czar
TUG Member
Arrived at WSJ Friday, and all I can say is, "Wow." This place is incredible, and we have not even seen much of St. John yet. We've been to some nice places, with nicer facilities, but the overall look and feel is, as my wife said, like something out of a movie.
We arrived at STT just shy of noon. An interesting, but seemingly typical, Caribbean airport. Down the stairs and outside to grab our luggage. Originally, we had reserved a car through Amalie, but after seeing the stacks of luggage and kids stuff, I opted to cancel that reservation and book the ferry. I did this for three reasons: amount if stuff we wouldn't have to drag around; ease of getting to the resort; unfamiliarity with the area. Just beyond baggage claim was a series of hotel kiosks, and westin was one - and the nicest. We grabbed our stuff and got on line. Since they also check you in here, it's pretty seamless. Since we were the last in line, we barely got our bags tagged and on the baggage cart before it was dragged away. From there, a quick turn outside and into the "shuttle," which is a truck with bench seats in the back. It was a quick ride to the dock and onto the Breeze. The luggage truck showed up simultaneously and we were on our way.
The ride over was an adventure. Much choppier than we expected, but my kids had a great time and the views of the little islands was breathtaking. There were white caps out, and we got sprayed a few times. Although we weren't keeping track of time, they told us it's about a 35 minute ride. As we entered some calmer waters, we saw numerous boats moored and the Westin dock. Hopped off the boat, and as we made our way, we saw a nurse shark skimming the bottom of the shallows along the beach.
Our room wasn't ready - and as we would soon realize, wouldn't be ready for hours - so we grabbed some beach chairs and let the girls play in the warm, clear water before we grabbed a great lunch at Snorkels. While pricey, it wasn't as bad as I expected, especially with a reasonably priced - $7-$8 - kids meals. I had some delicious mahi mahi fish tacos. After lunch, we went to the lobby to check on our room. People were quite pleasant but clearly in no way concerned about our room. Normally not an issue, but out 1-year-old developed a fever on the flight, so we just wanted to get a timeline so we could figure out how to make him more comfortable. A very sweet woman, who seemed to be the housekeeping supervisor, offered to take my wife to the room to get some things out if our luggage, which was a great help.
As soon as my wife for back, we get our son comfortable and decided to head to the pool to get him settled in some shade and the girls in the water. Unfortunately, there were no chairs; many, many empty ones with towels on them. We found one empty chair, dropped our stuff, and immediately got drenched with freezing rain. Everyone scattered, and we had as many chairs as we wanted. Although there was significant water on the ground, the storm passed quickly, and the cool rain was refreshing.
We swam for awhile, checked in and got settled, and then we headed to the Beach Cafe for some dinner. We ordered off the bar menu and got some burgers and spaghetti for the kids. Again, kids menu prices are pleasantly surprising. The entrees, however, ranged from $25-35.
Overall, a great first day.Here were out surprises (good and bad):
Pictures do no justice - absolutely beautiful
Hotel sections look very dated
Service is sloooow - make sure to be friendly - a smile opens lots of doors here
Temperature - expected it to be very hot; it's warm but very comfortable
Pool and beach are both better than expected
This place is huge and HILLY
That's it for Day 1 -I'll try to update each day!
We arrived at STT just shy of noon. An interesting, but seemingly typical, Caribbean airport. Down the stairs and outside to grab our luggage. Originally, we had reserved a car through Amalie, but after seeing the stacks of luggage and kids stuff, I opted to cancel that reservation and book the ferry. I did this for three reasons: amount if stuff we wouldn't have to drag around; ease of getting to the resort; unfamiliarity with the area. Just beyond baggage claim was a series of hotel kiosks, and westin was one - and the nicest. We grabbed our stuff and got on line. Since they also check you in here, it's pretty seamless. Since we were the last in line, we barely got our bags tagged and on the baggage cart before it was dragged away. From there, a quick turn outside and into the "shuttle," which is a truck with bench seats in the back. It was a quick ride to the dock and onto the Breeze. The luggage truck showed up simultaneously and we were on our way.
The ride over was an adventure. Much choppier than we expected, but my kids had a great time and the views of the little islands was breathtaking. There were white caps out, and we got sprayed a few times. Although we weren't keeping track of time, they told us it's about a 35 minute ride. As we entered some calmer waters, we saw numerous boats moored and the Westin dock. Hopped off the boat, and as we made our way, we saw a nurse shark skimming the bottom of the shallows along the beach.
Our room wasn't ready - and as we would soon realize, wouldn't be ready for hours - so we grabbed some beach chairs and let the girls play in the warm, clear water before we grabbed a great lunch at Snorkels. While pricey, it wasn't as bad as I expected, especially with a reasonably priced - $7-$8 - kids meals. I had some delicious mahi mahi fish tacos. After lunch, we went to the lobby to check on our room. People were quite pleasant but clearly in no way concerned about our room. Normally not an issue, but out 1-year-old developed a fever on the flight, so we just wanted to get a timeline so we could figure out how to make him more comfortable. A very sweet woman, who seemed to be the housekeeping supervisor, offered to take my wife to the room to get some things out if our luggage, which was a great help.
As soon as my wife for back, we get our son comfortable and decided to head to the pool to get him settled in some shade and the girls in the water. Unfortunately, there were no chairs; many, many empty ones with towels on them. We found one empty chair, dropped our stuff, and immediately got drenched with freezing rain. Everyone scattered, and we had as many chairs as we wanted. Although there was significant water on the ground, the storm passed quickly, and the cool rain was refreshing.
We swam for awhile, checked in and got settled, and then we headed to the Beach Cafe for some dinner. We ordered off the bar menu and got some burgers and spaghetti for the kids. Again, kids menu prices are pleasantly surprising. The entrees, however, ranged from $25-35.
Overall, a great first day.Here were out surprises (good and bad):
Pictures do no justice - absolutely beautiful
Hotel sections look very dated
Service is sloooow - make sure to be friendly - a smile opens lots of doors here
Temperature - expected it to be very hot; it's warm but very comfortable
Pool and beach are both better than expected
This place is huge and HILLY
That's it for Day 1 -I'll try to update each day!