My wife and I were there November of last year and will be going again this November (as well as May of 09). We both loved it. When we were there buildings one and two were open and functioning and buildings three and four were looking like there were close. A couple months perhaps? Three and four were painted and had windows in them already. It looked as if most of the work was inside and some site work around those buildings. They were beginning site work on the other buildings on the other side of the entry drive. The beach was all open and nice, although they need to remove the rocks from the shoreline. There were a ton of urchins to the right of the dock. The left side of the dock was cleared out and you could enter there without any worries of urchins. We were told that the rocks were going to removed. The dock was also on schedule to be fixed since its not usable in this condition. I guess they want to run some of their tours for just residents off that dock rather than going over to the hotel's dock. Also, all the beach facilities/pool/pool bar/kids place/gym area were all open and functioning. The check in desk was still up on the 5th floor in the first building, but I think they are moving to their permanent building beside number 4 by the first of the year. We were told that all 4 buildings would be open by our next visit this november. The place really is nice and we were pleasantly surprised by it. Very glad we bought off the brochure and Marriott's past reputation. We cannot wait to go back again. This time though we are spending more time at our place than all over the island/s. We truely were not able to enjoy and appreciate it like we wished we would have. Thats what the many future visits are for I guess!

Thank you so much for your response. The beach area has me concerned because of the rocks etc... I hope they can fix it up and make it more 'user friendly'. 😛

We just stayed at Frenchmans Reef mid June for a week. Our room overlooked the harbor, so if we looked to the right we could see the Cove, though we didn't know what it was when we checked in. On the side of the Cove away from the Reef they were doing earthmoving and had one of those rock pounder things that makes a racket, sculpting the land for development - can't say if it's part of the Cove but it's pretty close so I assumed it was. This didn't go on all day every day, but it was prevalent enough that it reduced our time on the balcony and we went elsewhere numerous times. Had to be worse at the Cove since it was much closer, and I just kept thinking I felt sorry for the folks staying there because they had days that the beach had to be quite unpleasant due to the noise for many hours. 🙁

My wife and I were there in May and it was wonderful. wonderful enough that we bought. We were there ona preview package and can honestlty say we had the worst room on site. It was building 6 first floor directly next to where they are building the new check- in building. That being said we loved it. Never heard the construction noise and with the exception of it being a little bit longer to walk to walk to the pool/beach it was fine.

The villa is huge with plenty of space for the two of us. We enjoyed the beach alot. I remember as kid staying at the Reef many timesand seeing how that beach was just deserted and never in a million years ever expected to be on it. The pool was great too and both provided a great place for us end our day after shopping, sailing, or at another beach. We took advantage of the 2 for 1 drink specials more than a few times and really just loved the place. On Tuesday they even set up a little "marketplace" by the pool with vendors from town.

The check- in was still the 5th floor of building 1, but they said they will shortly be moved to the new buling once complete towards the end of this year. The beach was still ricky and the peir in need of repair. We were told the VI gov't just granted them a "beach beautification" permit and improvements there were epxected to take place within the next few months as well. The marketplace to buy food etc seemed a little pricey, but hey we are on vacation. I didn't get to use the gym. I had actually hurt my ankle a week earlier in a summe rleague hockey game ( turns out I sprained it and torn some muscles) that prevented me from using the gym and propbably made the long walks I mentioend earlier seem even longer. I lok forward to using it when we return.

Scott