Not sure but we found St. Thomas to be very dirty and unsafe. While the water was absolutely beautiful, the island itself was such a disappointment!!!

I keep reading postings about people's experiences with the island, and have not noticed any comments about the poor condition of the island.

I think it is a bit misleading for those who are planning a trip there....

St. Thomas is one of the most dangerous islands in the Caribbean and the crime rate is only rising. In addition, the commercial development there ruins the natural beauty. I stayed on Tortola and had wonderful views of all the surrounding islands - at night they all faded into the darkness, all except St. Thomas which looked like a view of Manhattan from the 59th St. Bridge with all of its lights. Definitely travel elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Thank you for your honesty!

Before our trip to St. Thomas I searched and searched postings on US Virgin Islands, and NOONE mentioned anythng about crime, trashy island, and not so friendly people (and I am being generous here).

So for those families looking to travel to St. Thomas and St. John, BE CAREFUL.

We were quite worried about some of these issues before visiting St. Thomas two years ago, and almost changed destinations, but wound up being pleasantly surprised.

There are definitely some slummy areas, which is the case on most Caribbean islands. We stayed at Sapphire Beach and always felt safe there. We explored the island by car, during the daytime, and felt safe. We didn't go out much at night (traveling with a 16-year-old).

I don't think I would wish to wander around Charlotte Amalie after dark, but most of the tourist resorts are scattered around the island in quieter areas.

We had read beforehand that a visitor will usually receive a more cordial reception from local residents by opening a conversation with "good morning," "good afternoon," etc. - we followed this dictum and found the vast majority of people to be quite pleasant.

I've noticed that trash is a problem on most Caribbean islands, even the more prosperous ones - there just isn't anyplace to put it. I guess I wouldn't want to see it dumped in the ocean.

St. Thomas is more developed than many other destinations, but it ain't Miami.

All in all, I guess our impression was quite different from yours.

e17345,

Can you please elaborate on what particular experiences you had that made STT "unsafe" for you? Did something bad happen?

My wife & I were passing through back in January, and although STT wouldn't be my first choice of islands, we never felt "unsafe". So I'm curious as to why you feel this way.

Thanks

We never stayed on St Thomas..(we went to St John)BUT while on St Thomas we never felt unsafe and the locals were friendly.Usually if you treat others with respect...you will get it in return.

We went in June and Sept. and did not feel unsafe and the island was not "dirty" to us.Of course there are areas (just like anywhere)that are less appealing than others..but overall..I liked it and would like to explore St Thomas more on our next trip to St John.

I felt less safe in Aruba than St Thomas.JMHO

Christie

We aren't all of the same mind. We liked STT and we never felt unsafe. We also found the locals to be very friendly. We have been to a number of Caribbean islands and we have yet to find any that we would really call "clean". Like Christie, we could share negative feelings about Aruba, which many people love. I don't believe that you were were mislead. Many people do like STT. You were not among them. So, you move on and hope that your next choice is a better fit for you. Good luck.

Hi Knowing..hope that your Thanksgiving was great!

Christie

e17345,

"So for those families looking to travel to St. Thomas and St. John, BE CAREFUL."

I just noticed this comment that you made including St John.How long where you in St John?How many times have you been there??

Well I have only been 2 times (June and Sept.2005) I even walked around alone at night..while my husband was taking a nap and never felt unsafe.The crime rate for St John is the lowest of the US Virgin Islands.I also found it to be a fairly clean island with nice locals and gorgeous beaches.

So my guess is that you have not been to St John..except for maybe a daytrip from St Thomas.

Yes you are allowed your opinion...but be realistic.I mean all islands have some "dirty" areas..but I did not think that either island was entirely dirty.So please don't mislead anyone thinking about traveling to either island.

Christie

Christie

Thanks Christie, for your clear-headed defense. I don't know what people think they're supposed to find in the Caribbean or anywhere else for that matter. St. Thomas is like most, plenty of poverty and disrepair there, but the citizens are people and they have their share of governmental/
economic issues. For the common tourist, there is little to be concerned about. There are the usual things... pick-pocketing, purse-grabbing, petty theft, etc., but it the many resorts, hotels and restaurants are perfectly safe. Dirty? Been to Chinatown in NYC lately? Been to Paris with the doggie-poos everywhere? It may not be like Normaltown, USA but St. Thomas is no worse than any other urban area, and better than most.

E17345, I was surprised by your inclusion of St John. You started the topic with St Thomas then added StJohn. Did anyting happen on St John to make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe? Since I'll be returning there next year, I'd really like to know, and thank you in advance for saying what happened.
While my experience of both islands is limited--just one trip so far--neither I nor my teenaged daughter felt unsafe on St John. Granted, late (about 11 pm) on a Friday night on St Thomas, in Red Hook, it got rowdy from lots of pub goers, and my daughter was ready to return to the resort. (I didn't care--but then the guys weren't checking me out!! ) We'd already been told never to go into Charlotte Amalie late at night, but that's pretty common advice for the urban areas of most of the islands. We found nearly all people friendly on St T, and even more so on St J.
However, I've been told that of the USVI, St Croix is unsafe.
Perhaps the pre-trip info you got before or since your trip to St T didn't include the negatives you noticed on your trip, because most folks had not encountered them.

Too bad you don't like it. I've lived here for 15 years & have never been the victim of a crime which is not what I can say for the 7 previous years I've lived elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Coming from downtown to the Red Hook area you do pass through a not-so-nice area but that's true of almost every place in the world. Hope you find a spotless, crime-free place soon & will let us know where it is.

The purpose of my message was not to invoke defending comments, I was simply stating opinion based on our experience.

We rented a villa for a week on St.Thomas and took a few day trips to St. John to snorkel.

Yes, I don’t expect any of the Caribbean Islands to be ‘bad area’ free or do not have pockets of poor and sketchy parts. Not at all. During our stay, we explored the island quite thoroughly, and what I found disappointing was the state of the island: there was trash everywhere, and no, I did not think that the locals were all that friendly; we felt very unsafe in certain instances. Perhaps this is an isolated experience. At least, I hope so.

It was hard to see such beautiful surroundings mixed in with human trash bins everywhere, and a careless attitude towards what the nature has to offer.

***I suppose I was hoping to see something comparable to Hawaii. After all, St. Thomas is a US territory...the experience was disappointing. Again, my posing was to ensure an honest and a two-sided representation of St. Thomas, based on what we saw. I am sorry if it upsets those who had a better experience.

Thank you,

P.S. St. John was a much nice island; of the two, St. John is a winner...

Hawaii? Hawaii is a state which enjoys all the federal support and privileges of a state. Its islands are also substantially larger. If anything, you have pointed out the inequity between how we treat/deal with a state versus a territory. Puerto Rico has been embroiled in this controversy for a long time. By the way, Bermuda has trash problems too. All islands with a substantial human population face a terrible trash problem. You may have some very valid points regarding our maintenance of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We should all write our government and demand better support and protection of this national treasure.

Exactly. At the end of the day, it is all about how the government allocates and manages resources...being a US territory, I thought the USVI would have more funding to take care of trash, natural resources, etc...

Unfortunately, the islands are sometimes treated like an ugly stepchild, given pnly what's absolutely necessary to get by.

Hi Christie - Unfortunately, we suffered a family tragedy on Thanksgving day, so it wasn't good. Hope yours was better. Thanks for asking though. That was sweet of you.

I'm afraid, e17345, a real can of worms has been opened here. I was unable to tell if you had visited any other Caribbean islands or not, but felt you had not. The cleanest Caribbean island we've probably been to is Grand Cayman and even they are not what I consider really "clean". And they're fairly upscale. I'm not sure which island(s) in Hawaii you are comparing it to. We have been to Hawaii several times over the years. In fact we got married there. Our most recent visit was to Kauai. I can show you places on the Hawaiian islands that are none too clean and poverty is terrible. As I orginally stated, I think it's more of either a place touches your soul or it doesn't. And I just think the USVI didn't do it for you. And that's ok. I have my places that I love and places that I don't. Sometimes it's the way a statement is made. Many people on this board are quite well traveled and see things through different eyes.

We just returned from one week on St. John- (two teenagers in tow) and felt very safe walking everywhere, even at night. We stayed on St. Thomas two years ago, and had no problems either. St. John is much quieter, and beaches are gorgeous.

We stayed 6 nights in St. Thomas the past May and feel that e17345 has some valid points. We were disappointed in the state of the Island and though nothing ad happened to us, we just got this overall feeling. In short, we were disappointed in the Island itself and felt the people weren'tall that friendly and won't return. Hopefully someday, the US will stop treating the USVI"s likean ugly step-child and clean up the Island some

Sorry, accidently hit the reply button before I was finished.

We been to several Caribbean destinations, Mexico and Hawaii. St. Thomas was our least favorite.

For those that have negative things to say about Aruba, will you please be more specific? Aruba is next on our list and we are booked for Sept. 2006. However, please leave out comments regarding the Island being "Americanized" and the Nateli Holloway tradgey as it's already been said.