Marriott's St. Kitts Beach Club

I just returned from St. Kitts and this resort is among the most spectacular I have visited in the Caribbean. My expectations were very high, as I had heard nothing but great things, but they were exceeded by what I found at this Marriott resort.

The timeshare units are brand new. I travelled with my husband and two kids and another couple with the same and we found the facilities to be extraordinary. The Beach is georgous and the surf is gentle. The main pool wanders off in many directions and there are two very large additional free-form pools that were larger than most you will find.

We travelled on President's Week and the entire place was sold out yet the property is so large that you never felt crowded. For the first time in all of my travels there was no concern about getting chairs by the pool or a cabana at the beach as there are more available than there are users.

The food was outstanding and far more reasonably priced than I have found in any of the US Virgins, other British Virgins, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Turks...etc. There is something for everyone at this resort including the most beautiful and challenging golf course I have seen in the Caribbean along with the largest casino outside of the Bahamas.

The units themselves were easily 1500 square feet and included 40" Sony LCD TVs in the living room and 27" ones in each bedroom along with DVD/CD players to go along. Internet access was free. The rest of the unit was equally spectacular with granite counters and all GE stainless steel appliances.

I cannot speak highly enough of this property and cannot wait to return. One observation about St. Kitts is that it is just now entering an era of commercialization. The airport is small and that is positive to some degree. However, we had a long wait in immigration for no apparent reason that was just awful. It would appear that we were just unfortunate that something was wrong at the time of our landing because we did not find anyone else, other than those on our plane, at the resort who experienced the long delay we suffered.

The infrastructure is poor with respect to the roads and the ride to the property - perhaps 3- 4 miles takes 15 minutes or so because there is construction and paving going on. I did not mind this as it provided the opportunity to take in the beautiful landscape for a few minutes.

Speaking of the landscape, from the beach you can see virtually no other development of any substance for miles and the horizon is filled with beautiful mountains in either direction, several of which summit at the clouds.

The weather for President's week was ideal - low 80's every day and low 70s every night. It was not humid day or night and a gentle breeze eased even the hottest part of the day and cooled the night even more. Just ideal. There were a couple of brief showers on two of the days that lasted for several minutes that were actually refreshing to experience rather than running for cover.

If you are travelling with children you will find a terrific Kid's Club and daily activities as well as food options that are extremely reasonable. There is a Pizza Shack that churns out pizza all day and into the night and kid's meals available in and outside the various restaurants. Both the seafood and italian restaurants were terrific - did not make it to the steakhouse and Calypso - the main dining hub was outstanding as we took a number of dinners to go - again - due to the youngsters. Inside the main hotel there is the best sushi that we have ever had along with a Cigar Bar featuring a wide selection of fine Cubans at very good prices. This resort actually features a duty-free shop in the hotel along with a number of fine stores. However, the duty free prices are actually very good. This saved us a fortune as we made a number of purchases of wine and liquor without leaving the property and without paying more than what we could find off the grounds. For smokers, the prices for cigarettes were the same as in the airport duty-free shop and there were Cubans available as well and delivery of other brands upon request.

I have only high praises for this resort. I own timeshares with Marriott in St. Kitts and Aruba and while we will be spending next year in Aruba (first year's use) we will definitely return to St. Kitts many times in the future.

This is a first class Marriott Hotel..........it is not typical caribbean architecture but it certainly holds its own for facilities. Saint Kitts is an emerging venue for relaxing vacations and consequently is not glitzy as Aruba is, this is a very quiet (relatively) island and can be slow. There are limited off site restaurants (Marshalls is the best in my opinion if you want to don a posh frock) available with most being low key with excellent quality food especially the fish.

For a fun evening visit Shiggedy Shack on Timothy beach on Thursdays but get there before 6.00pm, the Mahi Mahi and Lobster is first class........T Shirts and flip flops being the dress of the day. The people are polite and helpful and I have never had a problem with the Staff who have remained friendly during the many times I have been lucky enough to visit St Kitts.

This is an ideal chill out venue which will allow you time to ponder on when you will get another opportunity to return.................

Beautiful resort. Beautiful Island. Rooms are the largest in Marriott Vacation Club. Restaurants and food onsite are very good. Spa is wonderful. Large center pool by pool bar tends to be more crowded,side pool by timeshares more peaceful. Staff are sometimes slow to respond, but always helpful, and in contrast with a previous reviewer, we like to take our time when on vacation, so we appreciate not being rushed.

Staff acts as if they do not want to work at all. We requested a no room mid week clean up after we heard about local burglaries to american students. Lost my unlocked cell phone I left in the room when we went out. Security told us that there was an entry because they have to clean and my respond was not if we already told you we do not need it. Bottom line is they ask if we want to talk to the police, they won't take the initiative of investigating their employees that made an unauthorized entry maybe for fear of retaliation. I have never seen a place where security people co mingle with locals that have no business in the resort except for peddling on the beach. Food service was super slow anywhere and the only fast service are the taxi which will eagerly offer you their tour expertise on the Island, A lot of cabs are old though. I will have no reason to go back to this Island specially to the Marriott St. Kitts. We own eight timeshare and four of them Marriott and this is our worst Marriott experience ever. We had a platinum Ocean View confirmation and they tried to give us a Garden View, after some protest and arguing they gave us a room with a little peak of the water in between two buildings and through palm trees. There are places that you come and dream about going back again while you are still there but his one is the one you eagerly await to be over. The only positive of this resort compared to Hawaii is the warm water but I think I will just keep coming back to Hawaii after all it is in the USA., I may venture going to St Thomas for the reason it is a US territory but I am done with third world vacation places in the Caribbean except Aruba.