Name: St James Club and Villas
Price range: from £0pp (7 nights includes flights and transfers)

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St James Club and Villas

Wonderful family trip. The views are incredible, the food was very good, the drinks were great, and the staff were so friendly. Yes there is seaweed during the summer, but the bay beach was clear and the pools were great (and the resort runs shuttles to their sister resorts without seaweed so you have that option). Some reviews complain about the seaweed smell, I think those people might not have smelled the ocean before! Kids Club was good, and everything was well located within the resort. We only had an issue one night with a long wait for dinner when a lot of people who had made reservations at one place decided to go ala crate instead, but otherwise, no waits and prompt service. Rooms are clean, neat, updated, bright (yes maid service is every other day like most Caribbean hotels). Really great family vacation!

Terrific family resort

We visited in August and honestly had the best time. 

Our check in was relaxed and hassle free and a big thank you to Keana on reception who is lovely and so helpful. I wanted to arrange a birthday cake for my daughter and nothing was too much trouble, in fact the team made her birthday very special and this is something she won’t forget. The cake was amazing!

The restaurants were great and a big thank you to Michael for fabulous smoothies and being so helpful and friendly. The waiting staff were so good and attentive and a big thank you to you guys too. 

I’d read some of the previous reviews and was slightly worried before we arrived but our experience was very good, no issues with sargassum, friendly, helpful staff, our villa was spotless and all in all we had a lovely holiday

Relaxed family holiday

I have just returned from a week’s holiday at St James Club in Antigua.  I have been going to St James Club since 2006 and have never done a review.  However, I felt that given my last experience and in light of the criticism that St James have had recently I thought it only right to provide a review on my last experience.  

Overall my family and I had a fantastic time.  Yes, St James Club have a problem with the sargassum seaweed during the summer months but it was nowhere near as bad as what we were expecting.  In addition, St James’s give you an option to go to two other resorts during the day for which they arrange free transfers and the all-inclusive package also gets used at the other resorts.  We took up this opportunity and the whole process was straightforward with no complications.   Obviously this is coming at a cost to St James’s but most people were happy to just stay at the resort with only a handful of people transferring daily.  

I know there is a lot of criticism over the food however I do not think this is entirely fair.  Every meal that we have had which was served on an a la carte basis was outstanding and the convenient food at Eleven Eleven restaurant was also without fault.  With regard to the buffet offerings they are what they are.  Not the best quality in the world but not poor either.  Therefore, I think the criticism that St James’s Club have over the food aspect is not fully justified.  I spoke to many guests whilst on holiday and everyone seemed to be quite happy with the food.  It is obvious to me that the staff and management are very conscious of the criticism and we constantly had questions from the dining staff checking with us and other guests on the quality of the food and the service.  I have never in all the years I have been coming seen such close attention to this point.  

I personally met with Rob who is the owner of the resort on the day of departure.  He is a very approachable and genuine guy and I believe he owns many other resorts on the island.  There is no doubt in my mind that he genuinely passionately cares about all of his resorts and all of his customers and to be fair this has always been the case since I have been coming.   He genuinely gets upset when the resort isn’t providing services to the customer that they expect and deals with matters promptly.

The Coffee Shop which is open 24 hours a day is a tremendous addition to St James’s Club.  As well as providing drinks there is also a wide range of pastries/cake and it is available 24 hours a day.  A great incentive by the management.

It would be remiss of me if I didn’t highlight one person that was totally outstanding at the resort that being Melissa.  From the minute we arrived she welcomed all the guests and proactively ensured that any issues were promptly sorted out.  I observed Melissa always running around checking on things and interacting closely with all the guests.  However, the highlight of her care and attention was clearly observed by me was during one evening when we went for dinner at the Eleven Eleven restaurant.  By some pure freak of nature everybody on that night decided to go to the same restaurant at the same time which I have never experienced before.  This led to a massive queue outside the restaurant however Melissa quickly attended the restaurant and took it on herself to open up another large section of the Coco Restaurant which adjoined Eleven Eleven.  Melissa directed staff proficiently and got a large number of tables ready.  Melissa then proceeded to organise the service of these tables.  It is quite clear that the restaurant had never encountered such an event however Melissa handled this situation with consummate ease.  After dinner I spoke to Melissa and thanked her as we were one of the parties in the queue.  However, I did make comment to Melissa stating that I saw her early in morning at breakfast and when I spoke to her it was circa 8.30 pm at night so I asked Melissa what time she finishes work and she stated to me 3 hours ago.  So Melissa was working on resolving problems when she should have been at home.  This woman’s dedication to both the resort and the customers is outstanding.  I believe Melissa’s official role is an Ambassador however if the resort has any sense they will have Melissa managing the day to day running of the property.  Melissa is outstanding.  

I need to quickly mention a couple of other people.   Naomi who organises all the excursions was fantastic.  A really nice lady who knows her job inside out and is really genuine and honest.   

Matt (Vacation Club Manager) - Fantastic and very approachable guy, always there to sort any issues out.

Captain Noel – Noel is the Captain in charge of the Sports Fishing boat charter.  We had a couple of fantastic trips with him and he and his staff always go the extra mile to ensure you have a great day.  

So all in all we had a fantastic holiday.  I think if you are a guest you have just got to accept that it is the Caribbean and the price point of the resort but overall good value for money and I am certainly looking forward to going back next year.

Fantastic Holiday

We visited St James with my hubby and three kids. Overall I would say the visit was 3 ⭐️. The property is a bit tired and dated. This property is not for you if you have issues physically. There is a lot of walking and hills. And it is impossible to get around in a wheelchair- there are stairs everywhere. Yes there are also ramps…but I think it would get pretty frustrating. 
We stayed in a Villa and while it had enough beds and enough room, it was dated and quite frankly the way the tub and shower combo was in the main bath was dangerous to get in and out of. (I forgot a photo) The steps up and down to the main level were also quite dangerous. Thankfully the beds were comfy and the air conditioning in the villa was great because August in Antigua is HOT. 

Overall for the property the beaches were also terribly underwhelming. The sand was sparse and hard. There wasn’t enough shade and the bay part of the island was very still much of the time with no breezes. The ocean also had a ton of seaweed and algae at the time we visited. It was quite smelly most of the time. Obviously not much the resort can do about the ocean, but the beaches themselves were sad. We hung out at the pool the whole visit. There was a bar and the water seemed well taken care of and the kids liked it. Chairs were plentiful and they had a good set up for shade all day. They were great about not having really loud music all day. At times there would be music and it was a great level to enjoy the people around you and the music. 

The staff was ok. Many were friendly and helpful, and many were acceptable and at time some were unfriendly. Overall it didn’t give you the feeling that they wanted to help you. The overall check-in process didn’t cover enough information and made you feel a bit lost. I think including the QR code to the link with the map and menus and other property information would have been helpful. It’s listed on a wall near the check in counter. (We had to find it on our own.) It took us a couple days to get the information we needed. 

The restaurants were ok. I would say the menus were written one way and you had to interpret what you were actually getting.  I ordered a caprese salad one night and despite the fancy menu writing I received some mozzarella cheese, one sad tomato sliced and some iceberg lettuce and carrot combo. (It was two bites). The Rainbow Room dinners were quite pricey and really didn’t deliver on what they “promised” as far as fancy food. (Italian Night, International Night, etc) The food was decent. But not anything I would tell anyone about or want again. The breakfast was well done and the kids loved the smoothie station. The man working it was very kind and remembered my daughter’s name. We loved the omelet station for freshly made eggs. 

At times the resort seemed not at all prepared for the people who were there. The second night we were there we ended up waiting over 1 hour at Eleven 11 for dinner. With little to no indication when we would get a table. Other guests had also waited at least that long before us and some with younger children. If there is only one restaurant without reservations and you are aware of all the people checked in I find this completely unacceptable. 15-20 wait is fine…but the over an hour we had was not ok. We weren’t offered drinks or bread or even an estimate of time to wait. 

We loved the ping pong tables and the kids club seemed like they had good activities although our children are 11&12 so they didn’t want to go. We also liked checking in with the turtles and saw many hermit crabs along the property. 

We rented a boat for half the day and it was the highlight of our trip. The boat staff were FANTASTIC. So kind to myself and my family. Made sure we were comfortable and had a great time. Showed us all the sights and took care of us snorkeling. We definitely recommend it! 

Overall I don’t believe we would visit this property again. It seemed to say a lot of things it didn’t live up to. (6 pools on property! I suppose but they were small and not worth the visit) Fancy food! (Meh…not worth remembering or wanting to eat again) Bar for night time entertainment! (Most nights had one bartender. And one night they had a sunset wedding..and you guessed it…ONE bartender. Poor guy was buried under drink order for a whole wedding party plus other guests and there was no way we were getting a drink in less than an hour. Ugh. 

I think a water station along the property with ice water set up would be so helpful. Keeping hydrated was a feat and there were no water stations any where. We have been to other properties with ice/water stations to fill up bottles and found this so helpful. When it feels 100 degrees outside this would have been nice. The bartenders work so had for all the fancy drinks- I hate taking the time to ask time to do that when I would be happy to with a machine or station. Especially with the service being acceptable and not fantastic- I was often without water. And you are only given one bottle at check in with no other drinks even if you’re all-exclusive. (Other resorts fill a small fridge with sodas, beer and juice daily…not here. Just one bottle of water.) 

Add up everything…I don’t think this property would be something I would feel like I would go to again. Now…that being said I also visited The Royalton, the only other property on Antigua that has kids attend, and I still think I would choose St. James. The food was better and the pools were fun enough and I liked the ping pong and over all property better than The Royalton. And staff was overall nicer than The Royalton.

Acceptable property, but not something I would dream about.

The customer service is top tier, shout out to chef Ronnie and our water sports guys Owen and his crew. And the room 4.5 stars I love. Our first experience was a day to remember. We will be seeing you guys again soon. The food at 11/11 is to die for the pizza is thin crust the pastas are top tier shout out to the Bartender down there as well Timisha

It was a great experience only issue is that we had to wait on our room for an hour but other than that everything else

These light and airy rooms are equipped with everything you'll need throughout your stay. Guests can enjoy a private terrace or balcony offering partial ocean or garden views, private bathroom, hairdryer, free toiletries, air conditioning, Cable TV, ceiling fan, clock radio, tea and coffee making facilities, desk, safe and ironing facilities. 

Premium Oceanview

Located on the ground floor level, Club Rooms feature dark wood furnishings, a private balcony or terrace, private bathroom, safe, iron and ironing board, hairdryer, air conditioning, telephone and a Cable TV. 

Club Room

Beachfront Rooms offer direct access to CoCo Beach and feature a private terrace, private bathroom, hairdryer, free toiletries, air conditioning, Cable TV, clock radio, ceiling fan, coffee makers, desk, safe and telephone. 

Beachfront Room


Tucked away on a secluded 100 acre peninsula on the south eastern coast of Antigua, the St James Club enjoys a long standing reputation on for exceptional service and offers a relaxed atmosphere.

Lush landscaped grounds sweep down to two beautiful white sand beaches - Mamora Bay and Coco beach, where you can simply unwind or enjoy the selection of free watersports. Nelsons Dockyard and Shirley Heights are just a 15 minute drive.

##### Accommodation at the St James Club and Villas:

Comfortably furnished en suite rooms all enjoy a private terrace or balcony. They are air-conditioned with cable TV hair, dryer and direct dial telephone. A selection of room upgrades are available at a supplement.


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St James Club and Villas

Accommodation at the St James Club and Villas: