I think Marriot Frenchman's is a wonderful hotel/resort, probably my favorite. It's close to downtown (unlike Ritz, Wyndham, Saphire) so you don't really need to rent a car. You'll have a lot of fun. Make sure you use your American Express card if you go to Tavern on the Beach. You get a free bottle of wine with your dinner.

Stayed there for a few days on a spring break, really enjoyed it. By my standards, a little pricey, but I had frequent stayer points so it was free, which may have enhanced my experience! 😉 On my list of places I'll stay again given the opportunity.

Go back some or search the archives, there is another recent thread with more info.

irbgolfin

PS - Didn't know about the free wine, bummer. I charged it to my room, which was on AMEX, would've been happy to charge direct if I'd known it!

Hi Kathy,

Morningstar shares the same beach as its sister Marriott property, Frenchman’s Reef. Morningstar is the low rise resort on the beach while Frenchman’s is the high-rise hotel up on the hill. Morningstar’s rooms are in three story buildings, each having four units per floor. These buildings run along the beach and depending upon which direction your door faces, you either get beachfront or gardenview prices. The rooms are nice and IMO don’t have that ‘hotel/motel’ room feel that you get at Frenchmans. The property is beautifully planted.

Morningstar shares all the amenities that the Marriott offers including the shops, restaurants, entertainment and services located in Frenchman’s. There are tennis courts as well as pools available. The resorts are located just across the harbor from downtown Charlotte Amalie. This allows the resort to run its water taxi that is a great way to head into town for some shopping. For a couple of dollars you can take the trip across the water into town and avoid the roads altogether.

The beach here is very pretty but not one of my favorites. Besides it being crowded at times simply due to the large number of people staying at Frenchman’s, I’ve found that it can be ‘cloudy’ which makes it tough to snorkel there. But that shouldn’t be a major concern since it’s so easy to visit any of the STT beaches. It is a nice place to ‘beach it’ and it’s nice to be able to walk out of your room and onto the beach without having to go through any over A/C’d halls or elevators. You get the latter at Frenchman’s along with views out over the harbor that many folks really enjoy.

You have a variety of restaurants to choose from without leaving the resort. I happen to really enjoy the bar/restaurant Coco Joe’s (formerly Caesar’s) which is located right on the beach and is one of my favorites for lunch. Tavern on the Beach is also a decent place with a great view out over the beach and water. I’m not a fan of the restaurants inside Frenchman’s. I much prefer the open-air atmosphere of the two I mentioned.

Overall, Morningstar would be my choice of the two Marriott properties. It is a nice place to stay and is one of the resorts I usually consider when I’m making plans to visit STT.

Schultz

my wife & I just returned from an awesome trip to St. John. We have been to Aruba, Cancun, Jamaica, Cabo St. Lucos to name a few. All of our stays were at georgeous time shares. The Westin in St John has them beat (although all are beautiful). We met a couple while there (on the way to St. John) who stayed one night at the Marriot in St. thomas. The exterior & facilities were up to snuff but the rooms were thilthy. So much so that they left & we met them on our boat going to the Westin where they stayed as well. We also met a couple who had stayed at the Caneel Resort. My wife & I visited the grounds ourselves & snokeled there. The grounds & view both are spectacular. But the rooms are very plain & quite simple. They seemed to be a bit disappointed in the accomodations, although still loved the experience. They said they will try the Westin the next time around. We can refer you if you like. It's a program where they offer you a cut-rate price for a week in a one bedroom($800 I think). Let me know if you're interested & we will have them send you the info. No obligations.