Random Stuff - WSJ, June '14 - Hill Folk

Delayed 7hr at SFO (AA to MIA - should listen to my own advice) - arrived 4am instead of 9pm - so much for not taking red-eye. Upside: plane was half-empty, pilots had petal to the metal, fastest landing ever! We were flying! Got Exit row. We hadn't back out from the gate - so they deplaned us quickly before getting new plane otherwise we would have been stuck on plane for hours.

Anyway... rental car was waiting at STT (4dr Wrangler XL) - Amalie has best vehicles. Unfortunately they sold their business, but assured me that new owners would keep their business model (new cars - sell after 1 year of use) - hopefully true.

Car barge worked great again - very little traffic to RedHook - $30 one way.

Everything pretty much the same up here on The Hill. Siding and Roofing looks great.

Pool and Patio been resurfaced, new BBQ area, ramp for wheelchairs - new lighting, and umbrella made for heavy weather. Waterfall re-tiled.

Landscaped - and foliage cutback. I hear that helps reduce mosquitoes.
Big tree next to our villa is gone - was great shade, now balcony exposed - improved view, but prefer the natural coverage. Not sure if it was cut - or came down during storm (maybe a bit of both). Oh well...

They put soft pads on the DR chairs - great solution for scraping of chairs against tile floors.

Everything is in order - a bit worn, but still liking the remodel for the most part. Of course - this is StJ afterall (shower curtain too short - drives Robin crazy.

Free Cycle was empty for the most part - I thought they were going to put in key reader?
We did score beach chairs in great condition - so that was nice (I don't even think these are sold on StJ) , but was pretty much all that was there. I still think it is a great idea, but just needs process improvement. IMO

Dave, thanks for keeping us Hill folks updated. I was wondering this weekend when you will be on ST John
Where is the Free Cycle located? Sounds like s good idea.

I love the title of this thread, David. The "Hill Folks" at WSJ sure don't conjure up the same image as the "Hill Folks" in my neck of the Ozark woods! Thanks for the smile.

Sorry your flight down took so long, but now that you're in St John - enjoy!

A 7 hour delay? Yikes!

Glad you're in paradise! Enjoy your week.

Looking forward to reading your report........11 months and counting for us.

We are going to rent on STT next May. Disappointed to read that the owners sold out. I was going heavy on your recommendation.

Bummer about the flight delays......The hazards of West Coast living.

I fly a lot. Our family had 74 flights in the past 2 1/2 months alone. I have never missed a flight, had my luggage missing, or been delayed any significant amount of time. 7 hours!!! WOW. It sounds like you are keeping your spirits which is easy to do when you know you are headed to paradise.

I also have found the Freecycle basically empty all three times that I have checked. A key card would help a lot IMO.

Have a great trip David. We are headed to Roatan later this week or we would have joined you in SJ. We are looking forward to our trip in SJ in November.

Not much of a trip report - I have taken some photos that I will post. Still checking out my new UW camera/video. Haven't seen much yet.

I think Robin is bringing the bad flight mojo - her previous flight was delayed 6 hours - ORD-SFO on UA. This time - the plane had a leak - I was willing to chance it...
We had to wait for another plane to be sent from JFK.

Pretty low key here - very few people around.

Went to Owners Update - $125 for an hour - not much real news - caught up with happenings on StJ more than the resort as I kept changing the subject from improving our vacation experience by buying more TSs - no thanks - I am at my limit.

The new BBQs are sweet.

Was avoiding mosquitoes bites, but nope... Now have to spray.

Housekeeping took our precious king fitted sheet today - they got ink on it - Robin is not happy - but a least we retrieved it. The maid was very sorry - ink pen leaked. The island dialect can be hard to follow - took me awhile to figure out what she was trying to tell me.

LisaRex said:

A 7 hour delay? Yikes!

Glad you're in paradise! Enjoy your week.

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I think every single time we've connected through SFO, we've ended up with massive delays. Kinda nice to hear it's not just happening to us...

Shame about the free cycle storage. Last summer, it was pretty well stocked.

I'm sorry you and AA seem to have such bad luck. I've flown millions of miles with them over the last couple of decades and have never had any long delays that were their fault. Only weather, or the volcano in Europe closing the whole airspace for a couple of days. I guess now I'm going to get stranded during my current trip because I said that ...

Maybe the FreeCycle use peaks and wanes...

3 levels of Internet service - free and 2 pay levels (like $8/day and $16/day) - I am going with free - slow but works for me. Probably too slow to upload photo

Folks next to us are smoking like chimneys (inside and outside) - including cigars - sad...
and stinks... luckily they are short-timers.

^^^ So, call management and complain. Salty

DavidnRobin said:

Everything is in order - a bit worn, but still liking the remodel for the most part. Of course - this is StJ afterall (shower curtain too short - drives Robin crazy.

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We are staying in one of the pool villas for the first time and were surprised at the poor construction quality and overall condition of the unit. We stayed in the 2br Hillside townhouse 2 years ago and thought it was marvelous. Are the pool villas coming up on their end-of-life?

For example:
* lots of cracked tiles
* a few ripped screens (makes it impossible to open the window or sliding door to get fresh air)
* lots of water damage with poor repair work (and accompanying musty/moldy smell)
* lots of rips, stains, and gouges in the furniture
* overall sloppiness of construction not related to wear (e.g. large gaps between granite backsplash and wall, new tiling over top of old tiling, filling tile gaps with mortar/grout rather than cutting a tile to fit, etc.)

Overall I'm not too impressed. Would be disappointed to be an owner of one of these units. Maybe its an anomaly?

Worst WSJ trip report ever...

Sorry - nothing to add - I will have to wait to post photos.
Weather has been more cloudy than sunny.

Went sailing yesterday (Friday) on Survivan - got lucky with the weather and had a great sail - just the 4 of us. Snorkeled at St James and Lovango.

okwiater said:

We are staying in one of the pool villas for the first time and were surprised at the poor construction quality and overall condition of the unit. We stayed in the 2br Hillside townhouse 2 years ago and thought it was marvelous. Are the pool villas coming up on their end-of-life?

For example:
* lots of cracked tiles
* a few ripped screens (makes it impossible to open the window or sliding door to get fresh air)
* lots of water damage with poor repair work (and accompanying musty/moldy smell)
* lots of rips, stains, and gouges in the furniture
* overall sloppiness of construction not related to wear (e.g. large gaps between granite backsplash and wall, new tiling over top of old tiling, filling tile gaps with mortar/grout rather than cutting a tile to fit, etc.)

Overall I'm not too impressed. Would be disappointed to be an owner of one of these units. Maybe its an anomaly?

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When you read the reviews of the resort (hotel, actually), you read much of what you just wrote, which explains the rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Sea Six said:

When you read the reviews of the resort (hotel, actually), you read much of what you just wrote, which explains the rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

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I guess I thought the timeshare villas would be in better shape considering they were recently remodeled with owner assessments. The construction quality of the remodel is pretty marginal.

Sea Six said:

When you read the reviews of the resort (hotel, actually), you read much of what you just wrote, which explains the rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

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It also explains why a decision has been made to rebuild and convert the hotel rooms to timeshares over time.

The Hyatt resort (as WSJ was previously known) was devastated in 1995 by Hurricane Marilyn and remained closed until 1997 when Westin/Starwood bought the property.

"A lawsuit filed in St. Thomas District court reportedly alleges Finland's Skopbank "plotted" against the Hyatt Corp. in removing Hyatt from managing the former Hyatt Regency hotel on St. John. The Virgin Islands daily News reports Hyatt is asking $100 million in damages, claiming Skopbank planned to "use" Hyatt to repair the property after Hurricane Marilyn and then get rid of the management company so Skopbank could sell the hotel "in good shape." Hyatt's attorney is quoted saying he expects the case may get consideration next year and that, in the meantime, Hyatt has no plans to regain its management of the resort. St. Croix consultant working on floating condos (5/6/97)"

http://www.caribtravelnews.com/c0597_01.htm

http://www.paramountlodging.com/sell/transactions/files/10049_hotel_advisory.html

Having the resort sitting closed and leisurely repaired for 2 years did nothing for the structural integrity of the buildings at WSJ. Plus, from time to time, other storms have damaged the buildings at WSJ. Salty

Always fun to meet other Tuggers - we had drink and snacks with ferndale (Joy) and her family down at their 3Bd pool villa. Nice folks - they said the Scuba diving was great and made me miss diving. They had incredible video of a large octopus.

I didn't see any construction issues, but wasn't looking closely. Her DH mentioned an AC problem that was quickly fixed by Maintenance - but they didn't mention any other issues. I like the 3Bd pool villas, but think they should have tiled the main floor (like ours) instead of having it carpeted.

It seems more crowded this week - lots more 4WD parked outside our buildings. During last week we had the pool area by our building to ourselves much of the time. A neighbor was mentioning to me that yesterday evening a large group from the BV villas invaded our pool area - interesting... I hope this does not become a common occurrence as I do not think their MFs pay for VG pools.

Panoramic shot (a bit distorted) of pool area between B33/B34

Maho Bay is always great - turtles galore, big eagle ray, large barracuda, schools of squid hanging out - all sorts of fish - perfect weather - flat ocean - slight breeze - no mosquitoes

I have video and photos, but on UW camera - and no way to transfer until I get home.

DavidnRobin said:

Maho Bay is always great - turtles galore, big eagle ray, large barracuda, schools of squid hanging out - all sorts of fish - perfect weather - flat ocean - slight breeze - no mosquitoes

I have video and photos, but on UW camera - and no way to transfer until I get home.

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You are such a teaser!
BTW, the pool looks nice.

Think we just had an earthquake - a few minutes ago...

LisaH said:

You are such a teaser!
BTW, the pool looks nice.

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I was trying the panorama function on iPhone 5

Btw - if you want to use a cell phone (w/o roaming... Ouch) - Verizon does not work - AT&T does
(That has to be a 1st) - only my phone works.

DavidnRobin said:

Think we just had an earthquake - a few minutes ago...

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You're right! It was centered around the BVI.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/