-9637 or 407-903-4635 or by email to ownerservices.usage@vistana.com. While we are all disappointed that we cannot use our time on St. John in 2018, we do have the opportunity to use the time we own either at other places or at future dates. Please contact Vistana to secure use of your StarOptions.

The ownership did re-elect Jim Miller to a two-year term. Jim had been elected to a one-year term a year ago as we have staggered dates for completion of terms on the Board.

We are also happy to see that balconies have been added on to the studio units that previously did not have them. This is a correction that had been planned before the hurricanes (at no cost to the owners) and the concrete work has already been completed, outside of the scope of the other work that is being done.

One of the strengths of our association is the level of operating surplus we hold. This enabled us to fund our insurance deductible and our future replacement needs without having to ask owners for either the full maintenance fee for 2018 or an additional assessment.

The Board did a review of our budget and financial position during our meeting and we are on target. We also heard detailed reports from the Vistana Human Resources team and other members of the Vistana group who work on the Westin St. John property. We were very proud of the work that Human Resources did to help over 130 of our 270 team members stay employed during the clean-up phase at the resort. They also helped place a number of team members at other resorts on the mainland and in Hawaii and provided items ranging from shower and laundry facilities to drinking water and holiday presents for the children of our associates. This was done in combination with Vistana corporate efforts and the volunteer efforts of many Vistana employees. Our heartfelt thanks go to all of them for helping the St. John team get through these difficult times.

Our Insurance and Facilities teams have done an amazing job of working with the insurance companies, claims adjusters, contractors and local authorities to get us back in business. General Manager Sam Hugli and the on-site team have put in countless hours managing the process and protecting our interests. Kudos to all and many thanks for your hard work. The Owner Services team and all of the people in Orlando who support the resort are also due our thanks. When we hear of other properties that do not have the support infrastructure that we do, we become acutely aware of how much our management team is doing to support the reconstruction and return of a $167 million dollar property to full operational status. That we will be able to be up and running in 15-16 months after two storms of this magnitude is amazing.

St. John is coming back. While we hear the positive reports from people who are on the island and are posting on social media, we recognize that the current experience on St. John is not the experience we have enjoyed in the past. While many restaurants are open, they may have limited hours and menus. There is limited room availability at other properties. Caneel Bay suffered greatly from the storms and does not have current plans for when they may reopen. Other properties in both St. John and St. Thomas are hoping to open later this year, but most are not scheduled to open until 2019. Click here to view a recent article in The New York Times on St. John’s recovery

St. John is coming back. While we hear the positive reports from people who are on the island and are posting on social media, we recognize that the current experience on St. John is not the experience we have enjoyed in the past. While many restaurants are open, they may have limited hours and menus. There is limited room availability at other properties. Caneel Bay suffered greatly from the storms and does not have current plans for when they may reopen. Other properties in both St. John and St. Thomas are hoping to open later this year, but most are not scheduled to open until 2019. Click here to view a recent article in The New York Times on St. John’s recovery.

We all look forward to being able to return to our “home away from home” and to enjoying our “island paradise”.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
David Futransky
david.coralvista@gmail.com
Nancy Gerding
nancy.coralvista@gmail.com
James Miller II
james.coralvista@gmail.com
You have received this message as part of your vacation ownership. Please do not reply
 

Jayco29D

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I’ve spoken to a few agents about buying Westin St John and they said not to buy. They told me that I would be disappointed if my benchmark is Caneel Bay. They said there is nothing like Caneel Bay on St John. They said most people who go to WSJ go to explore the island and are not so concerned about the villa and Great Cruz Bay is not the best beach. At Caneel Bay, it was so gorgeous, no one ever needed to leave, with all oceanview bungalows and 7 pristine beaches all to ourselves and a few random visitors.
 
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