By: Kelly Roop Aleman

Other blog posts by Kelly: Symphony of the Seas Review

Aleman Family: 2 Adults, 2 kiddos ages 6 years and 19 months

Our family sailed on Harmony of the Seas on July 10, 2022 and one of our scheduled stops was St Kitts! Can you believe that after 40+ cruises, I have never been to St Kitts before!?! Me either! So I decided it was time to experience this island!

I typically prefer to do a Royal Caribbean excursion my first time in a destination, however, all of the excursions we were interested in were already sold out (this cruise was only booked a couple months in advance, so this was totally understandable). After doing some research and reading what other families had done in the Moms at Sea Facebook Community, I concluded that the Resort for a Day at the Marriott looked like a great option for my family.

The pictures of the resort looked beautiful, and I LOVED the price point of $59 per person with children under 13 being FREE. We booked through the Resort for a Day website and printed out our paper receipt. The instructions clearly stated that we needed to bring the printed receipt.

When we docked in St. Kitts on July 14, 2022, I was impressed with the beauty of the island! It was mountainous and very picturesque.

We got off the ship around 9am about an hour after we docked and enjoyed the short walk into the port area towards the shops. Right before we reached the shopping area, there were excursion offers and taxi offers from drivers and tour operators. We asked for a taxi for 4, and we were quickly whisked away behind the shops to the driver’s taxi. He told us it would be a 10 minute drive and a $20 fare. The taxi was a clean van with air conditioning. The taxi driver was extremely friendly and provided us some history on the island and how happy they were to have tourists visiting. This was just the start of our friendly experience we had on this island. 

When we were about two minutes away from the Marriott, our driver pointed out the Marriott in the distance and it appeared on top of a cliff and quite regal. We were definitely getting excited! A few moments later we were dropped off at the Porte-Cochère and off we went into the resort!

We were greeted in the lobby by a gentleman asking how he could assist us. We assume this was to ensure only resort guests were utilizing the resort amenities, which we appreciated. We showed him our Resort for a Day pass, and he directed us to the front desk. The front desk agent greeted us with a big smile and thanked us for coming to the Marriott. She took my paper confirmation I had and checked us in. The agent proceeded to get a map of the resort showing where we were, where the pool was, and how to get there. She also told us the bar would be opening at 10am, and we were able to order food and drinks from the bar and receive 10% off with our day pass. While speaking with the front desk agent we couldn’t help but look around the beautiful lobby. It appeared to be open air from what I could tell (and feel with the humidity!)

We took the elevator from the lobby down to the lower level where the pool was. It was an easy walk and found the pool easily. The pool was empty for being 9:30am. After walking around for a few minutes to decide which lounge chairs we wanted, and we came across a few cabana rentals. The cabanas included a day bed and two upgraded lounge chairs. My husband went to the towel hut to ask about the price, and much to our surprise, they were $30 for four hours! I about screamed when my he told me the price and I sent him right back over to rent one. My 6 year old also wanted to rent a snorkel and flippers after our catamaran excursion the day before, so we included that in our rental. The snorkel and fins were $15 to rent. I was more impressed with my $30 cabana price. 

We were assigned Cabana #1 which was a perfect location as it was near the bar and close to the pool. We enjoyed playing in the pool all morning and had some tropical cocktails from the swim-up bar. I was impressed with the cocktail quality and the price point of $10.90 per drink. I walked down near the beach to see that area early in the morning. It was a very windy day and looking out at the ocean the water seemed quite rough. I did not see anyone laying out on the beach or in the water. I saw a few people playing on the beach with kites, though. The entire morning looked like it was going to storm, so I assume that contributed to the rough seas. Luckily, we had planned on doing a pool day at the resort, so this did not affect us at all!

At 11am the restaurant opened, and we decided to order some lunch for the family. Our kids like to eat early and were already getting hungry. We ordered lunch from our friendly bartender Olivia at the swim-up bar. Hubby and I split a Greek Salad and Lobster Roll while the kids split an adult hotdog entree. The food came out quickly, and we were able to find some tables next to the pool. We had more than enough food for the 4 of us with these choices. 

After lunch we swam a bit more and then decided to begin heading back to the ship. Our toddler was beginning to melt down for his nap, and the weather was beginning to look questionable. We closed out our tab we had with Olivia at the swim-up bar, and she invited us to come back and stay at the resort next time and not to come just for the day. The staff everywhere at the resort was incredibly sweet and helpful. 

We walked back into the lobby and asked the gentlemen by the door for assistance with a taxi. He said he would have one to us in just a moment. We stood outside and within a minute, a taxi was there. The taxi driver told us it was also $20 to go back to the port area. I appreciated that all the people on the island were very upfront, and there was no haggling. We enjoyed the 10 minute taxi ride back to the port area. Once we were back in the port area, my 6 year old and I decided to check out some shops while hubby and toddler went back to the ship for nap time. 

After a bit of shopping, my 6 year old found a turtle stuffed animal he just had to have so we purchased that. We walked back to the ship as it began to look darker and darker out. Once we stepped on the ship it began to downpour. We came back at the absolute perfect time. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our day at the Marriott in St Kitts. We were very impressed with the friendliness of the people, the cleanliness of the island, as well as the beauty of the island. We would definitely enjoy a cruise to St Kitts again and definitely would recommend a day pass to the Marriott through Resort for a Day!

Cheers and Happy Cruising!

Kelly