Best Things Nearby:
We had our own balcony with views of the bay. I sat there every day with a Cuba Libra admiring the homes built on the nearby hillside and amazed at how anyone could build on the side of a cliff. The next best thing was the beach.
Best Things About the Resort:
A fabulous place! I will absolutely go again! The studio villa was fantastic. It was tiny, yes, but had everything we needed. The beach was great. It was clean and groomed and had lots of room.
Resort Experience:
Studio villa has a king-size bed, full kitchen, washer/dryer in large closet, wrap-around sofa with sofa bed, dining table seats four, TV/satellite, CD/radio, and balcony. There are no beachfront villas, but all have bay views.
The villas are across a road from main resort and up a steep hill. If you can’t handle it, they provide shuttle carts every 15 minutes. We preferred the exercise.
The Westin St. John’s website has a feature that allows you to order groceries online so that they will be in your villa when you arrive. The food you order is more expensive than in town, but you don’t have to pay cab fare to get it.
The resort has car rentals. Reserve in advance.
There are four restaurants: Chloe and Bernard’s, fine dining; Beach Café, with excellent food and friendly staff; Snorkels Grill, which you can order from your beach chair; and Mango Deli, which you should avoid unless you like really expensive ham sandwiches.
There is a fitness center with day spa and exercise classes. I took yoga twice, held outside. The fitness center is free to guests, but classes and spa cost extra. Yoga classes were $10/class.
It has a cute little shop called Bougainvillea. Check upstairs for artwork by local artist Elaine Estern.
The Westin Resort has its own ferry service from St. Thomas. You have to schedule this before your arrival. The Westin has an air-conditioned hospitality room at the airport, and then you are taken by a taxi to the Westin’s boat. The cost is $68/person round-trip and includes unlimited ferry rides to St. Thomas during your stay. Once there, you are already checked in and your bags taken to your villa. They also treat you to a rum punch.
At an activity center at the Westin dock, you can rent jet skis, schedule day trips/snorkel trips, rent small motor boats, and go scuba diving. We did NONE of these things!
The timeshare villas have their own pools in case you don’t feel like trekking down to the main pool. They are smaller and quieter, with wonderful views!
All taxi service is arranged in the Westin lobby. Just show up - they will have two or three waiting in the drive.
The Westin St. John only has 67 timeshare villas, one of the smallest of the Starwood network, so getting this location is not easy unless it’s a home resort. We were on the wait list for 7 months. The call came 3 days before Christmas. Talk about a present! My suggestion for those would like to stay here, but it’s not your home resort, is to get your name on ALL weeks that have a waitlist available for the time of year you would like to visit and then be PATIENT. Get information at website www.starwoodvo.com (this is the OWNER'S website, which has more info than Westin.com).
- Unit Type: Studio
- Activities: Excellent
- Amenities: Excellent
- Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
- Family Friendliness: Excellent
- Service: Excellent