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Hi everyone:
I've been reading your message board for several months leading up to our trip. So here are the results. The islands are fabulous! Everyone was very very friendly. The bugs, however, were not (we are all still scratching).
April 6,7: Left San Francisco on a 10:30pm flight to JFK. From there, flew to St. Thomas and arrived around 11:30am. Very tired but excited. No problem with renting a car (didn't get extra insurance). Drove to the Marriott Frenchmen's Cove to hook up with best friends (they invited our family me, hubby, and two daughters). They had already been there (stayed up at the Morningstar Marriott - which they were not impressed with rooms). Anyway, we couldn't check into our room until 4:00 so we go into our bathing suits and cooled off. The resort is beautiful. The views spectacular. Had some drinks and were very much refreshed. We checked into our room which to our surprise ended up being a three bedroom instead of two. Unpacked, showered and were off to dinner at CocoJoe's at the Marriott Morningstar. They had a carribbean buffet which was delicious! Music was playing - couldn't believe we were still awake. Got back to our rooms and ALL of our stuff had been moved!! Marriott had given us the wrong room. It was weird knowing that all of our stuff had been moved. So we proceeded to find our stuff and put everything away again. They told us for the inconvenience we could get breakfast on them. Finally went to bed.
April 8 (Easter): Went to free breakfast which was a Buffet set up at the Marriott Morningstar (Marriott Frenchmen's Cove has no restaurants open yet - but we just shuttle up). View and buffet were wonderful! We (adults) went shopping at Pueblo Market for supplies. Very very slim pickins'. Had to dig for any kind of meat - had to check expiration dates etc. Needless to say, we decided we were going to eat out a lot. But we were able to get plenty of alcohol. We returned back to Frenchmen's Cove and drank and played cards by the pool. Had our only one in-room meal that night.
April 9: We took the ferry over to Charlotte for shopping. Had a blast - bought lots of stuff and had a wonderful lunch at Green House. The waitress was a blast! I had the Mahi caeser salad and it was very yummy. Everyone enjoyed their meal. Came back and drank and swam some more. We ordered pizza from Pizza Amore'; it was very good.
April 10: Big Horizon II excursion. We arrived at Sapphire Marina at 7:00am. Wendy and Chad were our captain and mate. They were wonderful (and girls Chad wasn't bad to look at either). Started us off with cocktails, fruit and assorted breads. We went to The Baths, Pussers for lunch(fish and chips were awesome), snorkeled and my favorite Jost Van Dyke. Couldn't believe the beach there. Of course, we had the famous Painkillers there. The whole trip was perfect for 1st timers wanting to see a lot in a short period of time. Very relaxing.... Came back (oops I lied) we did cook again. Eggs and bacon - hee hee.
April 11: Went to Magen's Bay and sun bathed, swam and rented a paddle boat. Very beautiful views. Lots of people - but no biggie. Had drinks at the bar. We came back showered and headed to Iggies. Got there early - but hung around for buffet. It was okay. I think you pay for the show - which we ended up not staying for. We were tired and getting bug bites. Loved the view and atmosphere.
April 12: We took the ferry over to St. John's. We really didn't want to do beach day again, but still wanted to see a little bit of the island. We arrived not sure what to do. We were approached by a gentlemen named Spencer. He offered us a deal we couldn't refuse. $25.00 per person in his nice open safari truck. Took us to see Cruz Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Trunk Bay etc. Told us some history. We went to lunch at Skinny Legs. Had yummy burgers and more drinks. So glad we did that. Worth the money. His business is called Spencer for hire in case you want to go that route. We returned to the resort. They were having a "grand" opening for the timeshare owners (and friends), contractors, I think the govenor was there and I'm sure some of the neighbors. Anyhoo, free drinks and food. Very nice party.
April 13 (last day): Drove into Charlotte (easier to take ferry-parking was very hard). Did a little more shopping and ate lunch again at GreenHouse. Went back to resort for more swimming, drinking and playing cards. Had our last dinner at CocoJoes again. Not the buffet - but the food was still yummy.
April 14: Left to go home.. What a wonderful trip. Thanks to all of you for your input and information. My friends will return next year. We hope to return again some day as well.
Great report! Welcome to the addict's club!
Glad you had a nice stay (other than the room fiasco) at the Marriott. We are staying there in late June using my Marriiott points. I have heard the food is so-so there and pricey! Did you find this to be the case? Also, did you notice if the Marriott had any sort of a babysitting service? We are bringing our 2 kids (aged 9 and 10), and would like one night kid-free to spend some "alone time" ;-).
Are you going to be staying at the New Frenchmen's Cove Marriott resort or the Marriott Hotel? My friends stayed at the Marriott Hotel for a couple of days and then we all met up at Frenchmen's Cove. At Frenchmen's Cove there aren't any restaurants yet. I didn't see anything about babysitting. We did eat at CocoJoe's at the Marriott Hotel a couple of times. We thought the buffet was wonderful and the other time we ate there was good as well. All of the restaurants are pricey, but the adults like to drink which added to the bill. We also had breakfast there too - can't remember the name, it was Easter so it was set up a little different. Hope that helps.
No, the Marriott hotel. You can't use Marriott points for the new one....yet. Are they next to each other?
They are next door - but we had to take a shuttle whenever we wanted to go to the hotel to eat (which was for breakfast once and CocoJoe's twice). The ferry to Charlotte is right there at the hotel. Makes going over there a lot easier than driving - plus it is a pretty 15 minute ride.
Thanks for the great trip report! Sounds as tho you enjoyed yourselves! 🙂
Check with the concierge at the Marriott for babysitting. They could probably find you one.
