St. James's Club & Villas

We’ve just been again after our first visit last November and it was amazing again. We love the atmosphere, the staff are great and the beach is amazing. We can’t wait to go again!

My partner and I stayed at this hotel at the end of January for 14 days and overall we had a brilliant time. Our room was in the Hibiscus block which was a good location - the room was spacious with plenty of storage space and a nice bathroom with a shower in the bath and a double sink. The bed was comfortable and the air conditioning worked well. We had a lovely balcony which had partial views of the ocean but unfortunately we couldn’t make use of this much as the balcony was full of mosquitoes and we would always get bitten, even when using good insect repellent. When we checked in we were told there were 2 complimentary bottles of water in the room that wouldn’t be replaced but we could use the water stations around the resort to fill them up. I assume the reason for this is to reduce plastic usage, but an alternative could be to keep a glass bottle of water in the fridge so there is always cold water readily available in the room. We did sometimes find that the water stations (with single use plastic cups) had ran out of water so had to go to a bar (when open) and ask them to refill our bottles. The resort as a whole was always very clean, and the rooms were cleaned to a good standard. The info sheet in the room said housekeeping would be every other day which we had no issue with, but our room was cleaned every day. On a couple of occasions our towels would be taken and not replaced with clean towels, but they would usually turn up late afternoon/early evening. Most hotels I’ve stayed at have a policy where guests leave towels to be replaced on the floor which stops towels being cleaned unnecessarily, as we didn’t need clean towels every day (particularly if they weren’t going to be replaced). The coffee and tea in the room also didn’t get replenished throughout our stay. My partner preferred the coffee served at breakfast so we never raised an issue with this, and I just took tea bags from the restaurant or Mamora Cafè so it wasn’t a huge issue, just a small thing that we would expect. My partner and I both said the food at this resort was probably the best food we’ve had at an all inclusive - there was always a good variety at the buffet with different themes each night and the food always tasted great. We loved Eleven Eleven which was al a carte and also thought the al a carte at Rainbow Garden was nice. We never got to try Coco’s as when we tried to book on the Sunday, we were told it was fully booked for Monday but to come back on Monday to book for Tuesday as you could only book 24 hours in advance, but when we went back on the Monday morning, they said it was fully booked for Tuesday (so go to Guest Services early to book al a cartes!). Lunch at the Beachside Grill was one of our favourite spots. We also paid a daily visit to Mamora Cafè where they did lovely iced coffees and sweet/savoury snacks (amazing banana bread!). We also paid the extra $50pp to go to Piccolo Mondo as my partner wanted the lobster, and we both thought this was worth the extra cost (despite initial reservations on paying extra at an all inclusive). The service was excellent (we think we were served by Simonè but we can’t recall his name) and the food was great. Overall the staff were brilliant at this resort (there was just one lady in the Jacaranda Lounge in the evenings and one waitress at Beachside Grill/Docksider we came across who we found not too friendly). Special mentions go to: * Cresieda at the Reef Deck bar who was one of our favourites - she was very friendly, always made time to ask how we were and made great cocktails that she called the ‘Cresieda Specials’. * Ozzie from the Entertainment team was brilliant. My partner proposed to me during our stay - Ozzie saw it happen and went out of his way to organise a lovely table setting for us at dinner which was really special. He always said hello when walking past and was also a great aqua aerobics instructor. * The ladies at Mamora Cafè were always very friendly, but unfortunately I can’t remember their names. * Oran who was sometimes at the omelette station at breakfast (which was very popular) was always polite and friendly, as were the other chefs cooking omelettes in the mornings. The beach party on Friday nights was really good fun, a huge effort is put into it and the food is great. Overall the entertainment was ok. We did find that some of the activities on the schedule didn’t go ahead some days, but we think this was due to a lack of interest from guests (we found the average age of guests to be 50+ with a few families with young children). It was great to have the option of taking out hobie cats/pedalos/paddle boards/kayaks which we did a few times. We also played tennis and pickleball once but often struggled to book a court for pickleball as it got booked up quickly for mornings/early evenings when it wasn’t too hot. We enjoyed bingo on a Wednesday night and the magic show on a Thursday, but the entertainment doesn’t tend to start until 9pm and there isn’t much else to do in the evenings. They have live singers at the buffet which is nice and have a games area with a pool table/table tennis table/backgammon board etc. We booked the Mystic Catamaran Cruise, Shirley Heights shuttle and Rum Making excursions through the hotel and would recommend these as they were all good fun. We only used the main pool during our stay as it was where the entertainment and bar was. Some days the pool was quiet and other days were very busy and you had to reserve sun loungers in the morning if you wanted a space. We did manage to get sun loungers when we wanted them though and we didn’t tend to reserve them (but were always up early). The gym was very good. It had good equipment and was well air conditioned. It was also nice to provide hand towels for guests to use and the showers were good (and useful for our last day when we wanted to shower after check out and before being picked up). Overall we had a brilliant time and would definitely recommend the hotel to others if you’re looking for somewhere relaxing to stay. If you want a lively/party resort then I would probably stay elsewhere but the resort doesn’t advertise itself as a lively resort, so we weren’t expecting this.

This is a hotel (in my opinion) past its sell by date. The rooms, although spacious, are sad and in dire need of renovation. The bathrooms are depressing and the shower is antiquated plus there is zero warm water early in the morning. This is an important factor for guests who have been travelling for many hours. On many occasions we had to phone for room service as it was none existence till late in the afternoon and towels were in short supply. On one occasion we had to go to the gym to acquire towels. Totally unacceptable. ! The restaurants are less than average, dirty menus, tepid food and a lack of pleasant service. Chairs in all restaurants are too low for the tables. The only way to acquire a warm breakfast is to queue for eggs. The equipment in the games area is filthy. Whilst there are two beaches, one of them is unusable due to large volumes of seaweed piling up on the shoreline. Staff work constantly to remove this but are fighting a losing battle. I don’t believe that the grounds are sprayed. I was covered in mosquito bites on my first evening despite using a repellent. I noticed that many guests were also suffering from bites. The gardens are well kept which is a major achievement due to the constant very high wind levels. We complained whilst we were there but the ‘treats’ offered by recompense in no way reflect the shortcomings of this hotel. It was too windy to enjoy the sailing and tennis activities available. Go elsewhere.

À great place to disconnect and reconnect

We spent a wonderful week at St. James’s Club & Villas, a well-known all-inclusive beach resort on the island of Antigua and Barbuda. The resort is located on a private peninsula on the southeastern coast of Antigua. We enjoyed the hospitality of the entire team. The general manager, Mr. Riaan is very kind. Go did several activities such us snorkeling, kayaking and fishing. We definitely recommend it!!