Until Next Time...

Kevin and I are back home from our wonderful trip to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and the most beautiful stay at Marriott Frenchman's Reef resort. We had an amazing experience and I cannot thank everyone enough who had a hand in making this happen for us. You all voted every day for us to win this contest and we were so thankful to have this experience. Marriott was amazing to work with too. Everyone from my contact Lynne to Terri who was always available for blog/video help, Amanda and many others who made this Resort to Romance beach blogger contest a success.

Thanks to Sonia and Joyce who welcomed us and took care of us throughout our stay. Two awesome ladies! And thank you to General Manager, Jose Gonzalez for always making it a point to chat with us when we would run into each other. He really makes Frenchman's Reef shine. I also have to mention ALL of the Marriott employees because without them we would have been lost. They made our stay memorable.

I will be blogging over on Newton's Travels about this experinece too. We cannot stop talking about it so I can't wait to share more pictures, videos and stories about our fun filled trip. We have a lot of things we would have loved to do while in St. Thomas so we'll have to make sure to do that all when we return.

From waking up to a view of the Caribbean Sea from our balcony to the beach front sunset dining experience and everything in between this was one of the most romantic getaways one could imagine.

Thank you Marriott!

In Search of Romance

We woke up to this rainbow on Saturday and it just took our breath away!  We saw several double rainbows during our trip. So beatufiul!

Here are some special spots around the resort.  Try to find these romantic hideaways on your next visit to Marriott's Frenchman's Reef.

Hint for the next two photos:  Find the waterfall

From Mac N Cheese to Lobster

Tonight we went to Coco Joe's restaurant (at Morning Star Resort which is another part of the Marriott property) for what we thought was just a regular menu of burgers, salads, etc. but found out Saturday nights they have a seafood buffet.  It was a huge buffet with a variety of selections like grilled lobster, shrimp salad, pasta and potato salad, cole slaw, macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, fried plantains, oysters and much much more.  As a vegetarian, I was glad I could enjoy most of the selections.  They did also have various meats available too along with fruit and dessert tables.

The buffet we fell was a bit pricy at $59 per person but we were really impressed with the food and service.  Jacqueline (Jacquie) was a great server and took the time to talk to us about various things.

We wish we could have tried out Coco Joe's on a regular non buffet night to see what that was like but hopefully we'll be back for a visit sooner than later.

We really loved the atmosphere down the hill at Coco Joe's.  The shuttle took us from Marriott Frenchman's Reef down to Morning Star Resort.  Then we walked through the Morning Star resort area to get to the restaurant.  Loved the open air atmosphere and Coco Joe's being right on the beach,  Right up our alley!

We are stuffed and ready to hit the sack. It has been quite the busy 5 days here and we head back home to Chicago tomorrow.  We'll be checking out the gift and jewelry shops tomorrow, taking last minute pictures and enjoying our last day here at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef. 

Hopefully you have enjoyed our blog posts and our hope is that you will come and check this awesome property out for yourself.  Marriott is top notch and you will not be disappointed.

Experience St. John

Kevin and Angie snorkeling on St. John

Snorkeling at Honeymoon Beach, Caneel Bay, St. John

Honeymoon Beach, St. John

Video of snorkeling adventure in St. John

St. John Snorkel Adventure

Today was our all day sail to St. John!  I have never been on a sail boat and it was really neat.  The Snorkel Adventure with New Horizons is something everyone must do.  We had a taxi take us to Saphire Bay Marina where we signed releases and met the crew and other passengers.

The crew, Captain Steve Miley and Bill were fantastic hosts.  This New Horizons tour is an all-inclusive snorkel adventure.  Just like it says on their pamphlet, there was no need to lift a finger, they pamper you all day.  Here is what was included on this adventure.

• Continental breakfast
• Premium open bar
• Hot Italian lunch buffet
• Snorkel equipment and instruction
• Flotation devices
• Mini dessert offering

and fun music!

We went to the National Park on St. John and snorkeled in Caneel Bay and swam up to Honeymoon beach.  Lots of pretty fish out there and a beautiful and quiet beach. There was hardly anyone there.  After snorkeling for a while there we boarded the boat and had a buffet lunch which included some delicious pasta salads, green bean salad, bread, cheese/meats, meatballs, chicken and brownies with strawberries and kiwi on top. 

After lunch, we took off to Chrismtas Cove on Great St. James.  There we had an amazing snorkel experience.  It was so quiet and calm.  We saw several stingrays, the biggest puffer fish we have ever seen, grouper and a lot of other pretty sea creatures.  I really didn't want to leave but I don't know that I could have snorkeled anymore, I was so tired from all the swimming.

We left Christmas Cove and headed back to the marina.  It was a calm sail back.  One of the best days ever.

Our scheduled taxi pickup was not there when we got back so Captain Steve was kind enough to try to figure it all out and called the Marriott for us but they didn't understand what he was asking so one of the other taxi drivers called for us and took care of it so we made it safely back to the hotel and now it's time for dinner.

We'll post more pictures and probably a video of our day sail next. 

Dinner at Havana Blue

Thanks so much to my hubby Kevin for writng this blog post.

After a great day, one should never get their hopes up, right? Wrong! Dinner at Havana Blue was amazing. We have received a lot of suggestions from experienced guests and staff about their favorite places to go!

I just realized while writing this that no one has said to stay away from anything specific, but that they had a favorite and why. That speaks volumes to us when choosing a travel destination.

Now, more about Havana Blue.

It was a short shuttle ride from the resort to Havana Blue, literally just down the hill. Everyone loves Havana Blue and we now know why. It is truly a wonderful, open air dining experience.

It is Friday night and our reservations were for 6:00pm. We expected there to be a long wait but we were seated almost immediately. Our table was along the ocean side of the dining area and we could hear the waves breaking on the shore below us. Though clouds moved in at the end of the day, as often happens in the Caribbean, the sunset was still warm and inviting. This all set the mood for such a romantic time together.

The menu was not too complicated but it did challenge your brain with the unique combinations of flavors and seasonings. We sampled a couple different appetizers (calamari and Tuna Pacifica) along with an out of this world lobster bisque. Our entrees were the Coco Mojo Camarones -huge shrimp (Angie) and the Ancho Filet (as featured in Gourmet Magazine) which was a melt in your mouth delight.  The portion sizes were just right which left us room for dessert.  The Strawberry Shortcake dessert was light and flavorful.

Our server David Mejia did a great job helping Angie navigate the menu as a vegetarian.  And he took care of a minor mishap from the kitchen when we substituted a side containing meat with one that did not. He took care of it immediately.

Our dinner at Havana Blue was great!

Our Catamaran Half Day Cruise

Today was more than we expected!

The catamaran, "The Cat" picked us up at the Frenchman's Reef dock right on time.  Today's ride was run by Captain Joe and his first officers Grady and Conor.  They were an amazing crew to sail with.  We started out with some safety instructions for the catamaran and set off to Buck Island.  Before we knew it we were there and had another safety briefing on snorkeling, how to swim with the sea turtles and various other things like how to get off and on the catamaran.

This snorkel experience was awesome,  We saw about 10 sea turtles and it was really cool.  Lots of beautiful fish and coral too.  One of the crew is out in the water with you and will bring up various types of sea life.  Then you get to swim on your own for a while.  Snorkeling is one of our favorite activities so this was right up our alley.

On the way over to Buck Island, the guys served us water and had the party music going.  What I really liked about this catamaran cruise is that they don't serve alchohol until the return trip back to the hotel.  They served tortilla chips, carrots and hummus too.

All the crew, Joe, Grady and Conor were extremely attentive.  It started raining while we were out snorkeling and they were kind enough to move our bag out of the rain.  They also came around and talked to everyone like we were a part of their family.

On the way back, they were selling T-Shirts (we bought two cool ones), taking free website photos and putting on pirate tattoos!  What a fun time.  This is their livlihood so it is important that they be compensated and so tips are welcome.  They have a passion for what they do and it shows. 

The one thing I have noticed in St. Thomas is that everyone we have had the pleasure of meeting really love what they do and love living on this island.

We still can't stop talking about how great it was out on "The Cat'' today.  They rocked my world.  You have to book an excursion with them next time you are in St. Thomas, you will not be disappointed.

Here is a quick video of several of our new turtle friends.

Where Were You on 11/11/11?

We will always remember that we were at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef and enjoying the beautiful island of St. Thomas.

We had another delicious breakfast at Aqua Terra and were on our 8th floor balcony overlooking the infinity pool and beautiful waters of St. Thomas at 11:11. Fun!

Today is a beautiful day and just perfect for our half day catamaran cruise to Buck Island that departs right from the Marriott Frenchman's Reef dock.  We'll get to snorkel at Turtle Cove where you can swim with "green sea turtles" in their natural habitat.  We have our own snorkel gear but they do provide it for you if you don't.

It was a real pleasure meeting the owner of the catamaran last night at Marriott's grand re-opening cocktail party.  I'm really excited for the experience today and will be blogging about it later tonight.

After the catamaran cruise we have a sunset dinner booked at the oceanfront Havana Blue restaurant.  More about that later.

It's time for us to get ready for our catamaran cruise so check back later for more updates.

Here are some more photos of our time here in St. Thomas and at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef resort.

The resort at night!

Room with a view

Best wishes to all the couples getting married today here on the resort property.  We saw the new wedding gazebo last night and it's beautiful.

Marriott's Grand Reopening Celebration

New art piece in entryway to Aqua Terra Ocean Grill restaurant

We were invited to attend Marriott's gala cocktail party. Everyone really outdid himself with the planning this shindig.

We got dressed up and went to one of the big Marriott ballrooms for the party. The pre cocktail party had a huge turnout as did the gala part of the evening.

The presentation of the appetizers, desserts, cheese and other food stations were very nice. Music and decor was great. There were speeches from quite a few people including the Governor of the Virgin Islands.

We met a lot of great people, did an interview with press about the property and was able to take a tour of the property with one of Marriott's human resource gals. We saw a newly renovated guest room, pool complex, wedding gazebo, restaurants, bar and lounge and the spa and fitness center.

We had ourselves a great time tonight and met a lot of great people.

Tomorrow we have a catamaran cruise set up for the afternoon and they will be taking us to Buck island to swim with turtles and snorkel.  We had the pleasure of meeting the owner of the catamaran and the owner and manager of Adventure Center where all excursions are booked when you stay at Marriott's Frenchmans Reef.  What a neat family business!  We cannot wait to go on the cat cruise tomorrow.  They are also trying to talk us into trying out the night kyak adventure.  I'm not sure that we'll have enough time in our schedule since everything is pretty booked up for us.  We'll just have to come back to St. Thomas sooner than later right?

Also tomorrow night we are booked for a sunset dinner at Havana Blue restaurant so we are really looking forward to that as well.

Today was a really great day!  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Coral World Video Montage

Here is a video montage Kevin put together to show you the activities we experienced at Coral World.  The Sea Trek video is still in production.  We will post it here as soon as we have it ready for you!  Enjoy!

Coral World Adventure Park & Sea Trek Video

We began our day with a nice breakfast at the Aqua Terra Ocean Grill restaurant where we had some tasty omelets made by Julia running the omelet station. We were served by Antoinette today and she was very pleasant and personable.

After a quick breakfast we headed off to Coral World. I could write pages and pages about our fabulous experience there and I will do that on our family travel blog when we return home. From the moment we walked in we were treated to an all day experience we will never forget.

Our day started with a quick tour of some of the attractions. We started out by feeding nectar to the lorikeets which was cool. Then we moved on to feeding the stingrays. They are so unbelievably soft and are such interesting creatures.

We then went on to do the sea turtle encounter where we got into the small turtle pool to interact with the sea turtles. Erica was very knowledgable and you can tell she really has a passion for what she does. This was one of those experiences you'll never forget. Sweet creatures!

Then we moved on to the sea lion encounter which was the highlight of my day. Once we got on our life jackets and water shoes we were given our instructions from Ashley and another trainer. Then it was play/training time with Omar. So so awesome. Words cannot even describe it.  Here is a picture of me getting getting kissed by two of my favorite guys in the world.

Kiss Sandwich!

After lunch we had another big adventure, the Sea Trek. It was so neat to be able to walk on the ocean floor. The Sea Trek helmets weigh 75 lbs but you really never felt the weight of it. Ross got us all set up and did a safety briefing. Then Kurt and Lance, Sea Trek safety guides took us down to walk the ocean floor. This activity is also something you should do when at Coral World.

Make sure you book an excursion here next time you come to St. Thomas. Big thanks goes to Kenan, our tour guide who did a stand up job making sure we were taken care of from the time we walked in to Coral World until the time we left.

Go to Coral World, you won't regret it!

Be on the lookout for the next post where we'll have a slide show of our activities at Coral World and a video of us on the Sea Trek adventure.

*edited to add: Sea Trek video inlcuded below.  The first few seconds are a little shaky, sorry!

Welcome Dinner With New Friends

After our glorious couples massage experience, we cleaned up quickly and met Joyce, the Director of Sales for Frenchman's Reef for dinner at Aqua Terra Ocean Grill.  What a great way to get to know more about the resort and all it has to offer.

Joyce does it all. She works with travel agents, meeting planners, groups for businesses, weddings and she does the marketing for both groups and leisure clients. 

• Enhanced family pool, new infinity pool and new spa pool
• Brand new fitness center with 24 hour key card access
• New Aqua Terra lounge

Massage Your Worries Away

We all love to be pampered, right? Well let me tell you about the couples massage we had today at the resort.  It was an amazing experience!

We arrived a little late from the airport due to traffic in town, as I mentioned earlier but the staff rushed to our rescue and made sure we were taken care of by giving us shower shoes and large comfy robes to change into before heading into the couples massage room.  The Lazule Spa was beautiful. We were greeted as if we were old friends having returned from a long journey.

Miles and Boel guided us to our couples massage room where they proceeded to rejuvenate our spirits as well as our bodies.  The lights were dimmed and soft music was playing in the background.  The thing that stood out the most to me was that Miles, my masseuse asked if I wanted to focus on anything special and also asked what I wanted most out of the massage.  I explained to him that I had a migraine and he went above and beyond and truly focused on ways to help ease the pain.  My headache was nearly gone by the time we walked out the spa doors.

The whole session lasted for approximately one hour. The two travel weary people that entered the room were no more.  With smiles on our faces, we were guided to a relaxation area over by the new spa pool where we had access to fruits, beverages and healthy snack bars.  We plan on returning to Lazule Spa before we leave to try another dose of relaxation.

Breathtaking

We made it to St. Thomas safe and sound!

Travels today took us from Chicago to Miami to our final destination here in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.  We arrived at the airport, got our bags and were whisked away to Marriott's Frenchman's Reef.  St. Thomas was happening today so it took longer than expected to get to the resort but we got to see all the ships in port and the area full of tourists shopping, enjoying outdoor dining and more.  It's really beautiful here.

And good timing because as we were preparing to land in Miami the pilot informed us that Chicago was due to get snow later in the afternoon.

We arrived to the resort and immediately fell in love.  The lobby and front desk area is open air and very inviting.  Sonia, the Sales Supervisor here at Frenchman's Reef quickly found us upon arrival and we were given all of our goodies and escorted to our room.  Everyone is so friendly here!

From the moment we walked through the door, I fell in love.  All the rooms here at Frenchman's Reef have been renovated.  We love the vaulted ceilings, the soft colors and all it has to offer.  The view from the balcony is especially breathtaking even if we arrived on a rainy day.  There was a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and some champagne waiting for us.  How thoughtful!

We had to rush a bit as it took longer than expected to get here and we had a couples massage booked for 4 PM so we didn't get to take many arrival pictures.  We will have great photos for you soon enough so don't worry about that. 

We had an awesome couples massage experience.  Be on the lookout for our next blog post about the spa here at Frenchman's Reef.

Resort to Romance: Sleepless in Chicago

It's almost time for us to leave for paradise! 

I'm Angie and I was one of the lucky winners of Marriott's Resort to Romance beach blogger contest.  My husband Kevin and I chose Marriott's Frenchman's Reef resort in St. Thomas, Virgina Islands a few months ago but they were completing a renovation of the property so we have waited until it was complete to experience all they have to offer.  We want to thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedules to vote for us every day and make this vacation become a reality.

The other day we received our itinerary from Marriott and we have a lot of fun things planned for while we are in St. Thomas.  Get excited because we are going to experience a romantic couples massage, sunset dinner, snorkeling (one of our favorite activities) and sailing adventures not to mention a turtle encounter, swimming with sea lions and doing a Sea Trek.  We can't wait to explore the resort, it's surroundings and all St. Thomas and St. John have to offer.

It's going to be really hard to sleep tonight but we have a really early wake up call and drive to the airport here in Chicago tomorrow morning.  We'll make a pit stop in Miami and then head on to St. Thomas.  Looking forward to meeting everyone!

If you have any requests for what you want to see or hear about at the resort OR what you think we should see, please don't hesitate to post on Marriott's Caribbean Resort Facebook page.  We'll check in there daily!

We recently started our own family travel blog so we look forward to sharing our adventures there as well. You can get to know more about us there.

I guess we should go finish packing.  See you from St. Thomas!

Angie and Kevin