Just returned from a short stay while attending a conference. The weather was very nice, and the island is gorgeous. It's our first time there, and we were awed by the view of the ocean and the beach from the resort. There were several restaurants on the property, and the quality of the food is good. Blu, the seafood restaurant, had a nice selection, and it was very busy when we ate there on Valentine's Day. The steak place as well as the Calypso griill were both nice. One thing that makes me not give it more stars is the fact that service is very much lacking at the restaurants and the poolside. We never saw anyone come by the pool to take drink orders. There is a swim up bar at the main pool, so maybe they thought that would be enough. That doesn't really help out anybody swimming with little kids, like we were. At all the restaurants we went to, we always had to ask for refills of our water and beverages, even if it doesn't look that busy at all. The staff does tend to get overwhelmed very easily. It's also somewhat strange that they never gave utensils to our 3 year old, who is perfectly capable using a fork and spoon. Everytime we were seated at a table, the server immediately took away utensils in front of him and didn't replace it with anything else. We weren't sure if they were expecting him to eat with his hands or what?!?! When we asked for juice and milk for him, sometimes it came in a lidded cup with a straw. Sometimes it came in a normal glass. So, 3 year old can't use fork or spoon but ok to drink out of adult glass? I am giving this property 3.5 stars because they did upgrade us to a executive suite with a full kitchen. I think if we went back to St.Kitts, we will most likely stay at other properties. There wasn't anything grossly undesirable with this property, but we just felt that the service could be greatly improved with the amount of money we were paying. Overall though, the beach is gorgeous and nicely kept. The waves were not bad at all given the breakers placed there.

We visited the Marriott in St Kitts as part of a double celebration for our wedding aniversary and my wife's birthday commencing the holiday on the 1st January 2013. It was a mixed stay in a gorgeous setting. We arrived at the hotel to be advised that our upgrade would not be available until the following day but no problem. We were treated well as Platinum Elite Members and ordered a gift of wine and cheese etc were taken up to the room to find a bottle of champagne and fruit for our wedding anniversary a nice touch.

The room was ok with a limted view but for one night no problem. After three hours and four phone calls later the platinum gift arrived. The first week we had breakfast in the restaurant we felt like we were in the way as very few smiles from the associates and apart from the manager who made an effort they were a right grumpy lot.

Our upgrade was brilliant the double roomed suite on the fifth floor was perfect in every way a bit dodgy on the cleaning (when we didnt cath them watching the tele) but awesome just the same. We initially only ate twice in the hotel the first week after being served cold food in the snack place and treated like pariahas in the seafood restaurant we chose to eat out and it was a good decision.

The following Tuesday we were invited to the Elite members cocktail welcome on the roof and then everything changed to perfection. We met Imelda Lane the Finance Director and the holiday and the hotel experience improved a 100 fold (this lady is a fatastic advert for Marriott and deserves to be recognised for her help, assistance, demeanour and overall professionalism.

After meeting Imelda it was as if someone had put a bomb under everybody and we were treated like royalty a pity it took Imelda's intervention to achieve this. From then on we were greeted in the restaurant by name we had a fantastic meal in the main restaurant which I thank Annette Jacobs for sorting for me.

I would aslo like to thank Flavelle Woods and Keeva for their help and assistance. The hotel took some stick during the Christmas Period and New year for the attitude and approach of the associates all over the hotel who looked like the geusts where in the way of their day. The two guys on the front of the hotel were brilliant and helpful and friendly and made exit and entry in to the hotel a pleasant experience.

Saying that and with the help of Imelda who tried really hard to ensure our holiday was a successful and enjoyable one and worked hard to dispel the bad press you expect high standards from any Marriott and up until her intervention they were well below par.

The hotel itself is fantastic, impressive and clean and well situated the associates need to be reminded that without guests there would be no need for associates. Try and smile more and be a bit more pleasant and the hotel could be the best holiday you could hope to have.

We had a brilliant holiday over 16 days the facilities are impressive. Some one give Imelda a massive Gold Star she deserved it. Bob and Pat

The Royal Grill at the St Kitts Marriott is by far the best dining experience on the property. The food was spectacular, and even though the specialty is steak, the scallops were amazing!! Monika and the entire team took excellent care and the attention to detail and guest comfort was a definite plus.

in general the property is going through some changes to upgrade their service across the board. There is new leadership at the top and it shows. The resort itself is welcoming and provides a variety of activities, or you can just enjoy the sun!!

My fiancee and I recently attended a conference at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort and we had a great time. We stayed in a pool view room and ended up on the ground level, so we were able to open our sliding glass door and walk right out to the north pool. As was mentioned in previous reviews, when we arrived at around 2PM, local time, we were also told that our room was not ready and would not be ready for at least 30 minutes. The building staff was more than pleasant and inviting when we arrived and they were able to tag our bags and hold them off to the side for us until our room was ready. While waiting, we ate lunch at the Calypso restaurant, right off of the lobby. The food was pretty tasty. We ate their regularly, and enjoyed many an iced coffee from the "take-out" area right outside of Calypso.

Our room was clean and very comfortable, and the bed was made and the room straightened up every day. We were never without clean towels or glasses. We found the king-sized bed to be very comfortable and relaxing, and we both slept during the week.

In our week in St. Kitts, I had meetings to attend during my conference, but we were able to enjoy most of the amenities that the resort offered. We were able to hit the beach a few times and yes, it was regularly windy, but we found the temperatures to be quite pleasant. Dangerous to lazy sunbather who equates "i'm not feeling hot" with "i'm not burning," as the wind helps to keep one feeling cool. The ocean was clear and enjoyable, as the beach is protected by the rough surf by several stone barriers that I believe were man-made. The bigger waves are blocked further out so the surf at the shoreline is gentle enough for relaxing on a raft or standing and shooting the breeze (pun intended) in the shallow water.

We took advantage of the pool and the swim-up bar, as well as the "Bohemia," the eating area and bar by the beach. We found the mixed and frozen drinks to be must tastier and better made than most that one would expect to find at an all-inclusive resort. If the reader decides to visit this resort, it is imperative that a "Painkiller" and at least one of Troy's mudslides be tried. Our favorite beverage of the week was the local beer, Carib. Carib can be found in bottles, cans or on draft throughout the resort, and buckets of Carib bottles can be delivered to the room, on-ice. My fiancee enjoyed the best mojito that she had ever had at the lobby bar, but found that the resort, as a whole, frequently ran out of mint. More often than not, they were out and she was not able to get the mojito, so if you are even remotely in the mood, and you see mint behind the bar, seize the opportunity!

We ate at all 3 of the resort restaurants and found the food to be excellent. On our last night, we elected to eat at Blu, the seafood restaurant at the beach, a 2nd time, and we were not disappointed. On our first go-round, we both enjoyed DELICIOUS Chilean Sea Bass. It was excellently prepared and the portion was an ideal size. The 2nd time, I had the surf and turf and my fiancee had the local lobster tail. Both were exquisite and cooked to perfection. Our experiences in both the steak house and the italian restaurant were equally as satisfying. The surf and turf was delicious at the steak house, and the lobster ravioli was fresh and delicious at the italian joint. We enjoyed bottles of wine with dinner at all the restaurants and found the selection to be quite broad, with a decent amount at a more affordable price. The food at Calypso, Bohemia and the Pizza Shack was quite good. I had the "roast pork sandwich" for lunch 3 days in a row from Bohemia because it was just that good. The pizzas that we got from the pizza shack were surprisingly delicious. That's coming from a Long Islander that can be very critical of "off-island" pizza and bagels. The pizza shack is worth the price of admission.

Overall, the staff at the resort was amazingly friendly. When we were arriving and checking in, we were asked if it was our first time visiting, told a few tidbits of information about the island and wished a great time. Throughout our stay - even while walking past us in the opposite direction - staff members greeted us with smiles and asked us if we were enjoying our time on their island. When leaving my room to attend a meeting as part of my conference, I asked a gentleman that was painting if he could point me towards the conference room mentioned in my itinerary. He not only explained to me how to get to the room, but when I repeated his directions to confirm, he said "come with me, I will show you. No problem," and he walked me there. It wasn't a far walk into the main building and up some stairs, but he made sure to ask me if we were enjoying the resort and having a great time. I thanked him for his help and assured him that we were having a wonderful time. In general, the wait staff and bartenders throughout the place were very polite and patient. The first night we ate at Blu, Cecil was a top-notch server, stopping back at the table to re-fill our wine, checking to make sure everything was delicious, and sold us on dessert. Thanks to Cecil's dessert recommendation, we purchased a bottle of coffee rum at the airport to bring back with us so we can make "Kittitian Coffees" at home.

Our experience was excellent and we were greeted with pleasantries everywhere we went. We intentionally dialed back our geared up New York expectations when we arrived and it's a good thing that we did, as one shouldn't expect everyone working at the resort to be in a rush. We were never kept waiting for more than a few minutes at any restaurant, except for one instance at Calypso. That was mildly frustrating, but no one died, so it wasn't a big deal. But one must remember..."you're on island time, mon. Relax." If you sit down at a table at Bohemia to order lunch, take a moment to enjoy the view, soak up some sun, do some people watching...and be patient. Someone will come by to take your order.

We visited the casino a couple times and I found it to be quite nice. The black jack tables were full of enjoyable guests and the dealers often had a sense of humor. There was live music playing on top of some banks of slot machines one night and in 3 visits, I ended up taking home some of the casino's money, so I left happy. I would recommend taking a spin through.

We chose to upgrade our reservation to the all-inclusive package before our arrival. It added a significant cost, obviously, but we felt like it was worth it. We have traveled to all-inclusive resorts before and the peace of mind offered by knowing that all it takes is the flashing of a bracelet to "pay for" drinks or food, just makes things easier. However, the Marriott St Kitts uses a different system. We have mixed feelings on this system: there are not any bracelets, like one would expect out of an "all-inclusive package," rather all-inclusive guests are given a list of places that are included in the package. When we went to these places, we were ultimately given a receipt for the food, just like everyone else. We were initially instructed to just fill out and sign the bills accordingly (room number, name, etc) and the bills that are from included areas basically just disappear. HOWEVER, we were very confused about the TIPPING. Included on every bill is a 12.5% "service charge" and every bill had a blank line marked "gratuity" right above "total". We didn't know if this was supposed to act as a "tip" or what. While at the bar the first day (and generally, a bill is given after every round) i had a few singles in the pocket of my board shorts, but i waited to see at least 1 other person put a bill on the bar after ordering drinks. I never saw 1 dollar on a bar anywhere. No tip cups either. So after our first dinner, at which I absentmindedly left a roughly 20% tip on the bill because the food and service was excellent, we decided to just periodically put $1 or $2 on on bar orders that were generally $15-$25 (a couple rounds of beer + a frozen drink), and $10-$15 on meals. When checking out, only additional gratuities are added to the bill. So our $180 dinner with a $15 tip at Blu was listed only as "Add'l tip - $15." It worked out in the long run, but when checking in, we would recommend asking someone to clarify how to handle the tipping situation.

We never experienced the Emerald Spa.