Posted by Nancy on October 03, 1999 at 20:11:45:
In Reply to: Visiting St. John posted by Diane on October 03, 1999 at 11:26:14:
Both St. Thomas and St. John are beautiful islands with great beaches and I am sure that your family would enjoy either. But they can be very different vacation experiences.
We prefer St. John for the seclusion and beautiful views. When our plane lands on St. Thomas and as we drive across the island past the K-Mart to the Red Hook ferry, we are very thankful to be leaving the traffic and congestion behind and heave a sigh of relief as the ferry pulls away to St. John.
Although you can rent villas on St. Thomas, the typical vacation experience is at a resort. This can be a good thing with teenagers because of the available activities.
We prefer the St. John experience with teenagers because it offers a better opportunity to "bond" with them and because St. John is less cosmopolitan, if you rented a villa in town (there are several that have private pools), you could give the teenagers a little more freedom.
I think what it boils down to is the kind of vacation experience that would best suit your family. To me, St. Thomas has too much traffic, congestion, etc. Also, the resort experience is not as appealing as renting a villa with a breathtaking view and a private pool.
St. John is my idea of a Caribbean island vacation and because of the island's slower pace, we really do get into "island time." There are more beautiful National Park beaches than you can visit in a week and if you are so inclined, there are day sails and ferries to the BVIs. If the shopping on St. Thomas is something that you really want to do, there is a ferry from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie (it brings you right to the center of the shopping district) for $7 per person each way. You could pick a day when there are fewer cruise ships and spend the day shopping and lunching.
The first year we stayed on St. John we though that we might do this but never got around to leaving paradise. Also, we fly home on the 3:00 p.m. flight so we spend this day lunching and shopping. It is funny because we always get back to the airport early. A little of this goes a long way for our group. No one is willing to hassle with carrying a breakable bottle of booze to save $3.
The biggest difference between the two islands is the number of people and the level of development.