Westin St John - Food Shopping

[badgertjm]

Any advice on shopping for groceries at or near Westin St John would be most appreciated. Should we bring staples with us or is there shopping nearby? Any strategies for minimizing the need to eat out? Thanks for any and all tips.

 

[DeniseM]

We haven't been to the WSJ yet, but I did a lot of research about it when we were trying to get an exchange.

This message board is the best place that I found for lots of info. about St. John - http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/cgi-bin/agnes.cgi?CaribbeanAgnes+CaribbeanAgnesHTML

As far a food goes, there are no major grocery chains and groceries are expensive and selection is somewhat limited. We never bring groceries from home, so I can't advise you about that, but we save money by buying groceries locally for light breakfasts and lunches and just going out for dinner.

Also, if you join TUG, you can access the members only review pages which have lots of info. about the WSJ.

 

[ccy]

Any advice on shopping for groceries at or near Westin St John would be most appreciated. Should we bring staples with us or is there shopping nearby? Any strategies for minimizing the need to eat out? Thanks for any and all tips.

Starfish Market is great, it's about a mile down the road from WSJ. They have almost everything. The WSJ villas have barbecue grills.

 

[johnmfaeth]

The Starfish market is great for selection and fresh fruits/veggies. There are two other markets in Red Hook which are good too.

I would plan on having breakfast in your room and making sandwichs for lunch every day. Bring a soft sided cooler bag for foood and a plastic thermos jug (with thermal wrapper). Use the jug to carry down clean clothes and dirty on the way home and it takes no additional luggage space.

Every morning, make cocktails (virgin if desired) using liquor bought at the supermarket. Then take off from the resort. What? not stay every day at the resort? Absolutely not... The resort is really nice but St. John has some of the Caribbean's nicest beaches and snorkeling. Here's what I would do:

Snorkeling/Beaches:
1) Hawknest Bay - Oppenheimer Beach at eastern end.
2) Waterlemon Cay - of Leichester Bay
3) Salt Pond Bay - go out to the 3rd buoy before 1 PM - always turtles there
4) Chick-n-dog beach - Must access by water due to development - rent an inflatable boat from Noah's Liitle Arks at Cruz Bay Watersports and go their
5) Jost Van Dyke (British Virgins) - rent a 22' Maho (next to the red hook ferry dock) or take a catamaran - incredible huge schools of fish.
6) Do the Trunk Bay underwater trail when no cruise ships at St. Thomas. The newspaper has the ship schedule. Else, go at 8 AM, cruise ship people show at 10 AM.

Then eat dinner out every night!!!

St. John has a wealth of great restaurants. Only great one at the Westin is Cloie and Bernards which is pricey. For better at high end hit Zozo's and The Stone Terrace. Lots of good midrange in Cruz bay also like The Fish Trap. A must go is Skinny Legs in Coral Bay - do as afternoon stop after Salt Pond Bay. Lots of authentic locals right out of a Buffet song including Mel Fisher's partner in finding the Atocha treasure (he looks like a mini-Gandalf and is often there playing horseshoes with 5 coins around his neck).

And don't forget to relax too !!!

 

[mariawolf]

another vote for Star market--prices are high but it is close. Also they have great wraps you can buy and they are big enough to share so when we go to the beach for the day (beach at Westin is not nice) we buy them and bring a cooler with us--most of the nicest beaches don't have food/facilities. The villas (3br) do have grills. There is a barbecue place downtown on the corner near the ferries that is awesome--it is always our cheapest and best meal--they have great ribs, chicken and potato salad. You can call ahead and pick up. A dinner for about 6 of us is like less than$50.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Yes - Starfish Market - I must go and also see - it is on the way to WSJ from Cruz Bay (STAY LEFT!!!!)

Also - I bought a soft pack foldable cooler and placed frozen meat (steaks) in the pack and placed in my luggage (from San Francisco) - they were still frozen when we got to WSJ - had 2 great BBQs using these meats by the pool between the Hillside villas - well worth it - there is plenty of chicken/fish on the island, but not a lot of good red meat - we also brought our own red wine - most of our luggage was alcohol - meat - snorkling and swim gear - bug and sun protection - and guide books.

Rum is cheap...

also check out VINOW.com on the web (has everything you need to know - eg. cruise ship info) - there is even a 10 minute podcast everyday from St Thomas - seach podcasts on iTunes.

The beach by the Westin may not be the best beach on the island - but fun never-the-less - PLUS there are FREE rentals for villa owners (eg. sunfish sailboats and the like) - there are big play things in the water also - so while other beaches are pristine (like Hawksnest the best) - the Westin beach has a lot to offer - especially if you have kids.

ALSO-ALSO - do not walk home late at night from Cruz Bay to the Westin - there have been problems (like any other place in the world) - use good judgement.

Get a 4WD rental - early - as they sale out fast.

ALSO-ALSO-ALSO - do the Reef Bay NPS walk - register in advance - best bargin on the island - it is all downhill, but be prepared to sweat.

 

[badgertjm]

Thanks for the great information!

Thanks to all for replying. I can't belie ve all the great ideas you've given us. I should have started this thread months ago. TUGGERS ROCK!

 

[BeckyG]

badgertjm -- when will you be there? We'll be there this Saturday.

BeckyG

 

[DavidnRobin]

enjoy - 8 months for us (and counting...), but 1st - Maui (1 month) - woohoo

 

[kcgriffin]

Some St John suggestions…

Delbert Hill car and jeep rental (340) 776-6637
I like them because they are located right downtown and you can park in their lot, parking can get to be a problem sometimes.

Starfish Market For Food

Restaurants

• Asolare (great for sunsets)
• Zozo (also sunsets)
• La Tapa
• Tage
• Morgans Mango
• Lime Inn
• Panini Beach (excellent Italian)
• Joes BBQ hut in the center of town (it is open air, you can’t miss it!)
• Miss Lucy’s in Coral Bay for Sunday brunch
• Skinny Legs in Coral Bay for the best burgers on the island

Bars

• Make sure you visit the Beach Bar. Kenny Chesney owns a villa on St. John and has been known to make an appearance with his band and play at the Bar.

• Woody’s Seafood shack

• Rumbalaya

• Duffys Love Shack

 

[vic714]

Maui (1 month) - woohoo

Are you going to for Thanksgiving too?

Victor

 

[DavidnRobin]

Yes we are - along with some of our family members - getting married on the Kapalua Bay beach. Our first time at WKORV - seems like a long time since we bought our OF unit, but now it is just a few weeks away - this is one of the best things about TS - planned vacations - for us - it is hard to get away from work sometimes - now... no excuses

 

[vic714]

Yes we are - along with some of our family members - getting married on the Kapalua Bay beach. Our first time at WKORV - seems like a long time since we bought our OF unit, but now it is just a few weeks away - this is one of the best things about TS - planned vacations - for us - it is hard to get away from work sometimes - now... no excuses

The same reason we bought our first timeshare. It was always too easy to put off taking vacations. Now we feel like we have to take them. This will be our second time to WKORV, but the first since we purchased there. Maybe we'll be neighbors for a week.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL time and GOOD LUCK with the weather on your wedding day.

Victor

 

[badgertjm]

We also arrive on Saturday.

badgertjm -- when will you be there? We'll be there this Saturday.

BeckyG

First time to St John. Can't wait. We arrive saturady 10/21 as well.

 

[short]

Oct 29

We are arriving on Oct 29th. We will just miss you both.

Short

 

[riverdoglb]

Finished a week at the Westin Villas October 9th. Our plan originally was to shop for groceries for breakfast & lunch and eat dinner out. The problem is that ALL of the food on St. John is pricey. One thing I would definately do is rent or buy a small cooler to take with you for day trips. We didn't and paid for it with kids wining and expensive water stops.

I think it's still off season as it was when we were there. About 30% of the restaurants on the list that Westin provides were closed for "maintenance". We ate at Zozos for my 40th and it was fabulous. Keep in mind they don't allow kids under 5. If you like burgers, Skinny Legs is the best. We made the trip twice they were so good. Just avoid the bathroom! Uncle joe's BBQ has great Ribs & Chicken. A place we found right before we left was a deli in Mongoose Junction that was very reasonably priced and had good food. Paradiso resaturant in the same area has "pasta weekends" which is unlimited pasta for $16.00 and kids eat free with adults.

Food at the Westin is limited, especially with some of the restaurants being closed. The construction they're doing on the new villas and at the pool was not obtrusive at all.

We took a trip to the BVI & explored the Baths which was by far our favorite excursion. Our kids (10 yr old girl & 7 yr boy) absolutely loved it. I was nervous because they had not snorkeled before and the boat basically drops you off in 30 ft of water and you snorkel to shore. They loved it. Another fun thing we did was going to Carolina Corral in Coral Bay and go horseback riding. It's about an hour and a half tour to the top on a hill with great views.

All in all we had a great time.

riverdoglb