St. Croix Nightlife and Entertainment Guide

So Many Choices...
So Little Vacation Time To Enjoy Them All

If you're looking for nightlife and entertainment with more elbowroom than St. Thomas and more excitement than St. John, St. Croix is the United States Virgin Island for you. While the soul of St. Croix is full of musical notes, its heart is kept beating with the likes of dancing, casino games, annual Festivals, and crab races.

Jazz lovers will feel right at home on St. Croix. On any given night, you can listen to both local and visiting musicians. Please your taste buds, as well as your eyes and ears, by taking in the sights and sounds at the Frederiksted waterfront eatery known as the Blue Moon. Add some blues and folk music to the mix by wandering over to Off the Wall where food is served beachside all day long, but the music is an evening-only appetizer. Visit the Indies Restaurant in the capital town of Christiansted for more jazzy sensory satisfaction.

If the sound of steel drums is what you're yearning for or the body-swaying beat of salsa, soca, and reggae is what moves you, there are numerous dance clubs and restaurants with dance floors to satisfy your urge to get up and groove. Sample the sounds and strut your stuff at Moonraker, 2 Plus 2 Disco, Club 54, and the boardwalk bar at Stixx on the Waterfront (take in a crab race while you're there, but more about that later). Disk jockeys aren't the only ones cranking out tunes at these establishments; live band performances can also be enjoyed.

The upscale-but-not-off-limits-to-non-guests Buccaneer hotel features The Terrace Lounge and a changing array of live entertainment that includes everything from relaxing reggae bands to lift-you-out-of-your-seat limbo presentations. If piano music is more your style, it can be enjoyed dockside, washed down with a fine glass of wine, and accompanied with a rack of lamb at The Galleon restaurant.

Calypso music, classical music concerts, casino games, and crab races... St. Croix gives new meaning to the saying "something for everyone."

St. Croix is much more though than just good food mixed with music and movement on the dance floor. Weekly, monthly, and annual events also provide entertainment to visitors and locals alike. Wednesday evenings are known as Harbor Night every other week when Frederiksted rolls out the red carpet for the visiting cruise ship passengers. Christiansted hosts is own version of block parties several times a year with its Jump Up festivities that feature music, dancing, food, fun, arts and crafts displays, and the culturally-connected stilt-dancing Mocko Jumbies that cruise the streets. Other popular events include a Christmas Festival that's sometimes held after Christmas and a Saint Patrick's Day Parade that often amazes visitors with its scope.

Music takes center stage once again at the free monthly Sunset Jazz in Frederiksted Concerts that can be enjoyed outdoors while sitting harbor-side. The Candlelight Concert Series at the Whim Museum is the event of choice for aficionados of classical music. Musical as well as theatrical productions draw performers and spectators far and wide to the 600-seat Island Center for the Performing Arts.

Home to the only casino in all of the Virgin Islands, you can spice things up by heading on over to the Divi Carina Bay Resort and taking in the get-lucky gambling atmosphere. Feed the slot machines or video poker games, shoot some craps, spin the roulette wheel, or see what hand you're dealt at blackjack or Texas Hold 'Em poker. Placing bets aren't the only way to enjoy the Divi Carina Bay Casino; enjoy the live entertainment or do some dancing at the Showbar. When you need some food to refuel, grab a bite to eat at the Carina Café.

Looking for low-key family entertainment that you're not likely to find elsewhere? Check out the hermit crab races, better known as Soldier Crab Racing. Held in various places throughout the island, perhaps the best-known ones are held every Monday night at the Marina Bar in King's Alley and on Friday evenings at the aforementioned Stixx on the Waterfront. If Lady Luck wasn't sitting next to you at Divi Carina, maybe you'll be better at picking a winning crab; the locally donated prizes are truly top notch.

Possibly the best advice we can give you to help you plan your nightlife and entertainment activities would be to get your hands on a copy of St. Croix This Week, a guide to the goings-on of the island. Make it the first thing you retrieve once you arrive at the airport... even before you get your luggage. You'll likely be pleasantly surprised at just how much this small gem of an island has to offer its visitors. Enjoy...