Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort

Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort is the largest hotel on St Thomas. With almost 500 rooms overlooking Charlotte Amalie Harbor in St. Thomas, this is probably the premier place to stay. A non-smoking facility, they have 5 restaurants, 6 bars, and 3 swimming pools, tennis courts, and a nice beach. They also have a kiosk in the lobby, called the Adventure Center, where you can book all kinds of activities like snorkeling, sailing, scuba diving, catamaran tours, etc. if you are there for a week or just a day. They also have large rooms for events, such as weddings and business conventions. This is the largest, and probably nicest place to stay in St Thomas!

We read a lot of reviews about this resort and were very skeptical about going after hearing about a lot of issues people had encountered. Nevertheless, we gave it a shot, and I decided to make sure that I keep notes so that I could tell everyone about our experience. First of all, if you are a US citizen, no passport is required! So, we arrived on June 24, 2009 at approximately 3:30. The drive from the airport took about 20 minutes. We had an open air bus, so it was a hot drive, but thankfully short. They drive on the opposite side! Check in was extremely fast, probably took no more than 6 minutes. The lobby is beautifully decorated, very colorful and modern. We requested a king size bed and a water view. Unfortunately, the hotel was overbooked and they had no king size beds available, but recommended that we check back each day to switch rooms. We ended up with two double beds in room that had an obstructed view of the ocean. I wasn't happy, my boyfriend is 6' 2". Try sleeping on a double bed at that height! We later found out that the hotel was overbooked and a few people had to spend a night at the Wyndam until others checked out. We decided the inconvenience of having two double beds was less of an issue. On Friday, rooms became available and we were able to get a king in a room on a higher floor. Our room was 3504 and the view was breathtaking. Thank you, Toya!!

The rooms are spacious and come with a 32" flat panel TV. We brought our PS3 to watch movies and remove that expense, but hooking it up was not permitted! Oh well. The air conditioning never seemed to completely cool the room, but it was adequate. The bathrooms are small, however, that was really not an issue for us. Housekeeping replaced our linens daily and we had absolutely no other problems with the room. It was clean, and smelled fine. The ceiling appeared to have some issues with moisture, and there was no visible sign of mold.

The food was absolutely fantastic! The breakfast buffet at Windows was delicious. Lots of fresh fruit, pastries and a great view. Sunset Bar and Grill was good as well, just a few issues with cleanliness, i.e. the floor needed to be swept. The seagulls flew around quite a bit and would steal your food if you weren't careful. If you eat nothing else, make sure you try the Caribbean Buffet at Coco Joe's. I think it 's just on the weekend. If you miss it, you've missed a treat! While it's a little costly at $42 per person, it's well worth it. Skip lunch so that you can get your money worth. Drinks are tasty, and of course watered down. See Manny and ask for the BBC. The Mango Marguerita is delicious as well. We had the All Inclusive plan and I highly recommend you go that route. I kept all our receipts and just the two of us for five days spent $886 on food and liquor alone. We saved about $300 on our package by doing the All Inclusive Plan.

The walk down to Morning Star was not long at all. I think I counted about 72 steps. Going down is fine. It's the walk back up in the heat that's the killer! LOL The grounds are beautifully lanscaped though, and the iguanas provide lots of entertainment on the way.

Overall, we had a wonderful time. Hotel staff was helpful, restaurant staff were friendly, the weather was great everyday. We checked weather.com before we left an they predicted rain for each day. It never rained!! It was hot, though, and very humid. To be expected. I'm glad we went so don't put too much stock in the negative reviews. While I do think the rating is a little high, the spectacular views more than make up for it. Enjoy.