Westin St John [Master Thread] - Part 2 (June 2014 and forward)

[DavidnRobin]

Good luck. How much time do you give yourself for the outbound reservation in case of flight delays?

We arrive at 12:30pm - car barge at 3:00pm (with next at 5pm unless we can use payment for 4pm ferry). I am more concerned for the return trip so as not to miss flight. (10am for 1:30pm flight)

 

[DavidnRobin]

Worked out fine. Got to lot about 25 min early.
Amalie was great as usual.
We did luckily bypassed some incident, and took 32 to RedHook instead. Going to go this way from now on. Thank you Siri.
Home Depot has beach chairs - $25 each. $45 for TB. Couldn't find beach umbrellas.
Not much in Recycle Bin, but did score some 1800.
Beautiful here at Vistana St John...

End of trip report

 

[SandyPGravel]

Worked out fine. Got to lot about 25 min early.
Amalie was great as usual.
We did luckily bypassed some incident, and took 32 to RedHook instead. Going to go this way from now on. Thank you Siri.
Home Depot has beach chairs - $25 each. $45 for TB. Couldn't find beach umbrellas.
Not much in Recycle Bin, but did score some 1800.
Beautiful here at Vistana St John...

End of trip report

Lucky you, glad to hear your car barge was uneventful!

Are you going to test out the GPS coordinates for entry to hurricane hole? Let me know if they are accurate. I am only questioning what I reported because of the elevation my GPS stated. Should have been a couple of feet, but it was recorded as several hundred feet.

 

[LisaH]

Worked out fine. Got to lot about 25 min early.
We did luckily bypassed some incident, and took 32 to RedHook instead. Going to go this way from now on. Thank you Siri.
End of trip report

Glad you made it without delay. Will try to reserve in Aug for our annual trip.
Hwy 32 is also what we did last year.

Not much in Recycle Bin, but did score some 1800.
Beautiful here at Vistana St John...

What's 1800?

Beautiful here at Vistana St John...

A name that will take some getting used to...

 

[Helios]

A name that will take some getting used to...

I'm interested to see what David will say about this. Perhaps they taped over "Westin" the new name "Vistana". :hysterical: TUG powers at be would be right there to help hold the new name while it is being taped.

 

[dioxide45]

Well, the resort is really still the Westin St John. They are stil marketing that name and the resort names are not changing. Why pay all that money to change it to the Vistana St John?

 

[alexadeparis]

What's 1800?

I am pretty sure it is a brand of tequila.

 

[Helios]

Well, the resort is really still the Westin St John. They are stil marketing that name and the resort names are not changing. Why pay all that money to change it to the Vistana St John?

Putting the money aside, because Vistana is the parent company. Isn't that a good enough reason?

Of course, I am being sarcastic.

 

[Helios]

I am pretty sure it is a brand of tequila.

Yes, it is a type of Cuervo Tequila.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Ok kids - the 'Vistana St John' comment was sarcasm...

VSE is clearly moving forward with Westin Vacation Club and Sheraton Vacation Club.

I did Owner Update yesterday and toured Summer Bay.
It is very quiet here.

I will follow up.

 

[Helios]

Ok kids - the 'Vistana St John' comment was sarcasm...

Of course it was, thankfully WSJ (not VSJ) is still it's name.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Dashboard Online Reservation Calendar

Is it normal for absolutely no availability to show, in any size villa at WSJ even more than 12 months out? Last week availability was there in May and June 2017, as of yesterday nothing is showing up.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Not sure why one would expect to see availability >12 months out.

Regardless, I would estimate B33-B34 occupancy is easily less than half. No one is staying in the villas adjacent to ours. Yet, no one seems to be able to use SO to exchange in (or rented out...). Empty villas are not abnormal, but this lack of occupancy is a new low (over 10 years)
Zika fears?

It is very quiet - we have had the pool between B33-34 to ourselves throughout the day.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Not sure why one would expect to see availability >12 months out.

Regardless, I would estimate B33-B34 occupancy is easily less than half. No one is staying in the villas adjacent to ours. Yet, no one seems to be able to use SO to exchange in (or rented out...). Empty villas are not abnormal, but this lack of occupancy is a new low (over 10 years)
Zika fears?

It is very quiet - we have had the pool between B33-34 to ourselves throughout the day.

I have entered starting date of today, for example, 14 day stay, shows no availability. It will then show a calendar with the next available time (March 2017) and you can forward to June 2017 and the entire calendar is white (no availability.) If you follow this same process for another resort, the Maui resorts for example, (put in a date you know is booked) then forward to June 2017 the calendar is green.

I love the view from 33-34, we stayed there the first two times on SO. The unit we were able to purchase was 3210, nice, but nothing like the views from the top of the hill. Although the walk is a lot easier to 32, than to 33-34! Sure doesn't look like much difference, but that last part of the hill up the driveway thought I would die some days.

 

[tomandrobin]

It is very quiet - we have had the pool between B33-34 to ourselves throughout the day.

Very nice! We have friends staying in their 2-bedroom hillside unit during our second week. We have extensive plans of using the pool and grilling.

 

[tomandrobin]

The online booking tool is so bad. I find that the real availability doesn't quite match-up with the online engine.

 

[ekinggill]

2 months out

2 months away from our annual pilgrimage...this time with 10 friends in tow.

Any updates on the sea lice on the north shore beaches?

I have read that there are cases of the zika virus in the islands. Can any recent travelers comment on the degree of infestation or paranoia?

Thanks

 

[tomandrobin]

2 months away from our annual pilgrimage...this time with 10 friends in tow.

Any updates on the sea lice on the north shore beaches?

I have read that there are cases of the zika virus in the islands. Can any recent travelers comment on the degree of infestation or paranoia?

Thanks

As of May 31st.....

Today the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health reports three (3) new cases of Zika, with none of the new cases occurring among pregnant women. According to the weekly surveillance report, there were also 15 cases of dengue in the territory. There are now a total of 24 confirmed Zika cases in the USVI; with 15 cases in St. Croix, 8 cases in St. Thomas and 1 in St. John. To date, 647 pregnant women in the USVI have been tested for Zika, and three were confirmed positive.

As far as Sea Lice, I thought I read that they go away or diminish after May.

 

[dioxide45]

I have entered starting date of today, for example, 14 day stay, shows no availability. It will then show a calendar with the next available time (March 2017) and you can forward to June 2017 and the entire calendar is white (no availability.) If you follow this same process for another resort, the Maui resorts for example, (put in a date you know is booked) then forward to June 2017 the calendar is green.

I love the view from 33-34, we stayed there the first two times on SO. The unit we were able to purchase was 3210, nice, but nothing like the views from the top of the hill. Although the walk is a lot easier to 32, than to 33-34! Sure doesn't look like much difference, but that last part of the hill up the driveway thought I would die some days.

I have seen the same thing. It seems that after April 6, 2017 there is zero availability in St John when searching through Villa Finder. While you can't technically book any inventory for these dates, they still show as available for other properties and you can see the date when you can book it. Nothing in St John. I didn't have access to the system to know if it was there earlier.

 

[Henry M.]

This is probably because St. John sold fixed weeks. U der that system, owners have between 12 and 10 months before arrival to decide to use their fixed week. Between 10 and 8 months, there's a sort of float between local owners, so an exchange is possible.

 

[SandyPGravel]

This is probably because St. John sold fixed weeks. U der that system, owners have between 12 and 10 months before arrival to decide to use their fixed week. Between 10 and 8 months, there's a sort of float between local owners, so an exchange is possible.

I agree, but the end of June is more than 12 months out and the calendar is white. Also, not everything in St. John is fixed weeks, some availability should show. I considered buying a float week from the developer a few years ago.

The availability was there last week, but this week the entire calendar for May and June is white. Prime weeks are available in March, spring break high season, but nothing in May? Something is goofed up.

This reminds me of what happened with Harborside last year for this summer. Maybe it's rolling blackouts, next year it will be somewhere else!:hysterical:

 

[SandyPGravel]

Is it normal for absolutely no availability to show, in any size villa at WSJ even more than 12 months out? Last week availability was there in May and June 2017, as of yesterday nothing is showing up.

Calendar availability is back, April through June are green again.

 

[vacationjoe1]

WSJ Beach Water Quality

We went to the WSJ back in Dec. 2015. There was a sign on the beach that from the DNR warning about the poor water quality and that you should swim at you own risk. Is this a permanent issue? Can someone direct me to the Thread that discussed this further?

 

[cyntravel]

Does anyone know of events for Augus tfor St. John and or Westin

Hi
I am looking for a calendar of events for St. John and or Westin for the month of August.

Thanks
Cyn

 

[ekinggill]

As far as Sea Lice, I thought I read that they go away or diminish after May.

Last August they were very thick in some parts of some bays, non-existent in others...but they definitely did not go away for the summer.