I know this has been asked before but maybe someone has new insight. Which is the better resort for a family of four---mom, dad, 3 year old and infant? Also are there any health concerns for St. Thomas? Is the water safe to drink? Please advise and thank you!

Crystal cove consists of 4 or 5 bldgs, and each unit is privately owned.

Last year I stayed in a beautiful unit in CC booked through www.bestbeach.com that would be perfect for the four of you. Very close to beach, 4 beds, 2 bath. Water is safe to drink, but we chose to buy gal bottles of h20 at the supermarket for coffee and drinking due to the taste.

5min drive to Red Hook for groceries or ferry to St. John, Sapphire beach is a perfect location on St. John for a family.

hi nat, re health concerns: none that i know of. no shots are suggested. the water is definetly safe from the tap.
never stayed at cc, have at sh. a couple difference jump out to me. 1)cc has a large lawn between condos and beach. sh does not. you might like this for kids to play on or think it makes walk to beach lugging kid stuff too far. 2)sh beach is contained. cc on sapphire is not. nobody can just come walking along on sh - you can see from one end to the other pretty easily (re:kid safety), but you can walk to stuff down the beach from cc. 3) sh has a restaurant of its own w/bar. i don't think cc does. 4) sh has a pool plus good snorkeling. cc no pool.
condos look pretty similiar inside. could not tell from sites if cc has a hotel like front desk w/staff, sh does. this may not matter to you??
hope this helps..

We debated between the same two places and chose Crystal Cove, mainly because it was less expensive.

C. Cove DOES have a pool (at least it did in Dec. 2002). Fairly large, salt water, never busy. It does NOT have a front desk or restaurant. There is a restaurant next door at Sapphire Beach Resort.

We also spent most of a day at Secret Harbour - rented chairs and an umbrella. Slightly smaller beach, less busy, snorkeling a tossup.

I would book CC again if it was still cheaper.

If you do rent a place at CC, i recommend you get one in the 1st bldg (A) or 2nd bldg (B). C and D are a little farther from the beach.

We rented A17 and A18 last year. A18 a beautiful 4 bed / 2bath unit (master bedroom w/ king, 2 fold wodn beds in living room) owned by the guy at bestbeach.com. Unit A17 was sublet from another owner - very nice studio unit but too small for 4 people (we did sofa and air mattress for one nite until A18 was free).

CC hires an attendant at the beach who can watch your stuff for you too - she keeps the cruise ship traffic who unloads at the other end of the beach from taking beach chairs - which is a great help.

We liked walking down the beach to the sapphire beach resort - playing in their pool, walking out on the point, etc, but really preferred the quiet end of the beach where CC is located.

Thank you so much for the input. I am still debating, both resorts seem to have their pluses! The bestbeach website is very nice, I would definetely rent through them.

We will be traveling in June what is the shade situation on the beach at CC? From the websites I visited it looks like everyone huddles under a couple of trees on the the beach. Are beach umbrellas provided or just the lounge chairs? Are there decks/patios off the units?

Also, Virginia was there a certain unit that you rented at Secret Habour that you would recommend?

Is walking to Red Hook an option at either resort? Are the taxis really $20 per person for the trip to town?

Thank you!

hi natalie, i've stayed in 3 sh units: blding 1 ground floor unit closest to lobby/blue moon. nice unit (as were all of them) but too close to everything and everybody for me. can be a little noisy at certain times and ppl walking by. next was blding 5 grnd floor. about a 3 min walk down to beach. had very nice sunset views. last was blding 3,grnd floor. definetly the best location in my view. down a couple steps to the sand. away from things. and most shady areas are at that end of the beach. there are also plenty of umbrellas so that you can easily have a shady spot each day.
sh will not "promise" you a paricular suite. however if you call the front desk and tell them you are traveling w/babies, i know they will do their best to get you an appropriante room. i gave a beach wedding shower there this past june and after explaining what i needed they put me in #3 and it was perfect! anything grnd floor in 2-4 is perfect imho. 2nd floors are up about 10steps and prob have better sunset views.
you can not walk to red hook from either resort. not sure as we rent a car, but $20 taxi is prob to charlotte amalie not red hook as it is only a 5-10min drive from either. there is a small grocery in red hook and they have alot, especially goumet, but the big grocery is just a tad further but back towards ca. you will pass it on your way to both resorts from the airport.
there are a couple pages of sh photos at webshots.com and 1 pic of cc but plenty of sapphire beach.

Natalie,

- you can't walk to Red Hook from CC. Budget rental car has some pretty cheap rates for small cars that come in handy. I think you have to email or call the STT location directly, not necessarily book through the budget web site. If you can't find the info I'm sure I can dig it up. There may also be a rental car office on-site at the sapphire beach resort - another option if you don't want to rent one the first day you are there.

Unless you want to eat 3meals a day every day, I really recommend you rent a car. There's a small, but really nice market in Red Hook (marina market) that has great meats, groceries, deli, etc. With kids it was really handy to eat every breakfast and lunch at the condo (or pack a picnic lunch), and go out to dinner 1/2 the nights we were there. There are bigger markets - but Marina Mkt had everything we needed for a week.

Groceries are more expensive than US, but a lot cheaper and quicker than eating at a restaurant every meal.

I'm the type that likes to get out and explore, so having a car kept me from feeling confined to the condo/beach area 24x7, even if it was just for a morning trip to the market before the kids got up to get some fresh baked goods and a coffee.

If you want more info on what we did with food (i.e. what we brought from home in a box), post a reply and I'll tell you more.

Regarding shade, I don't recall that there were any umbrellas at CC. If you end up booking through bestbeach, the owner Dave will give you his email address and you can contact him with questions - he'll know the answers. His on-site housekeeper (Norma) is also very helpful if you have specific requests.

There is a Walmart about 15min from RedHook that has beach stuff - so I would expect they'd have beach umbrellas as well. We stocked up on gal H20, sunscreen, etc at the Walmart, but you can also get that stuff at the Marina mkt.

The mid-day sun in the Caribbean can be a scorcher. One thing we forgot to bring was long sleeved shirts for the kids to wear in the water when they've had a little too much sun, but it's too nice to go inside. Next time, we'll also bring very light cotton pants they can wear in the water, so back/front of legs don't get burned either.

The water and sun are so nice, you'll not want to stay inside if you don't have to. We also didn't bring enough sunscreen, so had to buy a couple of bottles there - lots of stuff available but if you have a favorite brand, bring lots - you'll need it. SPF 45 for face, 15-30 for rest of body.

If I remember, I think the CC condos have enclosed /covered porches. Some owners just have screens, so it's not AC, while others (incl the nice delux unit we stayed in had fully inside, so breakfast area overlooking the ocean (and St. John) was inside the AC, which was nice.

I'm not trying to sell you on CC vs Secret Harbour - I just have no experience about SH, and I thought condo at CC was perfect for family of 4.

Good point about the umbrellas - CC had none when we were there; some shade from the trees. SH has umbrellas.

You CAN walk from CC to Red Hook, not far at all, though we preferred not to do so after dark.