BostonFlyer1624

Two questions:

When booking using points, do you have to pay the $40 resort charge per night?

And how much is parking? I'll be taking a car over from STT.

juluca

Yes, you have to pay the resort fee even when using points.

The parking is free, but you can not take the car and drive it to the front door of the hotel room. They have little golf carts that they take you to the rooms. You can not get a cart yourself, only for employees. The lots are near. We just returned and we often just walked.

Alex_I

- taking rental car from STT to St. John would be expensive - I am not sure whether the public ferry will even let you do that. Here is the link to the transportation options:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin...ropertyID=1098

jerseygirl

We rent in St Thomas and take the car ferry, car ferry is next to passenger ferries, very convenient as this allows you to go to and from airport in STT more easily

kosair

I have found the car ferry is the preferred way to go. You have more rental options at STT and pricing is better. Just drive from STT to the ferry and stay in the car while you make the short trip.

juluca

It costs 50.00 roundtrip for a car ferry including passengers. If you have 2 people in the car which would have normally cost 6.00/ea with just the people ferry, the car only costs 13.00 more to get it over there.

u2vox

Even less if you factor in a taxi from STT to Red Hook. You may even come out way ahead depending in number of folks, since the taxis charge per head and per luggage. BTW, only some rental agencies allow cars to be ferried over. Hertz, in particular, does not, which is a bummer since I have a bunch of points with them and need for an upcoming rental in March...

cactuspete

Much cheaper to rent in STT than STJ. Car ferry is the way to go.

wilsonnyc

+1 on renting in STT and taking the car barge. Just wrapping our second trip here and have used the car every day 2-3 times. Having your own method or transport around the island just gives you so much more flexibility to move around on your own schedule. Esp since the Westin isn't the greatest resort itself, it's great to be able to hop around the island, find your own spots/beaches/adventures and a rental car is really the own way to do that.

Additionally, I think it's important to note that after a subpar stay 3 years ago, I think this property has done quite a lot to improve quite a bit of things - not just the rooms, pools, grounds - but a lot of service issues as well. One example: We had some small room/electronics issues and quite literally within 2-3 mins of calling the front desk, we had someone at our door looking to fix the problem. There just seemed to be a major shift from top-to-bottom from a service perspective...everything seems to be more about "can-do" and "swift service" and that is a welcome change imo. The renovations were obviously needed: Pool rooms are definitely an improvement, but nothing terribly special or out of the ordinary for a Westin.

I still don't think it's the greatest spg property, and I wouldn't pay $500+ a night here, but for a points redemption, it's perfectly fine. St John is a great island to visit but lodging options are unfortunately limited, unless you can pool more than 2 ppl together on a rental property.

LemonThrower

agree with wilson. he sums it up well. its very good in some categories, lagging in others. overall i would say about at the level of a hilton rather than westin but in a great location (USVI) at a fair price.

also agree with renting at STT airport.

there is ferry info available on line. The car ferries usually run every hour on the half hour during rush hour, a little less frequently middle of the day. the one hitch is its 2 different companies, so if you pay for a round trip you may have to wait a half hour until its your company's turn on the return trip.

also, you have to go through customs leaving STT for the U.S. so allow extra time.

bluztuzumab

Here is a slide show of the pool area between B33 and B34 (Hillside buildings)
just awful... LOL
{Hi Betsy...}

http://s291.photobucket.com/user/blu...la-Pool%202013

Added - some photos are warped because I was playing around with panoramic setting on iPhone

bluztuzumab

Here are photos (slide show) of the Bay Vista phase (Timeshare - std 2 Bd) from back in 2009 (June) after it had just opened
... do not go to WSJ or StJ - stay away it is just awful... LOL
{SPG Plat folks crack me the heck up}

http://s291.photobucket.com/user/blu...%20Bay%20Vista

SAN-man

Bolding added, but this is important. You can add Avis and Budget to the list as well. You can certainly take their cars over if you want, but at your own risk. They explicitly don't allow it.

If you just want a jeep to get around the island, it's really not outrageous to rent from the local St. John agencies. We tend to bookend our stay with days at the resort or just using the taxi trucks, with a jeep rental in the middle.

cactuspete

Incorrect. Budget does allow their cars to go to St. John.

u2vox

And unless I was given wrong info by an Avis CSR I spoke to a few weeks ago, Avis allows it as well.