Good but not great...

WEATHER: The 87 degree weather with a non-stop light ocean breeze is the best thing about the island. We had amazing weather all week which was the highlight. It is humid but the breeze keeps you comfortable. The only negative on the humidity is you can't really keep your doors open in the condo because it will immediately make the floors damp and all the mirrors will fog up so you are either in Air Conditioning or outside but no "outdoor living" situation where you keep all the windows open and feel the breeze inside. No biggie though. THE RESORT: Upon arrival, I was a bit disappointed with the resort! There is absolutely no "wow" factor which gets you excited when you first arrive. You pull up to a very basic and pedestrian looking front entrance with a small lobby. Granted, last year we stayed at the Four Seasons Costa Rica where the wow factor was off the charts so it might not have been a fair expectation but none the less, just know it's not impressive and feels like your basic everyday condo complex. The hotel side is closed along with all the amenities and restaurants and they are doing construction daily but we were on the opposite end so the noise was not an issue.. We are on the Time share portion of the resort and there is 1 main restaurant open which is an open air concept just steps from the sand serving very basic and non-memorable food. $20 pizzas, wings, salads...$45 steaks, etc. They have a breakfast buffet that we didn't try because it ends at 10am and was pretty minimal...omelettes, bagels...no waffles or pancakes for some reason. We only ate at the restaurant twice in 7 days. THE PEOPLE: The clientele at this resort is the time share owners who come 3 weeks a year from the East Coast or the South and bring their whole family. Lots of groups of 5-8 people, lots of little kids and college kids roaming around like they own the place (they kinda do). We had a few annoying groups of college kids wearing cowboy hats getting drunk and yelling "yee-ha" for hours from the balcony which we could hear from the "Serene" pool. The drinking age is 18 so the bar at the restaurant is filled with teenagers. The one dinner we had at the restaurant, you will see whole tables with just 5-8 year olds and the next table will be the adults. Luckily, they mellowed out for the remainder of the week but wherever we went, they were there (it's a small place). The interior of the condo is a bit outdated (the owners opted not to remodel after the hurricane) but it's very nice and comfortable, just not modern. Beds and sheets are really, really good...Frette sheets and the beds are very soft! Bathrooms and showers were great and the kitchen is stocked with everything you need plus they have a "spice market" where you can order small packets of pretty much any spice for cooking so you don't have to buy them at the store and you can borrow additional kitchen appliances like a juicer, rice cooker, etc. They also provide really good island roasted coffee, plus housekeeping and turn down service every day...That was nice! There are 2 pools...one "family" pool which is the largest and unless you have a kid you don't want to go near there. The smaller pool is the "serene" pool and 18 and over only. Typically, there was only a few people there at any one time which was nice. No need to rush down to save a chair anywhere on the resort. There were even some nice couch areas right on the sand that were often empty and for the taking anytime. I would say the beach loungers were about 80% empty the whole time. The best deal at the resort is for a $35 flat fee (for your whole group) you can use the kayaks, SUP, snorkeling gear and even a Hobie cat for the whole day. We did that twice! The beach is very short (5 or so feet) and very rocky with lots of seaweed. They do clean it in the morning but it's still all in the water. The water is warm though and it's nice to take the floats and just chill in the ocean. There are fish but the snorkeling in the bay of the hotel is pretty minimal. We saw a few things but it's not like Hawaii. THE ISLAND: We didn't venture out of the resort the whole week except to go to the grocery store 3 times. We didn't have a car and taxis charge by the person so for my husband and I to go to the grocery store it was $25 round trip ($10 each way pp + tip). The grocery store (Moe's) is just 5 minutes away by car or a 15 min walk which we attempted once (don't do it). It's a small road with non-stop taxis speeding by and no sidewalks...we almost died! The grocery stores are EXPENSIVE! They don't have any agriculture on the island so everything is shipped in and fruits and veggies are not the best, in small quantities and double the price. $10 for a box of cereal...$10 for milk...$15 for a bag of grapefruits. Basically, every items is at least $8 and up. Best deal at Moe's (like a small Trader Joes) is a $7 rotisserie chicken and they have a decent salad bar for $9/lb. There is another grocery store that is slightly cheaper but is pretty ghetto and feels like a 3rd world country. The rest of the island is pretty ghetto as well...run down houses...very low income...feels like Tijuana or any other 3rd world country you've ever been to. The shopping is non-existent so i didn't even bother.....the restaurants in Red Hook (which is the town we are in) are just a little strip mall across from the grocery store and didn't feel worth going into so we cooked in most days. You get a good glimpse of the area as you drive from the airport and we didn't see anything worth venturing out for plus even though the weather is great...if you're not in your bathing suit by the water, it is really hot and sticky to walk around and look at stuff. Overall, we had a good time but coming from the West Coast, the Virgin Islands are not really worth the long travel times to visit again. There is nothing unique about the island so you might as well just go to Mexico or Costa Rica or Hawaii with half the plane ride and better food selections. If you are an East coaster, it's just a 3 hour flight so I can see why they go. ”