|
Frequently
Asked Questions 1. Why
should I choose St. Croix for my vacation? 1. Why should I choose St. Croix for my vacation? St. Croix is a wonderful Caribbean destination that offers everything you would expect from a Caribbean Island...the charm of the Caribbean culture, the powder white sand beaches, the soft warm breezes, the lush green hills, swaying Palms and water so brilliantly aquamarine that you can't believe it's real! The island has lots of wonderful restaurants and plenty of duty free shopping. It has the only casino located in the Virgin Islands. It has a varied terrain, from a dry and arid East end to a lush and green West end that even includes a small rainforest! There is an endless array of activities on the island and a slow pace not found in many other Caribbean destinations. St. Croix is an ideal choice for your Caribbean holiday and you will be supporting a US territory while you relax! 2. Why should I choose Caribbean Dream, Villa Dawn and Caribbean Breeze over other St. Croix villas? Villa Dawn, Caribbean Dream and Caribbean Breeze are all exceptional properties. Villa Dawn is located in what we think is the best location on St. Croix...or anywhere for that matter! Villa Dawn's location offers you peace and quite and the ability to walk to several restaurants and activities in less than 5 minutes. The views are world class and you'll get a spectacular sunset over the water each night! Caribbean Dream has a wonderful location and is very convenient to Christiansted, the islands only casino, several beautiful beaches and many fine restaurants. Caribbean Breeze is located beachfront within steps of the beach, the pool and the poolside bar & grill. It is walking distance to a marina with a good restaurant, a dive shop and Kayaking tour company. It is less than 15 minutes from town and just 8 minutes from Cane Bay. Because we own manage and market our properties ourselves, our rental rates are also very reasonable especially for the luxury, amenities and locations. We pride ourselves on the level with which we maintain and outfit all of our properties. No details have been overlooked and the villas and condo are always meticulously maintained. My wife Dawn and I operate Caribbean Dream , Villa Dawn and Caribbean Breeze as a full time business, much like a Hotel or Bed & Breakfast. We want you to be a repeat guest, again and again. Many owners rent their properties part time to help pay expenses and they don't really care if you come back...we do! 3. What do I need to bring with me to the villas and condo? The villas and condo are equipped with everything you would have in your own home and then some. All you need to bring is casual clothes and of course your bathing suit and sun block! You will find St. Croix to be a very casual island. Casual, comfortable dress is the norm. Even at fine restaurants, nice casual clothes are fine! The island has two Kmarts so if you forget something you can always find it on the island. 4. What documents do I need to enter/leave the US Virgin Islands? New Travel Document RequirementsPlease note: This initiative WILL NOT affect U.S. citizens traveling between the United States and its territories! Click here for more info.
***** U.S. Citizens DO NOT need a passport to travel to St. Croix!!! *****
At the airport... When you leave St. Croix by air, give yourself at least an hour and a half at the airport to go through customs and immigration checkpoints (two hours for direct flights to the mainland due to the number of passengers boarding). At the airline counter you will be required to show photo identification for security purposes and check your bags. Before passing through Customs you have the opportunity to shop in the airport's gift shop and/or get a bite to eat at the small local restaurant located in the lobby. This is your last chance to try some local food before you return home! After visiting the airport lobby, fill in the Customs Declaration form you were given at check-in and proceed to Customs. Present your declaration form, along with your passport, to a Customs Inspector. You then collect your bags from the luggage carousel and pass through Immigration where you present your identification and Customs Declaration form. Be prepared to have all your bags checked thoroughly, inside and out. Once past Customs and the airport screening area there are new gates with comfortable chairs and a small snack bar which serves light snacks, soft drinks, beer and cocktails. 5. Is there a page on your website where we can see your availability? Yes! On each of our home pages you will find a link to our availability calendars. These are updated immediately upon each reservation. Click here to see our availability for all three of our St. Croix rental properties. Back
to top of page We are happy to assist you with all of your travel arrangements. We can help save you money on your airfare, suggest the best routings to St. Croix and help you with Ferry and Sea Plane service to St. Thomas for a day trip or additional airline connections. In conjunction with CVOA (Caribbean Villa Owners Association) we can offer you discounted airfare on US Airways. Many of our guests decide to use CVOA because they have received very good rates from them. Click here for more information. We work with three local car rental agencies on St. Croix, Centerline Car Rentals, Judi of Croix Car Rentals and Skyline Car Rentals. While most of the major companies are represented on the island you won't get the customer service or competitive rates that you will with our recommended agencies. They will meet you right at baggage claim with a sign with your name on it and take care of the rental paperwork right there. No waiting on long lines at a car rental counter! Click here for more information. 7. How far are the villas and condo from the water? Villa Dawn is exactly 166 yards from the water! Our property, which extends all the way to the small coast road, is 1.3 acres, in a pie shape. The villa sits on the back (wide) portion of the property. The villa is about 50 feet above sea level which offers spectacular views of Cane Bay but also lets you hear the gentle waves roll in. It will take you just 3 minutes to stroll down our driveway to the beach! Some villa owners describe their location as "walking distance" to the beach but in reality they are more like a "hike" to the beach. In addition, Cane Bay beach is a beautiful white sandy beach with areas where the sand extends out into the water. Be sure to ask if a so called "sandy beach", within walking distance, is a good swimming beach and not just a strip of sand on a rocky beach with surf! Click here to see Villa Dawn's location relative to the water. Caribbean Dream is only a short distance from the water. Many days you can hear the surf crashing on the reef between Buck Island and St. Croix. The villa is located high on a tropical hillside which affords spectacular Caribbean views. There are 12 sandy beaches within 4-10 minutes of the villa...it doesn't get any better than that! Click here to see Caribbean Dream's location relative to the water. Caribbean Breeze is located beachfront. You'll have to walk about 75 feet to be on the sand! The villas and condo will be immaculate upon your arrival and cleaned again after your departure. Should your stay last longer than a single week we offer an additional maid service for each week reserved at no additional cost. Additional maid service is available for $55 per visit for up to 8 guests and $65 per visit for up to 12 guests. While we do not offer a full-time cook at the villas and condo, we do work with and recommend a personal chef service called Ambrosia. Ambrosia Personal Chef Service, Terry Chretien, Sue Giles and Pat Smith, will provide you with a variety of mouthwatering meals, freshly prepared right in the villa. Chef Sue has over 25 years experience in the food industry and will shop for the freshest ingredients available on our island. She'll cook, package and label your personalized meals for you to enjoy at your convenience. She'll even clean up the kitchen! Try their award-winning Tandoori chicken, or their famous lobster Thermidor. No mess, No Stress! A spotless kitchen! A fridge full of fabulous food! More time for you to enjoy St. Croix and Caribbean Dream or Villa Dawn! You can also reach them by e-mail at terryc@viaccess.net or by phone at 1-340-773-6174. Off the Wall Bar & Grill, The Lobster Reef Cafe will cater Villa Dawn from their menu and will take special requests. Click on each restaurant above for more information. Just-N-Case Deli will cater Caribbean Dream from their menu and will take special requests. Just call them in advance and they will be glad to work with you. We also work with a local cook, Amorella Archibald, that will cook for you for about $15 per hour plus the cost of the food. 10. Are the villas and condo air-conditioned? Villa Dawn has central air-conditioning on the main level and a separate unit for the lower level suite. Each room on the main level has a ceiling fan and there is an large floor standing fan in the lower level. Caribbean Dream is also air-conditioned throughout the entire villa. The living room and kitchen areas have separate units, as do each of the bedrooms. This way, you can set the temperature in each room just the way you like it! Each room in the villa also has a ceiling fan. Caribbean Breeze has central air conditioning. There are also ceiling fans in the bedrooms. 11. Can you recommend services such as a masseuse, chauffer, SCUBA shop, etc? Yes! We have had many a wonderful massage right on the deck of Caribbean Dream, Villa Dawn and Caribbean Breeze. You can even arrange to have a massage right on the beach. Chauffer and limousine service is available on the island and we would be happy to arrange this service for you. My wife and I are both experienced SCUBA divers and just love the diving around St. Croix. The Cane Bay Wall is one of the best dive spots in the Caribbean and is located within swimming distance of Cane Bay Beach. For shore dives we recommend Cane Bay Dive Shop. If you want to explore all the sites accessible only by boat, we recommend Dive Experience, located in downtown Christiansted. They have a great boat and a great staff! Click here for more SCUBA information. 12. What activities are there close to the villas and the condo? St. Croix is only 27 mile long by 7 miles wide at its widest point...you are never far from something to do. At Villa Dawn you can walk to the beach, Kayaking, swimming, snorkeling, SCUBA diving and horseback riding...all within a 3-5 minute walk of Villa Dawn! Caribbean Dream is conveniently located close by 12 beautiful beaches, the casino, two golf courses, many fine restaurants and is only 15 minutes from historic downtown Christiansted where you will find many great restaurants and lots of duty free shopping. Caribbean Breeze has a beautiful beach right in front of it, a large pool, tennis courts, basketball court, a clubhouse with books, games and a ping pong table. You can walk to a dive shop at the marina and rent a Kayak there as well. If you feel like taking a drive you can see a historic sugar plantation, visit a Rum factory, walk through a botanical garden, sail to beautiful Buck Island, go on a shopping spree, hike through a rainforest, ride a wet-bike or just go beach hopping. I could go on and on but you get the idea! 13. Are there any groceries at the villas and condo? The villas and condo are stocked with a assortment of spices including, garlic powder, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, Caribbean seasoning, Basil, sugar etc. They are also stocked with cooking oil, coffee filters, toothpicks, Ziploc bags and paper towels. We do have a "start-up" list of groceries that we will send to you upon your reservation. We simply pass the approximate cost of the items on to you plus an $15.00 service charge. Your selected items will be waiting for you at the villa when you arrive. If you arrive early enough and prefer to shop before arriving at the villas or condo we supply you with directions to an excellent grocery store, one that rivals any in the US, and is on the way from the airport. There are several large grocery stores, along with many small markets on the island, which you can stop at while you are out exploring the island as well. The closest grocery store to Villa Dawn, which is on the way from the airport, will take you about 15-20 minutes to drive to from the villa, depending on how comfortable you are driving on the island. The closest grocery store to Caribbean Dream is Schooner Bay Market. It will take you about 15 minutes to drive to from the villa, depending on how comfortable you are driving on the island. Solitude Country store and restaurant is only 5 minutes from the villa and conveniently stocks many grocery items that you may want. The closest grocery store to Caribbean Breeze is Foodtown, about 10 minutes away. 14. How far are the properties from the airport? Villa Dawn is about 8.5 miles from the airport. It will probably take you 25 minutes to get to the villa on your first visit to the island. You have to go up and over the mountains to the other side of the island from the airport. Your return to the airport will probably take you about 20 minutes...you will have more experience driving on the island! Caribbean Dream is about 15 miles from the airport. It will probably take you 35-40 minutes to get to the villa on your first visit to the island. Your return trip to the airport will probably take you about 30 minutes...by then you will have more experience driving on the island! Caribbean Breeze is about 9 miles from the airport and will take you about 20 minutes to get there. Remember to drive on the left! 15. How far are the villas and condo from town? Villa Dawn is about midway between both Christiansted and Frederiksted. It will take you 20-25 minutes to drive to either town. Caribbean Dream is about 7.5 miles from Christiansted. It will take you 15-20 minutes to drive to town. Frederiksted will take about 45 minutes to drive to. Caribbean Breeze is about 10-15 minutes from town. Christiansted is the larger of the two towns and has many shops and restaurants. Frederiksted is where most cruise ships dock and is very quiet when there are no ships in port. Both towns are wonderful and have their own character. 16. Are there nice beaches close to the villas and condo? YES!!!! Cane Bay Beach, a three minute walk from Villa Dawn is one of the most beautiful beaches on St. Croix. It is a Palm lined, white sandy beach with areas where the sand extends out into the water for some distance. Reef Beach is only a 4 minute drive from Caribbean Dream. It is also a Palm lined, white sandy beach with areas where the sand extends out into the water for some distance. Duggan's Reef restaurant, located right on the beach, is a great place for lunch and your favorite drink. They also offer lounge chairs for the beach. Just-N-Case Deli is right across the street from the beach. There are 12 sandy beaches within 4 - 10 minutes of Caribbean Dream! Caribbean Breeze is beachfront and is only an 8 minute drive from Cane Bay Beach! There are many beautiful beaches on St. Croix. Click here for more information on St. Croix's beaches. 17. Where is there good snorkeling close to the villas and condo? At Villa Dawn there is fantastic snorkeling in the waters just off of Cane Bay Beach. You will find large coral gardens and many species of colorful tropical fish. We have seen sea turtles several times and have even seen a pod of Dolphins swim by! At Caribbean Dream there is good snorkeling at Reef beach just five minutes from the villa. Duggan's Reef restaurant is located right at the beach. You will find coral gardens and many species of colorful tropical fish. At Caribbean Breeze there is some good snorkeling on the reef right in front of the condo. There are many other places to snorkel on St. Croix as well. Click here for more information. 18. Where can I get snorkeling gear? If you don't have your own snorkel gear to bring with you, you can buy some on the island at one of two Kmarts or you can rent gear at several dive shops on the island. At Villa Dawn you can rent gear right at Cane Bay Dive shop which is right across the road from Cane Bay beach. 19. Is there someone on the island that we can contact if we should have a problem? Yes. We have a property manager, Joseph Thomas, that is available to you 24/7 for any problems you may encounter with the villas or condo. We will send you his home and cell number when you reserve the villa. We are also available 24/7 should you need to call us. We will also supply you with our home and cell numbers so that you can reach us any time you need to! 20. What will the weather be like while we are there? The temperature averages 82 degrees year round on St. Croix. You will find daytime highs to be around 85 in winter months and 88 in the summer. Nighttime lows will be around 74 in the winter months and 78 in the summer. It doesn't get any better than that! Rainfall varies with the time of year but there really is no season where it just rains all the time. The real difference between a "dry" season and a "rainy" season on St. Croix is that you will get a daily 10 minute shower in the dry season and a daily 15 minute shower in the rainy season. Most of the time the showers happen at night. Obviously, we can't guarantee that you will have perfect weather, but you are more than likely to have spectacular weather anytime of the year! 21. Will there be a lot of cruise ship passengers crowding the island? No! Unlike some other Caribbean destinations, St. Croix is not overrun with cruise ship passengers. St. Croix gets at most, only a couple, of cruise ship visits per week. St. Thomas, on the other hand, gets 4-6 ships in port each day! That can add up to 12,000 passengers getting off of cruise ships each morning and flocking to town and the beaches! Ouch! 22. Should we consider travel insurance? Travel Insurance can be a trip saver. There are hundreds of circumstances that could cause you to cancel your trip, return home early or even worse, force you to seek emergency medical treatment while traveling. Here are some common examples of what could go wrong.
Purchasing travel insurance it is something to consider. When selecting a company be sure to ask plenty of questions, especially concerning a particular area of concern for you. Click here for TravelGuard.com. 23. Is there a crib and highchair available? Yes. We have a highchair and up to two portable cribs available for your use at each property, at no extra charge! 24. Are there phones at the villas and condo and will my cell phone work? Yes, there are several phones at each property including some cordless models. Feel free to take them outside with you just don't go swimming with them or leave them in a rain shower! Local calls are free. Long distance calls are charged to you after your stay at a rate of $.07 per minute. We will contact you when we receive our phone bill with any long distance calls made. Yes, depending on your provider. Make sure your plan includes the US Virgin Islands and St. Croix in the coverage so you will not be charged outrageous roaming fees. Your service will depend on your provider. Currently, you should have cellular service if you use Sprint, Cingular / AT&T. We do not have local service with Verizon. You can also purchase a pre-paid phone at Radio Shack with a set amount of minutes. 25. Can I access the Internet from the villas and condo? Yes! At all three of our properties we offer a complimentary Wi-Fi High Speed Internet connection. You can connect via our wireless router or connect directly to the router using a standard Ethernet cable. For a dial-up connection you can look for a local number to connect to your ISP but we generally call home using our regular dial-up number. It will cost you just $.07 a minute and you will find that the connection is actually faster and cheaper! For example, to connect to AOL you can connect to a St. Thomas number which is local, however, AOL will charge you a surcharge of $.10 per minute to connect. Don't expect to get dial-up connections faster than 24-40K. There are also several businesses offering internet service on the island: Strand Street Station - Pan Am Pavilion, Christiansted, 340-719-6245 Mailboxes Etc. - (340) 719-5131 (on Centerline Rd. between Sunny Isle Shopping Center and Western Auto) A Better Copy, 52 Company Street, Christiansted - 340-692-5303 - across the street from the Post Office. 26. Are there games and videos in the villas and condo? Yes. We have several board games and decks of cards at the villa. There is a collection of over a hundred videos at the villas including many children's titles. 27. What airport do we fly into? You will fly into Henry E. Rholsen International Airport (airport code: STX). The airport is newly expanded and renovated with very modern facilities. It's recently extended runway can safely accommodate very large aircraft. No. We are sorry but pets are not allowed at Caribbean Dream, Villa Dawn or Caribbean Breeze except for "Service" animals. 29. Can we smoke inside the villas and condo? No. Smoking inside the villas and condo is strictly prohibited and may result in additional cleaning fees. You are free to smoke anywhere outside the villas and condo. Please use one of the ashtrays supplied and please don't put your cigarette butts anywhere but in an ashtray! 30. Will we have trouble finding the villas or condo from the airport? No. We have never had a guest have any trouble finding the villas or condo. We supply you with extremely detailed directions to the villas and condo from the airport. 31. Is the water safe to drink? All of the water at the villas is collected rain water that is stored in cisterns below the villas. While it may be safe to drink, we recommend buying bottled water for drinking purposes. Bottled water is available in gallon jugs everywhere on the island for about $1.00 per gallon. Anytime you go out of the country, you run the risk of getting a bug that your body is not used to from the local water supply. The same would apply to someone coming to the U.S. from out of the country! 32. Do we need to conserve water while at the villas and condo? It is not absolutely necessary, however, we do ask that you try to conserve as much as possible. All of the water for the villa comes from rainwater or costly water deliveries by truck and is stored in a cistern under the house (this is very common in the Caribbean). Although Caribbean Dream & Villa Dawn are on an island surrounded by water, fresh water is very scarce. The water at the villas is safe for drinking, however, it may have a slight chlorine taste/odor. We recommend buying drinking water from the grocery store. It is not entirely a necessity but we highly recommend it. There is a lot to see and do on the island and you will have a great time exploring the island, seeing it's attractions or just beach hopping! We ourselves would never go to the island and not rent a vehicle. Click here for some recommended car rental agencies. 34. What forms of payment do you accept? We accept VISA and MasterCard, as well as personal/business checks and money orders. We will also accept wire transfers. Rates are in U.S. Dollars. 35. What are our reservation requirements?
To confirm a reservation we
require 50% of the rental amount as a deposit. The balance and 8% tax
will be due 60 days prior to your stay. We accept VISA, Mastercard and
checks as payment. If you choose to use a check as payment for the
deposit, we require that it reach us within 3 business days of your
verbal confirmation. A credit card as payment confirms the reservation
immediately. 36. Can we make an online reservation? Yes you can! Should you want to confirm a reservation online, just check the availability calendar for the property you are interested in, and if your dates are available go to our secure online booking form. Online bookings are limited to Saturday to Saturday stays (7, 14, 21 nights etc.). Now if you want to be sure that you get the week you are looking for, you don't have to wait to talk to us...just book it yourself! 37. What is the electric voltage on St. Croix? The voltage on St./ Croix is 110 volts, the same as on the U.S. mainland. 38. What time zone is St. Croix in? St. Croix lies in the Atlantic Time zone. We do not follow Daylight Savings Time. During the spring and summer we are on the same time as the East Coast of the U.S. When the the clocks are set back for daylight savings, in the fall and winter, we are one hour ahead of east coast time. |
