barowe

http://www.bvibeacon.com/1/index.php...d-negotiations

I have reservations/flights booked for August 19th - 27th, it seems that everything will be fine. *knocks on wood*

WhereAreWe

Thanks for the link, this doesn't reassure me very much, hope all will be ok. We have a reservation at Scrub from August 18th through the 28th...

bwg03

Any recent stays at this resort? I just booked my honeymoon here Sept 2015. What does the resort fee cover?

Klove007

Staying here in the next few weeks In a two bedroom suite and will post a trip review when I get back.

I would like to email the hotel before my arrival anyone have an email address they could PM me?

Churnman

I'm surprised this property is getting bumped up in categories which devaluates Marriott points even more if you want to stay here on points. Currently 8, but will become a cat. 9. It's a nice property, but it's expensive. I can rent a lux villa on St. John, Tortola or Virgin Gorda for what they want for Scrub. I guess its in what you want. We stayed here in 2013 and enjoyed it, but we used points. If I had to pay I'd rent a lux villa on St. John, but that's just me. Scrub is a great place for going on boating excursions since the boats pick up right there at the dock and it's close to a lot of islands. Their suites are very nice and I must say they have great mattresses (when we stayed, but don't know if they've replaced them since).

sbbi

Hi All,

We will visit USVI and BVI this summer and would appreciate any suggestions. Below is our plan and questions.

We (two adults and we kids) will fly from Miami and will arrive at STT at 9:30PM. I understand we will not need to go through any custom or immigration (just like a domestic flight, right?). Since it will be pretty late, we will stay at Best Western for a night which seems walkable from airport. Is it safe to walk during the night?

On the next day, we will go direct to BVI via ferry. I have following questions
1. I heard the ferry schedule change quite often? Where can i find the up to date schedule? Is the schedule in the following link accurate?
http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/
2. there are several ferry routes according to the link above: Charlotte Amalie → Road Town, Charlotte Amalie → West End, Charlotte Amalie → Tortola, Redhook → West End, Red Hook → Tortola. Since we will not have a car on St Thomas, I figure I need to get a taxi to send us to ferry from Best Western/STT Airport? It seems Charlotte Amalie is the closest ferry port from Best Western/STT Airport? Is it easy to get a taxi? How much is it normally for that distance?
3. And which ferry port at BVI should we arrive at, or where is the best ferry port in BVI to rent a car? Any recommendation for a specific car rental company on BVI?
4. We will stay in Scrub Island in BVI. I understand there is free parking at the ferry dock for transport to Scrub island?
5. On BVI, we will also visit Jost Van Dyke island and Virgin Gorda island. I understand there is no car ferry to these two islands. Then I think we will need to drive to the ferry dock and park our rental car, then take the ferry and rent another car when we get on the island? (Should we make reservation?)
6. When going to BVI and returning to USVI, will we need to go through custom and immigration at ferry port?

After seven days in BVI, we will return to USVI. We need to get off from ferry (Charlotte Amalie?), and take a taxi back to STT airport to rent another car. Then we drive around in St Thomas for half day, and go to St John by car ferry (Red Hook → Cruz Bay) and stay there for 3 nights.

7. On St John, We still stay at Westin St. John Resort & Villas. We still cannot decide to stay at the resort or the villas part? which is better? it seems the villas are on the other side of the hill (not facing ocean) and I am not sure how far we need to walk to the beach and the pool?

On the last day, we go back to STT airport to return the car and leave in the PM. Since I have never been to Virgin Islands before, I am not sure if there are any issues with my plan. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!
Jenny

travelexpert

Also noticed that the copay for using points to upgrade from studio to one bedroom in January just increased from $209 per night to $299.

So a double whammy--more points AND much more cash for an upgrade.

PHLGovFlyer

I'm staying at Scrub Island on a reward stay. At check in I asked about an upgrade as a Plat. The agent stated that they were holding rooms "for sale" and that I could upgrade for $299. When I checked on line they had at least 3 1BR suites available each night.

hhoope01

Note that Marriott itself doesn't dictate what a hotel will charge for its rates. So the move from $209 to $299 has very little to do with Marriott itself and has everything to do with the local hotel's management/owenership.

Given each hotel gets to "identify" its own upgrade pool, if this hotel doesn't want to upgrade elites to suite rooms, that is well within the normal Marriott rules. And if the hotel actually thinks they will be able to sell those suite rooms, I'm not sure I could begrudge them (too much) not wanting to provide a complimentary upgrade.

escapefromphl

Agree you can't really begrudge the property - this is really Marriott's doing. Other chains have policies that force properties to open suite upgrade space, either at booking or if suites are unsold a few days ahead of the stay. The hotel will generally always "think" it's going to sell those suites, especially if it has lots of honeymooners etc who might decide last minute to splurge.

PHLGovFlyer

Not really begrudging the property. It's really more of a data point for future plat guests not to expect much in the way of upgrades.

SkiAdcock

Jenny, I don't know the answer to your questions but hopefully others do & will post soon.

Cheers.

brandonpkt

Hi Everyone! My fiancee and I are considering a stay at Scrub. We love to do "off-beach" snorkeling at resorts, meaning we like to be able to swim to snorkeling areas directly from the beach at resorts were we stay. Is this possible at Scrub? If so, how far of a swim is required and how good is the snorkeling compared to say the Maldives?

I saw in a post that people can Kayak to one of the snorkeling spots at Scrub, so I was curious how long the kayak trip takes and if kayaks are included in the resort fee? Essentially, we are not interested in doing a boat excursion to snorkel and would like to just snorkel on our own at our leisure. I would love to hear your opinions about if this is possible at Scrub and how good it is there. Thanks so much for your help!

MileageGoblin

Good post. And that's why for resorts I try to lock in my upgrade more than a month in advance by contacting the hotel. They are more likely to grant an upgrade way in advance with many upgraded rooms available as compared to only a couple available upon check-in.

CALMSP

on the back beach, there wasn't much room to even swim. on the front side, not much either as its boat traffic. You would most likely have to go elsewhere for the day to do some snorkeling. But, I would not hold that back. Myself and the brand new Mrs CALMSP have both been fortunate to travel all over for the world, but we both fell in love with the place and the exclusiveness.

we were fortunate where I talked them into allowing us to stay in the 1 bedroom suite for our honeymoon for $99/night instead of $200. The stay was on points as well. And we loved that they actually had a pretty good grocery store at the hotel where we could get snacks and bring to the room.