Trip Report

Frenchman’s Reef July 2-11
This was our first stay at that property and a long report report— intended to be informative.

This year we enjoyed the island with friends who came from the UK to meet us there. It was the first stay for them except for a day trip from a cruise, because I have been coming back since the late 80’s meant they got the grand tour. They remembered Frenchman’s Reef vividly as the cruise ship passed so we all decided to stay there. Many who first come to St Thomas on a cruise want to stay near town, as I did 20 years ago but since prefer the east end. We had a wonderful vacation on the island as usual, we took them to all our favorite spots including Mountain Top and Kilnworks, in addition to beaches, shopping, and eating well. We rented a car at the airport, and also took taxies.

Restaurants
Agave, very memorable and we spent 5 hours there on the 4th of July starting with drinks at the bar, enjoying the incredible view including fireworks in the distance. Wine, champagne, full course meals- fabulous food, service, atmosphere, $40 taxi one way not including tip. Grand Cru at Yacht Haven Grand, do eat inside for the décor is awesome, as was the service, and each course of food that the four of us had was fantastic, as were the drinks. Banana Tree was all around excellent and the Britts especially loved the key lime pie. These were our top 3 off property dinners, Herve the worst being mediocre, scales on the fish, and incredibly hot on the patio. Thankfully my husband waited until we had gone to tell us about the cockroach on the ceiling above that he kept an eye on avoiding confrontation.

We had a great breakfast at Hook Line and Sinker as we enjoyed watching the sea planes, a fabulous lunch at Gladys’s and the best bloody mary’s she made as she sang. We were shopping in town and took our friends to Artistic and Lucky Jewelers. I know we had lunch at the Fat Turtle outside at Yacht Haven Grand before shopping one day, but we only remembered it being really hot outside, and the yellow awnings colored everything sickly looking as a contrast to the beautiful setting outside with all the yachts.

Fungi’s never changes, and that’s a good thing. We all enjoyed the island vibe, views, local food, and nothing beats walking over to Coki for the day from there, then returning to Fungi’s for a cold one later on. We saw a guy from Point Pleasant renting chaise lounges on the old Grand Beach’s property, and it breaks my heart to say it is still in shambles, and we recognized all Grand Beaches old, were now at Coki being rented out. Wyndham’s catamaran was in the bay. What are they waiting for there, a hurricane?

We spent one day on the Ritz Carlton’s property after a champagne brunch celebrating our 2 British friend’s anniversary, and our vow renewal from that morning on Megan’s Bay by pastor Nelson. Excellent choice and a surprise treat for each couple arranged on a platter naming the happy day written in chocolate sauce with strawberry’s dipped in dark and white chocolate to make them look like they were dressed up in tuxedos. Many changes there at the Ritz since we stayed 2 years ago, and very nicely done. Sadly the bar gave way to more dinning room, but “Sails” on the beach is more practical. Not the nicest swimming beach for the water or footing but a nice day and the food was excellent and so were the drinks all day including the ice water stations on the beach kept up by continually filling pitchers for guests to help themselves. We thought Morningstar beach should have offered that feature.

On Frenchman’s property: Breakfasts at Windows on the harbor were excellent, as were 2 dinners there, including a special effort for a birthday surprise thanks to Henry our waiter. Coco Joes was a convenient place for drinks food, good staff, but the Caribbean buffet not so good. Havana Blue was just OK for dinner we didn’t go back except for cocktails and appetizers before we went out, they had great bartenders, and it was a nice destination. However, 50 people waiting for the van after the end of the evening could have picked up the wall phone there after 5 a min. wait as I did for the taxi driver.

Frenchman’s Reef.
Not that we spent much time in the room, but it was smaller than we expected it to be. King bed with lots of pillows, very comfortable, all white linens. TV was small for the distance you watched from, towels moderate quality, some need replaced. The bathroom was small with no exhaust fan switch but a vented duct that looked like it led to another room with a light on. Balcony large enough for chaise lounges, but with 2 chairs and small end table, and air conditioner exhaust from room unit made it hot and loud out there so we turned it off while we sat out. No turn down service at night, and we thought sub-standard housekeeping.

I realized our sheets had not been changed in 5 days, evident after I recognized the same smudge still there from day one. When I asked about the housekeeping policy I was told the maid replenishes towels and supplies daily, cleans the room, and should we want clean sheets we were to place “the card” for requesting a change of sheets out on the bed. No such card existed in our room, nor in our 2 British traveling companion’s room. In fact when we brought this up they remarked that at least our bed had been made. It seemed the maid never made their bed at all. We both had the habit of pulling up the covers a little after getting out of bed. However in our room clearly the bed was made and tucked in while theirs was clearly not made at all. Our British friends thought it was customary, then embarrassed joked that the maid probably thought-- Oh those dirty English never change sheets. We both left notes for housekeeping wondering if the room was even changed before we arrived.

I have seen cards in rooms directing housekeeping not to change sheets, but never heard of a card needed to direct housekeeping to change them, or they wouldn’t ever be changed at all. This is usually common housekeeping practice. I’m talking about a Marriott resort U.S. property here not a privately rented apt. in Mexico. Each day we had to leave notes or else we always got odd combinations of related coffee service items including the wrong pot for the coffee maker once which caused an overflow mess, and my husband doesn’t drink coffee so it was only me. In addition, we had to call more than once for enough towels/washcloths/ for 2 people. We received no replenished soaps, nor was the soap dish cleaned, except by me. We had brought items from home, but that isn’t the point. In contrast, each day the toilet paper was fussed over and folded into an envelope point. I’m thinking they train the housekeeping staff to pay attention to detail.

Mostly we observed young inexperienced unsupervised staff in all areas who were clearly unable or unwilling to make simple decisions. One instance at the Rum Bar off the lobby, that opens out to the big lovely patio where the ships pass by and where guests often congregate. Obviously a prime location, it wasn’t operational or stocked nearly enough. Lapses when a bartender wasn’t available seemed frequent and untimely. For as little time we spent there ourselves we saw idle wait staff unable to provide even a bottle opener to a guest, but sent them across the lobby to the small shop where they could buy beers then come back and sit outside. Lucky for Marriott guests that I carry one in my vacation tote bag. Memorable when somebody calls me the lady with a bottle opener.

One of our Britt friends thought it was odd that white zinfandel was never available there, yet so common in England. When we joked about it the waitress got mad and left, and another returned with a glass of zin on a plate for the Britt and said “how that”, nobody had taken our drink orders and the rest of us would have liked cocktails too. The bartender came to apologize and snapped about how the bar wasn’t stocked when he got there and therefore not his responsibility. We presumed all this was beverage management. We never had a problem down at Morning Star, and the staff seemed happy there.

All of the locals working on the property both at Morning Star and the Reef were perfectly wonderful and it was too bad there weren’t more of them adding to the ambiance. The friendly talk, the stories, the smiles, and many we recognized from the former Renaissance Grand Beach having been displaced to the Reef. One nice local lady in the souvenir shop felt bad they were out of milk there in the coolers when I wanted to buy some for morning coffee. She filled a small cup from the coffee bar and gave it to me saying this should last me my stay. That type of service speaks volumes in contrast to staff following only a statement of work for a job.

This is weird: Frenchman’s Reef’s cold tap water was almost too hot to bear after a hot day and sunburn, but what was worse was all the toilets having hot water in them. This hot tap water included the spa/gym, and public restrooms. A sign on our bathroom sink indicated that cold water may not be as cool to guests as accustomed to at home, and went on about the desalinization process being heated then cooled. Water hot enough to rise condensation from the commode is quite disgusting.

Morningside Beach is very nice, a hot location, without views of other islands, but sometimes you will see a ship. The water has swells and waves, the water closer to the tennis courts is clearer then at the other end. We never realized just how hot that side of the island was until staying at Frenchman’s. One one particularly hot day after we had gone over to look at the Cove with a rep., where it was even hotter with no air moving, and then we went over to Sapphire where it was much cooler and breezy, just absolutely lovely. Too bad nothing was opened there, and it was very sad to see the slow decay continues. The East End should be the showcase location of the island, and it is really too bad that efforts aren’t made in that direction. We realize we saw this all too clearly through the eyes of our British friend’s first impression, after having imagined it more polished from our prior descriptions.

The Marriott grounds are beautiful, and well maintained. We didn’t mind walking down to Morningstar, or a hike to the car because usually available spaces close to the lobby are few. The Reef didn’t have ice machines on every floor. The souvenir shop on the lobby floor has snacks and drinks.

We all met the GM at the manager’s cocktail party. The Britts received an invitation, we didn’t but came as their guests. When we asked how the guests were selected for this party the GM said they invite Marriott points members. Interesting because we were points members, but the Britts were not. We received a wine/cheese basket that night. Actually the next day for they called and woke us at 11:30 pm. We thought it was from the GM but there was no card, and nobody else knew anything about it.

The big thing at Marriott is the Cove time shares. The GM arranged for us to have a quick look without the sales pitch after the Brits explained they have an equal unit in Spain, and considered investing since the British pound value is double US dollars. It was nice to see the Cove without the hour long deal, but for investment purpose maybe for it would trade well, but we would rather be on the East End for breezy climate and views.

Having stayed many places over the years and for many years at Renaissance Grand beach, which was another Marriott property, I expected the Reef to at least be just as well run and equipped. Where we previously always had replenished bathroom supplies including clean towels, robes, ice, turndown service with a chocolate on the pillow, and unless told otherwise, the maid changed sheets daily, and all done by visible happy singing housekeepers doing extras like flowers tucked into fancy towel folds, and tissue pom poms, and who were generous and kind as we were to them, we thought the management was the reason that the Reef was so disappointing in comparison.

We spent so little time at FR being out and about with a car, and we had a wonderful time as we always do on St Thomas. Next trip who knows, we had a much larger room at Sugar Bay a few years ago, with fantastic views, decent maid service, ice machine available, half the price. I can’t say we won’t ever go back to the Reef, but not anytime soon. I know many do like villas, but hold the suggestion for we tried it and to us a beach and a beach bar we can walk to right on site feels more like a vacation. This trip we skipped St John and any other day trip for showing our friends a great first visit. Never enough time, so hope to come back soon.

LB