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Trip Review 2/27/-3/6/2014

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Trip Review 2/27/-3/6/2014

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(@scooby)
Posts: 185
Reputable Member
Topic starter
 

I have never posted a trip review before so thought I would try it this time. Thanks all for the valuable feedback on my questions before we left. Specially the directions to the condo. Thanks Future Islander. And I can't forget STT.

We vacationed Thursday to Thursday. We don't normally go mid-week, or take a connecting flight. But we got such a good deal on the air fare we could not pass it up. Thought we would try it once.

Airport/Flying: We flew American Airlines from Minnesota to Miami. Our connecting flight was 2 hours later. I was glad to see it was on time. All went well and we landed in St. Thomas around 4:00. I was glad to see our luggage made it also.

Car: We rented a car thru Avis. I was pleased to see there was not a line, and we got the car with no problems and no wait. The lady behind the counter was very pleasant. Good Service.
I did research before we got to St. Thomas for directions to the condo. I was glad I did. We made it there with no problems. Thank you, Future Islander! We also made sure we got a map from the car rental place. Which helped for on the way back to the airport.

Grocery Stores: We had directions to Cost U Less for on the way to the condo. So we stopped there for some items. This store in my opinion, is more for bulk purchases. Or for someone that will be staying longer than a week. But it was good for a few things to get us by.
The Food Center just beyond Red Hook was more ideal for us. You might pay a little more, but it was smaller portions for just two people. It was very conveniently located just past Red Hook.

Condo: We rented a very large, beautiful, totally remodeled Condo, named Pearl Of Paradise.
It is located in the Point Pleasant Resort. You can rent it thru Vrbo.com.
It is a very large one bedroom condo with 2 bathrooms and a pullout couch. It also had 2 decks.
The bedroom was very large with its own private bathroom. It had double sinks which I loved. Each person had their own area in the morning.

Pearl Of Paradise overlooks Sugar Bay with a huge deck and a another deck off the bedroom. The deck had a table that sat six. And still had enough room for lay down chairs and a small table in- between.
The very large living area was beautiful. The furniture was very comfortable with great lounging pillows. It had the pullout couch and 2 chairs. You wouldn't know the couch was a pullout. It had such beautiful décor. It had a special air mattress to go with it also. Not your usual pullout.
It had a glass kitchen table for 4 and cushioned bar stools for 2 with counter. A fully stocked kitchen with oven. Which I loved because we love pizza. You could cook lobster if you wanted to though with the fully stocked cupboards.

It had easy parking on both sides of the condo. Never had a problem finding parking. They have a security guard at the gate. A nature trail for walking, and 3 great pools. One which is 2 minutes from the condo.
I highly recommend the Pearl Of Paradise Condo. This place was huge, looked brand new, and had great décor with the great view!

Friday:
We just relaxed after such a long day of traveling on Thursday. It was great to be able to cook when you felt like it. Instead of having to run somewhere for breakfast before you actually wanted to. For example, Like when your staying at an all Inclusive, you have to make it down to breakfast before 10:00 in order to get breakfast. We just enjoyed the deck overlooking Sugar Bay and all the islands. We also went for a walk to investigate the property.

Saturday:
We enjoyed the pool, went to the food center, and enjoyed the deck again. We cooked in and just relaxed again.

Sunday:
We took the ferry over to St. John for the hubby's birthday. We had a nice lunch in Mongoose Junction. I forget the name of the place but it was next store to the brewery. Good food, it had 3 levels of sitting areas. Nice place. Great PainKillers. We did some walking around checking out the shops. Then went to the Wharfside area next to the ferry. We checked out the shops there along with the bars then caught the ferry back when we were worn out. It was a nice day.

Monday:
We relaxed on the great deck. Went down to Panga's. The restaurant located on the property at Point Pleasant. Great Food and drink. I love the painkillers. We wanted to check out the floating dock for the next morning. We were going to be picked up there in the morning by boat.

Tuesday:
We had prebooked a trip with the Daydreamer boat. A beautiful Catamaran! We were going snorkeling near St. John, over to Foxy's on Jost. for lunch. Then on to the Soggy Dollar.
The crew was very polite and friendly. Good crew. They had a menu on board for Foxy's, so they called in our orders before we got there. So no waiting around here. You still had time to look around in the shop for a souvenir if you wanted. I thought the food was very good.

The boat only had 8 people on it. It felt like a private charter. It was wonderful.
I would highly recommend the Daydreamer/Coconut boat tours. It was great being picked up at the condo also. No driving after boating. lol

Wednesday:
We just relaxed again on the deck at the condo. We had to start packing our bags to go home. We went to bed early. We knew we had a very long day ahead of us on Thursday.

Flying Home Thursday:
We left the condo early. We didn't know if we would get lost going back to the airport. We did make two wrong turns but realized it right away and turned around. We made it to the airport with plenty of time and were very early. We returned the car with no complications. We had time for some food, some last minute souvenirs and time to relax with a good book.
The plane was on time, and we got thru security with no crowd. Later, we looked around and the place was packed. Wall to wall people. We were happy we got there early.

The flight to Miami was fine. Uneventful.

Our flight from Miami to Minnesota was scary.
First I noticed the panels on top of the wings flapping in the wind after take off. That is not normal. Then, the first hour was big time turbulence out of Miami. I grabbed the hubby's arm and just hung on and said my prayers. I don't know if this happens a lot coming out of Miami but don't know if I want to connect there again because of it. We finally got back to the snow about 11:00 p.m. It was a 14 hour day of traveling with connecting flights. I saved a bundle by connecting. Was it worth it? I don't know. I can say I like direct flights better.

The next day overlooking our snow white corn field was pretty, but not as dynamic as overlooking the islands off the beautiful deck at the Pearl Of Paradise Condo.
We will be going back someday soon I hope!

 
Posted : March 17, 2014 4:39 pm
(@jmbinfo)
Posts: 5
Active Member
 

Great review! Thanks!

 
Posted : March 17, 2014 5:48 pm
(@chris-at-work)
Posts: 1138
Noble Member
 

Thanks for sharing. Perhaps the warm memories of the VI will help you ride out the last vestiges of this winter.

 
Posted : March 18, 2014 7:11 am
(@pearl)
Posts: 3
Active Member
 

Scooby, what a great review. Thank you!

 
Posted : March 18, 2014 9:25 am
(@beachlover125)
Posts: 3
Active Member
 

Great review. I am headed there for my first time April 11th and also staying at Point Pleasant. 🙂

 
Posted : March 18, 2014 4:20 pm

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