The Caribbean - St Thomas lodging

I grabbed an ORD-STT seat literally two minutes before the fare expired. I'll be there in November, arrive Tuesday, leave Thursday. First time, and all too short, but 2 days is all I could get. Any advice on inexpensive lodging will be greatly appreciated.

We are heading to St. Thomas on the same fare this weekend! We leave Monday morning and come back Wednesday night.

We're staying at Best Western Emerald Isle (I think that's what it's called). It's a 5 minute walk from STT from what I've read/been told. We were going to do Marriott but an ocean view was going to be $250/night. The Best Western ended up being $120/night (all rooms ocean view)and looks like a decent place from the pictures I've been able to find. I'm certainly not expecting Westin or W service, but I'm sure it will be more than acceptable of a hotel to stay at.

I'll let you know how it was when I return!

Halothane

A decent short-stay option is Hotel 1829, right on the edge of 'downtown' Charlotte Amalie. Nice views. All rooms are different. Off-season rates are good.

Just booked the Ritz Carlton for 223/nt 12/4-12/6, offer available off their website, not the Marriott one.

Hmmm I am looking for cheap, to keep the MR feeling alive. :)

Maybe those of you who know the place can guide me about one point: Must one book online in advance, or is it one of those places where you can arrive and find something cheap locally, something that would never make it to guide books and online portals?

In many European/Asian cities, my experience has been that the airport has a "tourist help" desk who have up to date local info and can find something much better value than guide books etc. Not sure if St Thomas is such a place.

Hmmm I am looking for cheap, to keep the MR feeling alive. :)

Maybe those of you who know the place can guide me about one point: Must one book online in advance, or is it one of those places where you can arrive and find something cheap locally, something that would never make it to guide books and online portals?

In many European/Asian cities, my experience has been that the airport has a "tourist help" desk who have up to date local info and can find something much better value than guide books etc. Not sure if St Thomas is such a place.

If your trip is early in November, you'll probably be OK without an advance booking. If you're going around Thanksgiving, it might be risky.

IIRC, most of the booking operations at the airport represent and steer you to particular properties, unlike what you might have experienced in Europe and larger Asian cities.

I've always booked in advance but (almost) always went during busier seasons.

You can find STT B&Bs online in the $100 range and book them if you want to avoid the bother after you've arrived.

If your trip is early in November, you'll probably be OK without an advance booking. If you're going around Thanksgiving, it might be risky.

Thanks. It is smack in the middle: Nov 17 - 19. If the airport desk does not offer cheaper/better options than online, then I'd book in advance. (My memory of European and Asian cities was that locally you could find options that do not even appear in any portal or guide-book's radar screen. But a place like STT probably doesn't have the volume for that.)

Just curious: Can I leave my passport and green card home, and only fly using DL for ID, like I would for Phoenix or Atlanta? Or are the USVI not that US? :)

Just curious: Can I leave my passport and green card home, and only fly using DL for ID, like I would for Phoenix or Atlanta? Or are the USVI not that US? :)
Bring them. They are US, but they're not THAT US. IIRC, you'll need to preclear before departing for your return flight.

You do pre-clear US Customs when returning from STT. US citizens don't need a passport but must present a valid govt. issued photo ID.

I'd bring a passport just to be totally safe. You also would need a passport if you decided to hop over to one of the British Virgins for a day.

Just returned back from STT. Had a nice trip.

The flight down on AA was so-so. Nothing spectacular but nothing terribly wrong except we were delayed 4 hours for a late arriving aircraft.

The Best Western Emerald beach is a nice property with a nice beach! The only thing about the hotel is there really is no cold water and the beds are awful.

We rented a vehicle from Thrifty (who came and picked up at our hotel and then took us to the airport when we dropped it off) for one day so that we could get around cheaper than via taxi.

Gladys' Cafe in The Royal Dane mall is a must! It's easy to miss but well worth the effort.

We are heading to St. Thomas on the same fare this weekend! We leave Monday morning and come back Wednesday night.

We're staying at Best Western Emerald Isle (I think that's what it's called). It's a 5 minute walk from STT from what I've read/been told. We were going to do Marriott but an ocean view was going to be $250/night. The Best Western ended up being $120/night (all rooms ocean view)and looks like a decent place from the pictures I've been able to find. I'm certainly not expecting Westin or W service, but I'm sure it will be more than acceptable of a hotel to stay at.

I'll let you know how it was when I return!

Halothane

how did you get the Best Western for $120 ? i'm looking at it for january or feb and it's $300/night ! is it just the season ?

how did you get the Best Western for $120 ? i'm looking at it for january or feb and it's $300/night ! is it just the season ?

I just looked on Kayak and see where the Best Western Emerald is running $300 a night. That's INSANE and I would NOT pay that much for BW! If I had been there longer I would have stayed at Marriott Frenchman's Reef or gone to St. John and stayed at Westin St. John. A quick glance on Kayak was showing Marriott at $330 a night on various dates in Feb.

Will you be renting a car while there? Taxis get expensive down there and they are not the traditional taxi that we're used to here on the mainland.


Halothane

I just looked on Kayak and see where the Best Western Emerald is running $300 a night. That's INSANE and I would NOT pay that much for BW! If I had been there longer I would have stayed at Marriott Frenchman's Reef or gone to St. John and stayed at Westin St. John. A quick glance on Kayak was showing Marriott at $330 a night on various dates in Feb.

Will you be renting a car while there? Taxis get expensive down there and they are not the traditional taxi that we're used to here on the mainland.


Halothane

sadly i decided to wait until i got home from work to bite on the delta MR worthy fare SFO-STT and it was gone. so i won't need to worry about dropping $300 at the BW either ...

halothane, donlind and everyone else with STT experience: Need your help urgently. I just returned form an Asian trip and have only a few days to do something about STT. :)

I reach STT 11/17 afternoon, leave 11/19 afternoon. That's all I could manage in "paradise" this time; hope to go again. What is the best way to use this limited time (17th evening, all of 18th, and 19th morning)?

Hotels: Halothane, you obviously liked BW. I think it is around same price ~120 now Other possibilities are in Business District, a couple of B&B's around $80. Which area would you recommend? Or, would it be better to stay each night in a different hotel, just to sample different areas? I'd have practically no luggage, so moving around is not a problem.

Should I bother renting a car? Should I even bother with St John? Or is it better to make the best of St Thomas in this limited time?

Any words of wisdom and experience would be greatly appreciated.

BW Emerald Beach was not a bad place to stay at for what I paid. It was a nice beach and we practically had the place to ourself. It also has free internet. You can also walk to the BW from the airport over about 5-10 minutes. The bottles of water were $2 and sodas were $2 a can (or something close to that). We stopped at a grocery store and picked up some water and a few sodas and kept them cold by putting ice in the sink. The rooms are all ocean view rooms. They all have tile floors. The beds were so-so. Did not have ice cold water from the faucet. It doesn't appear that the BW Emerald Beach is available on 11/17 but it is on 11/18 for $199. I doubt I'd pay the $199 for the BW when the Marriott is $245....Just depends on what you're wanting to do. I can send you some pics from the view of my room at BW Emerald Beach if you want.

We did rent a car from Thrifty (I think) which states that it's an airport location but it's actually not. They will come and pick you up wherever you are. We rented the car on our full day there and then returned it early afternoon the next day when we departed. We did this as the BW Emerald Beach had free parking.

We were mostly lazy...we went into Charlotte Amalie to see the shopping, the cruise ship ports, the people, etc. We also drove around St. Thomas. Outside of that, we laid on the beach and took it easy. It was a nice and relaxing quick getaway.

I would definitely make it a point to stop by Gladys' Cafe (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147404-d1046663-Reviews-Gladys_s_Cafe-St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html) in The Royal Dane Mall (in downtown Charlotte Amalie). It's a perfect place to stop in for lunch.

Thanks! So my options appear to be as follows -

1. Stay in a place with free parking, rent a car, and see the island. It is a small island, so probably can cover good part of it. Partly go into town (is parking a problem?) to walk around.

2. Stay in a city B&B. Then most of the time is walking around, seeing the city. Probably some excursions possible to beaches with bus/taxi?

Well, I realize you did #1. Still, given what you know now, does that still seem to be the better option, or is #2 equally viable?

BTW, the ferry between ST and SJ, can it take cars or only people? Just trying to imagine the scale of the operation.

Thanks! So my options appear to be as follows -


BTW, the ferry between ST and SJ, can it take cars or only people? Just trying to imagine the scale of the operation.

There are multiple operators out of Red Hook, which is closest to SJ. They take cars, trucks and passengers, and have frequent service. I think I remember just paying something like $35 RT for bringing a car. You'll have more hassles driving on the wrong side of the road than getting to paradise.

OP,

What did you end up doing? How was your trip?