St Thomas reception confusion!

I'd have to say that I'm with Petunia on this one!

We have a multitude of choices in Restaurants and A-I's are very limiting!

Katrina mentions about places closing up shop in August. I DO know some places close in September (peak of hurricane season), but still we have SO many places to choose from!

I would choose a villa. They are private and you can hang out at the house or choose a place to go, your choice! Yes, you need a rental car, but this allows for ease of comings and goings and less costly for transportaion!!!!

As for shopping this time of year, the only day town does not open if there are no cruise ships is Sunday.

On Sundays, Sapphire beach resort has a beach party in the afternoon. What a better way to spend the day!

Don't limit your selves! There is a LOT to see and do!

I agree with Petunia regarding an AI. St Thomas has so many venues to choose from, that it would be stiffling to do a AI. AI's are always in the best interest of the resort and not the guests. Whenever, I leave St Thomas, I always feel like I never had the opportunity to try all the venues I had planned on. It is also so much fun to find them, meet different people. Many of our guests that have 'found' St Thomas via a cruise ship experience, always indicate this is how they felt and the reason why they came back. Not enough time to do all the things they wanted to.

 

Hope this helps. I have traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean, have experienced both AI resorts, private villas, and Resorts without the AI option. My personal experience is that by day 2, in an AI, I am always anxious to leave and see and experience more of the island, the people, the chefs, activities, etc. etc.

Warmest Regards and best of luck towards your DW Day!

Our guests didn't do AI and they loved trying out all the different places to eat. I know shops around the downtown area and in Havensight close up depending on the cruise schedule, but as far as I know most of the other places are still open. If you venture beyond the touristy downtown area, there's so many wonderful places to eat.

 

Brian and I, as well as out guests are for the most part laid back and adventurous, so we had no trouble going to hole in the wall joints. It was great! I can't even remember half of the names of the places we ate in, but they were all fun!

 

I don't know, in my opinion, if you just do the standard by the map tourist attraction deal you are really missing out on the true travel experience. We did all that stuff, but didn't just stick to what was in the guide book. We had a BLAST for the ten days we were there. And we met so many cool people. I can't wait to take Aiden back there. I can see why my WC (who was originally from the states and had her DW there) moved there after they got married on the island.

LadyP,

The one thing that is not expensive on St. Thomas is liquor. I think you would have to drink a tremendous amount for there to be much of an impact on expenses. If you were to drink that much, you'd probably be so wasted you wouldn't even care about leaving the resort so you might as well stay in an AI.

Realize that all inclusive resorts are charging you for the liquor. It's just not "per drink." They most likely charge you as if you were drinking a large amount. They certainly don't want to lose out on the liquor costs.

Our families are drinkers and his family is alittle more financially stable than mine so I am just trying to find a happy financial medium.

You can find free rum punch all over the island! You can pretty much get wasted for free if you try! Every place we went to, free rum punch! I was pregnant and couldn't drink... I couldn't get a glass of water to save my life, but the rum punch was everywhere.

That isgood to know. Let me ask you this.... What did your guest pay as non AI for hotel and airfare and numbern of days if you dont mind me asking

My mom and brother flew out (roundtrip) from Newark Airport. They stayed 3 nights and 4 days at the Bolongo (one room with two full/queen beds) and they paid about $1500 for hotel and airfare.

My cousin and her friend flew out from JFK, also stayed at Bolongo for 4 nights nad 5 days and paid about $1600 for hotel and airfare.

I think that time in May was sort of in the middle of high and low season rates. I don't know if Oct would be cheaper or more expensive.

Oh, and both my mom and cousin used Orbitz to find a hotel/airline combo discount. There were some problems with cancelled/changed flight times buut I think that's mostly because they booked a year in advance so things were bound to change, but the airline had no problem adjusting their tickets (the new flight times would have resulted in them missing their connecting flights). Also, there are hotels on the island that are less expensive than Bolongo, so your guests could pay less than my family did.

And I totally understand about wanting to keep costs down. Basically my side of family is broke and Brian's side is the one with more money to spend, so I tried to keep costs down for my family as much as I could.

Oh PS. Even though Bolonogo offers AI rates, they didn't stay as AI guests.

Im in the same situation, my family has very little money and most wont be able to afford the plane ticket, let alone hotel stay...we are trying to find a nice place, affordable for 2-3 nights...and we are helping out with the hotel stay for most of the family...it is going to be expensive!!!

i've stayed in the green iguana! it's very quaint and the owners are really sweet. and the view from the balcony is great! however i'm ont sure i would recommend it for anyone really older unless you are okay with calling a taxi to get you everywhere. you can walk into town from there but it's 100+ steps.