I bought this book for a recent trip to the British Virgin Islands, having used Frommer's guides on several vacations in the past.
Most of the reviewers highlight problems in the sections on the USVI, but the sections on the BVI are worse. For example, there are none of the useful maps showing where hotels and restaurants are on the island, which makes planning day trips or dinner trips difficult. Also, it gives no hint that cabs are really the only way around, extremely expensive and highly unreliable.
I think for my next trip to the Caribbean, I will just rely on their overall Carribean book (I've used the US and Europe ones and like them) and don't see the added value of the country/island/area specific book (most of the guides are recycled content anyway).

We just returned from a trip to St. Thomas. We stayed at Saphire Beach Resort based on the ratings in Frommers - "One of the best resorts on the island" and "one of the best restaurants". Saphire Beach resort is one of the worst resorts we have every been to. Service is very poor - sometimes rude. Staff could not provide much insight into activities at the resort itself - let alone the rest of the islands. The food at the restaurant is awful - we actually got sick - we think from eating spoiled food there.

Several great resaurants that we found later were not even listed in Frommers (Whale of a Tale in Red Hook, and Blue Moon Cafe at Secret Harbor).

Don't buy this book, and don't go anywhere near Saphire Beach Resort.

I have used Frommer's books on several recent vacations, and have typically found them quite useful and easily filled-in. However, I was somewhat disappointed in this guide to the Virgin Islands.

The listings of hotels are very good, adn will help a traveler make a wise decision concerning which of the beautiful hotels to choose. The lists of beaches is also wonderful; and to many travellers this may be enough to plan a complete vacation. As recommended, I visited Trunk Bay and Coki Beach, and both had a wonderful atmosphere and great snorkeling.

I was very unnerved, however, by several errors in the book. For example - a favorite restaurant of locals and President Clinton is listed as Eunices's, which has changed names twice; the number listed for hydrofoil service to St. Croix is incorrect (and, while my travel agent tried to find another number, she was told the service is no longer available); and, contrary to the information contained in the walking tour of Charlotte Amalie, the Pissaro paintings owned by the USVI government are in private offices and may not be viewed by the public. All perhaps small errors - but they add up when a traveler is trying to make the most of limited vacation time!

Use the book as a resource, certainly. But make sure that you do not rely on it - call ahead for more information on sites you want to visit!

This book is outdated! The Frommer's 2000 5th edition is much better & in more detail. I go to the BVI every other year & there are some new hotels that are not listed in this book. Don't waste your time with this one!

The storyline for this book was okay. The characters were just "okay". I didn't really get into the storyline or the lives of the people. However, I did enjoy the tropical setting! Jillian Dagg does a great job with describing pretty tropical beaches!

I was quite disappointed with this book for several reasons. First, it is not a travel or cruising guide. There is virtually no specific information on restaurants, shops, anchorages, dive sites, etc. Second, it is not a nature guide. The authors offer brief and vague descriptions of the flora and fauna they encounter, but readily admit that they are not sure what several species are. Finally, this book is not very entertaining or well written...Reading this book is akin to going over to someone's house to look at pictures of their latest vacation and have them offer a terse (but redundant) narrative of their activities. How many times do they have to tell us they had a sandwich and a beer for lunch and then split another beer between them? The book is written with short, choppy sentences that give it a "Dick-and-Jane" feel that I found quite annoying. There are several maps and pictures in the text, but no nautical charts. Also, the pictures are often grainy and the colors are dull. I just don't see the point of this book.

I was hoping to glean at least one thing that had not been discovered in the regular tour guides. This book failed even that simple test.