St John with a 5 and 7 year old, HELP!!!

George · Post by **George** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 9:12 pm

My wife and i have been to St John 10times but not with our 2 boys. I need help and your opinion. Would you stay at Gallows pt and be able to walk to everything but be a little tight. Or would you stay up at the new and improved Sirenusa in a 3bdrm?

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:36 pm

I visited with my kids multiple times at those ages. They keys to a happy time was pool time at dawn, after the beach and before bed. I supervised from a relaxing chair with a beverage at hand. I also spent a lot of time in the pool!

Both have community pools, right? To be honest, I'd look further and get a villa for your crew.

Normally I'd prefer Gallows, but you don't have an option there for two bedrooms with doors that close! Where's the romance! Sirenusa... there are just so many better options.

Cheers, RickG

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:12 am

I agree with Rick, there are SO MANY better options than the concrete monstrosity that is Sirenusa

George · Post by **George** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:20 am

We are locked in March 26-April2nd with airfare. Not many villas available those dates

EagleRayLover · Post by **EagleRayLover** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:49 am

Good morning
I own Kids Night In babysitting. Service here on St John and help folks like you all the time. Sometimes for an evening or two, sometimes for a day trip to the BVIs , and sometimes I am booked with a family for a certain number of hours every day their whole trip.
The easiest way to connect with me , if interested, is via my email-
Leslie@kidsnightin.com

PS I have sat at Sirenusa several times and it is lovely.

It will be an awesome trip!!

iheartsj · Post by **iheartsj** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:14 am

My recommendation is to find a place on the Coral Bay side of the island with small children. Away from the crazy bar scene of Cruz Bay.

If you do stay at Sirenusa, you will need a car and every time you go to Cruz you will need to find a parking space. You can walk into town from Gallows.

kklay · Post by **kklay** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:06 pm

George, I would probably lean towards Gallows - how old are your boys? The grounds are beautiful, nice pool and outdoor area to have the boys "run around and use up some of their energy!" I did check your dates on VRBO and it does appear there are a few villas available. Since you've been to STJ 10 times before, I'm sure you have an idea of your preference regarding Cruz Bay side or Coral Bay side. With the exception of St. Paddy's day one year, I've never seen a crazy bar scene in Cruz Bay but then, we are usually back to our villa/condo before 10PM!

kklay · Post by **kklay** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:07 pm

George - sorry, just re-read your SUBJECT TITLE and see your boys are 5 and 7! Good luck with your choice, it's all good since you will be on STJ!

Ed S · Post by **Ed S** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:22 pm

kklay wrote:George, I would probably lean towards Gallows - how old are your boys? The grounds are beautiful, nice pool and outdoor area to have the boys "run around and use up some of their energy!"

IMHO, with a 5 and 7 year old, I would not recommend Gallows Point. Policy states that no children allowed under 5 years old, so technically, you are fine. But, I don't feel it is a place for young children. The pool is small and quiet, and has the feel of adults only (IMO), and the grounds are absolutely beautiful and well manicured, but not a setting for kids "running around and using up some of their energy".

I have only stayed there 5 times (in the past 5 years), and only with my wife (not with my kids, who are now both in their mid-20's), and one of the appeals for us is it feels like more of a couples boutique resort vs. a family resort (and the condo unit set-ups are more geared towards accomodating couples vs. families). When we did take our kids to the USVI's, we stayed at Sapphire Beach (in 2003), which was great for a family vacation (and at that time all the amenities were in operation), otherwise, we have made 5 trips to Aruba as a family (Hyatt Palm Beach) which was also perfect for families.

Not trying to stir the pot...... just wanted to offer another perspective. We do enjoy staying in Cruz Bay (would rather drive my jeep to beaches every day than drive to dinner and worry about parking, drinking/driving, etc.) Maybe something in Grande Bay would be better - all the advantages of being in Cruz Bay, and maybe more family-oriented (and with rooms that better accomodate families?).

Whatever you decide, have fun planning and enjoy your family vacation on St John!

KatieH · Post by **KatieH** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:26 pm

I'd vote for Grande Bay or Lavender Hill. Both have pools, private bedrooms, and easy access to town and Cruz Bay Beach which allows some quick and easy access beach time without the big production.

crasherino · Post by **crasherino** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 1:42 pm

I don't know if its available or not, but have you considered Grande Bay? We just stayed there with our 7.5 and 4.5 year olds and it worked out very nicely. The pool isn't huge but it is perfectly fine for the post-beach dip. And the 1 bdrm units were certainly big enough for the 4 of us.

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:56 am

Our 2 kids have been on every trip for the past 12 years when Lil Cheese(Sydney) was just 2. Villas have been our choice. My wife and I have stayed at Gallows wo kids and felt it to be more adults only. Grande Bay would be Nice. Our kids prefer Cruz to Coral...we do too.

St. John Lover · Post by **St. John Lover** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 2:49 pm

Have you considered renting a unit at Cruz Views? It's close to everything with great views and has a nice, relatively large (compared to those at other STJ condo complexes) pool. Out of the 10 units, 5 are 2-bedroom units. Four of the 2-BR units have a closed door MBR with a captain's ladder up to the loft bedroom (units #3, #4, #10 and I can't remember the other one); Unit #1 has a spiral staircase up to the loft bedroom. You'd have to determine if your 5 year old would be able to negotiate the stairs ok.

I've rented 3 units there (#1, #3, and #4) when I brought my whole family down a couple years ago and it worked really well for us. The grandkids (5 of them aged 6 to 11) absolutely loved it. I swear their skin was shriveled the whole week as they were either in the ocean or the pool together nonstop. We basically had the whole pool area all to ourselves.

The nights we ate in, we just all gathered and ate together on the 2 tables by the pool, the adults enjoying their drinks and dining while watching the sunset, the kids in the pool of course unless they were grazing on the goodies on the tables

Cruz Views is very reasonable for the quality of the units (SOME of them) and always allows us to stay longer than we could otherwise afford to do, which has become a prime criteria for us

! The longer on St. John, the better.

Please pm me with any specific questions.

Hope this helps!

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