We're staying the night in St Thomas before flying out the next a.m. Do you guys recommend Windward Passage or Best Western Caribe?

price point might be your deciding factor, depending if you are spending time on the beach or sleeping and leaving. Windward will be cheaper.

Windward Passage rooms are very nice..the hotel's layout is funky but works. Have not stayed at the Caribe but hear, and it looks, pretty rundown but half the price of the Emerald Beach next door where we stayed many times til it got too pricey.For the ferry ,cabs too and from the airport, and great food in Frenchtown, Windward Passage works for us..

We did Best Western Caribe last June the night before departure because we had friends with early flights. It was a reasonable deal and we saved taxi fare. Normally there is a shuttle to Emerald Beach, but that was not running. It was just ok. I would have stayed at Windward Passage for the chance to grab breakfast in Frenchtown.

Cheers, RickG

RickG looks like we will be down at the same time. We will be on Moonshadow July 18th-26th then on Galeaux the 26th- Aug 2nd. Maybe wevwill run into you guys. Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like Windward Passage it is.

RickG, believe it or not try the breakfast at Windward, it was surprisingly excellent. We had Eggs Benedict, great hollandaise and fresh squeezed OJ.

jerriec, we'll keep an eye out for you. Are you on CYOA's Moonshadow? We'll probably be leaving July 18 from the Frenchtown Marina for Water Island after hitting Pueblo for provisions.

sail2wind, thanks for the tip. Its hard to get out of the Cariga's/Tickles rut, but if we stay there, why not?

Cheers, RickG

love Cariga's, we ate there often when we were at Compass Pt, always eat at Tickles when we are picking up guests.

RickG, sad to say this is the first year that we aren't chartering with CYOA. Our group was too big this year and had to have a bigger boat. Next year I'll leave some behind!!! We're with Voyage this year which isn't a bad thing , just spoiled to CYOA's hospitality. They are great!!! Hopefully Voyage will be as good. Hoping to see you down there. Headed out to Norman on the 18th then over to Trellis on the 19th. After that it will be wherever the wind takes us but we are planning on being at Leverick for Jumbies on Friday night and at Trellis the following Friday for Full Moon. Maybe we will catch up with you there.

Got it, We'll keep a look out, There a lot of folks out the second half of the month.

Cheers, Rick

Just booked Windward Passage for our return Aug 14th..$159 plus tax..not bad..also booked " Oceana" for dinner!

Moonshadow is nice! Enjoy!

We have stayed at the Windward Passage on every trip we've made to the islands. Our last stay, on July 3, will probably be our last. The place is going downhill and no one there seems to really care. On our June trip, we got lucky and everything went well for us, but for our friends traveling with us, it was not good at all. Their room wasn't ready until around 5pm, their A/C barely worked and their key-cards were disabled about 9:30 am on check-out day, locking them out of their room. Had to request to be let back in to get their belongings.

On our most recent stay, July 3, the A/C didn't work in our room at all. They sent the maintenance guy who thought somehow changing filters would make the A/C actually blow air. (?) Obviously not the answer. Eventually we got shuffled to another room, and guess what? The A/C barely worked. We requested a fan, rather than moving again. They don't have fans!! Seriously? We will find another place to stay next time.

That's not good news..they did have a very annoying problem with the room cards a couple of times ago but, apart from that, its been fine. Will report back next month..

Best Western Emerald would be our choice