St James Beach Club Reviews

Travel Date: April 07

Submitted in May 2007 by: Neil and sue - Nuneaton

Operator: Virgin

This was our first long haul holiday and the first one without the children.

We had one of the superior rooms in the middle block that went straight onto the beach and it was wonderful. Very few children were on the complex during our stay, and it wa...

Travel Date: April 07

Submitted in May 2007 by: Neil and sue - Nuneaton

Operator: Virgin

This was our first long haul holiday and the first one without the children.

We had one of the superior rooms in the middle block that went straight onto the beach and it was wonderful. Very few children were on the complex during our stay, and it was extremely quiet. It was perfect as all we wanted was to sit in the sun and relax. The rooms were lovley and clean as was the whole resort in general. No complaints about the food at all, on the whole it was excellent. Staff were friendly and polite. The little cart that went along the beaches each day delivering drinks to you was wonderful. We did dine at the dockside and rainbows but were more that happy at cocos. We went on the catamaran excellence for a day trip around the island and would thoroughly recomment this, its a superb day out, although we were a little spoilt as the day we went there was only 28 on board and nearly as many staff, its a superb day out.

If its total relaxation you are after then this is certainly a place to go to. We would certainly return.

Travel Date: March 07

Submitted in April 2007 by: Gemma Lally - Bristol

Operator: Virgin

Well, where do I start ...

Absolutely fantastic, I got married at St James's and stayed at The Beach Club.

The beaches were wonderful, apart from the seaweed but this was cleared by 8.30 every morning. The eating places were lovely, staying ...

Travel Date: March 07

Submitted in April 2007 by: Gemma Lally - Bristol

Operator: Virgin

Well, where do I start ...

Absolutely fantastic, I got married at St James's and stayed at The Beach Club.

The beaches were wonderful, apart from the seaweed but this was cleared by 8.30 every morning. The eating places were lovely, staying at the Beach Club you are restricted to Cocos the majority of time apart from two days which you are entitled to attend one of two other restaurants at St James's.

The staff was all very helpful and willing to help you wherever possible.

Guest Services at St James are cool and helped me have a exceptionally brilliant wedding day - thanks Carolyn and Co.

Shirley Heights is worth seeing!

The whole holiday was fantastic, I could not fault anything (oh but the entertainment could have been better) and I will definately be returning within the next few years!

Travel Date: January 07

Submitted in February 2007 by: baz

Operator: Virgin

arrived back from holiday at the beach club at st james, went 17 jan - 1 feb 2007

had a good time, we did have a problem when we arrived, we booked through thomsons with virgin and requested 2 rooms with twin beds, when we got there both rooms had k...

Travel Date: January 07

Submitted in February 2007 by: baz

Operator: Virgin

arrived back from holiday at the beach club at st james, went 17 jan - 1 feb 2007

had a good time, we did have a problem when we arrived, we booked through thomsons with virgin and requested 2 rooms with twin beds, when we got there both rooms had king size beds, we had to wait nearly 3 hours before we knew what was happening, then we had a single bed put in each room, no bedspread on at all only a blanket, after speaking to the virgin rep she showed us her sheet and thomsons had not passed on our request, it was suggested by a guest to email or write to hotel 1 month before going on holiday with any special requests which we will certainly do in future.

weather
rained heavy on day of arrival, can dodge most of it, had a couple of nights with heavy rain, 1 day (heli trip )was overcast and windy, had a couple of very light showers 10 mins max.
sun most days temp high 80s

rooms
upstairs (standard room) hugh, pleased we didn't upgrade to downstairs because of the number of children, if we had been on ground floor it would have been so noisy as they were usually up at 6am running around all the time, we were in mango (the middle block) in room 337, on the end room nearest beach reception, we got sun from sunrise till sunset ( it came in the side of balcony because we were on the end), the view from balcony was wonderful.
the room itself was very spacious with a small kitchen unit in passage with a fridge, sink and coffee maker, tea bags and coffee to perk (not a kettle) we also had a hairdryer, iron and ironing board, loads of storage space,lots of hangers and lots drawer space too, our room was sometimes not done till 5pm !!! maid also missed 1 day, some days some towels or bathmat were missing, but it didn't really matter.

bathroom 14' x 11' with 2 sinks and a 3ft wide bath.
balcony 14' x 11' 2loungers and table
room 27' x 11' with high vaulted ceiling

the view from papaya rooms might have been because they were higher than ours, they had about 9 steps from beach our block only had 3 steps and pineapple had about 5 or 6 steps, we were the lowest

food
on weds and sunday it is a la carte in cocos, on monday you eat in rainbow (buffet), on thurs eat at docksider (buffet) menus usually on display in cocos or in main reception (I am limited what I can eat and if there was nothing suitable on the a la carte nights I would have a word with maitre d, I prefer buffet there is always something suitable for me. look out for crab racing in cocos on a friday night. Dress code was NOT adhered to , it was sad that it was not enforced on an evening, lot of people coming in to dinner in shorts both men and women. lots of children running wild.
lunchtimes was ok if you go in before 1pm, after that there was usually a queue, people coming over from st james, cocos has a lovely outdoor lounge which seemed to be the only lounge outdoors.

comments from other people who had been 3 or 4 times before
they said food selection had really deteriated and they would not return.

pools
childrens pool usually none in
adults usually children in there
cocos, good enough for a swim if no one in, usually empty till after 11am
large pool, rather a disappointment, there are no views over the bay because of all the building work going on, they are building 2 blocks of 1 bed villas for timeshare and 1 block of rooms for st james right on the beach so all you can see are the roofs, there is a tremendous amount of noise all day long, pneumatic drills and hammering no peace at all, I would swim then go onto beach for a bit of peace and quiet, usually there are lots of unsupervised children so you can't have a decent swim, there wern't so many children our 2cd week.

beaches
beach club , i preferred there was always a breeze although it was sometimes rough, some seaweed, unpleasant to swim in, snorkelling poor.
mamora beach, calm but no breeze very hot, water murky, not v good to snorkel.

taxis
we thought v expensive to go from our hotel to dickenson bay for a trip was 70 $ similar price to get picked up for helicopter trip, 4 of us to shirley heights 30$, 4 of us to nelsons dockyard 30$, same rates apply for 2 people, most trips you have to make your own way there.

rep
seemed efficient, but was not, we booked 2 trips on days when other guests were going as we wern't bothered when we went, helicopter trip 30 mins,I had to tphone other couple, they didn't want to share, was going to cost us 70$ on top of the 300$ for the trip, our trip was for the afternoon, 10 mins before we left to get a taxi we had a tphone call to say trip was cancelled due to bad weather, we wondered if we had already left in taxi would we have got a refund for the 70$, probably not) I even had to tphone the heli company to find out when we were going (not good) If you decide to go on a heli trip make sure you say it has to have only 4 passengers, if not there could be 6 passengers and you will be crammed in.

I went to see rep on the friday and said we had decided to cancel trip, she said no problem, I had paid for both trips in full with my mastercard and she said she couldn't process it until the following weds at the office so I asked for written confirmation to say trip had been cancelled, was told no that virgin was a reputable company no problem, went out then went back to ask again she still said no, however when I went back to our room there was a note confirming trip had been cancelled, saw her at chillin checkout asked for refund slip she said she had it but couldn't find it!!! so I am now going to write to virgin with a complaint and a copy of the note, if they can take your money with a credit card I can't see why they can not give you an immediate refund

trip 2 the eco tour 100$ pp, same predicament re sharing taxi, I had to tphone other couple to arrange to share taxi, they said the rep had not confirmed their trip was going ahead so we paid 70$ for taxi to dickenson bay, boat was 45 mins late we thought we had been forgotten. when boat came there was no jetty, we had to wade out waist deep to get on boat, if our friends had come with us they would not have been able to get on the boat, I really think you should be notified when booking trip if you get on at a jetty or have to wade in the sea.
we both enjoyed this trip some snorkelling stopped for lunch at bird island, visited hells bridge, you have to swim to it, there is also tuition in snorkelling.

If i was going on trips I would book through tour desk at st james reception

timeshare
usually contacted at beginning of 2cd week, worth going to have a look, our tour lasted 45 mins no hard sell, at the end of it all you get a free beachbag, 75$ to spend in shop and 50 $ to spend in casino, we gambled a little and came out with 32$, our friends played safe, 25 tokens on odds and 25 tokens on evens, couldn't lose, they came away with 25$

people wth walking difficulties may find it difficult in beach club because there are steps to ALL rooms, ramp up to cocos

I know this is rather a long write up but I just like to think anyone going there in the future will be aware of the problems we had.

All 4 of us thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and would certainly return to the beach club.

Travel Date: August 06

Submitted in August 2006 by: Rogers - Essex

Operator: Virgin

The Beach Club is amazing.

As soon as you arrive you are given refreshing drinks and your bags and you are quickly taken to your room on a golf cart. The first 15 minutes really set the tone for the whole holiday. We had two standard rooms which in m...

Travel Date: August 06

Submitted in August 2006 by: Rogers - Essex

Operator: Virgin

The Beach Club is amazing.

As soon as you arrive you are given refreshing drinks and your bags and you are quickly taken to your room on a golf cart. The first 15 minutes really set the tone for the whole holiday. We had two standard rooms which in my opinion, and many others, are lot nicer than the superior rooms on the ground floor as on the first floor you have the advantage of the splendid vaulted ceilings. The rooms are quite sizeable with ample storage. The bathroom is one of the biggest I have ever seen in a hotel with his and hers sinks and a large bath with shower over. The rooms are cleaned each day and new towels are supplied. The staff are so friendly and eager to please. Every time you say thank you they say ";your most welcome"; which is really nice. The main restaurant (Cocos) is a lovely nautical themed place set into the hill overlooking the Atlantic.

Although this beach is quite breezy it is a godsend when you are eating as it is really refreshing without being overpowering. Breakfast is a buffet and so is dinner. Breakfast is the same each day but dinner varies daily and some of the dishes are really different from what you would expect. Lunch is also a buffet but there is also the option of choosing from the menu which offers burgers, ribs, hot dogs etc. In fact, if requested the chef would cook burgers especially for you at dinner it you did not fancy anything from the buffet. The beach facing the Atlantic is quite breezy and full of seaweed but great for sunbathing. However, the beach on Marmora Bay is much nicer and just a minutes stroll away from the rooms. Here you can do lots of water sports, sunbath or just swim in the sea. As it is a bay, there is hardly any current and the waves do not break so it is very safe. There are two jetties that can be used for sunbathing. These are good but the sea is very deep out that far so we much preferred the beach. There is a drinks cart and a beach bar that be used to get drinks from on the all-inclusive deal.

On Monday and Thursday nights you have to dine at the restaurants in the St James Club. These are ok but we much preferred Cocos. The tennis courts are good. As it gets very hot and you cannot be bothered to walk just hail one of the men driving the golf carts around and they will take you where you want to go in the resort. We won a meal at Piccolo Mondos. This restaurant is very nice indeed and well worth a visit- although the $35 surcharge may put you off. The check in and chill out service is very good and well worth it. But a word of advice go to the desk at around 9-9:15am as the queue gets very long and tedious in the heat. We took a tour of Nelsons dockyard and Shirley Heights. This is well worth it but do not go through Virgin. Ring up reception and ask for a taxi. The taxi is cheaper and the driver will give you lots of information. The trip costs us, with admission to the various places, $100.

We never actually went to the swimming pools but what we saw of them they were good. Beach towels are provided so now need to take them. In total, we had a fantastic time at this hotel and would have no hesitation in recommending it. The staff, service, facilities and atmosphere are fantastic - no wonder it is Virgin's Flagship hotel.

Travel Date: June 06

Submitted in July 2006 by: Kath Ian Johnston

Operator: Virgin

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 ...

Travel Date: June 06

Submitted in July 2006 by: Kath Ian Johnston

Operator: Virgin

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.