We just got back from a 6 night stay at the Ritz in St. Thomas. I’ll preface this review by saying that we have stayed at numerous 5 star hotels, primary Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons, both at tropical resorts and in metropolitan cities. We previously read the reviews on this site and were weary of staying at this property. However, it appeared to be the best option for us at the time and so we proceeded against our better judgment.

Good qualities:

The pool is beautiful. The food was consistently good and the staff at the reception and concierge are fantastic.

The neighboring beaches are gorgeous….truly the most beautiful beaches we have seen or visited.

Bad qualities:

The worst thing about this hotel is its location. The beach adjacent to the hotel is a joke. The beach is short and there is no real room to walk along the beach. The water is rocky and full of seaweed (no joke). It is unpleasant to swim in this water.

Therefore, you are left with two choices. You can either go to the other side of the hotel (the one furthest from the Sails restaurant) and try to find a small patch of water ( and we mean small) where there isn’t seaweed, or you can take a taxi and find yourself another beach. Lind Quist beach is fantastic and just a 10 minute taxi ride.

The big joke that no one tells you is that EVERY OTHER BEACH other than the one at the Ritz is stunning. The Ritz managed to find the one patch of beach (if that's what we are calling it) which is unswimmable and build a hotel there. It is really really sad and embarrassing. Not surprisingly, all the employees we complained to agreed with us.

What surprised us most is that the Ritz markets this hotel by describing its white sandy beach. Yeah Right!

The second worst thing about this hotel are the cats and mice and management’s reaction thereto. There are wild cats all over the hotel running rampant and begging for food. At the least the slimy iguanas leave you alone. These cats have no shame. They don’t even have the decency to leave you alone at the club lounge!

One night, at their “signature” restaurant, we were forceably entertained by a cat with a live mouse caught in its mouth. The cat would drop the half dead mouse, the mouse would attempt to run for its life, the cat would chase it again, grab it in its mouth and once again run away. All this while you are being served your $30 appetizer (which you will be forced to pay despite witnessing this abomination).

Ironically, our dining neighbors included one of the managers of the hotel. Once the host was made aware of this disgusting situation, he proceeded to shew away the cat with the tray that he used to serve our drinks on. DISGUSTING...to say the least!

To our surprise, one of the servers even told us that the cat was actually gifting us the mouse and that we should be pleased. He was serious! The manager sitting at the next table not only did not look alarmed, but he didn’t even look surprised.

The host offered to remedy the situation by buying us another round of $19 martinis. To accomplish this simple offering, the host, nonetheless proceeded to not only charge us for our drinks, but to charge us the full price of our dinner that night. Dinner was not cheap.

The third worst thing about this hotel is the HOTEL. Stay away unless you are training for the Olympics or wish to enter a triathalon. You will walk a lot to get anywhere.

Besides that, you will not only walk uphill to get to your room, but the brilliant architect thought it would be fun to design the stairs and walkways at an additional incline just in case you weren’t suffering enough. Let’s see, 90 degree weather, humidity, bugs biting you at every chance they get, and stairs from hell. MMMMmmmmmm….relaxing.

Moreover, the rooms are not five star quality. On the first day, I did not realize that water seeps through the shower door. As I exited the shower to grab my soap, I stepped into a pool of water and almost broke my ankle. I complained about this issue, and our room was changed only to find a bigger pool of water in our new room. I was reminded of this issue every time I limped around the rest of the week.

Service at the pool is a joke. Be prepared to wait, and melt in the sun before some waitress decides to assist you. But be prepared to be ignored at least a few times before you get service.

Conclusion:

THIS HOTEL IS NOT A FIVE STAR PROPERTY.

If you do decide to stay at this property, take my advise.

If you decide to use the beach, go to the surrounding beaches that are gorgeous or go to St. John for the day. Trunk Bay is beautiful and exquisite.

I would lay out at the pool as well. The infinity pool is gorgeous.

BE PREPARED TO BE EATEN BY THE MOSQUITOS AND BE PREPARED TO WALK A LOT.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A PERFECT BEACH ADJACENT (ATTACHED) TO YOUR HOTEL, VISIT THE RITZ IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS, OR CANCUN. THE FOUR SEASONS EXUMA IS ALSO FANTASTIC.

GOOD LUCK.

During our stay we visited several other hotels for dinner and drinks, but we were always glad to get back to the Ritz. There wasn't even a close second. The grounds are beautiful, the staff is terrific, the rooms are nice, and the did I mention the grounds? The beach activities included with the room rate really add tremendous value to the room rate. We went sailing, kayaking, and snorkeling almost every day off the beach at the hotel. This is was a very romantic setting and the fews kids that were there were well behaved. You will not be dissappointed unless you have physical limitations. The grounds are large.

Like many other folks, I was very nervous about this hotel after reading so many negative reviews. I consider myself a bit of a hotel snob and my husband is a big foodie...so we weren't sure what to expect. Truth be told...we were very pleased with the Ritz with a few minor exceptions. First the good...

-- The grounds are lovely and relaxing. Many folks complained about the size of the resort which often required a lot of walking but we found it perfectly adequate (and we have a two-year old).
-- The food at Bleuwater was great. No complaints at all and excellent service. Best of all, the restaurant was completely accommodating of our toddler and the servers went out of their ways to keep her entertained and happy.
-- Service on the beach and by the pool was perfect...the waits weren't too long and the food/drinks were very good.
-- Our room was very nice...we did get an upgrade to an ocean view and found it very spacious for the three of us. The crib was set up when we arrived and extremely spacious...in fact I think it was bigger than the one our daughter sleeps in at home.
-- Our daughter celebrated her second birthday at the resort and the staff went out of their way to make it as pleasant as possible. They even brought out a surprise cake for her after our dinner!
-- Everyone everywhere was very, very friendly and we had no issues with service.

And the not so good...
-- Aside from Bleuwater, the food wasn't as good as we were expecting. I was particularly unimpressed with the food at Coconut Cove, the restaurant on the club side of the resort. Be sure to find out what nights Bleuwater is closed and consider booking a restaurant outside the resort for the evening.
-- I would have enjoyed more live island music. We've traveled to quite a few island resorts in the past few years and this is the only one I've been to that hardly offered any live evening entertainment. It's nice to have some local music flavor during dinner or during the afternoons while you're on the beach...

I decided to give the hotel four stars instead of five because I do expect a certain level of quality when I stay at a Ritz...but we would happily stay here again and recommend it to our friends. I'm not sure what went wrong for some of the other reviewers but I can honestly say we had a great time.

It will be important to note that I earned this stay through an award I won with my company.
The hotel was paid for as were the daily fees and I also had a credit for 1500$ place in my hotel account at the beginning of my 7 day holiday.
Having said all that, it did worry us that we had read so many negative reviews regarding this hotel. I mean after all when you hear the name Ritz Carlton, you immediately expect a perfect experience. We also had come down as a group and I was fearfull that the past experiences of those who had posted up would be evident upon our arrival.

I will preface by saying my experience with high end hotels is limited...in fact, I can honestly say that the Hilton and Embassy are the best I've stayed at and these were all in Canada.

So here's what I thought from the moment I got off the plane: It was evident we had landed in a a new world as the heat hit us immediately as did the lures of cold beer and liquor not far from our debarkment.

It took us a long time(1hr) to get to the resort as they are performing road works in Charlotte-Amelie which really delayed our arrival. Remembering this is a relatively small island and you must go through the same roads to get just about anywhere.

As mentioned by others, we were warmly greeted with cold drinks and food. Once we checked in, we were assigned our keys and found our luggage waiting by our hotel door.

THE ROOMS:
The rooms were no better/worse than any room I've stayed in at good hotels. The LCD screen in the room was nice, but to be honest we spent almost not a moment watching it other than to confirm our daily expendatures to our house account. The one reproach in the rooms I'd comment on was the lack of COLD water...it would seem luke warm and scalding were the only two tempertures afforded to us...so I took lukewarm showers the whole week which to be honest didnt really put me off.

We stayed in the Begonia suites and had a pleasant view of the pool, but lovely view of the ocean which was spectacular!

The beds were very comfortable and my wife and I honestly slept well, even though we both are normally very picky about where we sleep. Nice A/C which was an amazing relief after days in the hot sun and adjustable in your own rooms which I found important...sometimes it was a tad too cold and some hotels do not allow for self-adjustment in the rooms. All in all, very pleased.

THE BEACH:
Not much of a beachcomber I will honestly admit...but the colors, sights and sounds of this little slice of paradise were hard to ignore. I will say that the strip of beach was indeed rather small(perhaps 150 yrds) on one side of the resort. Now I know this sounds small, but at no time did I see anyone running into each other due to its size. It certainly wasnt ideal for beach volleyball or frisbee(unless in the water), but it certainly didnt put me off. The sand in the water does get a bit rocky quickly, but it didnt put me off as the first 25 feet were perfect. I'll get to other beaches in a minute.
The water sports were all good especially the snorkelling which on my last day provided me the opportunity to see a family of sting-rays as well as a baracuda which was VERY cool. Of course, we kept our distance...but it was outstanding and a first for me.
Service on the beach was just right with the staff coming every so often(its very easy to lose track of time) and I can assure you at no time were they so slow we dehydrated...The drinks at first seemed to come with limited alcohol in them(which could very well be my imagination)...but once you got on first name basis with the staff(they all wore name tags), the alcohol per serving mysteriously seemed to increase. A small gratuity here and there during our stay from the room to the beach bought us all the service we wanted(I think the whole week cost me 100$ in tips/not including meals)
May I add that TDORO was particularly accomadating and a true gentlemen ensuring our orders were accurate and promptly dealt with. Way ta go T-Man!
Look for this guy if you land on the beach...we did based on a write up on this site and he was visibly shocked and humbled by the revelation. He deserved it.

FOOD:
I am no food expert...to me, if it tastes good and there was enough of it, it was a positive experience. If you are coming down here for foo-foo chi-chi dining, I suggest you take a left to New York. This place is all abour RELAXING...That's not to say it wasn't of haut standard...we still needed to dress well to be welcomed to these establishements and the atmopsphere was lovely. We preferred the Great Bay Lounge where we had various dishes of Sushi and Sashimi on multiple occasions(don't let the good natured servers confuse you when describing how many rolls come on each plate) My wife and I love sushi and the servings were more than enough to keep us happy.

Now let me remind you I had 1500$ credited to my room upon my arrival...the average cost of dinner and drinks hit us for about 150$ every night. Drinks were about 11$ per(tropical drinks).
Its important to note this because odds are you will be forking this out of your wallet where as I was working on credit. Makes it difficult for me to have much credibility when speaking to the "value" I feel we received....but then again if I PAID for this trip, I likely would only do it once every five years. Its expensive...but again, the EXPERIENCE is what I value. The money can always be re-earned, re-spent.
We also ate at SAILS and had lovely lunches which were delicious and good plate sizes. The ambiance in all of these locations was fabulous.

Now for what we really enjoyed: The in room breakfast...indeed EXPENSIVE as it was nearly 60$ with gratuity daily...but once more...who cares? Do you do this every week of your life? It is eggs just like at home, but served right on our balcony overlooking the ocean...the food was once more delicious, but the experience MARVELOUS! I recommend if you want to feel spoiled if not for a few days.

EXCURSIONS:
What can I say? The catamaran on the Lady Lyndsay was in one word: unforgetable....We sailed to Jost Van Dyke which is the part of the British Virgin Islands and stopped for some spectacular snorkeling along the way. The crew of the Lyndsay were all young, energetic,helpfull and courteous, especially dealing with about 45 drinking sails people and their spouses.
I do HIGHLY recommed this cruise if you make it down here.
We also spent a day in St-Johns where the beaches were beyond any dream I ever imagined. The water was see through to the bottom kind of clear and you just sit there with your mouth open marveling at the beauty of this place. Go exploring on the islands if you get the chance, you will not regret it.

SHOPPING:
We went downtown to Charlott-Amelie for some shopping(of course) and I was able to acquire some beautiful jewelery for my wife. I will caution you at this time of year its the "off" season. The merchants are all anxious to make a sale and so they will try to gang tackle you once you set foot in the door. In fact, we had people coming right into the street and dragging us into their stores for a chance to sell us something. We found two stores particularly interesting; one of them was the "Effy" store where the gentlemen were just that..and the other was the John Hardy location not far down the street. Just ask for the "Swatch Watch" store and inside you will find the John Hardy counter which is adjascent to the washrooms(clean ones) and a nice little outdoor cafe. The sales lady was no pressure at all and knew her stuff. My wife got a lovely necklace and matching earings and I was rewarded for my hard work with new cufflinks. Very nice place and the value was...well, who really knows. Jewellery at many of these places carries price tags, but the no tax no duty thing makes it easier to part with the cash. Do note that negotiating is a MUST as the tag prices are all overly marked up to allow for the similation of a sale. We had prices changed on the same items at least 4 times for the ring my wife got at the Effy store. You cant lose by asking. Have FUN!

All in all folks, I have to rate this place as a 4.5 out of 5 stars with the only nixes coming from the traffic downtown and the higher prices..but all in all, if you are looking for a once in a lifetime experience as we were promised, the Ritz Carlton and the people of St-Thomas delivered...BIG TIME.

Cheers
George & Natasha