St James Beach Club Reviews

We just returned from St James Beach Club after 2 glourous weeks June 9th -June 23rd,2006.I agree with the other reviews it was just fabulous, we could not have wished for a better holiday.

Food, accomodation, staff were all 1st class, all staff we talked to could not do enough for you. Shopping in st Johns is also very good you do not feel intimidated nor are you harrased in anyway.

The flight outward was also fab as it was less than half full so we were allowed to sit where we liked, but!! yes there is always a but. Totally relaxed we went to check in our luggage on site very good idea but were then told there was no plane to take us home, after sitting around for about 1 hour we were informed we would be going on the flight to St Lucia and would be picked up at 5.30 3 hours later than planned. We then had to sit on the tarmac untill the flight picked up all the people from St Lucia which resulted in us being nearly 7 hours late and we missed our connection to Aberdeen so had to wait until 5pm to get on to another BA flight. We had to pay for this ourselves and now have to claim it back from Virgin. this has in my opinion spoiled what was a wonderful holiday but yet yes I would go back in a flash.

I have included a lot of information below, and know that some people just want a recommendation so I have put this first. If you want a quiet holiday, and don't mind not having the Caribbean beach and clear sea, AND you can get this at discount prices, then this is worth it. If however you are looking at Virgin's standard rate, are less than 65 with a pulse and yearn for clear seas and soft white beaches, then choose somewhere else. This is an OK place, but vastly overpriced and with an inflated view of its quality rating.

St James Club is located on a 100-acre peninsula on the south-east coast of Antigua. Once there you need either a car or taxi ($70 standard return fare to anywhere on the island) to go anywhere else. The accommodation consists of a total of 132 guest rooms and suites in The Club - 30 Club Rooms, 70 Premium Rooms, 20 Beachfront Rooms, 10 Bay Suites and 2 Club Suites. Also 25 two-bedroom villas in The Village. Overall it's a little tired in places, but they do appear to be building more and updating everything so it is improving. That said, there is too much on the relatively small land area - particularly the Village feels cramped and overcrowded. They have a dress code for the evenings, which is inconsistently applied, and isn't really justified for sitting on plastic garden furniture in the restaurants.

There are 2 beaches at St James Club, but if you are expecting gentle white beaches, calm clear Caribbean sea as most brochures depict for Antigua, then you will be very disappointed. St James club is on the Atlantic - which is neither calm nor clear. Coco beach is steep, rough and the sea pounds the sea weed onto the beach morning noon and night, and the sea breeze is bracing to put it mildly. The other (Mamora Bay) is in a cove and conforms more to the Antigua stereotype, but don't be fooled as all is not what it seems. This is still the Atlantic and the entry into the water is pretty steep, full of sea weed and slimy under foot. You wont see any of that of course as the sea is sludge coloured and visibility is approx 6 inches in the water. Don't mis-understand, it's not a bad beach or place to swim, but if you have paid a lot of money and travelled a long way for the Caribbean dream, then a beach no better than Blackpool and sea cloudier than Brighton is not what you expect.

Four pools are claimed, but 1 is a children's pool, 1 is an adult plunge pool and 1 is the size of a handkerchief by Cocos. That leaves the main pool which is a pretty basic rectangle, clean and reasonably sized, but does get busy. The kids pool is well set out, but a hike up to the village. The adult 'Tiered pool' is just below Piccolo Mondo, quite romantic, but a little tired and worn and getting in and out is not easy.

The tennis courts looked well maintained and did not seem very busy. The free non-motorised water sports were always busy with booking hours in advance required, but the boats are well looked after and the staff were very helpful.

There are 4 restaurants on the site, but each one closes for one night so for some of the week the choice is really 3. Add to that that one of the restaurants is not part of the all inclusive - you need to pay extra and you are down to a choice of 2 for some nights. If you can afford the extra, though go to Piccolo Mondo as the food is a massive step up from the other restaurants, the choice is wider and the view over the bay is pretty good. You do need to book a place at your chosen restaurant usually by about 09:00 if you want to eat at your first choice and at a time of your choosing. Breakfast for The Club is in Coco's and for the rest the Rainbow Garden. Rainbow garden I found a little uncomfortable as it appears to be decorated and set out to remind you of the days when ignorant Americans and Empire building Brits sat around and ordered the slaves to bring them drinks on the veranda. Service was a bit slow here as well. The Docksider was the main restaurant and overlooks Mamora Bay. Food was OK, but choice a bit limited. Lunch was by far and away the best, with the hot and cold buffet being extensive, fresh and very tasty - best taken at Cocos for the view and service.

Bars are available in Cocos, Docksider and Piccolo Mondo. During the day there are also bars by the main pool and by the adult pool, and at night the Jarcaranda Bar and Casino. The restaurant bars close pretty early so the only entertainment at night is in the Jarcaranda bar - and that is really cheesy. If you are looking for excitement, bring it with you or hope that the Virgin cabin crew are staying over to liven the evening up. There really is nothing to do in the evening except drink, read, watch telly, make love or play scrabble. On the inclusive the brochure states ";Unlimited drinks by the glass, including premium brand liquor, Caribbean beer, house wine, tropical coolers and champagne by the glass."; Well we NEVER saw branded liquor, and we certainly asked as the rum aside, the generics for everything else were pretty awful. Wine and beer however were pretty good and it was certainly freely available if you wanted it.

The accommodation is pretty good. The rooms - at least those outside the Village - are large and reasonably well appointed. The ones we were in had been recently painted and were in a good state of repair. We had a king size bed which was very comfortable and there was plenty of space for the table, chairs and other furniture in the room. The cubby hole which was the wardrobe was however not up to scratch - or rather that's exactly what it did do. The recess was not quite big enough for the rails and clothes rubbed against the rough walls and got caught on the door. You had to keep the door shut as it was in front of the main entrance so this was not ideal. We were glad we had brought dress and jacket covers to help protect them. No fridge in the room and ice was supposed to be delivered daily, though this was inconsistent. Rooms were cleaned daily and to a high standard. We were on the ground floor and that meant the balcony was unusable. It was generally flooded after the expected rainstorms, and the upper floors balconies water emptied into it. In addition the aircon heat diffuser units were in the garden outside so the balcony was a good 10 degrees hotter than anywhere else. This was true of most of the ground floor rooms. The floors are not very well soundproofed and the movement of the people above was intrusive

In general the staff were polite, friendly and very helpful. This is a pretty well run operation, mainly let down by its location, age, and overdevelopment. Although it may not seem it from my descriptions above, I liked the place, but felt the 5* claims are vastly over-rated and the price Virgin are charging beggars belief. On the whole you could go to a Greek island have a better beach, clear water, all the 5* accompaniments, better day and night time entertainment all for a quarter the price. The only reason for paying the extra is the Caribbean dream beaches and sea, and that's the one thing that St James can never offer even if it ups the quality of everything else. Nice place to stay if you can get it at the right price and cope with the Atlantic beach compromises.

Just returned from the Beach Club at St James and I cannot recommend it highly enough. To clarify a couple of points, The Beach Club is part of the St James Club and all the facilities can be used throughout the stay.
The only limitation to your AI stay are; there is a Beach Club restaurant (Cocos)which you eat in for the vast majority of the time, and you can get inclusive drinks from Cocos bar, the Mamora BBQ bar and the drinks trolley that goes around the beaches every hour, but not in the other 3 bars.
Dinner in Cocos is great a mixture of a la carte and a buffet selection. Twice a week you dine in different restaurants, the excellent Docksider Restaurant and the less impressive Garden Restaurant.
Lunch can be taken at Cocos or the BBQ bar on Mamora beach.
The food is generally excellent, loads of fresh fruit and fish and plenty of choice. My 2 children loved the food and thankfully there are hardly any chips!!

The standard rooms are great, lovely high ceilings and very effective air con. The premium rooms would be great too, direct access onto the beach, but less airy.
The rooms in the Beach Club are much nicer and larger than the St James rooms.
Everything else was fabulous, great service, friendly staff, the resort is spotless and excellently maintained.
If you go on the village tour you will get $125 worth of vouchers for a 30 minute session. However be warned they are very impressive and can be very tempting (too tempting in my case).
Good tours are the boat trip around the island and the jeep safari. Do not go horseriding with virgin, a very badly managed trip. A word of caution the deli in the Village is incredibly expensive $6 for a packet of crisps.

Overall a brilliant place to holiday.

We spent two glorius weeks at the Beach Club, St James at the beginning of February. Don't upgrade to a premium room as the first floor rooms are much nicer, the only difference is you don't have steps down to the beach, you don't have a fridge full of drink (but it's all inclusive anyway!!) and you don't get a bathrobe (take your own!). The upstairs rooms have fantastic high vaulted ceiling and the rooms are the biggest I have every stayed in in the Caribbean. The bath is huge (big enough for two with arms rests), double sinks, hairdryer and toiletries replenished every day. The room not only had air conditioning but also a ceiling fan and en enormous bed.

The Caribbean beach is just a two minute stroll through the villas and is very large, we had the same beach shade every day regardless of if we went to the beach at 9.00 or 3.00. The drinks cart comes round every hour with you cold drinks. The only downside to this hotel is that there are a large number of villas that are for rent on the complex and these are mainly taken by Americans who have to pay for their food and continually use Coco's dining room, so although the hotel is Virgin only the dining room isn't. The bar area needs complete renovation but unfortunately you don't have any choice as you can't get drinks at the St. James Club without paying.

The food is excellent and the maitr d' a very nice man. All the staff in the restaurant are great but the bar staff are very surly (this first time we've come across this in the Caribbean). You will get a note through your door from the villa people asking if you want to visit, it is time share but it's worht half an hour of your time. Each booking is individual and they show you round these five star villas, give you a sheet with the prices on and then they give you two vouchers. One for 75 dollars to spend in the St James shop and one for 50 dollars to spend in the casino. it's well worth a visit. Check in chill out is as usual excellent. Visit St Johns for your gifts and duty free (ladies especially the diamonds!!) this will cost you $25 for a taxi per couple and also visit Nelsons Dockyard. Extremely well worth it and this will cost $12 dollars per couple.

Do what we did and have a fantastic holiday.

From the moment we arrived this resort was first class.
We told Virgin that this was our honeymoon. Our room was decorated with flowers and flower petals and a bottle of champagne. We were in a standard room which as good and big as any I had had be for. The view was fantastic looking through palm tree at the blue ocean.
The food was excellent, nearly as good as Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Yes, that good and I'm very fussy about food being rarely satisfied when eating out.

There is four restaurants, Dockside on lovely Memora Bay, Rainbow Garden Room in the main hotel but like being in the garden, Cocos in the Beach Club overlooking the Ocean and Piccolo Mondo (Italian) with a $35 suppliment. We and not many others used this, dont need to other were too good.
The staff were friendly, polite and very efficent.
We stayed all inclusive, and apart from special meals e.g. lobster A/I meant A/I.

When we were leaving the waiters said 'Come back and see us again' We will.