If I came to your home town and stayed at nice hotel, would that be the best time I could have in your town? Well, that is like the Virgin Islands....the hotels are great, but the fun is outside of the hotels for the most part... I would question why your friends want to be in an "all inclusive" facility...if you are concerned about "house brand liquor"...booze prices are the least of your worries...you can go to K-Mart and buy a liter of whatever for less than $10 and make your own. Food can be purchased outside of the two resorts you named for less.. Stay at Frenchman's and you have a lot of possibilities....Havensight (Off Shore, Shipwreck...), downtown (Cuzzin's, Greenhouse, etc.), Frenchtown (Hook, Line as well as Epernay. Grill, Alexander's ... There are some destinations where you don't want to leave the property, but the VI is not lke that... If you are youngish, you will want to go to Duffy's on the East End...if you are of a certain age you will want to explore some of the fine restaurants like Randy's and watering holes... Tell your buds...the drinks are not free, they are included in the price!!!!!Move around, you will enjoy the atmosphere and people...

I'm with Anon VI on this one. If you're absolutley set on all inclusive, do yourselves a favor and choose another island. St Thomas is not someplace that you want to do that. First of all, it's not done particularly well on St Thomas and secondly as Anon says, you WILL want to move around. There are so many restaurants and places to meet people. It's more like a moving party. If you stay in one place you'll miss out.
Neither of those resorts is big enough or busy enough to warrant an all inclusive, never leave the resort kind of stay.
You will spend less money and have a better vacation by skipping the all inclusive. Stay somewhere like Sapphire Beach resort, the beach is fantastic and the Sunday afternoon beach party is so much fun!

Both resorts are beautiful. However I must agree. St. Thomas has so much to see, and depending on the lenght of your stay, say 7-10 days I, and others on this board, could list things off the resort grounds to keep you busy and things so that you have the best time. All inclusives are great. But the USVI is such that hopping is key. Beach hopping, not just at the resort beach, but to Magens Bay, Sapphire, Brewers Bay, maybe one of the smaller ones if you want to explore and meet some locals - Hull Bay for example. Theres Secret Harbor. Then daytime without the beach, island tour, Charlotte Amalie and the historical sites, shopping downtows. Mountain Top, Botanical Gardens, snorkeling at Coki Beach, Parasailing out of Renaisance, Coral World, Scuba Diving if you like that, rent a boat if you know how to captain, and don't forget St. John - definietly worth a day trip or two if you have time, beaches there are fab - Trunk Bay, Cinnamon, Salt Pond Bay, Hawksnest, hiking, Annaberg, bar hoping at Duffys and Woodys for happy hour. Back on St. Thomas for nightlife, great great great restaurants are available around the island; Craig and Sallys, Banana Tree, Agave Terrace, Cuzzins for local food.... Do youself a favor and your friends and research the island, get feedback on what to see and do, come down with a ready to see the USVI spirit and youll have a great time looking around the island. On days that you are tired and just want to stay at the resort - both the ones you listed would do just fine, swimming pool, gym, beach, lovely grounds. If you stay at Frenchmans you have the free use of both Frenchmans property and amenities and Morningstar which is right down the road on the beach basically.

(What age range are you in, perhaps we can suggest activities that are more suitable to your likes and age, as well as a hotel where you might enjoy your stay the best depending on what you are looking for.)

I can only echo all of the above. My husband and I are just back from 9 days and 8 nights in STT and we still needed more time. I've done the all inclusive before but I would highly recommend not doing it at STT. Also, if they are still available see if you can find one of the Rotary coupon books where you can buy one meal and get one free. It was well worth the $20.00 bucks. I ended up giving my book to another couple when I left because there were still plenty of coupons left. I think whatever your age is you will have a great time at most of the STT establishments. I found some of the best foods in the most off the wall places. Charlotte Amalie at the place where the vendors set up had several trailers that were serving food. The one on the far end by Emancipation park was great, home cooking at its best. Downtown we ran across a little place in the corner, that sold conch pies that were out of this world. (next to the Green House, which by the way had a wonderful Tuesday Happy Hour, 2-1 drinks and half price appetizers.) The Blue Moon at Secret Harbour was great, Feeling Groggy at Bluebeards Beach Club and Villas was awesome and Hook Line and Sinker had the best Grooper I had ever eaten, in fact it was the only grooper I had eaten. Stop and have ice cream at Coldstone Creamery at I beleive it was hackensack Mall where the ships come in. Venture over to Bumps downtown and have a snack or whatever and take in the view, good food. Anyway, venture out, STT is wonderful and I have always said I would not travel to a place twice on vacation until I've seen at least half of the places on my list, however, I may make an exception with STT. Have fun.