St James Club Reviews

Just back 2 days ago from the above. St Lucia - there are no words to describe how amazing the island is!!!!

We WERE booked to go to Coconut Bay Resort and Spa, but due to the resort being incomplete - we were transferred to St James Club. At first - we really did not like what we seen. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon to find bodies lying everywhere and screaming kids running around (it was the Easter holidays so there were kids everywhere). We spoke to the rep, Natascha, who did her best to change us to a different hotel. However, the island was fully booked due to all guests being moved from Coconut Bay. Anyway - after we'd got over the shock, went for a sleep (we were still shattered from the wedding and flight etc..) we went down for dinner and the resort looked beautiful at night. So for anyone arriving in mid afternoon - you may get a shock like us. A lot of people we spoke to felt the same - but give it a few hours and you'll realise how wrong you've been to quickly judge!

There are 3 restaurants.....
Tradewinds - the buffet. I have never ate so much in my life!!!! The buffet food was out of this world! Different themes everynight and all the food is so fresh. We ate there 11 out of 14 nights!!
Nicoles - you have to pay a $35 supplement each for this. The food was lovely. Plus - if you want 2 starters you can have 2 starters - if you want 2 main courses JUST for yourself - then go ahead and knock yourself out!!
Palm Grill - we went there once for dinner. We took a while to get served, but everyone else got served quick enough, so we were just unfortunate. We also ate lunch everyday in Palm Grill (as we ate in Tradewinds nearly everynight and wanted a change of scenery for lunch). You have to try their Kingfish - it is gorgeous. I thought it was chicken at first - it's yummy!! Every wednesday they have a barbecue - that was very tasty too.

We only did one trip - Virgin Ahoy. It's $90 per person and on a catamaran, it takes you to the Pitons, drive in volcano, botanical gardens and diamond waterfall, lunch, marigot bay, stops of at a bay for everyone to jump into the sea and swim to shore if they want, and then back to rodney bay. We also went to Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island a few times - the beach at Rodney Bay is lovely.

The locals are such lovely people. ";Don't worry be happy";, ";Yah man"; and ";No pressure, no problem";.
We'll definetly be back to this beautiful island ASAP. Not sure if we'd go to the same resort as you can't really get out at night and my husband likes walking along a longer beach where he could pop into other hotels for a drink. But we'll definetly be back to St Lucia!!!!

Where to begin - we booked our wedding/honeymoon based on rumour/still photo's , some word of mouth and it was brill.

Firstly thanks to the Virgin crew who were great - far more room per seat than other long hauliers i have been on.
We decided to take the heilcopter transfer - breathtaking and soooo smooth - the youngest kid decided to have a 10 minute sleep while we were up - but she still wants to do it again. The other 2 wanted more and more of it. Well worth the experience.

On arrival a nice chilled fruit punch for the little kids and a most enjoyable rum punch for the big kids.
Our room was fantastic - we got an upgrade as the wedding couple which meant a bigger bed - big enough for our fanily of 4 with room to spare - luckily 2 other beds for the kids included. Rooms spotless - the only thing to watch is if you use a plug-in mosquito killer the room may be to big - our friends found this out. Minor critisism here they could do with screens on the bathroom window so if you open it the bugs dont get in - minor i know.
All the staff were friendly and helpful and work on St Lucia time - get used to it and live it life is so much better at that pace in that heat. Odd sprinkle of rain - 2 days it leathered it down but we were all wet in the swimming pool.

Melanie the wedding co-ordinator - a big thank you - we spent 45 minutes with her and that was it all sorted. 2 minutes with the solicitor an and nothing for us to do but relax for a week - fantastic - because of the size of the group we hired a gazebo type structure for a seperate meal - brilliant - food was superb, the staff were right on the button. The photographer again he knew everything inside and out - he almost controlled everything. By our reckoning he was at 14 weddings in the fortnight we were there. But that experience was there to see - he knew the weather, the best places and it show's in the pics - brilliant.

On the food - the buffet was excellent - out of 14 nights 13 different menus's - strangely Sunday Dinner carveries are a standard - but it was stil excellent. Kids ate well - we never had to resort to the nuggets and burgers that were available. The Palm Grill was a nice change and the service was again spot on. We did not venture in to Nicoles - the choices from the others were fantastic.

We did 2 boat trips - negotiated with Joys oursleves for our own boat and got a ";good"; deal - Phil the boatman was great - knew his stuff and kept everybody well fed and watered. Waterfalls good - but cold. Volcano - ROTTEN EGGS!!!!!. Lunch at little diner in Soufrierre - watch out for the pepper sauce - diabolically hot.
Snorkelled at Hilton beach superb and a beach which translates as Beach of Pigs - nothing stinks there - the water so clear and the fish bountiful. Marigot Bay beautiful - On a second snorkelling trip and got trapped in a bar in Marigot Bay when the heavens opened - oh well St Lucia time - just relax and have a beer.
The 3 boys went to St Lucia Golf , which was included in the whole deal. Staff friendly and helpful - 19th hole very relaxing.
Went to the marina at Rodney Bay - pretty but limited there. You have to sample the local transport - mini-buses take you everywhere and they are cheap - great fun and a way to see a little bit more of a beautiful island.

All in all full marks for all involved and we shall return sometime to live a little bit more at St Lucia time. Go and enjoy.

I have always wanted to visit St Lucia and when I booked this last minute at teletextholidays.com I was not disappointed. We got an absolute bargain for 9 nights at the St James Club.

Will get to the hotel itself in a sec, but just wanted to give Virgin Holidays a quick report.

The Virgin flights were brilliant, staff can't do enough for you, entertainment, food, drink etc all fantastic. I was especially thankful for the extra seat pitch on longhaul virgin flights as I'm pretty tall and was really comfortable for 7 and 1/2 hours. We were there before we knew it.

Quite a trek to get to get to the resort, usually by airconditioned minibusses, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

On arrival at St James Club, we were greated by friendly staff and a welcome cocktail (always a bonus!), given all the information we needed for our rooms and the resort itself.

We were incredibly lucky that our room was on the third floor of a block at the top of the hill (it's not really a hill, just not sure what else to call it!). When we got in the room, the aircon was on, which was wonderful. The rooms were excellent, the bed is huge (I fit without hanging off the end widthways, it's that big!), the bathrooms are spotless and big with bath with shower over. There is sky tv, a fridge, a groovy little coffee making machine which I became very attached too, extra tables and chairs and a nice big wardrobe for storing away your clothes and suitcases giving you plenty of room, not that you'd want to spend your time in there anyway.

There are 3 restaraunts, the buffet for all meals, which I was concerned may get repetitive, but it didn't and the food was superb. The palm grill for a la carte in the evenings which was very nice and Nicoles, which is at a supplement and we forgot to go there, simply because the buffet was so good.

The pool area is very nice and the bar is close by! the only thing was that although we went out of season by the end of the holiday there was a fair bit of sunscreen collected in it! ie. it wasn't cleaned very often.

The beach is stunning, the sunsets are amazing, the watersports are brilliant. I learnt to water-ski (it took a while, but the instructors are very patient and will keep going till you get up, go on, give it a go). The water is beautifully warm, no good for snorkelling though which was a shame, you need to go on a trip further south for that.

Talking of trips, you MUST go on Joys boat trip. He operates out of the complex near to the beach, it's probably half the price of any other tours and well worth it. We went to the sulphur springs and the Pitons, the view on the way in the boat is spectacular. We had a brilliant lunch on this little stretch of beach at the foot of the mountains, then went snorkelling in a pretty bay before heading back with free beer in the afternoon! Highly recommended.

We had a wonderful holiday as a couple. The resort does cater for all and there were a fair few families there too who were having a great time.

One final thing. It is essential to go to the Friday night jump at Gros Islet. The atmosphere in the street is amazing. Make sure you check the prices of drinks first. We made that mistake and got a bit ripped off although it was still cheap, but eventually a round of 4 drinks cost us £3, bargain!!

Have a fantastic time x

We chose this destination for our wedding and we would recommend St James Club to any couple who wanted their day to be extra special.

From the moment we arrived at the hotel we recieved excellent service. The staff were very friendly and catered for our every need.The wedding co-ordinator (Melanie) explained all the options open to us for our wedding. She spent a lot of time helping us to choose the best location and showed us examples of the photographer's work. She also showed us a video of a previous wedding. We opted to have both of these with excellent results. Our day could not have been more perfect.

St Lucia has the most spectacular scenery with very interesting places to visit. If you get the opportunity to go on a turtle watch we can recommend it.Athough it entails staying up all night, the experience of seeing a giant leatherback turtle lay her eggs was definitely worth it.

We would also recommend the following trips:
Whale and dolphin watch ( we were able to capture on film pilot whales and dolphins).
A visit to Soufriere to the volcano and sulphur springs is also worthwile.
You cannot go to St Lucia without visiting Marigot Bay.( the water is crystal clear and you can see all types of fish).
Sunset Cruise: We went on to the Brig Unicorn for a sunset cruise immedaitely after our wedding. The staff on board were very Friendly and the steel band was excellent. Special thanks to Captain Sam and crew.

We had an excellent 2 wks in St Lucia and we will definitely return for 1 of our anniversary's.

We had a fabulous holiday here, having travelled over for my brother's wedding.

The accommodation lovely. We were on the ground floor but as we were on a hill, did not miss out on the view. You are not stuck inside a building, all the room doors are outside. It is not a huge complex and it is very safe to wander around on your own. The all inclusive was exactly that, you didn't have to wear a wristband and even all the water sports, pedalos, canoes etc were included in the price. There is no getting up early to get a sun-bed, there are plenty available all day. Towels are provided for the beach and pool and there is a safe in each room for a small extra fee.

You had to book the Palm Grill restaurant for the evenings but could go in without booking at lunchtimes. There was also a barbeque near the beach every day and a buffet restaurant. Do not go here if you have a bird phobia! They fly in and out of the restaurants and bars constantly.

Mosquito bites were a problem, take plenty of repellent. Other than that there were no horrible bugs! I would throughly recommend the Joy excursion (not booked through Virgin but at the watersports centre of the hotel). There were 15 of us on a speedboat - went to the volcano and to bathe in the mineral waterfall. We had a barbeque lunch and then went snorkelling or swimming from the beach. The ride home was a lot of fun too. It was good value and extremely well organised.

Two of us did the Virgin helicopter ride which was good and the whale/dolphin watching -don't go on this if you get seasick but we did see lots of dolphins. With regard to weddings, the ceremony was beautiful, as was the weather. Do be aware though that even in the non-rainy season, you can end up getting married in a downpour (we did see one such unfortunate bride and groom).

Take very high factor sun block, it is very easy to burn. Don't forget if you want to take back booze that the old rules apply (1 litre spirits etc) as its not within the EU. The flight over there was great but on the way back we sat on the plane at Barbados for two hours waiting for extra passengers. It was a small price to pay for a fantastic holiday and I would recommend it.