St. James's Club Resort - All Inclusive

Nice resort. Very simple, nothing special

Positive: beautiful grounds, average food, very nice views and lots to do. negative: needs lots of updating, lots of hills to walk. Rooms needs lots of updating, our first room toilet overflowed, it smelled and we got moved after complaining. The manager did act fast and was very nice, but it def should never have been an issue and last thing I wanted to deal with, had to repack with 2 toddlers. We got moved to new room, that smelled horrible, was old rusted. I know you are not in the room a lot but at least you want it decent, I didn’t even want my kids without shoes on in the room as their feet would get black. Food was ok, not many options . Even things listed on buffet menu were not always there. I was told to ask, asked if kids can have French fries and chicken nuggets. Was informed they will do fries but not chicken nuggets as there is chicken already out (no my 3 year old doesn’t want sweet and sour chicken). Some staff are very nice and some look miserable, towels don’t get changed daily so have to reuse wet dirty towels from day before. Antigua is beautiful, grounds are stunning and if they put in work in resort and restaurants would be a great place. We will not be returning there.

The location is absolutely stunning, the holiday was great. I would suggest the star rating be dropped. The hotel was lovely if not a bit tired. The beaches amazing. The major thing that let this place down was the staff. Only 2 of the staff we met were lovely. All other staff unfortunately gave the impression they didn’t want to be there, we felt like an inconvenience. We went with people who had been to the resort many times and they felt like they had to apologise to us about how things were and said previously it has been amazing. We still had a lovely time. If the staff smiled more it would be a start. Amy in the restaurants was amazing unfortunately I can’t remember the other lady’s name ( she was part of the activity team)

St James club resort met all expectations a minor couple of tweaks but overall would recommend. Positives: The rooms are lovely, really big comfortable bed, we had a beautiful view over coco beach. Room was very clean on arrival, nice to have a big bathroom with a double sink, nice to have a bath as well. Balcony was a good size as well. We mainly ate in Docksider which has lovely views over the beach (Mamora) good options for breakfast lunch and dinner. Had one meal (lunch) at 11-11 which was really lovely and we wished we had gone there sooner. The staff are honestly so friendly nothing was too much trouble. Although this is a big resort never felt cramped as all spaced out. The mamora beach is so so pretty with two bars nearby too. The on site cafe was really nice could pick up ice coffee to take away and snacks too. You can use all of the non motorised water sports this meant you can even use the snorkels and flippers and take them off site. The sailing cats as well. There is on site car hire which is really organised and the guy who runs it is just lovely! Taxis on site and so easy to organise. On site gym and full shower etc meant we could have a final beach day and fully freshen up before journey home. The on site tour operator was great and organised a helicopter flight over to the volcano on monserrat which is a must do! Couple of minor things to improve/note Reception staff are friendly on arrival but a lot of information to take in, in terms of restaurants etc ok you can do the greeting meeting but not big on those if I’m honest. It was a shame on the few occasions we asked to get cash there was none available with lack of atms on the island and the big cash preference this wasn’t great and made for an awkward moment with one taxi driver who was very understanding! Found reception staff a little hit and miss a few very friendly and a couple not so much! Unable to get any food other than cakes at any time after 11pm. Some of the nicer bars do close quite early like the one by the main pool it might be nice to have a few more options as in general the atmosphere is on the quieter side post 10/11pm. There is an on site bar/club which is inside but found the vibe a little funny somehow as quite empty so preferred to go out. We sadly weren’t overly impressed with Picolo mondo it’s really pretty but food we didn’t feel was worth the surcharge. Coco beach is pretty but full of sea**** so didn’t really go on there and sadly as we overlooked that often woken quite early to sound of tractors clearing sea****. One last thing the gift shop is just a complete and utter rip off about four times price! All in all we loved our stay and good far outweighed the bad we would definitely return. Make sure to go up to Shirley heights especially on the Sunday night which is busier. Go over to English harbour for drinks, go to half moon bay and go for food at beach bums!

Antigua is beautiful and the hotel had so much potential but it let itself down with the unhelpful and at times rude staff! The buffet had a good selection of themed nights and the food was good but at the 11-eleven restaurant we had to wait an hour and a half for a table as we were a group of 8 and they struggled to accommodate this number of people! The other restaurants were only open on particular nights and the booking system was flawed! Activities were advertised but never happened!

There was nothing we didn't like. Excellent . Excited to return next year!

Room was not cleaned properly before arrival. There were toiletries from the previous guests still in the bathroom and the shower drain was clogged with hair. The floor was dirty and would turn your feet black. I had to call for clean towels three times in one day to finally receive them. The resort boast five restaurants but only one of two are open at a time. Most options were buffet style and food was hardly edible. Some of the restaurants require reservations however the space is limited two it was a constant battle trying to get food. The resort is at least 10 mins from other dining options which we had to travel to get a good meal.

We just returned from a week at St James Club and I can't say enough nice things about the hotel. I can't understand the negative reviews of staff being rude. You get what you give, and maybe the rude vibe you were getting is because of the vibe you were giving off. EVERYONE we encountered from the front desk, resturaunt servers, bartenders, {Judy was great} porters, water sports crew, housekeepers, to the landscapers greeted you with a smile and a "good morning" or "good afternoon". The Food Service Manager [Delroy-I think} asked us every day how we were enjoying our stay. We ate at all the resturaunts-except Piccolo [which you had to pay for] and found the food to be very good. The buffet had several food choices and if you couldn't find something you like then it was your own fault, because there was a nice selection of dishes. We are vegeterians and I can tell you we never went hungry. I also found the resort and grounds to be very clean and well kept. It might not be as "modern" as some newer resorts but we like the caribbean decor and laid back feel. There were alot of activities, we used the kayaks, paddleboards, and hobie cats, and really LOVED the water hammocks. There was enough beach chairs and, really appreciated the beach bag you were given since I forgot to bring one. Our first two days there we didn't go into the ocean due to the sea****, but the groundscrew worked tirelessly to clean the beach and by the third day we were able to swim and snorkel. We had a beachfront room which was lovely with a vaulted wood ceiling and a large balcony. The ocean view was amazing. The only hiccup was our room wasn't ready at check in, but no big deal, we had a couple of drinks, met some other guests, and had a few lively conversations. Donna at the front desk was very pleasant and kept checking with housekeeping to see when we could go to the room. You have to realize, you're on island time!! I would highly recommend St James club. If you are looking for a lively "party place", go elsewhere; but if you want a nice, relaxing vacation, at a lovely resort with friendly staff this is the place to come!!! Hope to go back again.

Firstly it really saddens me to only give this resort 2 stars. My last visit earned St James club 5 stars. The resort is in a gorgeous location, that cannot be faulted. But it has rapidly gone downhill since our last few visits. On arrival we were told to wait and a porter would assist us to our room. We waited and waited eventually giving up and taking our suitcases ourselves to our room. Our room was fine but a little dated. We had two 'double' beds. These beds were the smallest doubles you could imagine. We had a tricky nights sleep as they were so cramped. We went to reception the next day to see if we could change to another room with bigger beds. We were quite willing to pay to upgrade. After being told to come back to reception on numerous occasions we were eventually met by a slightly hostile duty manager. She made us feel like we were committing a crime by asking to change rooms. We eventually gave up on it and made do. The food at the docksider buffet restaurant was 4 out of 10, it felt very samey every night. The quality seems to have dropped since our other visits. On one occasion I had a lamb dish, I ended up with a bowl of bones! The kids selection was very limited. Hot dogs, burgers, chicken nuggets etc. We tried the restaurant up the hill, 7-11 I think it was called. We must have gone on a bad night, the staff were grumpy and rude. Making it obvious that they didnt want to be there. My son had a chicken Pizza, He was then violently sick all night. Hes never ill! All the resort said was nobody else has reported illness. And would he like a doctor. No apology. We had to go go reception 3 times to ask for his bedding to be changed, it eventually was at 4.30pm the following day! We tried the rainbow garden restaurant one night, you had to book 24 hours in advance. We ordered 2 steaks and a chicken dish. The steaks were really nice, but the chicken dish consisted of a scrawny chicken drum stick with some sauce on it. We ended up sharing the steak around. We had booked the next night also but cancelled. Jakaranda bar, The staff were always very friendly and helpful. I just wish all the staff were as friendly as Chad in the Jakaranda. It would be nice if the bars had peanuts or olives available to snack on with a drink. The staff are a mixed bag, either extremely friendly or extremely grumpy and rude. We took the Calypso cat excursion, that was great as usual and Id highly recommend it. The water in the bay isnt as clear as it used to be. It used to be clear and blue. Now it seems to be very silty. Which is a shame. On checkout there was no eye contact, no smile, no thank you for visiting us. Nothing. Its such a shame things here arnt as they used to be. Perhaps thats down to Elite island resorts buying the resort. We notice our other favourite resort, Pineapple beach club has also been bought by them. Im sad to say that I think we have to