St. Thomas,
Virgin Islands

Transportation: Delta Air Lines

Lodging: Marriott Beach Resort, Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star

Length of Stay: 10 Days

(Resort Room View from Frenchman's Reef)

The U.S. Virgin Islands are a series of islands east of Puerto Rico. The most populous island is St. Thomas and is the focus is this review. There are two other "primary" islands in the group, St. John and St. Croix. St. John is immediately to the east of St. Thomas. St. Croix is located some 35 miles south of St. Thomas. The locals claim you can actually see St. Croix on a clear day but from our 10-day experience we assume this happens rarely. Another addition to the local geography are the British Virgin Islands which are intertwined with the U.S. Virgin Islands. The most famous island in this group is Tortola. The islands of Tortola and St. John are so close together that there is a gap between them of a mere mile or so.

The Virgin Islands (both U.S. and British) are unique in that they are mountainous, providing views that defy description. The photographs we took of the area just do not provide justice to its natural beauty. In fact most photographs are hazy due to the high humidity, with visibility frequently between 8 to 10 miles.
 

(Sunset View from Resort pool balcony)
 

Transportation

Delta Air Lines was our carrier from Salt Lake City to Charlotte Amalie, via Atlanta. Delta has a general problem with its scheduling, however, in that most Caribbean destinations have a single flight leaving Atlanta during the late morning hours. Coming from Salt Lake City this requires either a single-night stay over at Atlanta or a red-eye flight with a 4 or 5 hour layover. Both scenarios have their drawbacks. We decided to make the stay over since our previous visit's red-eye was unpleasant.

Lodging

Our stay over hotel of choice was the Marriott Airport Hotel in Atlanta. We had a most unpleasant experience for this stay, but the Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort at St. Thomas was more pleasant. The resort is unique in that each room has an ocean view. We lodged along the southern shore of Frenchman's Reef. The resort is lined with tropical garden landscapes, and even a man-made waterfall. By the way, the lobby is stunning!
 

Vacation Diary

In 2001 we posted a vacation diary at the Nichols Family Website, providing specific details of the trip. Feel free to visit the site by clicking here.

Pro & Cons

Pros: A pleasant, remote vacation spot within a U.S. Territory. Friendly people. Close to St. John for a daylong excursion. Marriott is a self-contained resort providing restaurants onsite (although expensive). Rare beauty with the combination of mountains and tropics.

Cons: If scuba diving is your pleasure, underwater life at St. Thomas is lacking, although we did see a few fish, a single Caribbean reef shark, and a few stingrays. Traffic is relatively heavy, particularly if you want to drive downtown (one time our drive to downtown was 40 minutes)! Very expensive, both lodging and food.
 

(Beautiful tropical trees of St. Thomas)

Tips

• Plan road travel at the early morning and late evening hours. Downtown roads are literally impassable with long lines of traffic during rush hours (we literally walked a 1/2 mile once and passed cars on the road).
• There is an open-air market downtown. Plan a visit downtown when the market is open. Worthwhile.
• Only rent a car if you plan to move around the island a lot. And keep an island map handy, because it's easy to get lost on the windy roads.
• Visit downtown during "off" times, meaning when the large cruise ships are not at port. If you must shop while the ships are at port, preferably do it only when there is a single ship docked. Crowds will be much more manageable. Hint: The Marriott resort offers an over-water "taxi" (in a small boat) every 30 minutes or so directly to downtown, avoiding most of the crowds and traffic.
• There are rumors of frequent thefts, although we didn't experience this. Plan accordingly.