What Does It all Cost?

Lucky me I get to extend my time off one more day by today being President’s Day.

Many folks have asked and I am sure some are curious what it costs to take a nice vacation in the winter during high season to a tropical paradise like St Croix.

In the winter St Croix has days in the 80’s and night in the 70’s with constant breezes. It is US territory so the electric grid is 120 volt, the dollar is the local currency, and they are English speaking and drive on the left side of the road.

Keep in mind I am not a rich man but make a nice living and have some discretionary income to enjoy this annual ritual.

Usually we make our vacation plans well in advance to get the choice villa. We settle up on who plans to go and all commit with a deposit of 50% back in August.

In our case we rented from Vacation St Croix one of our favorite villas Sans Souci at $6,700 a week for 5 couples.

So, back in August I coughed up $670 deposit for Gigi and me to rent a luxury villa in February.

Each couple has their own bedroom and bath. The villa has a pool and maid service. It is spotless when we get there and midweek a maid comes to freshen up. Then we leave the villas as is and we do not have to clean as we leave.

The villa is well equipped with a TV and Cable, Internet, a well supplied kitchen, linens and towels, toilet paper and paper towels, soap, hair dryer, air conditioning, and fantastic views.

After I send in the deposit I start looking for deals on airfare. There is a direct US Airways flight from Charlotte to St Croix every Saturday in the winter and it takes about 3 hours and 10 minutes to get there. The flight usually runs about $575 round trip. I also use a US Airways MasterCard during the year to accumulate enough miles for one round trip.

So I book airfare for both of us at a cost of $575.

Total cost so far $1245.

We usually book at least 2 cars. This year we booked three. The one I booked was a 7 passenger Explorer for $425 a week.

Now this gets into a category of shared expenses for the common good of the group. We all during the week save receipts of purchases we make for the common good including cars, grocery items, booze, eating out as a group, etc. The receipts are marked with who spent the money and are tossed in a bowl in the kitchen. More later on this subject.

Come December it is time to pay up the other $670. Now technically my vacation is paid for and it has cost me $1915. I have had six month to pay for my air and accommodations for both Gigi and me. About $137 per person per day including air. Not bad.

Getting back to the common good expenses like groceries and rental cars. This year we rented three cars, had the villa provisioned out with food and adult beverages, more groceries, several times dined out as a group, gas for the cars, and the total came out to an additional $742 per couple for the week.

So the grand total for Gigi and me last week all inclusive was $2,657.

But there were times when it was just Gigi and I, the massages mid week, the jewelry purchases, the scuba dives that added on to that bottom line number.

Suffice it to say that you can pull off a very nice vacation at about $1.600 per person per week at high season. $3,200 a couple.

This can be done cheaper. If you shop and look around at some villas by owner like Pink House St Croix or Sun Dog House you will get better rates. Some owners are willing to negotiate price. Most individual owners will require a deposit.

I talked to a guy at the airport that was saying he loved the island but $700 a day at the Buccaneer resort, plus air and car was killing him. He gave me his email address and asked me for some suggestions. I will email this blog post to him.

6 comments:

TerryC said...

Hey! Who did you get your massages from? (links help ....and don't forget one for sundoghouse.com...)

;-)

Miss you guys!

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Sorry....meant to do that.

Kuckie said...

Hey, that's great info! I've been wanting to go to St. Croix for a long time. Maybe if I ever get an adult-only vacation.... :)

TerryC said...

Thanks, Buddy!!

Denice said...

Thanks for sharing the kind of stuff no one ever talks about, that's why we all love ya Regg!

terri said...

You have really got this all figured out. Thanks for the tips. Now maybe I can start working on a real vacation sometime soon.