U.S. Virgin Islands – St. Thomas / St. John

If you are looking for gorgeous beaches, warm weather year round, great snorkeling, but do not have a passport / (it’s expired) then look no further. The United States Virgin Islands is the perfect getaway for anyone, but especially for United States citizens. Did you know you can travel to and from all United States territories without clearing customs or passport control. This includes Puerto Rico, USVI, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. Furthermore, the new rules that take place beginning January 26, 2021 that require you to provide a negative COVID-19 test to enter into the USA doesn’t apply when traveling from US territories! So if you are looking for a fun exotic getaway but do not wish to deal with customs, passport control or negative testing to re-enter the U.S then you must visit The United States Virgin Islands now!

Getting there

We flew on American Airlines from DFW – STT. To my surprise American offered a non-stop flight from DFW and you know how important non-stop flights are to me! No one has time to sit around waiting on a connecting flight when you could be on the beach instead! It took us about 4.5 hours to get there and about 5 hours to get home. Here’s the best part, I paid $180 round trip! I typically monitor and book all my flights through google.com/flights if Southwest Airlines does not fly to the destination.

Where we stayed

Most of the commercial flights fly into St. Thomas (STT) but you do have the option to stay in another one of the USVIs including St. John or St. Croix. There are amazing hotels on all three islands but this time we choose to stay at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas. The Ritz is located at the eastern tip of the island and about a 35-40 minute cab ride from the airport. The property overlooked the beautiful island of St. John and the grounds were simply stunning. This location was perfect for us because it was only a short cab ride away from Red Hook. This little town is the cutest spot for shopping and great food and also offers the shorest ferry route over to St. John. As I am sure you could guess the Ritz-Carlton is not a “cheap” place to stay. I booked our hotel through a third party site called Snaptravel and we got a hell of a deal. I’ll be honest, this was my first time using this site and I was quite nervous it wouldn’t work. I did personally know serval other people that had used this site with no problems but I still was nervous. We paid $2,000 for a three night stay including taxes and the resort fee! This was literally half the cost of any other website. Seems too good to be true but guess what? It worked! Absolutely no issues with check – in the room was exactly what I thought and no additional hidden fees. I think ill be booking through Snaptravel from here on out. (disclaimer: I did purchase trip insurance for this time which I normally do not. With COVID-19 still a major issue and the fact that I booked through a third party I found it necessary) The Ritz has 4 restaurants on site, one infinity pool and one family pool with a slide, and a luxury catamaran for snorkeling and sunset excursions. They also offer a kids club, fitness center, tennis courts and spa. We had the most amazing time staying at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas and I can not wait to visit again.

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Where we ate

There are so many great restaurants to choose from on the island of St. Thomas and St. John. I wish would could have stayed a full week just to enjoy all the amazing food both of these islands had to offer. Since we were limited on time we narrowed down a few local favorites to try and they did not disappoint. Our first day we enjoyed lunch at Sails in the Ritz-Carlton. This beach side dining was the perfect setting for ocean views and a lighter fare. We ordered a bottle of sparkling wine and had a day! For dinner the first night we decided to try the fine dining Italian restaurant Alloro also located at the Ritz. This place was breathtaking and the ambiance alone was enough for me. I had the lobster carbonara and it was the best seafood pasta I think I have ever had. {10/10} Day two we decided to take the ferry over to St. John and spend the day. We ate lunch at the St. Johns Brewers tap room and grabbed a late snack and drinks at Joe’s rum hut before heading back to St. Thomas. For dinner that night, we took a cab to Sunset Harbour and ate at the Sunset Grille. This place has great food and a nice atmosphere but I would say the best part about it is the views and we unfortunately did not arrive until after the sun went down. Looking back I think we would have made a different choice for dinner. {5/10} Our third night I think was everyones favorite. We found this amazing restaurant in Red Hook called Easterly. This place was beyond fabulous. It’s a bohemian waterfront restaurant with the best craft cocktails and a fun local vibe. We ordered so many wonderful seafood dishes including octopus, mussels, prawns, and lobster to share as a table and the atmosphere was everything we were looking for. If they would of let us stay here all night I think we would have. {10/10} (side note everything on this side of the island shut down around 11) Every morning for breakfast we stopped by Southwind Market at the resort for a coffee and breakfast sandwich, fruit or smoothie.

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What we did

Besides eating our weight in seafood we also did a lot of exploring. As I mentioned, the second day we were there we look the ferry over to St. John (highly recommend) We took the Red Hook – Cruz Bay route which took approximately 20 minutes and cost $6 per person each way. This ferry runs hourly from 6am – midnight. After arriving in St. John we decided to walk around a bit, take in the island and find somewhere for lunch. We ended up down the way from the port at Mongoose Junction. This is a premiere shopping and dinning location on the virgin islands and is so unique in style with multi levels of shops, restaurants and home to St. Johns Brewery tap room. We had a great time exploring and eating/drinking at this local spot. From there, we jumped in a cab and drove to Maho Bay. This drive was insane and the best part was we were in an open air taxi. He stoped along the way giving us time to take in the views of each different bay and snap some pretty great pictures. We chose Maho Bay because we wanted to go somewhere with some life to it. This beach has been voted number 1 for visitors. We were looking for a beach bar, food options, and fun and it did not disappoint. There were shops, drinks, a place to rent paddle boards and bathrooms. We ended up renting two paddle boards and doubled up exploring the bay and the beach. The best part? Sea turtles! Maho Bay is known for sea turtle and ray sightings because they feed on the seagrass right off the beach.

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Day three we made reservations to go on a full day snorkeling trip on the Lady Lynsey II. She’s a beautiful 65 foot catamaran departing from the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas. Operated by Cruz Bay Watersports, you do not have to be a guest of the hotel to enjoy her and they have multiple excursions to choose from. We chose the Maho Bay turtle snorkel sail which departed from the Ritz at 10:00am sailing for Maho Bay in St. John. After our first snorkel adventure with the sea turtles they provided us with a full lunch and an open bar. The Lady Lynsey II has two large nets for lounging at the front and a waterslide off the back! After an hour or so at Maho Bay we sailed to our second snorkel stop Honeymoon Beach, St. John. Here we saw a lot of beautiful fish and coral and we all took turns jumping off the the side of the boat! It was a fantastic day and well worth the money. The price was $129 per adult and $89 per child which included a full lunch and open bar from 10:00am – 3:30pm. A must do while visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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