We are planning a trip to St. Criox in March or April. We are thinking about staying at Hotel on the Cay. We like the location, close to town and the beach. We are concerned about the room. We don't need 4 star, but don't want everything falling apart. Has anyone stayed there, we'd appreciate your opinions. Thanks.

I'd recommend checking out the Buccaneer, Chenay Bay or Divi on Grapetree Bay. If you want to stay in C'sted, check out the Hotel Caravelle. I used to live on STX.

Carribean Soul is being very tactful and gracious in his/her reply. While I have never stayed at Hotel on the Cay, it looks awful from the outside. Very rundown...always find it hard to believe anyone stays there. Maybe the rooms are nice inside... Don't think I've ever read a good review of it. We go to St. Croix every February. There are many other good hotel choices--Carribean Soul makes good suggestions.

The reason we considered it is because of the reviews on trip advisor, actually they are pretty good. But thanks so much for the input.

Be wary of reviews on websites such as tripadvisor. A good source of information, but can be manipulated by small, privately run hotels/resorts. I know of one situation where the property owner has taken the liberty to submit "reviews" from comment cards left by guests. Of course the negative comments don't get posted. It has been 10 years since I have seen Hotel on the Cay....have never stayed there....but once I used the small beach. It looked pretty run down then....and I haven't heard of any improvements made. It wouldn't have been a place I would recommend then....and I am pretty sure that remains the case today.

A good friend who is extremely picky about accommodations and amenities stayed there recently and loved it. I've seen several good reviews, and I recently toured the place. It is a fine place to stay and I have recommended it to others for exactly the reasons you have stated.

By the way, it has one of the nicest pools I've seen (very recently redone) and the exterior, while still a work in progress, has been greatly improved. It is owned by the timeshare owners there and they have a vested interest in improving the property.

How 'bout a reply from somebody who actually stayed at the HOTC. No, it's not 4 star but, it's clean, everything in the room I stayed in worked fine. As a matter of fact, when the electricity went out on the entire island, their generator kept the bar/restaurant open. Anyway, I was just there last March (got married right at the hotel) and we're going back again this March for our 1st anniversary, so, yes, I think the place is fine. It has it's own clean beach, the ferry ride is about 30 seconds from town, the restaurant is ok for breakfast or lunch. You can rent kayaks, jet ski's etc. The only real problem would be, if you rented a car you'd have to park it over in C'sted. My opinion, for the money, you can't beat the place. And about the timeshare part, they won't bother you with a sales pitch unless you're interested.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give me advise. I really appreciate it. We probably wouldn't rent a car if we stayed in town. I have been doing some research and we would take a few tours, to Buck Island, Salt River and maybe an island tour. I found a good deal at the Buccaneer, but we would have to wait until April. We would rather go in March and get away from the cold a little. Still not sure, but leaning towards the HOTC.

Don't know anything about the HOTC, but the Buccaneer is beautiful. We went a couple of years ago & loved it. It was only a short taxi ride into town. I would hold off till April if you can. From these posts it sounds like the HOTC is okay, but in my opinion the Bucanneer was really wonderful.

Sorry jnew. Just giving some feedback on a place that isn't going to get a lot of feedback due to its location on STX. Thought it was worth something.

I would wait until April...the Buccaneer is great. Do rent a car for a few days to tour the places you mentioned. If you stay at the Buc, they'll actually have the rental car brought to you at the hotel.

We were in St. Croix in October. We went to the BBQ at Hotel on the Cay. It was dark so we could not see the hotel well but the BBQ was totally, almost comedically, disorganized. Even the staff seemed puzzled as to what procedures should be followed. The food was good. If the service is similar in the hotel, I would not wish to stay there.
We played golf and ate lunch at the Buccaneer and it is absolutely gorgeous. The food was also excellent. I would definitely stay there next time.
We rented a van from Judi of Croix and I would highly recommend them. They delivered the van to our hotel, picked it up there, and charged the least of all that I checked. Additionally, they are local and were very helpful with suggestions as to what to do, restaurants, etc.
We went to the Carambola for the pirate's buffet on Friday night and I would highly recommend it although it is a bit of a drive. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and the food was excellent.
We also had great meals at Duggan's Reef, Sunset Grill, and Cultured Pelican.
The snorkeling trip to Buck Island was great and I would go with Big Beard's. They have a beautiful and very large catamaran.

I would not bother to eat at HOTC, there are so many other places that are very close and much better, but I would not exclude it fot that reason. I can well believe that their Tuesday buffet is disorganized, it is not one of the better restaurants on island. The show is fun though - you can eat in town and go to HOTC just for the show.