Camping Camper

Question:

After several cruises that stopped in St. Thomas, we’ve decided we are ready for a land vacation to this area.  After some initial research, we’ve decided to stay at one of the following places: – Sapphire Beach Resort, St. Thomas – Marriott Morning Star / Frenchman’s Reef, St. Thomas – Westin, St. John Any thoughts on pro’s vs. con’s on the hotels above?  We really liked Coki Beach, Trunk Bay, Magen’s Bay and plan to spend most of our time on nice beaches.  We’ll want to go to St. John for at least one day, and possible to Tortola or another BVI as a side trip.  Ideally the hotel is full service, has good reasonably priced food and is clean/well-maintained.  How is the beach at Morningstar – does it compare to the others? I like the idea of being right on the beach, but since the area is so wonderful, I think we’ll probably only spend 50% of our time at the hotel area.  Based on this – I am leaning towards the Marriott and taking the cheapest room they have (at Frenchman’s Reef, interior courtyard view) as opposed to a beachfront room at Morningstar or Sapphire.  The Westin seems too expensive for what it offers, but I don’t know if they have a nice beach there.

Response:

The Westin at St. John is peaceful and beautiful and right on the beach.  We haven’t stayed there but toured it twice.  We stayed at the Sapphire in St. Thomas and although the accomodations were not luxurious, we were very happy. We had a small beach front unit almost like an kitchenette.  But with the blinds open we could see the beach and palm trees from bed each morning and it was an easy walk to the pool or beach.  We had no complaints while we were there.  However, we enjoy the laid back feel of St. John so much more and the snorkling there was better so we decided if we ever go back to stay on St John so we don’t waste so much time on the ferry.   By the way, if you do need a taxi when you arrive at St. John by ferry, look for Clive….he’s a great driver and very knowledgable  about the island and is a great story teller on top of all that.  He will drive you around the island all day for a pre-arranged price…you negotiate…even stopping to get a cooler and drinks if you like at the local carry out.  He knows which beaches have recovered from the last hurricane as well. Oh, and if you like camping, there’s a great campground on St. John.  A few nites there…..a few nites at the Westin.  I think that would be the best of both worlds!   Have a great trip!   Diane W.

Response:

>- Sapphire Beach Resort, St. Thomas >- Marriott Morning Star / Frenchman’s Reef, St. Thomas >Any thoughts on pro’s vs. con’s on the hotels above?

Hi There, These two resorts are among the four that I regularly recommend since they are all low-rise and offer beachfront rooms.  The other two are Bolongo and Secret Harbour. Sapphire is a nice place, the rooms are the closest to the beach.  You can almost open your front door and fall into the water.  It has a great open air bar and offers the Sunday beach party, but has one of the poorer quality restaurants on the island. Morningstar is nice also, off the the one end of the Marriott property.  It shares the amenities with Frenchman’s Reef (the high-rise hotel) and has a nice beach also.  The rooms here do not have kitchenettes like Sapphire so that might be a consideration also. My favorite is Secret Harbour which offers beachfront suites at comparable prices to the other places.  The units have full kitchens and balconies/porches that look out over the beach.  The beach itself has some of the calmest water on STT and the resort’s restaurant, Blue Moon Cafe is one of the island’s best. I don’t think you can stay at any of these and not have a great time.  I also like your idea of visiting the various beaches.  I always do this and like the variety.  This past summer I tried a couple of new ones (Dorothea and Hull) and they were great. Schultz

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