jojo777,
We were there from August 21-28 and had a great time there. To answer your questions
1. There are multiple car rental agencies at the airport, though we rented from the Havensight location of Avis. The Havensight location was about $95 cheaper than the airport. Having a Costco membership also helped as they have a coupon that for some reason was not accepted by the airport location but was accepted by this off airport location. We took a taxi from the airport to the Havensight mall. For the 3 of us, it was about $30 including the cost of luggage. I believe the rate per person is about $6 or $7 and then some charge for the bags.
2. There are a wide variety of restaurants, ranging from the very very expensive to the average fast food places. We went to "Fresh Bistro", which I believe is run by the same lady that runs Oceana. The food was excellent and the prices slightly on the higher side, if you include the cost of drinks, a dinner for the 3 was about $95. Being vegetarians, we also tried a couple of other places, there is one right opposite Havensight, called "Barefoot Buddha" and another one called "Natural Livity & Kulcha Shop". The ginger beer at the Natural Livity place packs a lot of punch. Natural Livity is near Dronnigans Gade, don't have the exact address.
3. I believe Hertz is the only one that DOES NOT allow their cars to be taken to St. John. Cost of a roundtrip is $50, if you decide to take the barge, unless you have done prior reservations, you will have to pay cash. A one way ride is $30.
4. Pueblo is a decent place, Gourmet Gallery is pretty good, though prices are a tad bit higher. Also look for The Fruit Bowl.
If you are looking to pick up alcohol, I think prices at K-Mart are probably the cheapest for a decent amount of stuff. If you are looking for really expensive stuff like Johnnie Walker, Blue Label or something along those lines, it will probably be better to go to Dynasty Dazzlers or perhaps one of the shops in Havensight. I believe the K-Mart does not carry that stuff, as I could not see it, maybe they have it somewhere else, did not ask. The local Cruzan rum was about $8 for a litre bottle(flavored), the single barrel was about $25(750ml) and the 5-12 year was $17(750ml). The blackstrap molasses rum was around $12(litre).
Maybe somebody else can chime in as I am not sure what is the airlines policy on checking in a full box of alcohol. I know at K-Mart they give you a very sturdy box to carry all the bottles. Also found out that as long as one bottle is a local USVI product, you can carry upto 6 litres of alcohol per adult.
5. No ideas on what might be missing there..there are ways to improvise.
6. No idea as we have ATT and St. Thomas is pretty well covered, and parts of St. John, though be careful in St. John as the northern side latches on to signals from BVI.
7. No ideas again.
Other thoughts, there are a decent number of activities to do at MFC, from Saturday-Thursday, they have BINGO where the prize is usually a bottle of rum. The same goes for Table Tennis. You can also walk from MFC to the Marriott hotel and use the facilities there, though not sure if you can actually get umbrellas and chairs at the Morningstar Beach without paying.
Venturing into town, if you are interested in snorkeling, Coki Beach is where you want to head to, the snorkeling is amazing, the fish come right upto your feet in ankle deep water.
I'll make a detailed trip report and post it..
