Westin St. John [Master Thread]

[jerseygirl]

Bob was reelected.

 

[LisaRex]

We are arriving to STT on a Sunday night at about 8pm.

As far as ferry choices, You can:

1) Pay $120 (+ tips) per person and let Westin make all the arrangements. This will especially come in handy if your flight happens to be delayed and you arrive past midnight, when the last public ferry departs from Red Hook. I've heard that they'll arrange private water taxis to St. John, if needed. Just gather your luggage and walk to the Westin counter, which is located right in baggage claim. Plus, the ferry pass includes unlimited trips back and forth to St. Thomas, and that sounds like it intrigues you.

2) For much cheaper, you can arrange transportation on your own. Gather your luggage at the airport, then walk outside and hail a taxi to Red Hook. Walk into the ferry depot, turn left and purchase your passenger + luggage tickets from the lady at the counter. I believe ferries depart at the top of the hour, up until midnight.

Once you get to Cruz Bay, it's just a short taxi ride to the Westin. Either look for the taxis that say "Westin" on top, or take any taxi and ask them to take you to the front desk, which BTW isn't at the front.

As far as eating, there are some restaurants on St. Thomas a short walk from Red Hook, but you'll be hauling luggage, so that'll be awkward. And it'll be dark and you won't be acclimated to the area. (Plus, Red Hook can get a little seedy, so use your best judgment.) There are also tons of restaurants in Cruz Bay, which I assume will be open at 9:30pm or so. That might be your best bet, but once again, you'll be hauling your luggage, so pack light!

As far as the car rental goes, I agree that there's no need to return to St. Thomas to rent a car. I also agree that 3 days on St. Thomas sounds excessive. We spent one day on St. Thomas and that was plenty. It's just an entirely different flavor than St. John, and I think you'll like the latter much better.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Bob was reelected.

Thanks for the update - you are way more in the loop than me. Was this posted somewhere?
I guess Tom couldn't get enough support - did they actually get a quorum?

 

[DavidnRobin]

And the winner is...

now for some real news...

Best Bushwhacker - Beach Bar - 1st Place, Shipwreck Landing - 2nd place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqPXYMoXty0&feature=youtu.be

outside of One Love on JVD (when the electricity is working) - I tend to agree.

 

[WildJohn]

Regarding the election

Here are the election results:

winner is Bob - 52109 (due to over 38000 votes held by board which
went to him)
Tom had 10408 votes.
Tom actually won the online vote over Bob (9880 to 9116)

While I happen to like Bob, I don't know that I like the way in which he won. It seems like Tom won the "popular" vote but the Board, which has 4 times the voting power of an individual owner, put their support behind Bob.

How can the board, which only owns approx 10% of VGV, have 38,000 votes and the combined total of all owners who voted only was about 20,000? As Dave indicated, I wonder if there really was a quorum.

 

[jarta]

WildJohn, ... "How can the board, which only owns approx 10% of VGV, have 38,000 votes"

Because the HOA board gets to vote the proxies returned to it by owners which give it authority to vote for those owners (both developer and non-developer) on contested issues. Additionally, some proxies are returned just for the purpose of a quorum. Those proxies do not even show in the final vote totals.

These reasons have nothing to do with retained weighted voting by the developer - for which you are willing to place all the blame for your guy not winning. But, I expect you may already know that.

BTW, take away the 38K votes from the board. In round numbers 52K - 38K = 14K votes. How does 10.4K votes win? Salty

 

[DavidnRobin]

Here are the election results:

winner is Bob - 52109 (due to over 38000 votes held by board which
went to him)
Tom had 10408 votes.
Tom actually won the online vote over Bob (9880 to 9116)

While I happen to like Bob, I don't know that I like the way in which he won. It seems like Tom won the "popular" vote but the Board, which has 4 times the voting power of an individual owner, put their support behind Bob.

How can the board, which only owns approx 10% of VGV, have 38,000 votes and the combined total of all owners who voted only was about 20,000? As Dave indicated, I wonder if there really was a quorum.

Hi WildJohn -

I mentioned the quorum because often Owners fail to vote for a variety of reasons - which has occurred in the past (e.g. the 1st vote for the refurbish which was overwhelmingly supported, but failed to get a quorum - which eventually led to an Owners revolt - which led to Phil&Bob getting elected despite the unfair balance of SVO votes).

jarta is correct about the voting - as with many things TS-related - be careful of the fuzzy math and interpretation - and the tendency to replace facts with 'truthism' as to be aligned with what feels real.
The BOD better hurry up and start increasing MFs if they want them to go up 3x by 2016 as predicted - sorry couldn't help myself...:ignore:
#NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement

 

[jerseygirl]

Starwood is permitted four votes for each of its holdings (but not four for each voter proxy). Based on the numbers, I'd say they used their right. In fact, in the last contested election, they (Starwood) wrote to us and promised they weren't going to exercise their "four times" right. Funny, we didn't get that promise this time, did we?

 

[jarta]

jerseygirl, ... I think what happened is that the 2 members elected last time took a look at the WSJ books and repair situation and decided that Starwood was doing a fairly good job of managing WSJ and was not stealing the owners blind - as others have suggested. Those perpetually POed who, without evidence, want fights with Starwood merely for the sake of having fights with Starwood lost.

Again, if numbers posted by WildJohn are correct and the 38K board votes are removed from the equation, Bob had 14K votes, Tom had around 10.4K votes, Bob won and Tom lost. Get over it and work with the people you helped elect 2 years ago to make further reductions in the MF at WSJ. ... eom

 

[DeniseM]

jerseygirl, ...

Just so you know, I don't believe that jerseygirl "sees" your posts, so she probably won't respond...

 

[jarta]

Her loss. Salty

 

[bobpark56]

As far as ferry choices, You can:

1) Pay $120 (+ tips) per person and let Westin make all the arrangements. <snip>.

That's not quite correct. The round-trip fare for juveniles (ages 4-17) is only $90, and WSJ owners get a $10 discount off the $120 rate if they ask. Also, baggage handling is included in the price, so tips for that are not needed.

I don't know whether the discount is available to other Starwood owners or not, but it might pay to ask.

 

[WildJohn]

For the Record

Jarta,

For the record, I voted for Bob. You do have a point. Even if the board members had only one vote and they put it towards Bob, he would have won. I was just concerned that he might have won for the wrong reasons. Now I know everything was fair and square and it would be difficult for anyone to challenge the results. Thanks for pointing that out.

John

 

[jarta]

WildJohn, ... There were 2 contestants for 1 board position. One got more owner votes than the other - even without any board votes. Thus, board votes did not affect the outcome of the election. IMO, there are no "wrong reasons" for declaring the winner to be the high vote-getter when that occurs.

But, take heart! You backed the winner! Salty

 

[DavidnRobin]

For the record - I gave my vote to Phil to decide to do what he thought best for the HOA - since he has a clearer view of things, and I trust and respect him (from 1st hand experiences)

WSJ owners should go back and peruse this thread - and my reason for starting it back in 2008 (the most read and most posted thread - of course most are my posts ). I was PMing with a fellow owner and it got me to thinking... too bad WSJ owners do not share their thoughts and issues (including likes) on this thread anymore - we had great momentum that lead to important changes that were difficult to overcome in regards to SVO given the bylaws.
Too bad... But that won't stop me (sadly for some I assume)
Peace.

Added: it was kcgriffin who started it all...
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62138
{note: this is Jan 2008 thread - my oh my - how far we have come in a short time...)

jarta - there were only 2 people running for the board position? I may have bad brain syndrome, but I recall more than 2 - watch out for revisionist history. [Political comment removed]

I rented my 2 weeks this year - woohoo!
Too bad we will miss our 1st year after 6 visits in a row - but at least i didnt have to bank my weeks. Looking forward to June 2013 already.

Have they remodeled the patio/BBQ area between the buildings yet?

 

[DavidnRobin]

Alexa - as LisaR said - you DO NOT want to drag luggage around - 1st hand experience from our first visit. Please let ius knows how your trip goes.

 

[jarta]

David, ... The previous posts were directed to the top 2 vote getters and how they had done against each other. Those top vote getters were Bob Werbel and Tom Clemente. I was posting in that context about who, between them, won.

1. I never used the word "only" when talking about the election or the 2 contestants. I was no more engaging in "revisionist history" than WildJohn was when he only mentioned Tom and Bob concerning the election.

2. [Reply to political comment removed]

3. [Further reply to political comment removed

The only reason I can see for your lapse in judgment is that you were able to rent your 2 WSJ weeks and the elation of getting out from under the MF temporarily affected your better judgment. Salty (spicy and salty differ from filthy)

 

[DavidnRobin]

Salty - you post states specifically 2 contestants for 1 position - I knew what you intended, but it is not what you wrote in case others not so familiar with the recent vote.
The rest was sarcasm... Which I noted since you accused me of not being clear of this message... eom

 

[Westin5Star]

now for some real news...

Best Bushwhacker - Beach Bar - 1st Place, Shipwreck Landing - 2nd place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqPXYMoXty0&feature=youtu.be

outside of One Love on JVD (when the electricity is working) - I tend to agree.

Willy T's!!!

 

[DavidnRobin]

Willy T's!!!

Willy T's makes a great Bushwhacker? I need to check this out - unfortunately not until June 2013.

Of course - after a couple of Bushwhackers - this sign is totally disregarded...

 

[jerseygirl]

And don't forget to discourage drunk young women from trying to help you pull your boat in david:hysterical:

 

[DavidnRobin]

And don't forget to discourage drunk young women from trying to help you pull your boat in david:hysterical:

I was trying to find that video - for those who are wondering - we rented a bareboat (SeeNSki) with a friend from StT who knows the area, and at the end of the day went to Willie T's (which is a boat in 'The Bight' at Norman Island (BVI)) When we pulled up to the dock - for some reason a very drunk - fully clothed - women decided to help us (which we didn't need) and promptly fell off the side between the Wille T and our boat - and somehow it was our fault... I have a video of her squeezing out her clothes with a snarl on her face - very funny (since she didn't get injured). The sign is ironic since people jump off the side and it is rumored - that unfortunately I have never seen - that women who jump off topless get a T-shirt. I tried to convince Robin to do it, but she is just no fun...

side-story - in 1991 - before the internet and GPS - we were bareboat* sailing the BVI and went to The Bight on our 1st night out of Tortola - we heard this party going on in a large boat close to us - which we decided to crash - and it turned out to be the old Wille T's (which burned down in the late 90s). We started to play Tequila Pigs with the Bartender - who went on a brutal losing streak and got too drunk to tend bar - so we took over. One of our boat members got way too drunk and decided to swim back to our sailboat and luckily did not drown, but we found him hanging on to the side of the Wille T very scratched-up. He spent the next day getting sick down below while we sailed - he never touched a drink again.

Now, back to our regularily scheduled programming...

* bareboat is sailing/motoring w/o a captain

 

[jerseygirl]

That was a fun day David. DD looks back fondly on her jump (not topless, TG) with Stu (who was supposed to be the responsible one in the group, lol). Maybe next time I'll have a few more drinks and get brave/foolish enough to do it (with top on, of course!).

 

[DavidnRobin]

That was a fun day David. DD looks back fondly on her jump (not topless, TG) with Stu (who was supposed to be the responsible one in the group, lol). Maybe next time I'll have a few more drinks and get brave/foolish enough to do it (with top on, of course!).

I have video on FB of your DD and Stu jumping off the Wille T - she mentioned that she hurt her shoulder - I hope it healed.
Our own W5* - met up with Stu for a day cruise, and after meeting W5* - Stu said to me 'Snorkeling is like crack to that guy'... thought I'd share -sounds like his photo fits him.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Driving from STT to RedHook

And for the 1000th post on this thread :whoopie: - I thought I'd post something useful for those deciding to rent a car on StT and take the car barge over to StJ.

Here's the general direction on how to drive from STT to RedHook where the car barges are (~45 mins depending on traffic which depends on Cruise ships in town):
Turn right out of the airport and continue along the waterfront (thru Charlotte Amalie) through several lights until the very end where you take a left at the light. The WICO cruise ship and Havensight Mall and Yacht Haven Grande will be on your right. A Pueblo Supermarket will be kitty-corner across the street and you'll pass by (on the left) a small KMart and MacDonalds, etc. Stay in the right lane and at the next light take a right onto Rte 38. You'll go up Raphune Hill which segues into Weymouth Rhymer Highway (CostULess is close to here) - continue on Rte 38 which will take you past Wyndham Sugar Bay, Point Pleasant, Sapphire, etc. and all the way into Red Hook where the ferry terminal will be on your left. There are Starfish signs that say RedHook on them - follow these - stay on Rte 38 and all should be fine.

Just take whichever barge is leaving first and best advised to get a one-way ticket as they don't honor each other's tickets and you don't want to get hung up on your return trip.They back the vehicles on the barges and pack them in like sardines - just follow the person guiding you. There is a small fee (for some reason) as you enter the lot where the cars are lined up to get on the barges. The entrance to the car barge lot is a bit hard to see, but it is right next to the passenger ferry terminal. There is no parking lot fee on the StJ side. Feel free to get out of the car on the barge and check out the surrounds - quite beautiful. (You'll soon see the vast differences between StT and StJ)

As you exit the car barge on StJ - follow the other vehicles out to the main road on the south-side - Rte 104 - make a right (Cruz Bay is to the left) and follow Rte 104 by the StarFish Market and then up and over a steep hill (called Jacobs Ladder for a reason - it is blind at the top) - after your passengers have just screamed as you proceed over the apex and go downhill - there will be another market on the left - StJ Market - and right beyond this an entrance to the Westin on the right (and left) - take the right side entrance to the check-in - you will need to park below the main building (by a group of stores and the Westin workout center and Spa) and walk up to check-in at the main building.

(whew! - make sure you look at google maps to gain orientation to what I just described for both StT and StJ - the google map is wrong for the car barge - the car barge now goes into Large Pond - aka Enighed Pond - not Cruz Bay. The Westin is on Great Cruz Bay)