PlanningAfter reading so much about Hawaii, especially Dan's and Something Fishy's TRs, I had really wanted to go. My first step was to ask my LOR about spending Shabbos in Hawaii. He advised us not to be there over Shabbos, so as not to get into any issues. This meant we would be able to be there for a max of 4 days. After thinking about it, we decided that this would not be enough time, especially considering the long flight and the jetlag that we would need to recover from.
And so, the search began for somewhere comparable to Hawaii, without the dateline issues. Once I saw that Something Fishy
had suggested STJ (St. John, US Virgin Islands), I was intrigued. The more I researched it, the more I liked it. The area is similar to Hawaii in many ways, and we would be able to go for a full week, spending Shabbos on the island. Since I had never done SCUBA or snorkeling before, and I'm not in shape to be able to do hike after hike, I planned on spending several days exploring STT (St. Thomas) first, since it's more touristy with more attractions, and then head over to STJ. Additionally, winter is peak season in USVI, whereas summer is much emptier, even though the weather is pretty much the same, 80 degrees year round with little humidity. A cruise ship docks every now and then, but overall it’s much more quiet. There is a downside, in that many attractions are closed during the summer when there is no cruise ship in town, but we preferred the quiet. I brought it up to my wife, and she was really enthusiastic about this idea, so I started planning.
I looked into using points for both flights and lodging. However, at that point, it was more cost effective to purchase revenue tickets from Delta. The night before I booked, the price was $470 for a RT. I foolishly didn't book then, since I wasn't ready to pull the trigger, and I wasn't thinking about the 24 hour cancellation policy. By the next day, the price had gone up to $600. Without a choice, I booked at that price. I checked the next morning, and the price had dropped back to $540. I called Delta, and since it was still within 24 hours, they refunded the tickets and reissued them at the lower price. So in the end, we didn't lose as much as I thought we would have.
For hotels, the best for us would have been to stay at the Marriott, since I had a 7 day vacation voucher. Unfortunately, there was no availability for the dates we were going. The next option was the Westin on STJ, at 12k SPG per night. The Westin has regular hotel rooms and villas. I got the last villa available for one night, and a room for the remaining nights. After doing some research on VRBO, we decided to cancel those reservations and book apartments from VRBO. We found one on STT and another on STJ that looked nice and had good reviews. Price-wise, I think it came out cheaper than the Westin, with more room, and this way we had the flexibility of staying on both islands. Both hostesses were extremely helpful, answering all the questions I had.
For meals, after reading such great reviews from Dan and SF, we decided to order meals from Pomegranate. Their CS is great, and they were able to answer all my questions. The food was all delicious. However, we had several issues, most of which were not Pomegranate's fault at all. All the TRs make it sound like the portions are huge and are enough for 2 people. IME, they were the size of a large takeout meal, which is enough for maybe 1.5 people, but not really enough for 2. We paid a bit extra for them to package the food up for airline check-in. When we received the box, I realized what that meant. They put everything in a regular cardboard box with ice packs, and taped up the entire thing. Since the food only took up half the box, we opted to put them in one of our suitcases, so in the end, the extra taping was unnecessary. IMHO, if I had to do this again, I would order takeout from one of the local stores, and package it up myself. This way I can decide exactly how much food I want, and package it in the way that's most convenient for us.
For Shabbos food, we bought takeout from Yiddi’s on the way out, and stuck it in the freezer overnight.
There is a Chabad shliach on STT (
http://www.jewishvirginislands.com/). I called him about kosher food in USVI. He told me that you can generally get anything that you can find on the mainland (although it’s more expensive!). They also make food at the Chabad House, similar to Pomegranate. I asked him about minyanim, and he said to call him when we get there. I never ended up getting back to him, since we weren’t staying nearby.
The only cell provider that has infrastructure in the USVI is AT&T. Since I have PagePlus, I bought a used phone on eBay, and activated a plan with H2O (an AT&T MVNO). On STT the coverage was pretty good, however, on STJ it was much more spotty. Additionally, depending on where you are, your phone can pick up the cell towers in BVI, so if you don't have free roaming, you need to shut it off or put it in airplane mode.
For a rental car, SF had told me that you really need a Wrangler for the 4WD, and he was right. Hertz, Avis, and Budget have locations in the airport, as well as downtown. I priced them out, and decided Budget would be the cheapest.
I rarely take pictures, so I don't own a fancy camera. All the pics in this TR (besides of the accommodations) were taken with my LG G3. I meant to buy a waterproof bag so I would be able to take pictures underwater, but I forgot until it was too late, and I couldn’t find any once we got there. Several of the panoramas were created automagically by Google Photos. The rest I created with
https://www.dermandar.com/create/. They aren’t perfect, but decent for not having Photoshop.
