Divi Carina Bay All Inclusive Beach Resort & Casino

“Underwhelming”

Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino My wife and I were joined by 2 friends on a vacation to this resort in May. Some good stuff and some questionable stuff and some downright horrible stuff. First I would like to mention the bad stuff that has nothing to do with the resort but it is part of the St... more

Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino My wife and I were joined by 2 friends on a vacation to this resort in May. Some good stuff and some questionable stuff and some downright horrible stuff. First I would like to mention the bad stuff that has nothing to do with the resort but it is part of the St. Croix experience. Upon arrival at the airport one will notice there are no jet ways so you have to deplane on a roll-up stairway. Since we had no checked bags we went straight past the one luggage belt to the taxi location. Here’s where the strange stuff kicked in. The official St. Croix website states that a taxi ride from the airport to the Divi is $36 for 2 fares. They have a wooden board nailed to the wall with the fare crossed out and a hand written number of $25 per person if you are sharing a cab but $90 for just 2 people. When I questioned this I was told the government had not updated the web site. Sure… So, it is raining and the head taxi guy led us to a beat up filthy Ford Transit van. It had a taxi plate so we figured what the heck. Below the rear view mirror was a hand written sign stating there is a $5.00 charge per bag. This is news to us but we were anxious to get to the resort. Off we go into the rain and one of the wipers does not work. The roads are very narrow 2 lane jobs and they drive on the left. Odd since when the British controlled the island 300 years had passed. The next thing the resort is not responsible for is the Sargasso seaweed. Very thick and very rough to walk over. There is a tractor that goes by daily but it impossible to keep up with. Also, if you choose to go into the ocean, bring water shoes, as it is a bit rocky. You will have to go the Activities desk to get an umbrella. Now to the resort. We were greeted with a rum punch in a plastic cup and we gave them our credit card to take care of any expenditures we might incur. No problem there. They then gave us a wristband that had a very small plastic square that is the room key. Great idea! There was no bellman there so our friend who had arrived a day early showed us the way to our room. There are no elevators anywhere on the resort except in the kitchen so we had to lug our suitcases down a flight of stairs. Our room was in the Oceans side on the first floor. No ocean view. We were unable to enter a code on the safe and after about 5 minutes, a very nice young man came in and fixed the problem. We also noted there was a leak under the toilet and he said he would check back later. Never happened. We ended up pressing towels against the bottom of the toilet for the next 7 days. The room was really nice, though. Huge TV that gets New York stations. Our TV had Netflix available. The downside of the room was we could not open the curtains because the bar had a clear view inside. And, on 4 nights, the music was extremely loud with offensive lyrics. It went on to about 11:00 PM. Our friends were on the Beach side and heard nothing. The bed had a very thin mattress that was more stiff than soft. There is a mini fridge but there was no beer inside. Odd for an adults only resort. There are also no snacks in the fridge like chips or cookies. The coffee machine sounds like a train running the room and the result is muddy coffee. Because of all the seaweed, we spent most of time at the pool. There were two beach towels in our room when we arrived but from that point on, we had to go the activity shack. The pool water temperature was perfect but the pool, itself, is in dire need of maintenance. There is peeling paint in several locations and we never saw anyone scrubbing the tiles on the upper sides. Speaking of maintenance, there are many, many areas where concrete is crumbling all over the resort. There is also a stairway on the Ocean front side that is blocked off because of crumbling concrete. Also there was a leak in the roof of the restaurant that was never fixed. Speaking of restaurants, they claim there are 3 on site. Well, the main restaurant, Tuscany, is only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Otherwise, the Market buffet area on the ground floor is open for every meal. The 3rd “restaurant” is the bar by the pool. Hamburgers, chicken fingers and fries. The food was simply ordinary. I would have expected that a resort in the tropics would provide tropical citrus fruits but all that had in this area was cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, blueberries and maraschino cherries. No dry cereal in the morning. They have theme nights in the buffet and for the Asian night they had macaroni and cheese. There are only 3 deserts offered in the main and buffet areas; cheesecake, key lime pie and carrot cake. We went to the casino on night and a golf cart brought us there. The driver said to just tell the security guy at the casino to call back to the resort front desk and they would send one to bring us back when we were ready. The casino is mostly wall-to-wall slots. There were 2 Black Jack tables. The roulette and craps tables were closed. When we were ready to go back to the resort, the security guy called the number he had for the lobby and told us the number is not active. So, we walked back. Not too bad since it was fairly close but just another indication that this resort simply cannot measure up to other all inclusives in the Caribbean. Now that I have painted such a negative picture, I should mention some of the good things. There is a coffee shop that opens at 7 am and the coffee is extraordinary. The air conditioner in our rook worked fantastic. We had to remember to hang a thing on our door that requests housekeeping that was very good. The TV is huge. The staff at this resort are incredibly helpful. They seem stretched thin and overworked. Several employees are from the US mainland and work there for a contractual time. Always smiling, never complaining. I know I will forget someone and I apologize for this but management needs to be aware of some of their employees: Scott, Cole, Hailey, Leighla, Liz and Chloe. Over and above service. The front desk ordered a taxi for our trip to the airport and it arrived on time. Easy ride and personable driver. When we got to the airport, we expected to go straight to TSA. Instead, we had to go through Customs and Immigration. I don’t understand when we, as American citizens, had to go through Customs and Immigration when traveling from a US territory to the US mainland. Weird. In closing, I think Divi should close down for a month and perform much needed maintenance. I would not return to this resort and, although I have been looking at the Divi resorts in Aruba, I am having second thoughts because of how this property is managed.

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“An enjoyable vacation with pros and cons”

First of all - we love St. Croix! My husband and I recently returned from our trip (first time either of us had been to St. Croix), and we fell in love with the island. The people, scenery, wildlife, food, ambience, cost-effectiveness - very lovely. There were pros and cons to Divi Carina Bay, a... more

First of all - we love St. Croix! My husband and I recently returned from our trip (first time either of us had been to St. Croix), and we fell in love with the island. The people, scenery, wildlife, food, ambience, cost-effectiveness - very lovely. There were pros and cons to Divi Carina Bay, as with all places. Hopefully I can lay them out here and travelers can decide what is important to them. Pros: - The staff were warm, courteous, and friendly. Special shoutout to Kat (bartender), Orion (server), and Jose (activities director). I have celiac disease, and our first night there I was struggling to find dinner that I could safely eat. Kat took it upon herself, from the bar, to walk to the restaurant (which was full and not taking reservations) to ensure I got a gluten-free meal. And it was delicious! But it wouldn't have happened without her care and advocacy. - The pool was wonderful! Beautiful views of the Caribbean and the beach while in the pool, perfect temperature, well-maintained. And the pool was never crowded. - We weren't nickel-and-dimed like travelers often are at beach resorts. All-inclusive really meant all-inclusive. We could use beach chairs and umbrellas at no additional cost. We could use pool-side cabana beds at no additional cost. There were always chairs, umbrellas, and cabanas available. It was so nice to not have to cough up additional money every day for these amenities. - The food on the buffets at breakfast and dinner was great! - We enjoyed our room - it was on the first floor, and we could walk straight out to the beach. Not down a long walkway, but immediately were on the beach. - I enjoyed swimming in the ocean with just a pair of goggles. At one point an octopus ended up on my hand! Unbelievable. Just really awesome. Conch shells and washed up coral everywhere - things we don't see on our East Coast mainland beaches. Cons: - As a celiac, I did really struggle with food during the trip. None of the food on the buffet is labeled, and at times I would ask questions, and frequently the staff either didn't know if something was gluten-free or not, or several times I was told something was gluten-free, and when I asked a follow-up questions, it would be recognized that it actually wasn't. - For an all-inclusive, there weren't many food options in terms of variety either. There was one restaurant that was only open on specific nights for dinner, and was frequently full. There was a buffet area for dinner, but again - the food wasn't labeled and I found myself guessing a lot in trying to figure out what I could eat. More often than not there was not a gluten-free dessert - several cakes, etc, but none were gluten-free. - Certain positions felt understaffed. Housekeeping, for example - she made her best effort, it appeared, to get to all of the rooms, but it seemed there were too many rooms for her to complete within a day. We only had our room cleaned twice because we felt guilty about expecting daily housekeeping, even though daily housekeeping is part of the agreement when paying to stay there. - Our fridge in our room (drinks) was never restocked over the five days we were there. - During the day, the bar could also feel understaffed. On one particular day, Scott (bartender) was on his own, and was working very efficiently, but needed one or two other bartenders to help him keep up. - The photos of the beach on Trip Advisor are not consistent with what the beach actually looks like. There was a LOT of seaweed at the water's edge, and when it dries it becomes sharp if you step on it. We wore water shoes to get in and out of the ocean because of the huge buildup of it. Which is fine - it's part of the natural environment, and we appreciated that. But the photos of a perfect white beach with no seaweed are inaccurate and misleading. Overall - we enjoyed our stay, and we loved St. Croix. And we did enjoy many aspects of Divi Carina Bay!

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