St. James's Club

5 readers found this review helpful

Wow this is the best holiday I’ve ever been on! A large resort fenced in all round, there's so much to do here. Being all-inclusive means you never have to have that 'pile of valuables' hidden under a towel, you just give your name and room number. A week is over £1,000 per adult, but I would definitely go again as it's the only holiday I have been on where I can say a truly relaxed!
From memory there were at least three restaurants on the resort, and many more small bars located around the place, usually next to the swimming pools. they even had a mobile bar (a converted gold buggy) which would drive along the beach and give you drinks without you having to get off the sunlounger! The resort is in a great location, having one side open to the Caribbean, and one side with an enclosed lagoon, much calmer and safe for children. On the lagoon beach they have canoes, Hobie-cats, pedelo’s etc, you just grab one and use it for as long as you like. There's always a good supply of loungers/canoes/pedelo’s etc so you never have to sneak out a 3.am and put your beach towel on one!
As well as watersports, there are tennis courts, a casino, health spa, hairdressers etc, though some of these attract a surcharge. I cannot recommend highly enough the trips round the island. One day we had a tour round the island on a Land Rover, the guy was so laid back and friendly, they took you to some really remote places you'd never have found on your own, and also showed you the 'real' side of the island, where sadly a lot of people do seem to live in poverty. you find out about the sugar history and see the old sugar plantations.
Another day we did the same thing by Catamaran, about 40 people from the resort went out on a crewed Cat - with free bar onboard - , where they sail round the island and show you lots of points of interest. We pulled up on a deserted island for lunch, where the crew made a VERY impressive spread of lots of meats on a BBQ, salads and drinks etc. then we pulled up on another beach somewhere and you had ages to snorkel around a really beautiful reef, I saw loads of things including a small (Nurse?) shark! Sadly when it got developed, my 'waterproof' camera was blank!
The resort had a colonial feel to it, with afternoon (earl grey) tea and cake being served around 4pm. the food was varied, usually with a Caribbean feel to it and often live music was playing as dinner. you can stay flats near to the beach, but behind (and uphill a bit) are detached villas, where we stayed. It's a fair walk to the resort centre (about 500m), but if you're lazy just phone reception and they send a golf buggy + driver for free!
If you're considering going there, just remember a few things.
+It's VERY humid - even the (short-lived) rain was warm
+It's light from exactly 7.am to 7.pm.
+There is an evening meal dress code in some of the restaurants, take lightweight button-up shirts and trousers, and smart shoes
+It's not a budget holiday. But it's worth it if you can part with the dosh!
+Don't bother to explore the island on your own. they don't believe in signposts, and there's miles between each small village.

2 readers found this review helpful

We stayed here for our honeymoon after getting married in Barbados.
They upgraded us to a two bedroom villa, with our own patio and two steps onto the beach, so fantastic views.
The food and staff were fantastic. We did have a small hiccup with the air conditioning leaking and them taking quite a while to fix it, but everything else made up for this.
As this is like a little village, if you don't want to walk around, they take you everywhere in a golf buggy. There are activities for all ages, a few different restaurants to choose from, some you have to book, tennis courts, Internet cafe, shops etc.
Antigua is a beautiful place, as is Barbuda with its pink sands (definitely worth visiting).
If you choose to go, then I doubt you'll be disappointed. Have a great time!

I found it difficult to rate this holiday because we loved the resort but our wedding there tarnished our stay. If you are planning to get married here you should be made aware that the Gazebo they have on their website has building work going on around it so you cannot use it.
They suggest that you get married on the end of the jetty which most people did but we opted for a more secluded area as we did not want to get married in front of a beach full of people.
A number of other things went wrong for instance they did not decorate the site as they agreed to, our cake disappeared after we had our photos taken (we never saw it again) & other bits & pieces which individually don't matter but collectively make for a very disappointing wedding.
Worst of all we still haven’t got our marriage certificate. They omitted to inform us that the one we got on the day is not the legal certificate, we needed to order it! Nice resort - disappointing wedding.