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

[SandyPGravel]

Contentious?
That sounds like the good part - what happened? Or just people not adapting to STJ reality?

Be interested in what you heard.


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One guy bringing up crime and drug/crime issue on Maho that he witnessed.(Like the BOD have any control or input on that issue) Then he went off on only getting a starter coffee supply, wanted more coffee supplied. He was a piece of work. Several other people brought up the fact that we are responsible for 36% of the resort costs instead of the previous 24% before the hotel conversion. Arguing that it is based on "door counts" instead of occupancy counts. We have 6 person or 4 person units, whereas units in the main resort can hold 8 or 10 people. I brought up the issue of the Free cycle being left unlocked and currently occupied by a contractor. First they discounted my comment that the space was being occupied by a contractor until someone else backed me up. Then they said it was a temporary situation, but didn't answer what we were supposed to do if we wanted to leave items for another owner. The GM for the property said beach chairs purchased by our association to be used by our owners were found in the storage units of the 4000 bldgs.

Finance guy said in the last 6 years our MF increases has been only .5%/year.

Phil was reelected to our board today!!

May 4th is the opening date for the remaining 4 bldgs.

Insurance contingency account has 2.4 million, if another hurricane were to happen the deductible is 2.3 million so we are good.

Sam (the GM) was very nice. I thanked him because he gave me the microphone and it took another 1/2 hour before the other owners would allow me to speak. He kept handing me the mic and had to take it back because others were butting in line.

I didn't stay longer because we have friends with us and they were waiting to head to the beach.

I have more to share, but have consumed too many painkillers after snorkeling Maho and then hiking Ram's head for sunset for anything else to make sense.

GG

 

[SandyPGravel]

We had maintenance in here again because of the upstairs thermostat and he shared that building 34 was hit the worst. Said that you could see through from one end of the bldg to the other after Irma because the drywall was gone.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Unit 3210 Photos

 

[DavidnRobin]

We had maintenance in here again because of the upstairs thermostat and he shared that building 34 was hit the worst. Said that you could see through from one end of the bldg to the other after Irma because the drywall was gone.

Wow! With the walls gone, I hope they fixed the plumbing mistakes (hot/cold switched), and shower design (water on floor) in our villa (3410).

I wrote to Sam Hugli about this.


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[DavidnRobin]

I hope they replaced those annoying lights over the DR table in our villa.
We have to design makeshift shades.

Great to hear that Phil was the-elected!!!


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[SandyPGravel]

Wow! With the walls gone, I hope they fixed the plumbing mistakes (hot/cold switched), and shower design (water on floor) in our villa (3410).

I wrote to Sam Hugli about this.


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We met Sam, he is very nice.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Am I mis-remembering or just confusing with another resort, didn't we have a DVD Bose system in the unit? I brought the physical DVD's of a couple movies to watch. (I buy the DVD's because I can't stream content at home. No ISP where we live.)

 

[OCsun]

Yes we did have a DVD Bose system.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Bose/DVD player was in our villa as well.
All of our WVC villas have a Bose/DVD System.


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[farsighted99]

Made it here. we are in Coral Vista, first floor. very nice. Went to the grocery store and got some supplies. Took the golf cart shuttles. This place is huge! Anyway, so far so good. It’s 80 degrees here!

 

[CAK1]

Morning! Heading back to St John in the next few weeks
I usually rent a car in St Thomas and take the car barge over for the week. Has anyone done this recently? I haven't been since the hurricanes & wondering if the car barges are running on schedule and still a viable option??

Any feedback good or bad would be helpful!
Thanks C

 

[sachia007]

Morning! Heading back to St John in the next few weeks
I usually rent a car in St Thomas and take the car barge over for the week. Has anyone done this recently? I haven't been since the hurricanes & wondering if the car barges are running on schedule and still a viable option??

Any feedback good or bad would be helpful!
Thanks C

Hi,

We got back from STJ on 3/5. Ferries running on time - no problem. I think the price to cross has increased (we don't do round trip fare). Ferry to STJ was $40, Ferry to STT was $35.

HOWEVER, we did have a problem getting our car at airport (we were the last planes in for the day on 2/24)- waited 1.5 hours in Budget line to get our car, (woman behind counter came out to count customers and the last person in line didn't get a car so they drove them to their hotel and were going to deliver a car the next day), Avis customers (line was smaller) were waiting 1.5 hours too. Hertz line was moving.. no issues (someone in line went over to see what cost was to rent for a week w/out prior reservation - $1400 ouch!).

We own WSJ hillside bldg. 33 - they put us up in Sunset - nice to be near big pool, but really, we like Hillside, great parking and the semi-private pool. The kitchen/living room to Sunset is tight.. no way to sit 6 people in the LR (probably not even 4, comfortably), dining table is right in front of the super small fridge/2 burner stovetop. But these are hotel rooms changed to timeshares, so I get why the layout isn't the best!

I think we were the first people in that unit as there was no kitchen garbage can. The spoon, spatula were very cheap, flexible plastic and the unit was missing a colander and a few other items it probably should have had.

Mangos Deli had nothing in it as far as prepared food; there was chips, soda, coffee to go, drinks.

The store nearby was great.. actually, I believe their prices are better than the Starfish. I told my husband that next year, we'll do our full shop at this store and skip the Starfish... well, actually the S.F. does have great baked goods/breads.

Resort looks great! We were happy with our time there and the island.

 

[GrayFal]

View attachment 10858 Made it here. we are in Coral Vista, first floor. very nice. Went to the grocery store and got some supplies. Took the golf cart shuttles. This place is huge! Anyway, so far so good. It’s 80 degrees here!

Ahhhh. We will be using our unit there in late October. We booked two weeks in a studio as it is just us two going this year. Can’t wait to be back!.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Morning! Heading back to St John in the next few weeks
I usually rent a car in St Thomas and take the car barge over for the week. Has anyone done this recently? I haven't been since the hurricanes & wondering if the car barges are running on schedule and still a viable option??

Any feedback good or bad would be helpful!
Thanks C

We used the car barge on 3/1 & 3/8, right on time. Only issue we had was on 3/1 one ferry was commandeered to take a bunch of horse trailers and a starting gate to Tortolla for a race so we had to wait an extra hour for the large Car barge to make a round trip to St John and back. (Smaller car barge was used for the horse race contingent.) It was a very weird sight to see all these horse trailers show up at Red Hook and then the starting gate! I couldn't imagine where they were going to race on St John. Then we found out they were headed to Tortolla.

 

[vice]

Pleasantly surprised to have this view from my bed in a ground floor Sunset Bay Villa unit 1612 in Westin St. John. The resort and unit looks very good and has bounced back nicely. Thanks to all Tuggers, I would not be here for my first visit without all of the great advice on TUG. If anyone is here this week let’s have a drink at Snorkels.

 

[CAK1]

Thank you for the feedback on the car barge and the pics!

 

[okwiater]

Does anyone have info on the pool villas? Are they open for occupancy yet?

 

[SandyPGravel]

Does anyone have info on the pool villas? Are they open for occupancy yet?

At the VGV BOD meeting on March 4 the scheduled opening date of the remaining pool villas(41 & 42 IIRC) and building 33 & 34 is May (the) 4th (be with you)

 

[DavidnRobin]

Thank you for the feedback on the car barge and the pics!

The people of STJ are requesting that you rent on island instead of taking the car barge.
The car barges are used to move critical materials that are needed for the island’s recovery.

 

[controller1]

The people of STJ are requesting that you rent on island instead of taking the car barge.
The car barges are used to move critical materials that are needed for the island’s recovery.

Then are the people of STJ being somewhat hypocritical?

We used the car barge on 3/1 & 3/8, right on time. Only issue we had was on 3/1 one ferry was commandeered to take a bunch of horse trailers and a starting gate to Tortolla for a race so we had to wait an extra hour for the large Car barge to make a round trip to St John and back. (Smaller car barge was used for the horse race contingent.) It was a very weird sight to see all these horse trailers show up at Red Hook and then the starting gate!

 

[okwiater]

At the VGV BOD meeting on March 4 the scheduled opening date of the remaining pool villas(41 & 42 IIRC) and building 33 & 34 is May (the) 4th (be with you)

Thanks. I have a home resort reservation in April and am trying to determine if my villa will be ready or if they’re planning to relocate me to another phase/unit.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Thanks. I have a home resort reservation in April and am trying to determine if my villa will be ready or if they’re planning to relocate me to another phase/unit.

A lot of work was going on at both the pool villas and at the top of the hill. Container trucks parked on the hill and down around the pool villas. The free cycle building is being used as a job trailer. Maybe you will be in the pool villas, but a different unit. I saw guests going to the open pool units. When we were there I talked to someone that owned in 33 but was placed in building 31.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Then are the people of STJ being somewhat hypocritical?

I had made my reservation with Amalie when I booked my airfare. I contacted them when the issue with space on the car barges was first brought up. At that time she told me that more barges were on the way and I should be fine(Nov or Dec, I think). Then when the issue was brought up again a few weeks before our trip I again contacted her and one of the car barge companies (Love City Ferries IIRC) Both said the barges were running on schedule and it would be fine. I also looked to book a car on St John and by that time nothing was available for us to rent, and I was OK with that after reading how picky they are with the rentals. (No included 2nd driver, no sand in the vehicle.) I decided to stick with my reservation and I am glad I did. Worked out for us. Yes there were some container trucks on our barge. I think a cement truck was on the ferry after us on the way to STJ, he was delayed by the horse ferry too!

I don't think anyone is being hypocritical, just trying to help with businesses on STJ.

 

[controller1]

I don't think anyone is being hypocritical, just trying to help with businesses on STJ.

Hence the smiley face wink on my post....

 

[okwiater]

A lot of work was going on at both the pool villas and at the top of the hill. Container trucks parked on the hill and down around the pool villas. The free cycle building is being used as a job trailer. Maybe you will be in the pool villas, but a different unit. I saw guests going to the open pool units. When we were there I talked to someone that owned in 33 but was placed in building 31.

I just spoke with the resort and they confirmed that our building would not be ready until August. Bummer. I’m not keen on staying right next to an active construction site on vacation.

FWIW, I spoke with VSE and they will allow me to cancel without a StarOptions restriction but they insisted that I would still have to pay the $50 fee.