View of Paradise at Sapphire Beach

My experience staying at this property was not a good one. There were some positives: property is right on the beach front, the cafe is good, casual bars/restaurants are fun (although the fish tacos are terrible), and the fine dining restaurant, Sea Salt, is excellent. But the unit I was given, listed as a Standard Beachfront Condo, was awful. The air condition was too cold and there is no way to adjust the temperature. The AC vent pushes air right on to the bed, and I had to pull an extra flimsy blanket out of the closet to try to keep myself warm when sleeping. It got so bad that the last night I stayed there, I actually took the blankets to the couch and slept there. Second, my sink clogged up. Third, neither of the two security safes in the closet were functional. Both were in states of disrepair. Fourth, and this might be the worst thing about the property, is that it is not prepared for tropical storms or hurricanes. There was a flashlight on the kitchen shelf but it was a low quality one and the battery was dead. Our power went out during hurricane Erin and I was relying on light from my mobile devices to not bump into things in the middle of the night. The property does have its own generator, but the generator only acts as a backup for the shared spaces like the cafe and restaurants. Rolling blackouts appear to be the norm on St. Thomas when major storm systems pass through, so if the power in your unit goes out during a weather event, it is an issue with the grid and the people responsible for getting that back up and running on the island. There is no backup generator on site for the condos. Nobody expected hurricane Erin to turn into the monster category 5 storm it was or for it to take the trajectory it did, but even with a lesser storm, the unit was not hurricane ready. In sum, my unit was not well attended to (it was obvious regular maintenance was not a priority of the owner) with multiple things in disrepair, and there is a glaring lack of disaster preparedness, which is shocking for an island that is in regularly in the danger zone for tropical storm systems. This place is definitely overpriced for what it offers and was a huge disappointment.

Don’t like that our room was double booked. Another condo was provided but having to move again after a couple of days when our orig room was avail was a little stressful. I her than that we loved our stay and enjoyed the views, accessibility to restaurant and bar and the closeness too red hook!

The condo owner was very accommodating and helpful.