My boyfriend and I stayed at the Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Resort on December 17 - 19th, 2012. We went to celebrate recent accomplishments/milestones, as well as, scout the venue for our destination wedding. We stayed in building 5 (The sea cliff tower) and had a ocean view room. When we made the reservation (via Marriott reservations) we asked for a room on the cliff overlooking the ocean, when we arrived we were given just that, except we realized the main building provided a better view. Realizing the error was our own, we went to the reception desk and explained the situation, Rashawn was awesome! He gave us the opportunity to look at a new room to see if it would better suited our needs. The room was nice but wasn't a far departure from the room we were in so we stayed put. I do however, appreciate Rashawn's ability to satisfy our needs even when we weren't sure what they were. :)

Additionally, I can't say enough about Zogile! He went over and beyond and gave us countless recommendations about the hotel and surrounding area. We just so happen to stop and ask him about a hotel dinner recommendation and left with so much more to make the most of our short trip. If you ever need ANYTHING please see him, he rocks!!

As for the hotel, the room and grounds were relatively clean however, we were reviewing the hotel to suit the needs for a wedding. We liked the idea of guest being able to decide where they wanted to dine given the variety of restaurants and room options. The drawback was that there were cosmetic imperfections at the hotel, for example the elevator in the sea cliff tower had pieces of the wood paneling missing and there were many finger/hand prints smears on the stainless steel. Something that could have easily been fixed but wasn't the entire time we were there. There were small housekeeping issues such as that that I may be able to overlook when I am hanging out with girlfriends, but for a wedding...not so much.

The food: It was pricey and just OK. Nothing to write home about. However, we raved about CoCo Joe's Restaurant which offered a prime rib and lobster buffet ($59pp) the first night we were there. Delicious! I had 4 lobster tails, in fact. :) Oh, and Angela at Aqua Terra was really nice and hospitable when we went there for dinner.

The hotel is very nice, food options are limited. Check in/out was very easy. My complaint regards the staff. I have never encountered such a rude, nasty, even mean hotel staff in my life. I travel for a living, spending nearly 300 days/year in hotels (mostly Marriotts) and I could not believe the treatment my family I received at this one. Example - housekeeper actually left clipped toe nails (not mine) inside the entrance to my room! Disgusting - cannot recommend.

Ok, the wife and I stayed at Scrub Island (BVI) last year and decided to stay closer to St. Thomas airport this year to cut down on the ferry rides and taxis. Overall, I'd say that Marriott's Frenchman's Reef and Morningstar Beach Resort is ok, but nothing to write home about. We found ourselves wishing we had booked at the Ritz-Carlton.

First, for those that have not stayed here before, there are three distinct Marriott resorts clustered together: Frenchman's Cove (MGVC - full condo units), Frenchman's Reef, and Morningstar Beach. Of the three, I'd rate the Reef the least desirable. First and foremost, Frenchman's Reef is clearly the oldest of the three properties (followed by Morningstar and then the relatively new Cove). They've done what they can to refurbish the Reef area, but it's still very clear that this resort is old. We stayed in the Sea Cliff wing, but the Harbor wing (adjacent to the Cove and looking out on the same harbor as the Cove) is even older than the Sea Cliff wing. The nicest units at the Reef resort appeared to be the Ocean tower.

First the pros/cons of the Reef units.
Pros
->great view
->mid-way between the main pool area (next to the Ocean tower) and the Morningstar Beach area
->rooms are of decent size and appear to have been updated in the last several years
Cons
->a bit of no mans land . . . between the beach and the pool . . . nothing is really AT the Sea Cliff units
->food at the resort is not very good and over-priced. Please note: we're used to Caribbean food, which typically lags most mainland food in terms of quality and price, but the food at the Marriott main building (both the Sunset Grill and Aqua Terra) was below even Caribbean "average". Interesting enough, the food at the Morningstar restaurant (Coco Joe's) was noticeably better
->only one elevator in the Sea Cliffs tower for what appeared to be 80+ units
->we stayed here during the busiest of the busy season (Christmas week), but the pool lounge chair situation was out of hand . . . not nearly enough lounge chair space for the number of folks staying at the hotel (this was true for the Cove MGVC resort too) -- on top of that, there did not appear to be any "policing" of people saving lounge chairs by putting their towels on them (we got up at 6:30 a.m. on our last day here to go down and save a couple of lounge chairs and many were already taken . . . and remained vacant for *HOURS*)
->the same over-crowding issue existed in the gym . . . again, may be a function of the week we were here, but while the gym was above average in terms of equipment, it was far too small, square footage wise and very crowded

The Morningstar beach area was actually quite nice. We spent several days down in that area and if we returned to this resort (which, I don't think we will) we'd probably book a room at Morningstar portion of the resort.

I would recommend this resort for families (there were a lot of kids around and a section of the pool had a "play area" including a water feature / fountain). I would not recommend this resort for couples looking for quiet time or a get-away . . . . at least not during this particular week of the year, maybe it is different during less peak portions of the season.

We took two excursions and they were ok -- the 1/2 day snorkel with the Turtles and the dinner cruise . . . both on "the Cat". The crew on the Cat were great, but the snorkeling at the turtle preserve was . . . "meh" (compared to our experiences in the BVI an Hawaii).

Our only good "on property" meal was at "Havana Blue" at the Morningstar. Interestingly, Havana Blue is not associated with the hotel, so you can't charge the tab to your room, BUT the food, ambiance, and presentation were far, far better than anything at the resort, and only marginally more expensive.

Overall, the Marriott Frenchman's Reef is not a resort I would recommend to friends, nor will we probably return to. We would consider coming back to Morningstar, however.

my family and i stayed at this hotel mid december. When we arrived at the hotel, we checked in almost hassle free. I made my reservation with marriot themselves but at check in she couldnt see that i had paid for a room including breakfast. I had to call marriot from my cell phone and have the lady talk to the agent on the phone who explained to her my reservation. I did get a nice upgrade so i cant complain. The hotel is nice, its not the most convenient to get around but its a very nice resort. The breakfast was great, a lot of variety with the food. The outdoor sitting area that marriot shows in its pictures looked very big in person its much smaller then i thought. What i didnt like about the hotel was that it didnt seem to be run my marriot but by the adventure center. You cant do anything in the hotel unless you go through the adventure center. I am not kidding we went to one of the "nicer" of the 4 restaurants in the hotel, they said oh you need to make a reservation. they had plenty of tables, it was a joke. You couldnt book any scuba diving excursions, since the adventure center didnt do it. they wouldnt even call someone for you, they said we had to call. I guess the scuba place didnt bribe them enough to be in the adventure center to do manual. It gets better. The conceirge (hopefully i spelled that right) that a lot of people rave about was all about 2 things. Trying to sell you time share or not leaving the resort so we spend our money at the hotel. We asked the gentleman about renting a car, his reply was why do you want to leave the hotel. Its dangerous driving on the other side of the road and dangerous driving around town. What the hell? Everything was about the hotel was nickle and dime. I have stayed in a lot of hotels, much more affluent then this hotel, so its not about why is a hambuger $18.00, its about why the games. I am not sure how much this adventure center is paying the marriot to run the show, but its a huge turn off. I would go back to st thomas, but i wouldnt tell anyone to stay at this hotel. You pay $35.00 a night resort fee, but you dont get anything back from it. other hotels offer free snorkel, kayake, etc, even with marriots resort fee, you still have to pay. Its the marriot nickle and dime hotel. Dont stay here.