Stay 1: Jan 2008
Went to the Westin St. John to meet friends there who were having there wedding at the hotel in May. Basically we were just checking it out for a few days (since we were in the area).
Our experience was awful. We requested 2 full beds and had only 1 king (for the 4 of us...). They did not get us a bed until 2 am when at that time gave my husband and I our own room. We were happy with that until they moved us out of that room for the whole day telling us another room (for the 4 of us would be ready in the afternoon). At 4pm our room still wasn't ready nor at 7pm. By this time we were showering to go to dinner and had only cold water in the 1 king bed room (Garden view). Once we finally got our room it was gross. Employees were rude throughout the trip, facilities were unkept and the best part of the resort is the landscape.
Case in point we ended up complaining relentlessly and the hotel compensated both couples 15,000 starwood points.

Stay 2: May 2008
For the wedding we had to return. A little weary we got a pool view room which was better in terms of location on the resort. The room was still dirty and very musty. Smelled like mildew. We did have hot water although it was sketchy to get and we had bugs in the shower.
There were three people on the resort who mentioned a rash that they thought was from the sheets. I in turn got that rash.
The rooms are large which is nice but when they're gross does it really matter?
The service was better this time but we would not stay at this hotel again.

*I wasn't going to write a review until I stayed the second time to give the hotel a chance to redeem itself. I feel it only fair for those people spending hundreds of dollars a night to know this hotel is not worth it.

We returned from our trip a week ago wondering why there were so many terrible posts about the resort! The resort is very well taken care of and the service was wonderful!

A few points -
We totally reccomend taking the Westin Ferry! We saw the poor people who were traveling on the publice ferry and for maybe a little less money its NOT worth shlepping your bags to the piers. The Westin takes your luggage at the airport and you arrive to rum punch & your luggage is placed in your room.

We were originally in building 22 but were asked to move about an hour after we arrived b/c we were in a handicap room and they needed it. We had no problem with that and were given dinner for 2 at The Beach Cafe :) We were moved to building 21 and they were both the same rooms. Both were nicely decorated and very clean. They were very well kept and this is coming from someone who expects a lot from a hotel room. We actually enjoyed being a bit back from the pool because it was a bit more quiet. The pool was only an extra 200 yards away at most anyway! The complimentary Starbucks coffee in the rooms were delicious! I am not a coffee drinker but I find myself thinking about it.

Food -
Zozo's which was very good and a pretty place.
The Beach Cafe @ The Westin - We didn't really like the food here but hey, it was all free :)
Banana Deck - We loved! The service was great and it was really pretty sitting up there in the white lights. The food was also wonderful.
Snorkels - Pool bar @ The Westin - great food & the biggest buffalo wings we've ever seen ??? (not the best thing on the menu though!) The staff at Snorkels was great too! I think my boyfriend fell in love with Cynthia :)

Rent a car and see the other beaches. Driving is really easy to pick up and everyone drives really slow. The beaches are amazing!

I did my open water dives with The Westin (thanks James & Charlie!) and they were wonderful! I'm now certified :)

We also looked at the timeshares and they are gorgeous! Perhaps not as tropical / caribbean I'd like them to be but they are truly stunning! We were told the hotel only plans to keep the hotel rooms by the pool and buildings 21 & 22 will soon be timeshares also.

We had a wonderful, romantic vacation! I'm really happy we weren't detered by any of the terrible posts on here.

Some pic's are a bit blury but its b/c they were taken with an underwater camera.
Cheers!

My wife and I just returned from a week at the Westin St. John. We stayed in a Poolside Room that was clean, well appointed quite and very comfortable. Before booking the vacation I researched the island and the resort and found very mixed results, however, I stay at the Westin Chains all over the world and find the accomdations, Staff and Service to be Stellar, so I was not concernced.

From the moment you land in St. Thomas, the Westin Staff is at your beacon call, you check in at Baggage Claim, they have a small lounge area there where they take your bags and deposit them in your room in St John. You take the Westin Ferry from St Thomas directly to the resort, well worth the price ($95 RT PP)

When you arrive at the resort you are handed your room key and a very potent rum punch and you notice the grounds were maticulously maintained.

The pool is very nice and huge, however, we are beach people so we did not spend any time there. That said, the beach is nice and convenient, however, not the best beach on St. John. I recommend venturing to the beaches on the North Shore ( Trunk Cinnamon and or Maho - $9 Cab Ride) those beaches are amazing.

In the evening the Concierge Staff made some great recommendations for dinner. The food and wine options are fantastic, Asolare was our favorite, we dined there twice. Followed by ZoZo's and Rumb Lines.

I highly recommed this resort, in fact we enjoyed it so much we purchased a Villa.

Let me start by saying that prior to booking this trip I did a ton of internet research and visited many St John forums to really get an idea of where to go. We ended up booking with Spirit Airlines and through one of their red light specials got roundtrip airfare for two from LAX to STT $638 total. Then we booked the Westin St John on Hotwire for 4 nights for $1400.

After a long day of traveling having the Westin check-in office inside the baggae claim area was a relief. We were promptly greeted and given cold water and discussed our transfer options. We went ahead and purchased the roundtrip Westin ferry option $90/pp with unlimited use even though the ferry operates on a limited fixed schedule and we had to wait 2 hours for the next trip. A taxi shuttle was arranged and along with a few other couples we took a 15 min ride to the Crown Marina and ate lunch at Tickles while waiting for our ferry. You can view the menu and webcam at ticklesdocksidepub.com if you like. We also purchased groceries at the nextdoor market but later found that the prices were much higher than the starfish market in Cruz Bay. The Westin Ferry is more like a small yacht and takes about 45 minutes to transport you directly to the Westin Dock. Here we were greeted by staff in golf carts who take you to your room. We booked through a major discounted supplier so we were pleased to stay in a poolside room #1120 (building 11 on the Westin map found on their website). This room had 2 double beds, flat screen tv, renovated bathroom, minifridge and seating area. There was no balcony on this end room but the close proximity to the pool more than made up for that.

The Westin grounds, pool, beach and restaurants are immaculate. The beach is outstanding with clear turquoise water, trampolines and rock climbing walls in ocean, free rentals of floating lounge mats and a daily groomed beach with no seaweed. The swimming area was adequate and exceptionally clean with many sailboats anchored nearby and the dock in the middle of Great Cruz Bay. Sure there were no coral reefs or dive areas in this protected bay, but I did see fish swimming around my feet in less than 2 feet of water on more than one occasion and also saw a good size sand crab I startled while walking the beach. The Westin provides many daily activities, just check the activity board by the pool hut. I really enjoyed the iguana feed daily at 3 pm-check my pics. Also one night after dinner we stumbled upon a huge movie screen with guests watching a movie and enjoying popcorn poolside. Beware going out after dark without insect repellant. The Westin also has 2 computers with free internet and a laser printer in the main lobby which made it helpful to print our boarding passes prior to departure and check local restaurant menus on the internet before taking a taxi out to Cruz Bay.

Daily we ate breakfast at the beach cafe- breakfast buffet $24/daily-standard rate at any sheraton/westin. For lunch we usually had pizza at Mango deli onsite near the kids club or had sandwiches near the pool from snorkels bar and grill. Every night we ventured into Cruz Bay via taxi-$12 for two each way and ate at many delicious restaurants-never a bad meal. We enjoyed High Tide (hightidevi.com), Banana Deck (thebananadeck.com), the lime inn (thelimeinn.com) and the Tap House (Stjohnbrewers.com) for St John Pale Ale on tap.

Cruz Bay was actually much smaller than I had imagined from reading online about all the shops, restaurants and bars. You can easily cover the entire area in one night. We always had the taxi driver drop us off at Woodys right by the Subway and Quiet Mon Pub and Le Tapa and would either walk straight ahead 1 block to Wharfside Village or go right from Woodys 2 blocks to Mongoose Junction, Morgans Mango, Margarita Phils, Paradiso or Ocean Grill , or take a left from Woodys 1or 2 blocks to The lime Inn, Fish Trap, Banana deck, Stone Terrace, ZoZozs, etc.
Tip-visit couponstjohn.com for a few coupons to take with to save a couple bucks/get free drinks during your stay.

We found the locals to be genuinely friendly which is something we have not encountered in most caribbean islands. We learned that the cruise ships do not stop in St John therefore it has remained a well kept secret and the locals want to keep it that way.

We will definately return to St John and the Westin after such a lovely stay. Next time we hope to stay longer and visit some of the other beaches and areas you hear so much about. Having visited other carribbean islands we found the people to be friendlier and the food to be better and no passport is required-what more can you ask for. The roads were very hilly and the streets were narrow, so not sure if we would ever rent a car, but the taxis were plentiful and reasonable-so just sit back, relax and leave the driving to them.

I would not hesitate to recommend this resort/island highly. Whoever had negative experiences here either paid too much and had higher expectations or is probably never happy anywhere. Welcome to one of the last unspoiled islands-but don't let the word get out or this will turn into a tourist trap.