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At Frenchman's Cove...any questions?

gores95

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Hey everyone. Arrived on Saturday and here until Wednesday. Used an AC to book the week.

Place is great although the weather has been lousy. Last night we must have had six inches of rain! We had a boat tour today that we had to cancel so we are keeping our fingers crossed this Tropical Wave stays south of us.

Unit and resort is super...beach is OK, decent snorkling to the right of the beach near the rocks.

Fire away with any questions...have not talked to the concierge yet.
 

LisaH

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Hi gores95, we'll be there in early Nov. Did you rent a car? if so how much and from whom? I have been searching online and price seems to be high.
Also, do you have access to high speed internet connection? How about cellphone? My provider is AT&T. wonder if I will be charged extra for using cellphone.

Have a great holiday!
 

icydog

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I'll be there for the first time using my owner week in Jan.
Which rooms are the best?

Is it handicapped accessible?

What about food; is there food shopping nearby?

I also want to know about the rental car situation.

How about bringing liquor back home, do you know how to do that?

Thanks a lot, and have a wonderful vacation.
 

gores95

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Hi gores95, we'll be there in early Nov. Did you rent a car? if so how much and from whom? I have been searching online and price seems to be high.
Also, do you have access to high speed internet connection? How about cellphone? My provider is AT&T. wonder if I will be charged extra for using cellphone.

Have a great holiday!

Yes we rented a car from Dependable Car Rental. It was like $300 all-in for five days for a Jeep 4 door. Jeep was in good shape and was a 2007 model. Only downside is their office is not in the airport but you call when you are picking up your bags and they pick you up. No issues. The jeep has a bit of a musty smell but is in good shape: http://www.dependablecar.com/index.html

High speed wireless internet is free and we have a great signal from our unit. For cell use we have Verizon and there is a signal though our carrier told us it will be $2 a minute for roaming charges. Needless to say we are mostly texting home which Verizon told us is free!
 

gores95

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I'll be there for the first time using my owner week in Jan.
Which rooms are the best?

Is it handicapped accessible?

What about food; is there food shopping nearby?

I also want to know about the rental car situation.

How about bringing liquor back home, do you know how to do that?

Thanks a lot, and have a wonderful vacation.

Reading some prior posts we requested (and were given) building 5. We requested a high floor and got the fourth. Only downside is three elevators to the pool (but really no big deal). I would say ANY of the buildings are great...just request the highest floor possible.

As for handicapped...there are hc parking spaces available but didn't really notice ramps. I think there are some here and there. The issue is that the resort is built right on a hill and there are pretty steep hikes around. Might be tough for a handicapped guest but not impossible.

We shopped at Pueblo supermarket...looks kindy dingy from the outside but the food was fresh and it is safe. Its right down the hill from the resort towards town.

As for liquor...Curzan Rum (the local rum) is CHEAP....$6-7 a bottle!!!! I think you can take five or six bottles home and we plan on taking at least four. Good stuff with Pineapple, Vanilla, Mango, Coconut and Banana flavors. The markets will pack them in boxes which you can carry-on the plane.

Believe me everything has been great except the weather. It has rained over 10" the last two days with more forecasted. We are supposed to take the New Horizons II boat tour tomorrow so we are hoping/praying for no rain!
 

icydog

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I hope your weather clears up. Thanks for those answers. They were very helpful although I am worried about all of us getting around. We are all in our 60's and 70's and getting up and down steep hills will be a problem.
 

djs113

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have they opened the new buildings and the new registration center yet at the top of the hill? or do you still check in down at Building 1

I assume nothing has changed with the dock and the "coral reef" section of the beach

thanks
 

714

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Just to answer a few questions, we stayed at Frenchman's Cove last Jan. and we were just confirmed into the property for Jan. 2009 last week---we have AT&T cell phone service and there are no roaming charges back to the states. We did have to turn the phone off and on once to reboot the sim card.
Also, the Food Center going down towards Red Hook is very clean and has reasonable prices for food, meats and produce.
They do have complimentary transportation to take you back and forth to Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Hotel & Beach also.
Hope everyone has a great trip.
 

gores95

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have they opened the new buildings and the new registration center yet at the top of the hill? or do you still check in down at Building 1

I assume nothing has changed with the dock and the "coral reef" section of the beach

thanks

The new registration center is not yet opened so check-in is still in Bldg. 1. Nothing appears to have changed with the dock and "reef" section.

I am currently on hold with Continental to see about getting out earlier tomorrow...we are currently STT-SJU at 3:50 and then SJU-EWR at 6:05. Omar is forecast to be a strong Tropical Storm or Cat 1 Hurricane hitting tomorrow late afternoon evening!
 

chuck1955

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Hurricane Prep

Looks like Hurricane Omar is headed to the USVI. For those who might be there, what preparations or planning are they doing for you? Hope everything goes well for everyone.

I wll be there the first week of November.

Chuck
 

gores95

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Looks like Hurricane Omar is headed to the USVI. For those who might be there, what preparations or planning are they doing for you? Hope everything goes well for everyone.

I wll be there the first week of November.

Chuck

They have now moved us to the Frenchman's Reef hotel since the Cove does not have generators. The power is supposed to be cut off to this area at 6pm EDT. Unfortunately they charged us $179 for the move to the Reef which does have generators.

The aiport closed this morning so we could not get out today. We called Continental and changed our ressies out until tomorrow afternoon but who knows???

The main impact on the island so far is rain. No wind yet but the storm is moving SO slowly it isnt expected to impact us with winds until in the early AM tomorrow morning.

The restaurants are all working but the beach and pool areas are closed. We happened to get a room on the 8th floor facing the ocean but they have locked metal shutters on the slide in windows facing the ocean so we cannot see it!!!


For now its a waiting game. I have never wanted to be home so badly.

We do have plenty of Cruzan Rum to tide us over!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

californiagirl

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Good luck to you!! Did they move all the FC guests to the hotel???
 

gores95

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Good luck to you!! Did they move all the FC guests to the hotel???

Apparently they set aside 80 rooms at the Reef and offered everyone at the Cove a room. We were staying with our neighbors so we reserved two rooms. Some Cove guests opted to stay at the Cove...we did not want to do that.

We are at the Reef now...still have power and we heard the Cove would be without power soon and it could be a long time before they have it restored. Weather is very rainy and starting to get windy. They have metal shutters on the windows so the ocean view is actually shutter view!!!!

When we get back to the States I plan on writing a letter to owner services. They have done a great job moving everyone over here but I think charging $180 + $16 for internet is a bit steep. Frankly I feel guests at the Cove should have been offered free rooms at the Reef.
 

californiagirl

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If not for free, then at a minimal cost to cover housekeeping and laundry...or provide generator power for FC.

How is the wind? From the track it appears that Omar will hit the Red Hook area first. Is this correct?

Take care.
 

Latravel

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Take care! Everything will turn out fine and you'll have some interesting stories to tell when you get back. What an experience.
 

gores95

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If not for free, then at a minimal cost to cover housekeeping and laundry...or provide generator power for FC.

How is the wind? From the track it appears that Omar will hit the Red Hook area first. Is this correct?

Take care.

The hurricane reached Category 3 overnight with winds of 125 mph, although the storm was very compact. Nothing even close to that reached where we were staying. The storm missed a direct hit on all of the VI as well as the other islands (St. Martin, St. Kitts, etc). I would think that the Western section of this island..Red Hook, etc. probably had higher gusts but nothing even close to hurricane strength. The storm actually brushed the far eastern shore of St. Croix which is way south of us.

This morning is calm and partly sunny believe it or not!!!! Nicest day in the last few for sure. I just opened our storm shutters at the Reef and the pool area has minimal debris in the pool and on the deck.

I was told by Cape Air to call back after 10:00am but they think the planes will be flying out today. We have a 3:50pm to San Juan and then a 6:05pm from San Juan to Newark.

Our fingers are crossed......
 

OCsun

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Update Please!

Just wondering if the condo's ever lost their electricity? Several years ago, a tropical storm hung over the VI for five days, depositing 20 inches of rain while we were staying in our timeshare at the Westin St. John. Since the Westin had generators, we lost electricity for very small pockets of time daily but were far better off then any of the other vacationers and residents on St. John. The entire island lost electricity that week - so having generators is a MUST at any island resort. We met many people leaving the island who were staying in private villa's with no electricity. :eek:
 

gores95

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Just wondering if the condo's ever lost their electricity? Several years ago, a tropical storm hung over the VI for five days, depositing 20 inches of rain while we were staying in our timeshare at the Westin St. John. Since the Westin had generators, we lost electricity for very small pockets of time daily but were far better off then any of the other vacationers and residents on St. John. The entire island lost electricity that week - so having generators is a MUST at any island resort. We met many people leaving the island who were staying in private villa's with no electricity. :eek:

We are actually home now having left Thursday afternoon. The condos actually lost electricity for only 4-5 hours overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Thursday turned out to be a nice day with the airport opening by noon.

It was a real experience to say the least!
 

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greetings all!
I just returned from the Cove and was there this past week. I'll try to answer some of the questions I have seen posted. The weather was interesting this past week. Luckily everything turned out well but we certainly did prepare. We chose not to pay 189/night to move to the Reef hotel but I agree that they should never have charged folks staying at the Cove that rate. Power went off at midnight and was on by morning. No other real issues. Can't believe there is no back up generator at the Cove and may need to be addressed by owners board.
The Pueblo grocery store was fine I think the other food store is a little further and more difficult to get to.
You need to rent a car. Taxis are expensive. 263.00 at dependable car rental for the week for a Corolla - 4 people fit all of our luggage and did fine. Don't really need a Jeep. Can't take corollas over to St John. We rented a Jeep while we were there and it worked out a little better actually.
More flexibility with Ferry schedule.
After the weather week we had we still really had a wonderful time on St.Thomas. Bought some jewelry - missing the island already....I'll try to answer any other questions that might arise.

The handicap issue is tough - there are a lot of steps anywhere you may go- not a really accessible place in general. lots of hills - the resort does have elevators but there can be lots of walking other places.....
 

LisaH

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Can't take corollas over to St John.

Thanks for the info. Is it just Dependable Car Rental that won't let you take any car to St. John, or only sedans that are not allowed to be taken to St. John?
 

pt95

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dependable won't let you take the corollas but you can take their jeeps over. the car has difficulty clearing the ferry if you take the corollas. we just rented a jeep on st johns for the day - we were going to take a dingy(sp?) to the beaches but ended up renting a car after the hurricane swept through all of the boats were out of the water. the jeep wranglers actually would never fit 4 people and luggage so the corolla worked out better for 4 people on st thomas.
 

LisaH

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Thanks! I'll ask Dependable for a quote for jeep. If it's not too much more, we might just get the Jeep for a week. It's just two of us.
 

gores95

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Thanks! I'll ask Dependable for a quote for jeep. If it's not too much more, we might just get the Jeep for a week. It's just two of us.


We paid $305 for the Jeep 4 door Wrangler from Dependable for five days. They would have allowed us to take it to St. John which we did not do.

Instead we fit a boat tour in. We hit a few of the BVI's which were really nice. The tour was expensive but well worth it: http://newhorizonscharters.com/
 

LisaH

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Thanks for the info. That's the boat we were thinking about taking following GraFal (Pat)'s recommendation!
 
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