Forty oceanfront suites in pink low-rise buildings strung along a 1,200-foot strand of private beach, three miles west of Christiansted, the island's quietest adults-only boutique, and the unhurried alternative to a branded resort.
"Every room sees the water, no room takes a child, the most economical adults-only beachfront on St. Croix, and the least theatrical."
The Palms at Pelican Cove sits on 5 acres along a 1,200-foot strand of private beach at La Grande Princesse, three miles (and roughly seven minutes by taxi) west of central Christiansted. The property dates from the late 1970s and has been independently owned and operated for the last two decades; it converted to an adults-only operation in 2019, which has changed the demographic of the booking but not the unhurried, slightly bohemian feel of the resort. The buildings are pink stucco, two storeys, and arranged so that every one of the 40 suites has a direct ocean view from the patio or the balcony, there are no parking-lot rooms and no garden rooms here.
The 40 rooms are configured as standard oceanfront rooms (king or two queens, roughly 320 square feet, large patio or balcony with rattan seating and the direct beach view) and a small handful of one-bedroom suites with a separate sitting room and a kitchenette. Each room has a CD player (an idiosyncratic vintage detail that the owners have refused to remove), a coffee maker, a safe, a ceiling fan and the proper Caribbean louvred door arrangement that lets you sleep with the sea-breeze and not the air conditioning. The aesthetic is unfussy, light wood, tile floors, white walls with the occasional local-artist watercolour, and the build is sturdy enough that the property took the 2017 hurricane season without losing any rooms permanently.
The beach is the central proposition. The 1,200-foot strand is one of the longest in private-resort hands on the north shore of St. Croix, and the eastern end of the property bumps up against the protected sea-turtle nesting area at Pelican Cove proper. The water immediately offshore is calm enough for swimming and good enough for snorkeling at the rocky points at either end of the bay; the dive operators in the marina at Christiansted are a 10-minute taxi away and most guests divide the week between beach mornings and an organised dive day. The property runs a small beachfront swimming pool, complimentary kayaks and snorkel gear, and a tennis court that the staff will set up on request.
Dining is a single restaurant, the Palms Restaurant, an open-air room on the seaward side of the lobby pavilion, breakfast and dinner. The cooking is unpretentious Caribbean-American, with the local-catch wahoo, mahi and lobster on the menu most evenings; the wine list is short but properly chosen; the rum bar is one of the better small lists on the island. Most guests eat at the restaurant most nights, the seven-minute taxi into Christiansted opens the broader dining options (Savant, Zion Modern Kitchen, the Brass Parrot) but the operation does not push you off-property the way a larger resort would. Service is the central strength of the place: 30-odd staff for 40 rooms, most of them with double-digit tenure, and the resulting first-name familiarity that branded operations cannot reproduce.
For a Caribbean honeymoon the Palms is the unhurried, lower-priced alternative to the Carambola or Buccaneer, every room sees the water, the policy is adults-only, the beach is private, and the seven-minute drive into Christiansted gives the dinner programme. Book a corner oceanfront suite on the upper floor; ask the kitchen for the beach-table dinner on the second or third night.
For a low-key anniversary the property's small-resort feel works precisely because the staff remember the booking. The 1,200-foot beach is wide enough for proper privacy, the dining room is small enough to feel like the same group every evening, and the room rate is roughly half the Carambola's headline suite, a strong fit for the quiet milestone trip rather than the milestone-with-photographer version.
For a solo retreat the Palms is the most defensible booking on the island. The adults-only policy keeps the beach quiet; the single restaurant means the staff knows you by the second morning; the room categories are simple enough that you can book the upper-floor oceanfront and read for a week with no programming pressure. Pair with the dive school in Christiansted if you want the structured off-day.
The Palms at Pelican Cove
4126 La Grande Princesse
Christiansted, St. Croix 00820
U.S. Virgin Islands
Christiansted town 3 miles / 7 minutes; Henry E. Rohlsen Airport (STX) 25 minutes; the Buck Island ferry departs from Christiansted harbor
40 oceanfront rooms & suites
Oceanfront Standard from $265/night
Premium Oceanfront from $395/night
One-Bedroom Suite from $829/night
Adults-only (16+)
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Founded late 1970s, independently owned
Converted to adults-only in 2019
1,200-foot private beach
Every room oceanfront
Beachfront swimming pool
Complimentary kayaks & snorkel
Tennis court
The Palms Restaurant (open-air)
7 minutes to Christiansted dining
Free WiFi throughout
From $265/night for the oceanfront standard. The corner upper-floor oceanfronts at the east end of the property are the working booking. Adults-only, book at least 60 days ahead for the December, April season.
Book This Hotel →131 rooms on a 340-acre former sugar plantation, three beaches, oceanfront golf, and the Caribbean's longest continuously family-owned operation.
151 suites on the half-mile crescent of Davis Bay, the quietest beach on the island, with the Robert Trent Jones Sr. course inland.
The full editorial ranking of St. Croix hotels, from Christiansted heritage rooms to the west-coast Frederiksted boutiques.