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WSJ Trip Report Bay Vista 8/9/13-8/16/13

czar

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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!
 

czar

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Have you ever been in a 15 second rain storm? It's a strange experience! Other than the briefest of showers, a beautiful weather for our second day. Warm but the cool breezes are incredible.

Our day began early at the pool. Plenty of chairs and chair selection didn't seem to be an issue today - maybe because we've entered Week 32? Fairly early on I had my first face to face with another Tugger, who had graciously offered some advice prior to our departure. All of the advice we received on here has already made such. Positive impact on our trip. We were well prepared. Perhaps the funniest piece. For me was packing - I handed David's packing list to my wife earlier in the week for a shopping trip, and as I looked at the suitcase before closing zippering it up, it was a visualization - from the unscented DEET right down to the aluminum tongs - of David's post. Thanks! It was great to meet a fellow Tugger and his wife and get the lowdown on their 5 years of experience.

We love our unit - my wife said it's the nicest we've stayed in. There are, however, several broken items - a few smashed glass tiles, broken cabinetry, and even the large access panel for the guest bathtub. Disappointing. I think that some of negative reviews about the upkeep here are pretty accurate, but it is the Caribbean after all, and it's not surprising on some level.

So, a great day by the pool. We did two activities - make your own stuffed animal and sundaes or root beer floats for $18 for 2 kids, total. Other than a visit to the playground (great!) and tennis courts, that's where we spent our day at the resort.

We did go grocery shopping at St. John Market, and we were PLEASANTLY surprised at the selection and pricing. In our way there, we stopped by the vacation desk and got our owners gifts, which included a 15% off coupon for the market and a bunch if discounts for other places and also a reusable shopping bag. We signed up for the 60 minute owners update and got $125 to spend at a bunch of places. I'm glad we brought as many dry snacks, like goldfish and fruit snacks for the kids. Those kinds of things seemed to be on the pricier side and would have hit the budget since our kids eat so much! But most of the prices were really reasonable, and we bought a ton of stuff , including a couple of 6 packs and rum, for $180. We got enough for breakfast all week, lots of fruit and juice, dinner for 3 nights including some DELICIOUS steaks, chips and salsa, etc. The market was one big store including a beer/wine/liquor section, so perhaps they've merged into one store? I thought I recalled reading they were 2 separate stores. So with the 15% discount and the $125 Westin dollars, we spent $33 ;)

Beautiful night to grill the food - on incredible Viking gas grills no less. The most beautiful place I've ever grilled. Overlooking the water, a cool breeze. I almost wanted a long sleeved shirt!

Two biggest surprises:

Soft owners update "sale"
Prices and selection at SJM
 

czar

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Days 3 & 4

For day 3 (Sunday), my son still had a temp, so we stayed close to the resort. We spent the entire day in the pool, which my girls love. We were a little more budget with dinner though - hot dogs. Can't beat grilling on StJ though!

Day 4 was incredible. My son went to bed Sunday night with no temp, so we agreed to rent a car and head out if he woke up feeling good. He did, and I ran down to O'Connors to grab the last Jeep they had. It's annoying that there is no parking in BV. We had to lug all of our stuff down to the lot, but the shuttle helped. We packed up the jeep and I got myself together to head out on the wrong side of the road. David was right, it's not bad. I made two mistakes the whole time, but luckily my wife was there to scream ;)

We met several people who never left the resort. Wow, they have no idea what they're missing. Gorgeous. I think this was the day we made a subconscious decision that we'd want to own here. We took a leisurely drive, which quickly made clear the importance of 4wd. On the advice of ekinggill, we headed to Maho, but there were plenty of places we saw we could have pulled over and enjoyed beautiful scenery or some old ruins. But with 3 kids, we continued to Maho. Wow is all I can say. The beach was beautiful with plenty of shade. The kids loved it. And we also realized how the WSJ beach just doesn't compare. I went snorkeling and saw a turtle and ray. A family down the beach saw barracuda! We used our new parasheet to camp out for the morning and spent about 4 hours playing in the water.

We got hungry, packed up the jeep, and headed for a drive around the island. We ended up in Coral Bay and had lunch at a little place next to some shops (Shipwrecked I think it was called). Absolutely delicious mahi.

Around 3 we headed back. I wanted to check out the hillside units since we hadn't been across the street yet. We checked out the pool villas and the hillside units. Thought the pool villas were cool but didn't like location. Completely got why people like the hillside. It's very separate and probably more akin to a villa experience. We got to see a studio on the owners update and the view was incredible.

As we were pulling a 3 point turn to get back out to the road, we heard someone using a paint sprayer - you know, the kind with a compressor. We then realized that the person must have been following us since the noise didn't go away. I jumped out and realized we had a tire losing air quickly. We made out way quickly back to O'Connors and parked just in time. They were great about it though (maybe bc we opted for the $10 ins?) and didn't even give me a hard time about returning it a 1/4 tank lower than we'd taken it.

After such a great day, we decided to skip spaghetti and headed out to La Tapa. The food was incredible, and it was so much fun to sit out on the street and people watch. We skipped dessert and discovered Thomas and ourmarketsmoothies.com - amazing ice cream and rum infused smoothies. A great end to our best day.



Surprises:

Thought there would be more rental car availability at O'Connors given the season
Just how amazing the beaches are
The roads - crazy hairpin turns!
Amazing food at La Tapa - some of the best bread I've ever had
 
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tomandrobin

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Glad your son was feeling better.

Grilling on St John is a Must Do for us......not much compares.

Maybe they have been there, done that....I dunno. Getting out and about St John and the surrounding beaches and islands is what St John is all about.

Bookmarked the smoothie website......Added to our May/July trips.
 

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Footage of the nurse shark we saw throughout our stay:

http://youtu.be/VlJRlE-TwOI

Lucky you! Although we have seen nurse shark before at Waterlemon Cay, we didn't see any this trip. We were told that there was a nurse shark spotted at Maho Beach though when we visited there.
Glad you liked WSJ. Sorry we didn't have a chance to meet up. I knocked on ekinggill's door Friday evening and no one was there either. We had a great time as well. The weather was perfect this past week. Sunny almost every day with occasional rain drops during the day. I think I really like week 32...:)
 

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After such a great day, we decided to skip spaghetti and headed out to La Tapa. The food was incredible, and it was so much fun to sit out on the street and people watch. We skipped dessert and discovered Thomas and ourmarketsmoothies.com - amazing ice cream and rum infused smoothies. A great end to our best day.

Surprises:

Thought there would be more rental car availability at O'Connors given the season
Just how amazing the beaches are
The roads - crazy hairpin turns!
Amazing food at La Tapa - some of the best bread I've ever had

We will have to try La Tapa next time. We were debating between La Tapa and Rhumb Lines and ended up with the latter. Food was just OK...
 

czar

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We will have to try La Tapa next time. We were debating between La Tapa and Rhumb Lines and ended up with the latter. Food was just OK...

We ate at rhumb lines and had an amazing meal - so good we ate there two nights in a row! We were there Wednesday and Thursday nights.
 

LisaH

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We ate at rhumb lines and had an amazing meal - so good we ate there two nights in a row! We were there Wednesday and Thursday nights.

We were there Thursday night as well! around 5:30 pm. Now I am trying to think if I saw a family with three kids...
We had their Ultimate Pad Thai, Mahi Mahi, Cuban Pork Tenderloin, and Grilled Tuna, and few appetizers to share. The Tuna was really good, Pad Thai was too saucy for my taste. The Mango Gazpacho was way too sweet, almost like a dessert.
 

czar

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We were there Thursday night as well! around 5:30 pm. Now I am trying to think if I saw a family with three kids...
We had their Ultimate Pad Thai, Mahi Mahi, Cuban Pork Tenderloin, and Grilled Tuna, and few appetizers to share. The Tuna was really good, Pad Thai was too saucy for my taste. The Mango Gazpacho was way too sweet, almost like a dessert.


Very funny. I know we were there at 5:30 Thursday because I made the reservation :)

We were sitting towards the back on a deck across from the bar.

My wife said the SAME thing about the pad Thai - too saucy. I loved it though. I had the tuna and it was outstanding. Amazing cut of fish with a great sauce.

Our favorite things were the coconut rice balls and the lobster tempura.
 

czar

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Stingray at Maho

Finally getting some of my camera footage uploaded. Here's a video of a ray close to shore at Maho Beach.
 

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Sorry for getting off topic here, but on the subject of WSJ, why are the platinum/gold etc seasons different between Hillside and Bay Vista:shrug:?

It looks like the lowest season is weeks 21-41 at Hillside, but weeks 34-50 at BV. (Hard to imagine why July/August would be considered low season.)
 

DavidnRobin

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Sorry for getting off topic here, but on the subject of WSJ, why are the platinum/gold etc seasons different between Hillside and Bay Vista:shrug:?

It looks like the lowest season is weeks 21-41 at Hillside, but weeks 34-50 at BV. (Hard to imagine why July/August would be considered low season.)

This has been discussed (and probably better to have on WSJ thread). Likely they looked at occupancy rates (tourism) and decided to better align the BV seasons based on this when they were building BV. VGV was already established and seasons cannot be changed - only the associated SOs.

Week 34 is at the end of August - most schools are back in and high risk of unstable weather (hurricanes, tropical storms/depressions). Therefore, they likely choose to move the low season for BV based on this.
 

mjm1

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Thanks for sharing your experience. We are looking forward to our first stay there next late April.

What size unit in BV were you in? Any additional insights on your experience in the unit? Thanks
 

czar

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Thanks for sharing your experience. We are looking forward to our first stay there next late April.

What size unit in BV were you in? Any additional insights on your experience in the unit? Thanks

We really liked our regular 2 bedroom. Had a slight view if the water. We were in building 25, 3rd floor end unit. I would prefer to stay on 2nd or 3rd floor. There were a few functional issues I unit - e.g., cabinet door off hinges, cosmetic things, a few glass tiles broken, etc., but nothing major. I found the units to be nicer than in the pictures. We preferred the location of BV over Hillside but the views are better up above. The tree coverage in front of our view was a little
disappointing.
 

czar

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Great last view before we left - splurged for breakfast on the beach out last morning :)

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1377183744.634734.jpg
 

czar

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Well, as I was writing about days five and six, the post got deleted, so I got lazy and now I'm back at it.

Tuesday was a quiet day at the resort. Again, we spent most of the day in the pool, although we did take several walks along the beach. I also learned, in about eight minutes, the danger of not having sunblock on. I had just gotten out of the pool and taken off my rash guard, when my son needed a shoulder to rest his head on to get to sleep. So I figured a quick walk up and down the beach wouldn't hurt, and came back to see my wife's eyes open wide with a panicked expression. My chest was completely red!

That night, we decided to head out to dinner, and found out what to spyglass. I picked it because of the upper level seating with hopes of catching a glimpse of the sunset. Unfortunately, my wife discovered many of the several shops, and by the time we found our way up there, the sun had long gone. Review, however, was incredible, and although we had read several negative reports on trip advisor about service, the people interacted with from spyglass were great. The owner and his wife greeted and seated us, and our food was delivered pretty quickly. This actually turned out to be a reasonably priced meal, because between my two kids getting something off the kids menu and my wife and I getting mahi sandwiches, that there was about $70 with a couple round of drinks. Afterward, we made our nightly stop by the smoothie stand for a coconut lime and a painkiller. Delicious!

Wednesday was probably my favorite day of the trip besides Monday when we went Maho beach. I started the morning by bring my young son to the pool for an hour around seven, and then headed back home for breakfast. We were scheduled for the owners update at 9 AM, which was completely painless. I think we got a pretty great wrap, Hannah, was not a hard sell. I did hear the couple in the cubicle next to us getting hammered pretty hard, but Hannah was great, talked about when, how, and why she moved to St. John, and what life is like on the island with her son and mom. We took a quick tour, and they went over the developer pricing with us. I also asked questions about the future of the resort, and she seemed to indicate that there was no official plan to turn the whole resort into timeshare. I question the quarterly Starwood call, and she said she was not aware of that information. I did ask about the next chunk of rooms just below Bay Vista that make it turn into timeshares, and she said that was not a guarantee it will probably be a few years out. She said there were only a small number of Bayside summer float units left, and that the hillside units they have we're only really offered to current Hillside owners.

After the honors update, we headed back to the pool and I got ready for my snorkeling trip on the sailboat island spirit that leaves right out of Cruz Bay. It was a quick walk over to the doc, and then a beautiful cruise out of the harbor and the sale on the open water. I have to say that this was really, really exciting. The water is absolutely amazing as you get off shore and in between the little islands. It's the clearest water I have ever seen, somehow even clearer than the water around the shore, I think because where we went the bottom had rocks. The snorkeling was absolutely stunning. I sought a bunch of fish, and there was a soft coral reef in most of the area we snorkeled in. I jumped into the water and was told he had an hour, and it seemed like it was just 10 minutes later that they were telling us to get out of the water to get back onto the boat. I had a great time and enjoyed using my underwater camera. I'll post some pictures and there's a link above to one of the videos I shop I was there.

I got back around five, and then we prepped to go out to dinner. We hired Leslie to babysit our kids; she is absolutely incredible. We had actually ran into a couple who had used her a few nights before, and they said she was amazing. We are so fortunate that we found her, she because she was great with the kids and also had a lot of suggestions about the island. Both she and the couple we had met suggested that we eat at Rhumb line's, which turned out to be an amazing meal. You can see some of the info I posted above. Of course my way home, we stopped to say hi to Thomas and pick up a couple of smoothies. What a great night, a much needed break out for a young couple! We got back to find that Leslie have my kids asleep and calm, I left copious notes, including a lot of kids created artwork, along with a bunch of apps and games at the kids at fun playing. She chatted with us for a short time about her experience on St. John and why she moved there, and was really sweet to talk with. She also offered to be a resource for any questions or suggestions.

What a great day!
 

DavidnRobin

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Great report. Thanks for posting. Hannah (Jones) used to work the front desk, and then moved to Sales - we had her as our 'Closer' (bad cop) once and she was far from happy with me. Her memorable comment was something like... 'Why do you come to Owners Updates when you know they are Sales pitches?' - and my reply was 'Why pawn them off as Owner Updates when they are Sales pitches?' We had her once as the Sales Rep once (good cop) and was enjoyable and related the same thing about living/moving to StJ.

Glad the babysitter worked out.
We need to try these drinks at Thomas' smoothie stand - where is this? We generally just go to Woody's to-go, or Beach Bar.
 
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