2026 -9 St. Thomas Margaritaville 3 bd Presidential rm 8404 (lower hillside)

 When the Hicks kids said they would like to go to St. Thomas during Layla's Fall break, I jumped on the Wyndham site and was only able to reserve them a studio (occupancy 2 people).  I even called the resort to make sure it was alright to have a child in the room with her parents.  Then came the game of constantly checking for larger rooms and upgrades.  About 2 months before their trip, I was able to rebook them into a larger occupancy 4 person capacity studio.  Then I noticed a curious thing happening on the wyndham site---exactly 1 month out, a bunch of rooms started opening up, including the 3 bedroom Presidentials.  I assume it had to do with the reserve held for Presidential reserve members being released---or rentals through Extra Vacations not happening---but for whatever reason, it worked great for me.

Since that was within the 60 days mark, our VIP Gold status got us 35% off points.  Then at 45 days, free upgrades are also one of our VIP perks.  So I watched the rooms open up daily and when the kids' dates were 45 days out, I grabbed them a 2 bedroom unit for 35% off and took the free upgrade to the 3 bedroom Presidential.  Since there was always at least 2- 3 bedroom units popping up daily, I was able to keep booking and cancelling until all the dates they needed were picked up.  Only downside was---it was on the "hillside".  Last time we were there, the hillside was under construction, but I'd read all kinds of things about it being a hard walk from the parking lot.  They have golf cart shuttles to take you up or down the mountain, but then you're often waiting around for a ride and a tip was encouraged.  We were assigned a "lower hillside" unit, so I hoped the stairs down to/from the parking lot wouldn't be too bad.

The walk really wasn't too bad.  Although with my osteoarthritis, it was more of a challenge than it would have been before the arthritis.  But I actually found my knees were feeling pretty good by the time my 9 days were over. 

looking back towards the lobby from the first set of steps

looking up the first set of steps---loved the landscaping

halfway up the first set of steps and showing the second set off to the upper right.

heading up the 2nd set of steps.

from the top of the 2nd set of steps heading to our building (8).

some of the beautiful bougainvillea along the way

our room was up another set of stairs.

  

love the names they had for the buildings.  Ours was "Jamaica Mistaica".

One of our resident felines.  Looks like something happened to it's jaw, but it seemed sweet.  There were lots of cats and chickens living side by side---along with iguanas and lizards.  

Josh and the golf cart guy getting our luggage.  It was nice that they even brought stuff up the stairs for us

Our room

Inside our unit:

just past the steps by the front door---the "bar" with big Margarita maker 

fr.om the front door.  This is the Margarita station.  The thing that looks like a dishwasher is an ice maker and makes quite a racket!  

 

 

directly to the right of the door are the steps going to the 2nd level.  That level has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and the washer and dryer.

Straight ahead from the door is the dining table with 7 chairs.  The light is off set from the table and easy to hit ones head on---if you're tall enough to worry about that.  But we found you could turn the light 90 degrees.

rather small but adequate kitchen.  But the drawers wouldn't open all the way with the dishwasher closed---bottom wouldn't open all the way even with the dishwasher opened.  The microwave preset timers didn't work, but setting it by minutes did.

looking back on the living area from the livingroom patio door

The bedroom on the main level.  I thought it was strange that there was no ceiling fan in there.  There were ceiling fans in the other 2 bedrooms.  Might not have been so bad, but the AC went out twice and it got warm in there.  Maintenance did come and get it going again, but it took over 5 hours for them to fix it the 2nd time.  Then he told me if the temp is set too high or too low it'll automatically shut off.  I mentioned I had it on 70 and didn't touch it.  He said that was too high.  At home I keep it set at 77 or 78!  I told him then it's either too cold or too hot to which he turned it to 60 and said get an extra blanket.

 

I imagine there used to be a ceiling fan since there was a remote fob on the wall that didn't run anything.

 

hidden toillet behind the glass door to the left.

opposite the toilette was the big shower.

 Now for the 2nd floor---of course they uploaded in reverse so I'll walk backwards through this tour.

 

the laundry room

laundry closet to the right, bedroom behind me, another bedroom and steps in front and to the right, overlook to the downstairs to the left.

master bedroom with double closet between in-suite bathroom and bedroom

The glued down hand soap and lotion.

no hidden toilette here

on-suite straight ahead

little reading area.   Didn't have to worry about sleeping in with the sun coming in from the windows near the ceiling.

living area from the 2nd level

Layla LOVED this reading nook in her room.

her room had 2 beds as well as the reading nook

top of the stairs

View from our lanai

Our unit had 2 separate lanais---one from the living area and one from the bedroom.

our view

Heading back down to the restaurant, lobby, lower pool, shops, parking lot---

 

from our level in our building

2nd set of steps

landscaping along the way

3rd set of steps

cool lights at the bottom of the stairs

continuing to the lobby

Around the property

inside the lobby

looking down from the 2nd floor of the lobby

 

lower level little market and coffee shop

past the store is town hall---where they did "owner updates" in the past.  I haven't been asked to do the updates since I sent an email to put me on a no update list.

guess this guy wanted to go to the owner update

this one wanted to visit the pool 

the lower pool ( where bingo, ice cream social, shots, an music was done 

more of the pool

the Margaritaville restaurant in the back ground and the 5 o'clock bar to the right

I thought it was funny that they put up a sign about the seaweed they have such a big problem with.  People complain about the smell but I didn't find it bad.  they had workers raking it up daily and hauling it to big dumpsters that were hauled away at least twice while we were there.

but the big problem is that they had been removing the seaweed with a back hoe and bull dozer and removed the beach, too!

These 2 pictures are actually from 2016 when we were there and the beach was pretty

 

 this is what it looks like now with the Sargassum and lack of sand.  No lounge chairs out there now.

At least these guys seem to enjoy the Sargassum

even the trees are falling over

 

inside the Margaritaville restaurant

The Hillside pool and swim up bar

The Hillside pool bar from the deck side

 

 

view down to our level from the pool

 

Activities around Margaritaville 

They were a little late getting that out, so I missed it.

generous ice cream at the scoops by the pool event. 

where musicians played

sip and strokes (the margaritas just keep coming!)

one of my masterpieces

Bingo by the lower pool

my big Bingo winnings!

Transportation 

there were usually at least 2 taxis waiting to take people somewhere

since they have  no beach now, they offer these free shuttles.  I went to Coki twice and Sapphire Beach once by shuttle.  It was a nice benefit

 

All in all, I would recommend Margaritaville.  Even though we had problems with the ac and one rude lobby worker, everyone else we ran into was very nice.  The activities were nice.  Food in the restaurant was good.  Our unit was spacious and clean (although we all agreed that we preferred the lower level 3 bedroom that we had 10 years ago better.  It was all one level and seemed more spacious with larger living areas.  Plus we weren't waiting for golf carts or taking a bunch of steps so often).  I think we will be back.