I am certain this topic has been posted a time or two before, but I am hopeful some of you can provide specific suggestions for last night accommodations on STT following a week long sailing charter with CYOA.
My wife is keen on staying the night at the Rtiz-Carlton, but I would prefer something a bit more 'islandy' although the hotel looks amazing.
I would prefer a smaller boutique type of hotel/motel with a pool and some sitting areas to hang out/lounge with our charter group of 4 adults and 3 children. (The Ritz isn't a deal breaker either, my wife suggested I post to the board having read all previous posts about provisioning, taxis, suggested itineraries, etc.) We'll be returning to the US via STT airport around 4 pm if that makes any difference..
I'd certainly entertain the idea of a house/bungalow too if anyone rents those out for a single night on the island.
Thanks in advance for any replies, and additionally for all the input posted on this forum. .
I am certain this topic has been posted a time or two before, but I am hopeful some of you can provide specific suggestions for last night accommodations on STT following a week long sailing charter with CYOA.
Murdock - I don't have any suggestions for you but I am curious why you are in this situation. We always bring the boat in to the dock in the morning and head off to the airport. Do you have a really early flight out or did it just work out such that your charter ends a day before your flights?
Emerald Beach...pool, beach bar/restaurant, close to Frenchtown and the airport. It's nothing fancy but the price is right. We stay there coming & going every time we head down there. It's nice after a hard day of getting up early/flying/schlepping bags to arrive and be at the hotel in minutes to start relaxing on the beach, go out for a nice dinner and get up refreshed to continue on to your destination. Then coming back it makes things so much easier than trying to return boats/rental cars/taxi/ferry etc. only to try to guess what time you'll actually arrive at the airport. Spend the night and arrive at the airport feeling fresh and ready to get home.
Spend the night and arrive at the airport feeling fresh and ready to get home.
I've never had the experience of being "ready to get home". The last day on the boat I'm always wondering if I took off down the islands how long it would be before anyone catches up to me.
Thanks for all the input everyone....Mafolie is looking like a winner! Anything else like that and I am all ears....
Agrimsrud- Yeah I hear you...so we like to spend the last night of a boat trip (which has typically been BVI-based) onshore in swanky-ish accommodations. We started doing this on Tortola because fueling boat,returning, check-out, load out, taxi, flight departure time, lunch, was just stressing us all out and we felt it unnecessary, so our charter group collectively chose to spend our last vacation day available at a hotel....usually Scrub Island hotel. At least one of the group would get a room with a kitchen so we could cook up all the leftovers we had from the boat and we'd split up all remaining liquids too.
I honestly didn't even think twice about this for an STT-based charter. Knowing that the return US flights don't depart until mid afternoon may have made some difference, but maybe not. I'll say this, my wife REALLY enjoys the last day/night onshore as she gets all the water and cold air she can handle. From our perspective, it's just a nice way to end a trip. BUT, another day/night on a sailboat would be hard to beat too, especially given the flight departure times. Chalk that up as a mistake on my part. But, we are doing a sleep-aboard...baby steps....
TTOL is my favorite ilon resource and I thank everyone that takes the time out of their day to comment on anything from anyone....
We have only been to the restaurant at Mafolie, haven't stayed there, but the view from there is amazing!! I would suggest Ronnie's Crystal Palace, but they don't have a pool. It is a very neat, historic house though.
Murdock - thanks for the info. Everyone has their own style and do things different. Not because they have to but because they want to. And sometimes people do things because that's how they've done things in the past which may or may not still make sense to do.
When we chartered on Tortola the last day was immensely stressful with a near miss getting on a flight on STT one time. I well understand those that tack on an overnight at a hotel or fly out of EIS. But just for the record, one of the big advantages of chartering on St Thomas is to avoid that stress and possible extra cost. Since we've started using St. Thomas as our starting point we have spent the last night in a beautiful bay on St. John. We try to get a flight that is no earlier departure than 2:00. It's possible to leave St. John, get fueled and be tied up at the dock at CYOA by 9:30 and thus have plenty of time to get stuff pulled together, swap stories with the dock crew, grab a nice lunch in Frenchtown, and get to the airport. In June we were in Maho the last night. It's about 2 hours 15 from there to Crown Bay marina fuel dock motoring on our Beneteau 45. A cat can cut down the time a little bit more. Many people spend the last night at Christmas Cove (about 1 hour 15) or Honeymoon Bay (Water island) which is probably 10 minutes from the fuel dock. Or possibly on one of the bays on the south side like Salt Pond (which is about 2 hours). And given most of the boats have water makers and generators you can stand in the shower however long you want and then dry off in front of the freezing cold AC vent if you prefer. The other advantage to avoiding the hotel is that you avoid packing all your stuff up off the boat, moving to the hotel, unpacking stuff and repacking the next day. Just pack your stuff up and go to the airport. No fuss no stress!
We have only been to the restaurant at Mafolie, haven't stayed there, but the view from there is amazing!! I would suggest Ronnie's Crystal Palace, but they don't have a pool. It is a very neat, historic house though.
We've stayed at Mafolie a couple of times. Every room is different, the pool is nice with an awesome view and there's a pool bar right there. The restaurant is very good and breakfast is included with made to order items. We had a trip planned for this past May and were going to stay there our last night before flying home. Oh well..
The restaurant at Mafolie is wonderful. Last trip we ate there the night we arrived and then again 2 weeks later on the way home. And the view can't be beat.
We've stayed there twice since Irma. It's simple, clean and easy. Most of the people we met there were like us, staying one night before or after their charter or villa rental. Candy and Eddie are great hosts.
We have not stayed in Olga's waterfront cottage rooms yet. Eddie let us take a look at one (17?) when we were there in February and we have one reserved in November and in February - assuming we are actually able to travel either time. I think the rooms by the water are the nicest ones in the whole place and they have the advantage that you don't have to haul your bags up the steps.
Thanks for info ECM. We have the two water front cottage rooms booked on Jan 12. Ill try not to mess things up. If we can just get our drinks in hand up the steps to the pool we should be OK.!
Since the original posting I have attempted to contact Mafolie via email and multiple telephone calls (left vmails) to the hotel directly without any return phone call. It seems we can book through the main reservations #, as part of a larger grouping of hotels, but not speak to the hotel directly.
Before I booked, I wanted to ask a few questions, specifically about about parking and if families might be able to get adjoining rooms, or if suites were an option.
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