I should've paid closer attention to those reviews that warned against staying at this resort. I vouch for the nightmare scenario. My husband and I have been to St.Thomas twice and if you're smart, you'll pay the extra $1-200 bucks to stay at a nicer place (we stayed at the Wyndham the first time, much better!), at least you might be paying for much friendlier, more competent staff, cleanliness, and warm water (the last time I was stuck with cold showers was during a missions trip in a third world country).

Restaurants - Bonnie's by the Beach and Robert's Grill have decent food and staff are much more adept at customer service skills. Beach is on the smaller side but ok, not too crowded, the only thing that made me nervous was the large amounts of boats parked closeby in the waters - how much pollution might be coming from them into the designated swimming area?

One more thing, if you're a U.S. citizen but are non-Caucasian, you should still bring along your passport as identification when you return into the mainland. I brought only my driver's license both times and got badly burned by custom's officials both times (even though regulations state that if you are a U.S. citizen, you only need one piece of identification, including the driver's license...)

We stayed at the Elysian for our honeymoon for 7 nights. We are a young couple and do not expect luxury when we travel. The Elysian was a pretty nice place to stay, but for some of the other guests who are used to more, it was more of a low-end resort. The following are the positives and negatives my husband and I experienced:

Positives:
*The staff were generally friendly (not quite as laid-back as the rest of the islanders)
*Bonnie's and Robert's were great restaraunts
*The staff paid a lot of attention to the landscaping and general appearance of the resort grounds
*The rooms were decent...clean, cool, and comfortable (nothing too special though)
*The resort hooked us up with numerous activities/excursions throughout the week (listening to timeshare information was a way to get a discount card for these activities)...make sure you do the daysail with New Horizons and the night snorkel with Homer...they were great!
*It was fun to hang out with iguanas all week
*The pool and jacuzzi were great...very romantic to go swimming at night while Roberts had live music in their bar
*Robert's Bar was great...try the painkillers
*HBO in rooms! (Although the satelite feed was struggling)

Negatives:
*The restaraunts were quite expensive (avg. price p/p $25)
*The beach was bad (it looked beautiful, but when you tried to swim in it, it was not pleasant) We used the pool most of the week.
*The spa, exercise room, etc were very expensive
*We had ants in our room by the kitchenette...lots of them
*It was a long, tiring walk to our room - make sure you get a closer room if you have difficulties walking ...hey, we needed the exercise after laying by the pool all day

More good things to know about the island in general:
*It is very expensive to do anything...especially taxis. Do not expect to take the busses as they pretty much do not exist. Renting a car may be the best option if you are interested in exploring St Thomas.
*Don't tip the taxi drivers...we heard from a very reliable source that taxi drivers are the richest individuals on the islands...they charge SO much to get around and they keep the money for themselves... many of them are also very rude and unfriendly
*Groceries AND restaurants are spendy....expect a large food budget
*Alcohol is cheap
*Charlotte Amalie is a waste of your time unless you came to the island to buy jewelry or cheap souveniers
*Coki Beach is crazy busy...lots of theives there as well
*It will rain almost every day, but the rain rarely stays. We had one full rainy day during our 10 nights of being on the islands
*St. John islands is much quieter and more beautiful...make sure you make a trip there

Just came back from a very enjoyable stay at the Elysian Resort at Red Hook. The check in was the only downfall of the whole trip and I hope Fairfield works on this as it was not real pleasant waiting 3 hours except when we found Robert's restaurant open for HAPPY HOUR and met the infamous "PAGE". A real bartender with a flair.
The resort was very well manicured from the outside grounds to our one bedroom condo. The pool was very nice and never crowded along with the beach.
As for the restaurants, Roberts was as great as everyone has stated. His she-crab soup and calamari were the best I have ever had, but so were all his dishes. The other was ok but never ate anything there except coffee so cannot really comment justly.
Did not get up the nerve to drive so rode in taxie and with friends that we met. The area close to Red Hook has some wonderful restaurants and always had good meals and service.
Do any boat excursion as the waters are beautiful. Shopping downtown was fine and the gondola ride to the restaurant and bar on top of the mountain was nice, but was not impressed with Coral World.
The Elysian is a good stay and would reccommend to anyone.

We stayed at the Elysian Beach Resort the last week in June and had a wonderful time. The condo was spotless, the beach was quiet (which in St. Thomas is a real plus), the restaurants awesome, and the location perfect. We stayed in a one bedroom condo with a kitchen, two baths, and more importantly two balconies! We had a king master and a Murphy bed (which had an actual mattress and box springs) for our children. It was more than roomy enough. We were in one of the buildings at the top of the hill, but the walk to the beach isn’t long at all. The grounds are beautifully landscaped so it’s a nice walk and it gives you chance to knock off all that sand!

Both restaurants were very good and comfortable for children. Our children like to share an adult entree and that was fine with the staff at both Bonnie’s and Roberts. Bonnie’s has a bar, so you can take a drink to your beach chair if you like.

The beach is quiet; it’s only used by the people staying at the Elysian or Cowpet Bay condos. There is plenty of room for everyone. While we were there, the beach never had more than ten people on it at one time! There is some decent snorkeling to the left on the rocks. The farther out you go, the better it gets! The pool is nice too if you like freshwater! There are a ton of chairs at both the pool and the beach.

Staying on the East End near Red Hook is great. Red Hook is basically a marina town, with restaurants, shops, a small grocery, boats to charter, and the ferry to St. John. Rent a car and explore a little bit!

We had read several reviews of the Elysian and were somewhat concerned, but turned it out just fine. It’s a great place to stay!