Almost 2.5 years after this article was written the property is still outdated & poorly maintained. It’s sad that a property with so much potential is in disrepair and management seems content to let its decline continue. We checked in recently and our first impression was it’s good enough to sleep at and that’s all we need to do here. We spent much of our time away in Christiansted, on excursions & at Buccaneers beach & resort. I appreciate that the recent rain storms & flooding likely affected the beach area (atleast I hope that’s why it’s in such bad shape) but that doesn’t excuse why no one is raking and cleaning it up. There are not chairs & umbrellas set up for guests. I had to find an umbrella in a pile stacked in the ground behind some rundown closed “beer stand” and put it in the ground & up on my own with the 2 chairs I found and dragged down to the beach. Also, trash such as plastic cups, water bottles and other trash are left laying all over the grounds. The years of neglect are obvious throughout the property. The pics & videos are misleading & heavily edited. We read numerous bad reviews also stating what I have said & they are justified. Very disappointing. Major changes have to be made before we’d even consider returning.

Very nice staff. The Saman restaurant was delicious, as was Flamboyant Grill by the pool. Nice pool and beach. Comfortable large suites and beds. Good a/c – we're on a hot island, near the rain forest section of the island. Strong WiFi in rooms. It is also only a couple mils to some other beach restaurants, and the super hike to Annaly Tide pools starts on the property. Remember you are on an island and there are shortages of all kinds of things, go with the flow! We had a lovely time, and would go back.

My husband and I were celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary and decided to return to where we honeymooned 36 years ago. We booked a stay for 6 nights but left after only 1. Very unhappy with every aspect of our visit. Property is not in good condition, restaurants are closed and the entire facility is poorly laid out. What was once a premier destination, is now a DON’T GO THERE!

This property is lovely and has a lot of potential. The rooms are set up really nice; we had 2 tv’s in our room, a lovely shower, double sinks in the bathroom and a nice balcony to sit on and look at the ocean. Really a BEAUTIFUL place. There are some weak points: There is NOTHING to do at this hotel - no water sports except off shore SCUBA diving and snorkeling. There are no boogie boards, no kayaks, or other water toys. There is no gift shop! No way to buy small food items, like an apple or a small salad. (They do have candy bars and chips for sale…) The beach is pretty but doesn’t get any attention from the staff. It’s not raked (ever) and there are only a few lounge chairs. There were not any umbrellas either. It’s more of a rocky beach (about 5 feet in) so be sure to bring your water shoes if you want to go in. The pool is well maintained and big and amazing. The hot tub was not working the week we were there. There is no staff around. The breakfast buffet is $32 per person but when we showed up most of the food containers were empty. People would charge the food tables when they were replenished. I never did get scrambled eggs or sausage. There is only one restaurant for breakfast and dinner and I don’t think it’s even open for dinner every night. We ate there one night. Our meal was really good and our waiter, Kameel was one of the best waiters I have ever had in any restaurant anywhere! Every single staff member we encountered was wonderful! I cannot compliment them enough. Every one was kind, respectful and willing to handle whatever issue was presented. Housekeeping was okay, but not great. I think you had to request housekeeping services for someone to actually clean/replace towels, etc. Any and all activities on the rest of the island required about $50 round trip per person. The taxi drivers only take cash (American dollars) and there is no Uber or LIFT options available. It would have been nice if the hotel had a free shuttle to these other places and the airport! I think Marriott needs to put some money into amenities at this hotel. We would have stayed at the hotel (and spent more money there) if there were things to do and more restaurant/food choices. From what I saw, most of the guests at this hotel leave every day and spend the day at one of the other cities on the island. I expected more from a Marriott property.

Just returned from 5 days at the Carambola with my husband celebrating our 25th anniversary... I will start out by saying we are Titanium Marriott members, and yes, I did read reviews prior to our arrival. While they were 50/50, I knew not to expect it to be exceptional. We also shot an email to Marriott prior to arriving expressing our concerns and asking some questions. We received a response from the Hotel General Manager, who cited lack of staff and rolling renovations and that they were a work in progress. He upgraded our room (but still deducted upgrade certificates!) This is going to be lengthy, so please read! STX specific...I contacted the resort ahead of time regarding transportation and was told to take taxis. At the airport, there's a taxi stand right by baggage claim. Their sign said $40 for 2 people to go to the Carambola, but we ended up being charged $70. Arguing got us no where and the lines for car rentals were a little long. We decided to just do it and our driver did stop at the grocery store for us. Arrival at the resort was underwhelming. What was once probably beautiful is in desperate need of updating. I understand storm damage from the last Hurricane is what the management keeps referring to, but what we saw was just lack of maintenance and cleaning. The tiles in the entryway were always slippery, more from dirt than water... The pathways to rooms are majorly damaged, difficult for walking and for the golf carts they use to help transport you. In a nutshell my first word to describe this hotel is DIRTY. We passed a balled up paper towel at the top of the main stairs to the restaurants and bar, and it remained there the entirety of our trip! 5 days! Windows were dirty, tables needed to be wiped down every time we attempted to sit down. Floors were literally gross. The public ladies room in the main building was maybe cleaned once while we were there-constantly toilet paper all over the floor. Most of the beach chairs were newer, but the beach was cleaned once in 5 days. The showers when you get off the beach do not work. Trash cans are always over flowing. The grass needed mowing and all landscaping was not maintained. Did not see a lawn mower or leaf blower entire visit. Dried grass clippings and leaves were covering many walkways. To get a towel for the pool or beach you need to go to the front desk. Have never seen that before. Walked through the pool area which was dirty and in need of updating. The pool was cleaned, but not the patio area. Did not spend any time at the pool. We could see plastic cups under a chair every day we walked by. We stayed in a beachfront room and were excited about the view. The view was OK. There was a damaged umbrella thrown in the bushes right in front of our room that took multiple requests and a couple days to remove. The room was much cleaner than every other part of the resort-thank goodness. The balcony looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a bit. Dried leaves and bugs everywhere. When we did sit out there, I used beach towels to sit on instead of the chair and cushions. The doors to outside are hinged, not sliders, and do not seal well on the bottom. As a result, we did end up with a little lizard in the room and it still let in the humidity and some bugs. A large dead tree was smack in the middle of what should have been a great view of the beach. The gym: DON'T expect much. One of multiple cardio machines worked. 5 other just sat there. Missing 1/2 the weights. One leg machine. Very dark and not very welcoming. We had appetizers and dinner at the casual restaurant Flamboyant, on the first evening there. The food is not great. Pizza was like frozen pizza they burned around the edges, and cold in the middle. Tacos were mostly lettuce with a bit of fish in the middle. Service is slow. They are understaffed-it is very obvious. When they finally come up to you they are friendly but not very attentive. Rarely check on you. Takes multiple times to get their attention. Daily breakfast at Saman was fine. Food was okay. The omelet station was the best option and fresh fruit every day.. Staff doesn't really want to go out of their way and aren't very service oriented. Asked front desk for change of a larger bill and they said "check the bar." POSITIVES: Location is amazing. Beach and water were beautiful. and our beach chairs were newer and worked great. Drinks and drink selection were fantastic. Wine selection was great and surprising. Air conditioning in the room was new and worked wonderfully and was very quiet. Room was large and mostly updated. We ended up renting a car after battling with Marriott and the hotel over the condition of the Resort. We spent the rest of the time exploring the island, hitting other beaches and eating outside of the resort. Marriott is missing the mark on this one. Prime location and amazing beach on what could be a great property. They should take their name off of this one or dump some money into the property and staff. We have never stayed in such a disappointing Marriott property.