Hello,

Frenchman's Reef is a great resort choice. Its a nice property. Great pool, a couple restaurants/bars. Morningstar Beach is a nice beach. The thing is that there are little pebbles once in the water so compared to the shore that's sandy, walking in the water is a little more difficult. Also the water isn't as clear as some other beaches. Other then that its a pretty beach, great for laying and catching rays, having a few drinks from the bar there, doing some watersports.

With the rental car you can head to other beaches too. Since you mentioned limited resources I am going to mention that Havana Blue, the restaurant at Morningstar is quite pricey. Some less pricey places to eat - Hook, Line & Sinker, Tuscany Grill, Greenhouse, Gladys Cafe (the last two are downtown, so good choices on your shopping day). Paradise Point for happy hour is good. Iggies at Bolongo Bay is another good place to eat, you might catch the Caribbean show there at Bolongo Bay Hotel (which is where Iggies is located). The live music at Sapphire Beach on Sunday afternoons is good. If you like historical houses/sites you might do the Blackbeards Castle Tour, which includes a little pirate tales, the tower and some historical homes - you can hang out by their pool as well and they have bbq lunch - so you could do that half day and shop downtown the other half of the day (they only offer the tour on days cruise ships are in port). Another note on the cruise ships - if you plan on shopping in Havensight you need to check to see if at least one ship is in port, as its off season some days there aren't any ships and shops in Havensight sometimes choose not to open. Paradise Point's daytime hours are also affected by cruise ships. Visit St. John one day.

--Islander

A few other less expensive spots are Off Shore Bar, Shipwreck and Pizza Amore- all in the Havensight area. The Marriott has great pools- one by the beach and one overlooking the harbor. The harbor pool is a great place to watch the cruise ships leave at the end of the day!

Frenchmans Reef also has the Managers Party on Mondays where they have complimentary Rum Punch and Pina Colada's from 5-6pm with light appetizer as well. I love Pizza Amore which is just right down the road in Havensight. Great Pizza and the Italian Hero is a deadly sandwhich. Iggies is a close drive from the Marriott and has an inexpensive menu with themes most every night. Havana Blue is a great restaurant but is a little bit more pricey. They have some happy hour specials with half price appetizers and it is a great place to have a drink and watch the sunset and cruise ships pull out. With a rental car you have access to plenty of reasonable restaurants and all the great beaches on STT and STJ. If you go to STJ definitely check out Woody's happy hour 3-6p.m $1 beers and also a very reasonable menu.

We just came back from a week at Marriott. You'll love it. We stayed at the Morningstar. We had a rental car and found some inexpensive places to eat. In Redhook we love the Burriotto Deli and Duffy's Love Shack. Great food at great prices. Also, we went to Kmart and bought water, drinks, and snacks and that really helped. The Marriott has the Presto Market to buy drinks but that gets expensive.

Frenchmen's Reef is nice. However, you may want to consider the Marriotts Morningstar property located just down the walk from the Frenchmen's Reef.(It's all the same property). I found the rooms much nicer and we were literally 50 feet from the beach. Although my original reservation was for the Reef, I asked to see a room from both properties before my actual checkin. Enjoy.