Pros... The pool was nice and the staff overall was helpful (you always get the occasional staff member that could care less about your stay and that one person always seems to be the one you remember most unfortunately) The guys at the pool and the waitstaff at Bleuwater and Great Bay Lounge were especially nice. The view of St. John is beautiful The turndown service was always a nice touch with dimmed lights, music and chocolates on the pillow The beds are extremely comfortable. I slept so sound all week.
Cons... The beach is tiny. We typically like a long beach that you can walk on each day. It really doesn't exist on St. Thomas though. The room was nice but it didn't wow us. The shower was very average (nothing special), but beyond that it was clean. The food on the resort is rediculously expensive. You become jaded to the prices after
a day or so. The resort charges a daily "resort fee" of $55 which I think is absurd. I know most resorts do that now but that amount seems like an awful lot per day. Because of that fee, make sure to take advantage of the resort offered snorkeling, kayaking, etc...(you are paying for it!) You won't hear waves crashing outside of your room. I look forward to this each time we go on a beach vacation and you just won't get it here b/c the resort is on a bay.
As far as food, there were several restaurants we enjoyed off of the resort. Here are a list of the ones we really liked and would go back to...
Havana Blue - most romantic, coolest vibe. Best place to go out on a limb and feel like you are trying something different. Everything we had was delicious. The filet had so much flavor! (located at the Marriott resort). Great drinks too!
Lotus - Small but really cool place inside. Seems to focus on sushi, but I'm not a sushi lover and I found plenty of really tasty things on the menu. Their drinks were good too.
East End Cafe - great italian food, you Must get the italian spring roll appetizer. You can't even think about it - just get it
Romanos - a little in the ghetto but totally worth it. Really good italian food and a gem on the inside (we couldn't decide between Romanos and East end, they were both so good).
Poets - we went here twice. The apps and pizza were delicious. We also had several desserts here and all were amazing. Try the bananas foster, peanut butter cheesecake or chocolate souflee (all so good!) The server here was really sweet.
W!kked - we went here a couple of times for lunch on our shopping days. The rum and coke sandwich was delicious and they had the best fries!
Molly Molones - greasy pub food but a nice break from all the pasta and surf and turf from the other places. I had a really good fish sandwich here.
Resort food... Sails - a great place to get lunch and take a break from the pool. Everything we ordered each day was good. Try the Johnny Cake sandwich. Also, the spring rolls and burger were really good. Bleuwater - we didn't have dinner here b/c it felt too hotely. We did go there for dessert one night and the peach cobbler was soo good...pricey though. Great Bay Lounge - pretty good food, nothing special but we can't complin about our meal. We had the sliders and a pizza and everything was pretty good, just pricey for what you are ordering
Definitely stop at the market to pick up breakfasty type things for the week if you are a b-fast person. We could'nt jusify the b-fast buffet each day for $27pp. We just picked up some cereal, milk, yogurt and granola from the market and only had b-fast elsewhere two times.
Take a day trip to St. John. The ferry ride is quick (20 min?) and inexpensive (like $6pp). The beaches over there are gorgeous. I would recommend visiting Cinnamon bay and Hawksnest Bay. We found Trunk bay to be too touristy and they charged you to even just visit the bay.
Also, take advantage of the resort fitness center. I enjoy working out each morning and they had a really nice facility. One of the best I've seen.
I hope all this info helps. I always think it's nice to feel a little prepared before going anywhere. Hope you can benefit from our recent stay in St. Thomas.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
exceptional by (13%):
very helpful by (75%):
helpful by (13%):
