We just stayed at this hotel and overall enjoyed it a lot. The beach is one of the most beautiful around. St. John is so close it looks like you could swim there (of course you can't). The ferries are about 5 minutes away (in Red Hook) and you can go to St. John for about $5. The resort only has one restaurant which has what I would call bar food-it's okay, but the restaurant is for sale so there are some problems there and the service can be a bit slow. You pretty much need to go to Red Hook to eat and it's kind of expensive, but good food. If you climb to the top of the hill at the resort (more like Mt.) you can catch a safari ride that comes by about every 10 minutes and it only costs $1 or $2 depending on where you're going. It goes one way in a circle so if you want to go to Red Hook and then come back you'll probably want to take a cab back (unless you want to go for a really long ride). The taxis are much like the safari ride, but they cost way more and don't have locals on them. I enjoyed taking the safari ride, but if that's not for you you'd probably be best off getting a rental car. AVOID BUDGET RENTAL through the resort though. The lady there is beyond rude!!! We were going to get a rental car but she was so rude we decided not to bother. If you stay on the safari ride past red hook you can go to a shopping area with a K-Mart and some stores/restaurants. If you go past that you can go all the way downtown to shop.

As far as the resort is concerned, if you're expecting something ritzy you will be very disappointed. The bar at the pool is boarded up and like I said there is only one restaurant there that is so so. The pool, however, is nice and like I said the beach is awesome. You can go snorkeling right off the beach and it's very good. We liked our room a lot. It was spacious and clean. The bathroom could use remodeling, but overall we liked it a lot. We were on the first floor so you could walk right out to the beach. The one major complaint that I have about the resort is the people who serve the continental breakfeast. They must be related to the Budget Rental lady because they are really evil! You can only have 3 items and one drink and they yell at you if you take more. If you take an extra jelly they glare at you. When we said good morning they didn't even respond. It was unbelievable. I complained to their manager a couple days before we left and they seemed to be better so hopefully things have improved there. Despite these mean ladies, I would stay at this hotel again mostly because of the beautiful beach, good snorkeing, and spacious room. We had a bedroom area, dining area, kitchen area, and living area, plus of course the bathroom. It's all about expectations and if yours are really high you'll be disappointed. I had read some bad reviews and was really nervous about the resort, but I ended up really liking it. If you go to St. Thomas definitely take a day trip over to St. John and visit the beautiful beaches. You can take a rental car over for about $49 and drive the entire Island in a day. It's gorgeous. We also took a trip to Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Jost VAn Dyke which was a lot of fun.

I want to start by making sure which hotel I am reviewing. This is not crystal cove or the condos behind the marina with the blue roof. These are the red roofed units on the beach. I believe its Sapphire beach resort if you rent through an owner (vrbo) and Antilles if you rent through the hotel management (front desk). Renting through vrbo was a positive experience for us and considerably cheaper. Our last two nights our original unit was not available and we went through the front desk to find us an available unit. It was $100 more per night and the unit was not nearly as nice. There are considerable differences in the units. Most are individually owned and some are newly renovated and others are not. I suggest you review available units on vrbo and find one that fits your tastes. Lower level units are nice due to being able to walk right out onto the beach. Upper level units have more space and are two baths. These were nice for us as we traveled with our 19 yr old daughter. Having the extra bath and the "bedrooms" up stairs vs downstairs helped keep things clean and tidy. All the units sleep multiple people due to pull out couches and all units are one bedroom. The two story, two bath units are one bedroom as well, but the bedroom is upstairs and most have a pull out couch or two queens upstairs so everyone can sleep upstairs (as with my family). Having everyone sleep upstairs keeps the downstairs cleaner.

Having said all this I would stay again, and I dont think it matters too much whether it is a first or second floor unit. Buildings B and C are my favorites, but all are good and right on the beach. Building D and E are on the beach, but it is a little rocky and less fine sand. The snorkeling is great in front of D and E. But its no big deal which building you are in.

Our unit was 304 for most of the week. This is a nice renovated room. Everything works, its clean and its pretty. It has million dollar views off the upper and lower balconies. The building are old, so the air conditioning is noisey and its not the Ritz Carleton. But with the proper expectations its a wonderful place. I would stay in 304 again, the owner is very nice. The last two nights were in unit 305. This is not too nice. Its needs renovated. If you could get it for $100 a night it might be worth it, but there are lots nicer units on the property.

As far as the property goes it seems something is up here. For the maintanance fees the owners are paying it seems like the property should be better maintained. The parking lot needs paved, everything needs a new coat of pain. The pool bar has boards missing form the roof and is boarded up. The pool has old lounge chairs thrown over a wall just lying there..........put them in a dumpster for goodness sake. The lobby is horrible. On the one hand who cares about the lobby, but on the other you only get one chance to make a first impression and the "curb" appeal of the property is poor. This is a problem with the property owners not the individual unit owners.

I guess since the pool bar is boarded up they put up an awning and they have a deep freeze, a refrigerator and a couple of gas grills to function as the pool bar. The drinks here are cheap enough and good. they have specials sometimes like two for one. the food is very good. Hamburgers and fries with real heinz ketchup and the best mahi mahi sandwhich i have ever had. And they will bring it to you right out on the beach with very good service......so in the end who needs the pool bar.

As far as the island goes, we had rain all but two days. Two days it rained all day so we went to town shopping. Shopping is good, but it rained so hard even this was a challenge. we were soaked and cold. The other days it rained it did so briefly or in a way you could still get some beach time in. But it was still fairly cloudy which made the visibility snorkeling stinko. There was also more wind than normal. We just had bad luck weather wise. St Thomas has average restaurants. I like turks and caicos better. St Johns has a lot of natural beauty. Both islands are a little difficult driving, lots of steep hills and really tough to find parking.

We rented a car from Budget at the airport. The parking spaces are very tight, and I "dinged" the fender day one backing out of the budget lot. I gotta tell you I was very upset with myself, but the management there handled things so well I would never consider renting from anyone else. The came up and put their arm around me, looked at the fender and said "you are here for a vacation, go have fun and don't worry about this. These things happen." The took a wet towel and tried to buff it out best they could and sent me on my way. When I turned it in, I told the front desk guy how nice the guys in the lot had been and nothing further was done. I have heard so many stories about other companies being very difficult to work with in a situation like this. I have heard of people being charged for pre-existing dents, and being charged for the repair plus the down time etc......Budget was a forgiving, no hastle, helpful company. They did something very nice for me, and I appreciate it. I hope everyone who reads this rents from budget.

We were so excited to arrive in St Thomas until we pulled into Sapphire Beach. The place was a dump. Our room was dirty went to the staff who did not seem to give a you know what. They said the room would be cleaned, when we arrived back it had not been touched. The floor had food all over it, the drapes falling off, the fridge made so much noise hard to sleep, and the bed was about 30 years old you could feel the springs. The pool was cracked and had rust all over the bottom. Every where we went to eat the locals would ask where we were staying and we would tell them and they would say "Oh" that use to be a nice place, not one local had anything good to say about the so called resort. Shame on these places you save your money, use your vacation time and end up in a dump like this. We ended up checking out early and going to the Marriott for our remaining stay.

I have to say that i read the reviews after we had booked to stay at Spphire Beach, and was already nervous upon arriving! As soon as i pulled up i knew what i was in for! There was police line around one of the buildings since the building had burned recently! They neglected to tell you that when you booked to stay there! The grounds were in terrible shape. Weeds everywhere and gates that didnt even work and had to be hand lifted to get on the property. The rode in front of rooms is tore up with huge holes and a bull dozier that was sitting in the middle of the rode. You did not feel like this was a vacation or tropical getaway! When we were brought to our rooms we were told to keep the back door shut since they have drifters that might walk in and steal from you. The bathroom was updated but that was the only thing. The tv was not even hooked up, the phones were not plugged in and didnt even have batteries. There were stains on the bed and bedskirt, the dust was terrible and the air conditioning stops working whenever someone leaves the room, so you always come back to a hot muggy room. Also the smell was so bad, it smelled just like mold. All the restaurants are closed, except for one beach bar, that i wouldnt want to ever eat in! Dont let me forget the lobby, there were chickens walking around in the lobby and a huge rat trap that could catch a cat! This place might have been nice before, but is just old and run down. We only stayed for an hour while we were on the phone booking to stay at another place. When we arrived to the other place we found four other couples that did the same thing we did. They checked into Sapphire beach that day and checked out an hour later!!! Just make sure its what you want before you book it. I know you only sleep in the room, but it was terrible and there is nothing to do at the resort!!!!!!!!