I have stayed at Carambola on three of my four trips to St. Croix. First I love this sleepy island, and have since my first trip...paid for by my company. Subsequent visits find gracious and helpful staff, all be them somewhat elusive when working via a friend who is an "owner" of the early timeshare offerings. You certainly need a rental car, but navigating the island is fun and you can find a lot of amazing things to see and do all over St. Croix. It's been over a year and a half since my last trip...and this girl can't wait to go back. PS-I have come here for work as well as pleasure and have stayed solo and never had an issue.

The Carambola grounds are beautiful and the beach nice with sunny and shady areas. However, if you are squeamish, this is not the place for you. We rented two rooms which were in different buildings. Although they were the same price one had a great ocean view and the other a view mostly of other buildings. While the rooms were renovated, there were ants and cockroaches in both rooms. The rooms were not ready for visitors. No safe, no hot water, refrigerator not plugged in and the dishwasher fell out when we tried to open it. We called about the hot water which the hotel engineered fixed with a special tool. We never did get a safe. We tried to ignore the bug sightings but where there is one cockroach there are plenty more. The cleaning staff does a good but inconsistent job. We ran out of toilet paper on one occasion.

Beach towels are always in short supply. Beach chairs are often taken by people just visiting the beach for the day so you may need to drag one down the length of the beach. The swimmable beach is nice but small.

Yes, the food at the restaurant (we only ate there for lunch) is okay, but very very expensive and the service is slow. If you shop at a supermarket you could make your own, but this is a vacation so we typically eat out.

We found the staff to be friendly and nice. There were two surly employees, a young woman who handed out towels at the pool and one of the bartenders. The two of them seemed to enjoy complaining to one another.

You will need to rent a car and drive-daunting since you need to drive on the left side on very dark and curving roads at night. Christenstaad - about 30 minutes away- has many fine restaurants-most pricey. Streets are deserted at night and there is little police presence so go with a group.

So if you want a pretty setting with a nice swimmable beach and large pool and you can ignore the bugs etc then you might want to go. I couldn't recommend the place to friends without all the warnings. Some would freak out at the bugs, driving, prices and remoteness.

Our stay at the Renaissance St. Croix Carambola Beach Resort & Spa was most relaxing and enjoyable. The setting is quite secluded and yet not isolated (however, you will need a rental car to get around). The staff members were very welcoming upon arrival and during our stay. The setting is lush and tropical but without being "touristy". Our room was large, comfortable and well appointed with an ocean view, which is highly recommended. The resort accommodations enhanced the enjoyment of our stay, especially the bar with its outdoor dining option. It was also easy to spend the day at the swimming pool lounging, reading and enjoying a favorite libation or two. A variety of recreational opportunities are offered as well. All in all, I would give it high marks for a fun and relaxing vacation on a lovely Caribbean island.

This property has a lot of potential. There were things we loved about it and a few things we found wanting. First of all the rooms -- they were great and a perfect set up for a family of four. Large, L-shaped room with a lanai for sitting or drying clothes. The bathrooms had extra large sink area/changing area with a separate shower and toilet area. Very comfortable and very clean. We had a kitchenette in our room (microwave, fridge and sink), two TVs in our room, large king and sofa bed and roll away bed and felt very comfortable. Again, perfect for our family.
The pool was a nice pool -- not fancy with a water slide or anything like that -- but very nice.
The beach was wonderful! My son and I swam to the "wall" where the reef ends and the ocean wall drops -- which is only about 50 yards and very do-able. The snorkeling was terrific, the water warm and it was really fun to swim the wall.
The things that we found disappointing were these few things: the hot tub was either burning (and I mean burning) hot or too cool and the staff really seemed to have a problem keeping up with laundry. We had to wait 2 hours to get pool towels (we went Christmas week and I think they didn't quite know how to handle the influx of people). And, the service was a bit island-ish (long wait for food service, etc.) We didn't get replenishment of shampoo and conditioners one day so we had to call for it -- when it finally came, we were gone. The dinner buffet was a disappointment as we had a 8:00 reservation and they had run out of most of the good stuff. (Again, not well prepared for influx of people). Also, we twice made reservations for dinner only to find that no one really "took" our reservations -- it wasn't a problem, though, they had room! Not a lot to do on property other than snorkel, beach and pool (unless you scuba dive) but that was also a positive. It was VERY relaxing. I did get a great massage from the spa and used the exercise room nearly every day. It is away (gratefully) from the maddening crowds. And, the view is one of the prettiest there is. One night we sat with our friends just looking at the stars against the beautiful waves and palm trees. When I say the property has potential, I think if they added a poolside bar and had some waterside activities (kayaking? Volleyball ? ) it would be a desired improvement. This is not a luxury resort -- but a really lovely resort where you don't have to dress up or have to deal with a crush of people. The food at the bar and restaurant is fine -- not great -- although my kids loved the fish tacos and smoothies. BTW, Mark L. at the bar is a real go-to person. He tries very hard to make sure guests get what they need and goes out of his way to make it a lovely experience. (I don't drink alcohol so I'm talking about the general service.) It was good to eat away from the resort at least for a few nights. Christiansted is a curvy 30 in away and Cane Bad (only 5 minutes away) has a few nice restaurants. Eat at Cane Bay was really delicious. We would definitely recommend this hotel and really enjoyed our vacation -- despite the minor disappointments -- we would go back in a heartbeat and thought it was lovely.