Hello Frequent Visitor,

Parking in Christiansted is very limited. The closest parking lot would be the National Park parking lot by the fort - I don't recall if they allow overnight parking. There is a charge and you need the paid ticket to get the gate to open so you can get out. Anyone stay at Hotel on the Cay have advice for parking if you rent a car? Have you asked the folks at the hotel what is usually done?

A rental is a great idea on St. Croix. It’s a big island, lots to explore.

Restaurants - Rumrunners, Fort Christian Brew Pub, Tutto Bene, Off the Wall, Bacchus, Breezez... 🙂

Beaches - I like the beach at Protestant Cay; it offers a wonderful view of Christiansted. Buccaneer Resort has a nice beach. Chenay Bay. Cane Bay.

Snorkeling - Cane Bay. Also do a boat trip to Buck Island.

Activities - visit the Cruzan Rum Factory, Whim Plantation, the Forts, Laweatz Family Museum, the Botanical Gardens, Point Udall, horseback riding, kayaking at Salt River, boat trip to Buck Island.

There is a Jazz in Moonlight event on August 19th I believe. And Starving Artist Day at Whim on the 28th. If you are on island for either of those, you might attend.

Safety - St. Croix shuts down pretty early in the evening so pay attention during the night.

There is a really great St. Croix trip report at https://www.vinow.com/wwwtalk/read.php?4,37159,37159#msg-37159

--Islander

Hi,

I own two weeks of timeshare at Hotel on the Cay. We love it and seldom leave the Cay. You can snorkel right off the Cay. Talk to Peter the entertainment guru at the hotel. He'll show you the ropes. Also recommend a snorkeling trip to Buck Island. Can be arranged at several places on the boardwalk which is about two minutes from the hotel.

We never rent a car. We get a taxi/van tour when we want one otherwise walk around Christiansted. Great eating places within walking distance from hotel. We liked the Bombay Club, Rumrunners, Pleasants, Fort Christian Brew Club, Turtles and Tuesday nights there is a bbq on the beach at the hotel complete with a jumbie dancer, fire eater and limbo. Little pricy but good food and good atmosphere.

Can recommend a taxi driver if you'd like. He has a new van and was a wealth of information. No hassle, real good guy. Took us to rain forest, beer drinking pigs, Cruzan rum distillary, Salt River, Fredricksted, booze shopping at Cost-U-Less and more.

Don't think St Croix is any safer or dangerous than St Thomas or any other Caribbean island. Hotel on the Cay feels very secure due to the location on the seven acre cay. Also, small hotel and many people know each other. Water taxi drivers are nice and many have worked there a long time. They know who belongs and who doesn't. Email me if any further questions.

Hello

I have not stayed at Hotel on the Cay so I am really looking forward to your trip report about your vacation there. I would recommend that you try and rent a car, atleast for a couple of days. If you want to, try www.judiofcroix.com - they have a toll free phone number and a email address posted - talk to Chris for rental info for your situation - I'm sure that they have delt with vacationers who have stayed there. Some of our favorite beaches are Shoys - Grapetree - Cane Bay the beach at the Buccaneer Hotel - the beach at DIVI resort (Shoys and Grapetree have no consessions, bring your own food and drinks and there is very limited shade trees but sooooo beautiful) and like Islander has stated, take a sail to Buck Island. As for your safety concerns, I think if you act on your good senses and intelligence you will have no problems at all, my family and I have never had a bad experience on St. Croix.

Your going to have a ball - St. Croix is truly a beautiful place

Steve

There is an excellent and thorough review of staying at Hotel on the Cay on this board at https://www.vinow.com/wwwtalk/read.php?4,21990,21990#msg-21990

As Sandcrab says, talk with Peter Des Jardins at HOTC and he will indicate to you where he recommends that you park if you rent. You will probably not want a car for the the entire time, but you might want one for a few days. I stay in town on the waterfront with secure hotel parking and I rarely rent!

Check out http://www.stcroixscuba.com/restaurants.htm for some reviews that I find are pretty darn accurate. I also maintain a list of my own restaurant recommendations that I could send you if you want. There are so many excellent places to dine that you will not be able to get to them all!

I'm told the snorkeling at HOTC is good from the beach and great off the back side near the old tennis courts. You will definitely want to do Buck Island to snorkel with your kids. You should also take in Cane Bay (two great beach bars/restaurants there) and perhaps one of the beaches in Frederiksted. Your kids will also enjoy the crab races in Christiansted and the beer (NA of course) drinking pigs in the rain forest.

Take a look at http://stcroixthisweek.com/ for additional information and ideas and feel free to contact me. You'll love the big island.

Hi Visitor,
The only thing that I'd like to add is that if you want real island cooking at a good price try Kim's on the east side of Christensted.I had the curry chicken there last time and it was the best. This restaurant seems to be off everyones radar screen. I think the locals want to keep it to themselves. Momabear and I will be back there this October.

Bassman

Thank you Islander,Sandcrab, Steve B, Joanne and Bassman!
I do appreciate the advice and the info provided.

We stayed at the Cay for a week in February and we had a rented car. There was no problem in parking the car downtown overnight. The snorkeling at the Cay was great, I saw turtles and rays along with many other things. The beach was nice, so was the pool. The staff was friendly. Some of the rooms need a little updating but that wouldn't bother me a bit it's a great spot. The two minute ferry ride to the Cay is fun. I even fished from the dock at night.

I just found this thread and it addresses my question and hope either mcdoug orFrequent Visitor can give me a follow up. We are staying at the Hotel on the Cay Dec 3-10 and really want a car the entire time as we like to hike and explore in the morning and beach in the afternoon, but I am also concerned about parking, especially overnight. Where can we park, especially all night? Also any information about cooking and eating utilsils at the HOTC would be heplful as we will eat in sometimes and are unsure what we should bring (plates, microwave dishes, cups, silverware etc)

you can park overnight on the street near the ferry to the hotel. The cops do patrol the downtown area and cars are typically safe there. It might be more of a challenge to find parking in the middle of the day if you leave and come back. Worst case, you can park in the government lot about 4-5 blocks from the ferry pier. It used to be a pay lot, but they haven't had anyone to man the booths in many months, so parking there has been free for quite a while.

I don't know about your other question regarding utensils, etc. at the hotel. Paper plates and plastic utensils are easy to come by if you find you are short an item or two.

Each unit can be a little different at the Cay. If you ask about the micro-wave or fridge I'm sure they'll tell you. Ours had both (small fridge). There were no utensils if I remember. We had no trouble parking a short ways from the dock while I was there. None at all.
The snorkeling is great. If they are having the weekly barbecue it's a good take. The beach and pool were very nice. If you were looking for lavish furnishings the Cay wouldn't be the place, but I found it comfortable and extremely safe and friendly. It's just a quick ferry ride to downtown and there are beautiful views of the city at nite. There was a family that ran a canteen truck at night just a short walk from the dock to the Cay. They had great baked chicken with rice for about $6. They had other things but the baked chicken was terrific I went back twice while I was there. I would stay at the Cay again in a minute. If Patsy cleans your room give her a big tip, she's one of those people with a genuine smile and a warmth that I looked forward to seeing everyday. Does it sound like I liked it there?

Thank you to both replies, and any other parking suggestions would be welcome. I have read a lot about the hotel and it sounds delightful to me. We got our room through a special deal RCI timeshares has for the military (husband is a pilot in Nat'l Guard)at an unbelievable price, and the room will have microwave and mini-fridge, and we are bringing a very small George Foreman grill. The reason we don't cruise is that we like more control over our food, so we cook in most days. I'm sure we'll eat out 3-4 times. Thanks to the internet, I can pick and choose by looking at menus online. So far H2O especially looks interesting, both for supper and breakfast. We have spent a week on St Thomas, St Maarten, and Aruba and loved them all, but there is a lot I am reading about St Croix that makes me think I might like it the best. The parking problem is our biggest concern. I'll watch for Patsy. We have always found the people on the islands wonderful from our other trips...glad to hear we will experience the same here. Thanks again.

Anyone with military ID can get the current per diem rate (I think $98 for much of the year and $139 during winter tourist season) at most of the hotels on the island, including at the Buccaneer and Carambola Resort. The bookings have to be made a certain way. Contact me if you are interested and I will fill you in.

That is a great rate for the Buccaneer especially, I will remember that, but we are actually WAY below that for the week on the HOTC. It is a deal that comes up through the Armed Forces Vacation Club, usually only 3-6 weeks notice, so it can be hard to plan. Sometimes it works if you have a destination in mind, but you either have to be flexible or commit to a location and hope a deal comes up and if it doesn't, be prepared to pay full price somewhere else and hope there are vacancies. It is RCI timeshare, not the resorts that make the offer. We stayed a week in St Maarten last year the same way. It was awesome, but know others who were unable to find a place, especially during high season.