Ritz St Thomas Worth It?

[travelhacker]

It's a bit of a long story, but my wife's cousin booked 3 units at the Ritz in St. Thomas using Abound Points. He'll be there with his family, and one of his brother's is going to be able to make it, but a different brother backed out and he offered it to us (we've invited them to Ko'Olina and this year we'll also be going to Maui).

This would be during our kid's spring break. I think if we had more notice, we would have absolutely said yes, but flights aren't exactly cheap and we have decent plans already (skiing in Vail).

We don't have passports (which I realize we won't need, but it would have been nice to take a ferry to the British Virgin Islands while we're there).

The flights are either expensive, or ridiculously expensive, but we could make it work if we travel at really inconvenient times.

Should we try and make it work? It would be for 7 nights, but I may try to extend a couple of nights (it would be "free" with the fare difference).

How is the resort? How expensive is visiting the USVI vs say Maui (dining, activity cost, etc)? What are some things you would recommend doing?

Our kids are aged 8, 8, and 12 and in Hawaii we like hanging out at the beach, playing at the pool, hiking, snorkeling and doing any other adventures that are available in a particular area (i.e. we loved manta rays in the big island, and tubing in the sugar cane plantation canals in Kauai).

 

[Hindsite]

@ljmiii knows....

 

[ljmiii]

The RCC St Thomas is the nicest beach resort in the Abound Point system. Is St Thomas as wonderful as St John or Kauai, no. But the RCC simply can’t be beat for service or quality of the villas.

The beach isn’t as nice as Waiohai or KBC, but nicer than MOC or Ko Olina. And there are better beaches on St Thomas than those at the resort.

The number one thing I would recommend doing is getting out on the water. Either excursions from the RCC or Red Hook or (ideally) by making your way to St John. In fact, we’ve found private snorkel excursions from St John to be comparable in price to those for a family of four on St Thomas (and so much nicer). But there are other things to do on St Thomas as well.

I would say that in general St Thomas is about as expensive as Maui. One thing that is different is that taxis are ubiquitous on St Thomas and so many people don’t rent a vehicle. But the taxis do charge per person.

You mention adding days and while you could do so on St Thomas, I would strongly encourage you to do that on St John or (if you’re willing to add a pair of puddle jumper flights) St Croix.

 

[travelhacker]

Thanks @ljmiii! I really appreciate the info you gave. I'm leaning towards doing it. I know it's not impossible (heck my wife's cousin got three units), but it is a tricky reservation and would be a good opportunity for my kids to spend some time with extended family.

I love getting out on the water, so I would certainly plan on doing that. I'd love to do the extra nights at WSJ....we'll see if I can work that out.

I'd probably plan on renting a car -- I didn't realize until today that they drive on the left side of the road in the USVI....so that'll take some getting used to.

Is there any other information that may be useful? I know there's some equipment at the hotel side and it sounds like I may need to pay an extra fee to use them (like paddleboards).

Any other fees to be aware of?

Thanks so much!

 

[Hindsite]

I'd probably plan on renting a car -- I didn't realize until today that they drive on the left side of the road in the USVI....so that'll take some getting used to.

Possibly the worst of all combinations: driving on the left but using left hand drive cars, so having a passenger in the front right seat that can help spotter is worthwhile. Luckily the roads aren't great so getting speed up of more than 35mph is unusual.