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

[DavidnRobin]

Is there any activity of fun for kids in ST John beside ocean and pool?.. Thanks

Sorry - can't help. Don't really see many kid activities on StJ, but don't pay attention.

We go when school is about to let out (wks 23-24) and do not see a lot of kids there (and we do not travel with kids... thankfully, since it would be car camping trips to the Sierras, and not StJ or HI...). Wk 23 is quieter than Wk 24.

Of course - depends on kids ages and such (outdoorsy or not, comfort in ocean waters, need for guidance, etc.)

There is a woman who advertises on 'News of St John' for child watching (and highly recommended, but no direct experience) - she is a cool islander. I would call her and tell her the situation, and ask her for activities on the island for kids.

Also, call the WSJ Concierge - they are quite helpful, and tend to have live there for years - they will be more than happy to help (call at ~3pm est to get them when they are not busy).

I would lock up their devices - give them a mask/snorkel/fins and some beach toys - lather them up, tell the oldest to watch out for the youngest, and tell them to come back for lunch/dinner... ahhh - the good old days...

enjoy

 

[okwiater]

Is there any activity of fun for kids in ST John beside ocean and pool?.. Thanks

Iguana spotting!

 

[Helios]

Iguana spotting!

My kids liked this activity. They were amazed to see how close they get to people.

 

[SMHarman]

http://www.westinresortstjohn.com/kids-club

The mermaid swim is fun. We did it off-site though.

 

[DavidnRobin]

If kids (girls) are correct ages - get a mermaid photo shoot with Steve Simonsen (noted StJ Photographer). We saw him doing a mermaid photo shoot with 4 young girls at Hawksnest. I thought it was funny, Robin thought it was great in that every little girl wants to be a mermaid. I thought Princess, but was informed it was indeed a Mermaid. Go figure...
Anyway - I understand he does these on a regular basis.
I got an UW video of the girls swimming - unfortunately missed a great video of one of the girls that swam by - and she really looked like a mermaid with her technique.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Also - if kids don't snorkel or newbies - and you want to do a water charter - Capt. Jason Siska (Island Roots) is suppose to be great in teaching kids (and adults...) how to snorkel, and be comfortable in water. He is a really cool and a total 'island guy' - I can see him being a great teacher.
Also, he was on 'Survivor' - in case there are any fans (never watched myself).

 

[czar]

Also - if kids don't snorkel or newbies - and you want to do a water charter - Capt. Jason Siska (Island Roots) is suppose to be great in teaching kids (and adults...) how to snorkel, and be comfortable in water. He is a really cool and a total 'island guy' - I can see him being a great teacher.
Also, he was on 'Survivor' - in case there are any fans (never watched myself).

We took a charter with him and he was great with our kids 2, 4, and 6 at that time).

We also took our kids on short hikes, couple different beaches, tour/drive around island, into town, etc. Between that stuff, pool, and beaches/water, there was plenty for them to do and they continue to ask to go back!

 

[dioxide45]

ahem - while it is somewhat AC'd - I would have to take everything outside (96F w humidity ) to get thru the various rafts etc. to rearrange. there was zero floor space inside - people were just throwing stuff in there.

Also found door cracked twice - be good to have sign to remind people to close the friggin door (!)

I suspect the place will be a mess again within days of your return home. They need a better system in there for people to place things like the chairs. Of course the racks are there and people weren't using them either. I suspect they won't use wall hooks either, even if there were there.

 

[Bill4728]

Originally Posted by DavidnRobin
ahem - while it is somewhat AC'd - I would have to take everything outside (96F w humidity ) to get thru the various rafts etc. to rearrange. there was zero floor space inside - people were just throwing stuff in there.
Also found door cracked twice - be good to have sign to remind people to close the friggin door (!)

I suspect the place will be a mess again within days of your return home. They need a better system in there for people to place things like the chairs. Of course the racks are there and people weren't using them either. I suspect they won't use wall hooks either, even if there were there.

I was disappointed that all visitors to WSJ could not use the re cycle stuff. Only people with keys from the two upper phases opened the recycle door.

 

[Helios]

I was disappointed that all visitors to WSJ could not use the re cycle stuff. Only people with keys from the two upper phases opened the recycle door.

I assume two upper phases = VGV Phase.

As a VGV owner (David please correct me if I am wrong), our MFs paid for the recycle shed.

Why should other phases get to have access? I bet other phases would not want to equalize MFs.

 

[Bill4728]

The Coral Vista units

Just back and disappointed in the Coral Vista units

Earlier someone posted about the fact the first floor, 2nd bedroom rooms do not have a window. I wouldn't worry about that since the 2nd and 3rd floor units only have a small fixed window. I'm more concerned about clear design failings of the units. The base 2 bed unit is designed OK BUT there are some really bad choices that the design team had to make variations of the base unit design. The resort doesn't want the end units to have a balcony so our 2 bd unit had only one balcony, which may have been OK BUT it was available only thru the master bedroom. So we, as adults staying in the 2nd bedroom, had no access to a balcony without going thru the master. This could have been easily fixed by flipping the unit design but NO they didn't do that.

Also the entry hall of the upper units is fine BUT that hall serves no purpose on the ground floor units since the entry is from the patio. The design team should have figured a way to use that space not just leave the whole thing a dead space. ( we did see one family put a roll-a-way there). It seems the design team just blindly built each unit to the exact same design not taking into account things like the entry hall wasn't needed or the unit would not have two balconies

More later

 

[DavidnRobin]

I was disappointed that all visitors to WSJ could not use the re cycle stuff. Only people with keys from the two upper phases opened the recycle door.

That is because VGV created it and pays for it thru VGV MFs. Maybe the BV, CV and SB HOAs could pull one together (good luck with that...). Besides, the Hill-People tend to be off-resort more than the Flat-Landers, IME

Also, VGV HOA pays more than their fair share of MFs for resort upkeep. VGV is getting screwed with the new villas (CV and SB). We pay for our area alone, plus a disportionate for main resort because of decrease in #doors with the new villas.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Just back and disappointed in the Coral Vista units

Earlier someone posted about the fact the first floor, 2nd bedroom rooms do not have a window. I wouldn't worry about that since the 2nd and 3rd floor units only have a small fixed window. I'm more concerned about clear design failings of the units. The base 2 bed unit is designed OK BUT there are some really bad choices that the design team had to make variations of the base unit design. The resort doesn't want the end units to have a balcony so our 2 bd unit had only one balcony, which may have been OK BUT it was available only thru the master bedroom. So we, as adults staying in the 2nd bedroom, had no access to a balcony without going thru the master. This could have been easily fixed by flipping the unit design but NO they didn't do that.

Also the entry hall of the upper units is fine BUT that hall serves no purpose on the ground floor units since the entry is from the patio. The design team should have figured a way to use that space not just leave the whole thing a dead space. ( we did see one family put a roll-a-way there). It seems the design team just blindly built each unit to the exact same design not taking into account things like the entry hall wasn't needed or the unit would not have two balconies

More later

I agree - the SB villas have their own flaws, but somewhat improved over CV.
Overall, I find them way too dark, not enough natural light, and lack open feeling.
But - for us - not being able to park outside villa is the real breaker.

But... what about St John? Did you get out and about? Make it to Coral Bay, LL beach? Angels Rest?

 

[okwiater]

Just did our Owners' Update at WSJ and toured Sunset Bay. The units are similar to Coral Vista but much more thoughtfully designed. The first floor units do not have the awkward wasted space along the back, and the only carpet in the units are throw rugs. Living space -- particularly in the kitchen area -- is lacking but the bedrooms felt more open and spacious.

As others have mentioned, the main drawback is that the buildings are quite close to the pool area. It could be convenient for families with older children since it makes it easy for them to run between the units and the pool, but you really do lose a lot of privacy.

The two oceanfront buildings consist only of 2-bedroom units, whereas the other buildings offer 2-bedrooms and studios in a 3-bedroom lockoff configuration. It is possible to guarantee a spot in the oceanfront buildings only if you purchase one of a limited number of 2-bedroom fixed weeks in the oceanfront buildings.

We might've been interested in one of those fixed weeks in the oceanfront buildings, but they weren't allowing any equity trades into those specific units. Cash price was about $83K.

 

[DavidnRobin]

At least they put in a small counter in the SB studios - that is lacking in other studios (including WPORV).

 

[DavidnRobin]

June 2016 Update from WSJ-VGV HOA BOD

June 2016

Dear Fellow Virgin Grand Villas Owner:

We recently participated in a meeting of the Board of Directors of our Association. The meeting, like most of our quarterly meetings, was held by conference call; only the meeting that takes place immediately after the annual meeting of the association is a face-to-face meeting. This is a relatively short report, reflecting the fact that things are going very well at our resort and there were not many issues to discuss.

RESORT UPDATE

Mike Ryan, our General Manager, provided an update on some of the exciting things happening at our resort. The resort has received "Certificates of Excellence" on social media, including top ratings from TripAdvisor and Hotels.com. The resort has instituted specialty nights at Lemongrass and Snorkels featuring barbecue and Caribbean menus, cooking demonstrations, a twice weekly farmer’s market featuring local items, and a "grill basket" that may be purchased from the Marketplace. And, a new "fine dining" restaurant, named Knox and Ollie's, will soon be located at what had been the Cruz Bay Prime space.

Beginning in September the units in Buildings 31, 32, 43 and 44 will undergo their planned renovation, to be completed by Thanksgiving. The renovation of Buildings 31, 43 and 44 will include new soft goods (textiles and other non-durables having a useful life of less than six years) and case goods (mostly wooden furniture). The units in Building 32 will receive new soft goods at the same time.

Water fountains will be installed this year at the two upper pools, new drying racks have been installed in all pool villas and a decision is close to being made on the right replacements for the patio and balcony chairs in our units.

FINANCIAL REPORT

We reviewed the numbers reflecting the resort's operations through April 2016, which reflected no material variances from the approved budget. One favorable variance has been a reduction in the cost of electricity reflecting a 27% reduction in the rates charged by WAPA, the local utility. However, we were advised that the reduction could be short-lived in light of the utility's own capital needs.

At our budget meeting in September we will give special attention to the allocation of the resort's common expenses between our owners association and the other owner associations within the resort.

OWNER POSTING BOARD

Because we have received questions from some of our owners concerning access to the Owner posting board, we are reproducing those instructions here.

If you have a vistana.com online account, please follow the steps below.
From the vistana.com homepage, click Login.
1) Enter your Username or Email and your Password and click Log In.
2) Click Dashboard in the navigation bar.
3) Click the Owners Association widget.
4) Select a Westin St. John Resort & Villas (Virgin Grand) vacation ownership interest from the drop down and click "+" to expand the Association Information category.
5) Click the link VGV Owner Posting Board.

If you do not have a vistana.com online account, please follow the steps below.
From the vistana.com, click Register.
1) Complete the registration information and click Submit.
2) You will be redirected to the vistana.com homepage as a Guest. Click Dashboard in the navigation bar.
3) Click the Connect Ownership widget.
4) Complete the ownership account form and click Connect Account. You will be redirected to the Dashboard as an Owner.
5) Select a Westin St. John Resort & Villas (Virgin Grand) vacation ownership interest from the drop down and click "+" to expand the Association Information category.
6) Click the link VGV Owner Posting Board.

Our best wishes for a pleasant summer.
Philip G. Schrag
phil.schrag@gmail.com

Robert H. Werbel
robert.werbel@yahoo.com

 

[bobpark56]

Instructions not working for me

The instructions below are not working for me.

3) there is no owners association widget that I can see. But if I click on "View Statement & Make Payment," I find on the next page an entry labeled "Association Information." Expanding that, I see that the last item in the list is "VGV Owner Posting Board." Clicking on that takes me to a disclaimer page, and the only link from that takes me back to the Owners Association page...and around in circles we go!

FWIW, a short while ago it was taking me to the Ownership Guide. So perhaps someone is woking on the link. But as of the moment, it's of no use.

--bp

June 2016

Dear Fellow Virgin Grand Villas Owner:

We recently participated in a meeting of the Board of Directors of our Association. The meeting, like most of our quarterly meetings, was held by conference call; only the meeting that takes place immediately after the annual meeting of the association is a face-to-face meeting. This is a relatively short report, reflecting the fact that things are going very well at our resort and there were not many issues to discuss.

RESORT UPDATE

Mike Ryan, our General Manager, provided an update on some of the exciting things happening at our resort. The resort has received "Certificates of Excellence" on social media, including top ratings from TripAdvisor and Hotels.com. The resort has instituted specialty nights at Lemongrass and Snorkels featuring barbecue and Caribbean menus, cooking demonstrations, a twice weekly farmer’s market featuring local items, and a "grill basket" that may be purchased from the Marketplace. And, a new "fine dining" restaurant, named Knox and Ollie's, will soon be located at what had been the Cruz Bay Prime space.

Beginning in September the units in Buildings 31, 32, 43 and 44 will undergo their planned renovation, to be completed by Thanksgiving. The renovation of Buildings 31, 43 and 44 will include new soft goods (textiles and other non-durables having a useful life of less than six years) and case goods (mostly wooden furniture). The units in Building 32 will receive new soft goods at the same time.

Water fountains will be installed this year at the two upper pools, new drying racks have been installed in all pool villas and a decision is close to being made on the right replacements for the patio and balcony chairs in our units.

FINANCIAL REPORT

We reviewed the numbers reflecting the resort's operations through April 2016, which reflected no material variances from the approved budget. One favorable variance has been a reduction in the cost of electricity reflecting a 27% reduction in the rates charged by WAPA, the local utility. However, we were advised that the reduction could be short-lived in light of the utility's own capital needs.

At our budget meeting in September we will give special attention to the allocation of the resort's common expenses between our owners association and the other owner associations within the resort.

OWNER POSTING BOARD

Because we have received questions from some of our owners concerning access to the Owner posting board, we are reproducing those instructions here.

If you have a vistana.com online account, please follow the steps below.
From the vistana.com homepage, click Login.
1) Enter your Username or Email and your Password and click Log In.
2) Click Dashboard in the navigation bar.
3) Click the Owners Association widget.
4) Select a Westin St. John Resort & Villas (Virgin Grand) vacation ownership interest from the drop down and click "+" to expand the Association Information category.
5) Click the link VGV Owner Posting Board.

If you do not have a vistana.com online account, please follow the steps below.
From the vistana.com, click Register.
1) Complete the registration information and click Submit.
2) You will be redirected to the vistana.com homepage as a Guest. Click Dashboard in the navigation bar.
3) Click the Connect Ownership widget.
4) Complete the ownership account form and click Connect Account. You will be redirected to the Dashboard as an Owner.
5) Select a Westin St. John Resort & Villas (Virgin Grand) vacation ownership interest from the drop down and click "+" to expand the Association Information category.
6) Click the link VGV Owner Posting Board.

Our best wishes for a pleasant summer.
Philip G. Schrag
phil.schrag@gmail.com

Robert H. Werbel
robert.werbel@yahoo.com

 

[SandyPGravel]

The instructions below are not working for me.

3) there is no owners association widget that I can see. But if I click on "View Statement & Make Payment," I find on the next page an entry labeled "Association Information." Expanding that, I see that the last item in the list is "VGV Owner Posting Board." Clicking on that takes me to a disclaimer page, and the only link from that takes me back to the Owners Association page...and around in circles we go!

FWIW, a short while ago it was taking me to the Ownership Guide. So perhaps someone is woking on the link. But as of the moment, it's of no use.

--bp

I did get it to work yesterday, but it took a couple times. Maybe the site is overwhelmed with those of us who didn't know about this until yesterday. You have to click on the statement above where the log in information is to create another log in for the VGV Condo site. I found it interesting that the site uses different terminolgy when referencing the units. Studios= terrace suite, one bedrooms=townhouse suite etc.

 

[okwiater]

Just got back from dinner at Zozo's and am not anxious to go back. Food was technically excellent but very heavy -- think French/Italian with lots of heavy cream and butter. Service was "forced upscale" with plenty of "are you finished enjoying" type of interactions. DW and I feel this is very scripted, fake, and off putting, but others may appreciate...? We have had multiple meals at Asolare -- all excellent -- and would easily choose that over Zozo's.

 

[Helios]

Just got back from dinner at Zozo's and am not anxious to go back. Food was technically excellent but very heavy -- think French/Italian with lots of heavy cream and butter. Service was "forced upscale" with plenty of "are you finished enjoying" type of interactions. DW and I feel this is very scripted, fake, and off putting, but others may appreciate...? We have had multiple meals at Asolare -- all excellent -- and would easily choose that over Zozo's.

Thanks for sharing. I may skip zozo this Thanksgiving...

 

[DavidnRobin]

I hear there is another car barge snafu - make sure you check before using car barge. This weekend may be especially bad.

 

[LisaH]

I hear there is another car barge snafu - make sure you check before using car barge. This weekend may be especially bad.

Oh dear... Hope the situation improves by Aug.

 

[Helios]

Oh dear... Hope the situation improves by Aug.

And November...

 

[dsmrp]

1st visit impressions

Car rental, barge & parking:
We rented from Amalie, great, very convenient. If we had brought fewer bags then maybe renting on St John would have worked as well, $-wise, but still would have been a lot of transitions from taxi to ferry to rental car.
The car barges were an experience I must explain that we live in an area with multiple car ferry routes and DH also grew up in Cape Cod with their ferries. So were comparing the car barges to the ferries we know. I had made an online reservation with Love City ferries (captain vic). We arrived at the Red Hook loading area a little before the other company's barge was due to leave. There were several locals' cars already waiting in line for the next barge, but the barge crew had some cars moved around, to get our car on board, PERPENDICULAR to the other cars. We think cause the guy on the dock didn't like us leaving our car to go look around the ferry terminal, and wanted to get us out of there!
On the return trip to St Thomas (last Sunday 6/26), the barge was less than half full. It had actually pulled away from the dock, and then returned to load 2 more cars. It didn't matter that I had pre-paid online to Love City; each company took the other's receipts.

We went on the Reef Bay trail hike thru the National Park service, and they let us park our car all day in their lot.

St John, roads and driving:
The island is much drier than I expected, and the vegetation reminded me of Hawaii (Oahu) on the dry leeward side.
I had read the roads and turns were steep, but it still didn't quite prepare us for the first time on the curves. We got used to them pretty quick, and DH didn't have a problem driving. We drove down Gift Hill road, but only once. The 2nd time DH wanted to go down this road, I suggested to go back thru Cruz Bay instead We went to Little Lameshur too on our last day; those concrete paved sections are steep, can't imagine going down them when they're wet.

Beaches
Loved the beaches and easy snorkeling. The white sand and sandy bottoms were amazing. We ran out of time to go to Waterlemon; chose East End and Little Lameshur instead since the wind had picked up. After Lameshur we headed out to Long Bay/Hansen Bay to look for turtles. We turned off too early at a place that said Hansen Beach, but in hindsight was probably a place called Vie's (we paid $5 to park). We did see turtles tho' pretty close to shore, so was a good end to our visit. Overall I think we liked the Coral Bay side and beaches (Salt Pond, Lameshur) a tiny bit better than the north side beaches.

Westin
Nice enough; we didn't spend a lot of time at the resort. Long walks to/from the parking lot, but got used to it; at least the towels were in the same general direction. We met a couple who owned at SVV, and was assigned to a studio, I think, near the pool. They said their unit had no kitchenette, which was a surprise to them. I assumed they used star options, so it seemed odd to me that Westin assigned them to what sounded like a hotel room.
We reluctantly signed up for an owner's update, and then canceled it. No pressure to attend. The concierge was busy with other people, but wouldn't let his assistant go over the welcome packet with us. He said Sales had something to discuss with Orlando owners, but I thought that was just to push the Flex program.

Thanks for all the advice & comments on this WSJ thread.

 

[LisaH]

For those visiting St John this summer, the 50% discount on Honeymoon Beach All-Day Watersports Package is available again. Simply enter "summer" as discount code to get the special.
Here is the website. We did that last Aug and had a blast.