Re: Booked! January 2nd. through 9th...anyone else booked that far out? Questions about vehicle rental, etc...

[watergirl52]

Wow! 7's through 10's already booked for next year! Must be cause Maho Bay is closed. Anyway, try to get a cabin in the 6's and don't forget to order the fridge. Lugging ice around can get old real quick.
About the car rental: you don't NEED a jeep, I've gotten along fine without one many times.  Just more fun since some of St. John's roads are unpaved and can be accessed only by 4-wheel drive. You'll still get to see most of the beautiful beaches and scenery  without one. Absolutely book ahead of time especially since you'll be going during the highest part of the high season!
It is cheaper by far to rent in ST. Thomas. But then you'll have to keep the car for the whole week and take the car barge over to STJ. (an adventure in itself!) Car barge is about $30 one way, but when you factor in the costs of taxis to & from the airport and CBC, it come out the same and maybe a little cheaper.
Whether you wan the car for the whole week is up to you. I've always liked the convenience of it, but many people are content to stay at the campgrounds.
Aside from the car rental, food will be your biggest expense. $1500 should be enough, but bring a credit /debit card just in case.  Start checking out available activities and their costs. (Daysails, ecotours, Reef Bay Hike etc.) As your time approaches we can talk about good cheap places to eat, but if you want to eat out daily plan on spending $100 for dinner for 2 with drinks.

[Irv Williams]

Cheapest car rental you will find is at STT. I have done budget and Avis, forget hertz as they will not let you take car to STJ. If you rent on STT be prepared for a long line, lack of cars or cars not always what you wanted, very rude staff, and little recourse to anything else. That said, rentals will be one half the cost on STT. The bonus is you save on taxi fare to Red Hook, you can stop and shop on STT which is much cheaper ( that us a relative term), you don't have to schlep luggage, etc as you do with taxi guys fighting over who will take you to red hook, etc.

I rented a Ford Focus in March from Avis. Prepaid was $40 day. I went everywhere on STJ except for the East end of the island. You do not need a jeep unless you want to really explore unpaved roads, and then you may not want to take a jeep there anyway. Downsides of renting on STT is they do not offer road service there, you are on your own. Budget will add it for 9 day, or you can just get a new car.....mine had less than a thousand miles on it. Be sure to document all damage before you leave the airport, even my "new" car was banged and scraped along one side.

Parking at Cinnamon can be hard at times of the day. We asked every day for 10 days for a campers parking permit and they never had one. Wait till late afternoon and you will find a space when day trippers leave. January will be less crowded, anyway. Finally, make sure if you buy a round trip car barge ticket that you return on the same ferry, they do not honor each other's tickets. Love City leaves on the hour from either side, easy to remember! Have fun and recent to drive on the left!

[Andrew]

Those are really high dinner numbers, u can do much better.  Hitch hiking is a very effective way around....

Sent from my iPhone

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cinnamon Bay" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cinnamonbay...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cinna...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cinnamonbay.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Travis Carver]

Hi Melissa,

My wife and I just got back from a week-long trip to Cinnamon Bay. We were also first-timers, and we had a great time and definitely learned a lot of lessons.

We chose to rent a car for the week, and we are very glad we did. Hiking around the island is wonderful, but we loved having the ability to just get up and go whenever we pleased. We rented from Amalie Car Rental. I cannot overstate how happy we were with them. They wait for you at STT baggage claim, so you can grab your luggage, sign the papers, and be on your way. At the end of your stay you give them a call and tell them when you will be arriving at the airport to leave, and they meet you there to pick it up. They have no problem with taking the car to St John, although as some others have stated  I believe if you get a flat you are on your own to fix it. Book your car ASAP, you have nothing to lose.

Our meals averaged about $50 per, with a high of around $90, but we were trying to stay on a budget. We were slightly shocked after ordering two mixed drinks at the campsite restaurant and receiving a bill for $25. It is VERY easy to spend copious amounts of money on food in St John. We liked Skinny Legs, the Tap Room at Mongoose Junction, and Woody's. Most meals we made ourselves. We would grab lunch ingredients at the Dolphin Market or Starfish every morning on our way to the "beach of the day", then grab dinner ingredients, rum, wine, etc. on the way back to camp. With a good cooler in the car the food stayed cold the entire day, and we always had refreshments wherever we were. Fresh food (meat, vegetables, fruit) was cheapest, being about the same as mainland, processed and snack foods were about double mainland prices.

We were able to mail supplies to the campsite, which they will hold for you for a flat $5 until your arrival. Since you will be in a cottage, you may not need this.

The most important thing we learned as that many of the other campers have been coming to Cinnamon Bay for many years, and most people enjoy telling their experiences and giving advice. Ask your fellow campers what their favorite places are, where to go and what to do, and you will usually get some really great and informed answers, at least I know we did!

We hope that our two cents has helped! Enjoy you trip and happy travels!

Travis & Aimee

On Mar 21, 2014 11:01 AM, "Melissa Nicole" <melissa...@outlook.com> wrote:
>
> We booked our flight and cottage today! I am so darn excited! We couldn't get a good view/beachfront cottage but I am NOT complaining! We'll be placed in one of the cottages #1-6. Hope the area in the camp is almost as nice and beach cottages.
>
> So, can anyone tell me where is cheapest to rent a vehicle? Will we want it for the whole week? And can we get one when we get into St. Thomas or Cruz Bay or should we call around and reserve before we get there? How far ahead for a reservation?
>
> Is Jeeping-it the ONLY way to go?
>
> We will be bringing $1,500 for fun cash with us (2 people)...think that will be enough to buy some groceries, gas, explore the island, eat out MAYBE once a day? - or should we bring more? Trying to stay within a budget but I highly doubt we will. Haha!