St. James's Club & Villas

Our party of 5 spent a week in 2 beachfront rooms. The rooms are nice -- large and have awesome views of CoCo Beach and the ocean. Would definitely recommend the beachfront rooms but if you choose that accommodation be mindful of whether you book a 1st floor or 2nd floor room. We were in 2nd floor rooms which afforded us wonderful views (see attached) but 1st floor rooms have direct beach access which would have been much more convenient. Be aware that broadcast television options are extremely limited but of course you don't travel to the Caribbean to watch television in your room. But when you do want to watch TV, you will pretty much be limited to your streaming services (our U.S. based Apple TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions worked -- our Paramount and YouTube TV subscriptions did not). The beaches are nice and have great views, and they were not crowded during our stay, particularly CoCo Beach. The food at the resort was good and with a couple of very limited exceptions, the staff was very friendly. We would have appreciated more food and drink options on or near the beach, and while our rooms were nice, the lack of amenities in the rooms was really annoying. Other than 2 bottles of water at check in and a single cup drip coffee maker, the resort does not provide you with any food or drinks in your room which was really disappointing for an all inclusive resort charging the rates that they charged during our stay. Not only did they not provide those in room items, but the bar and restaurant staff were very reluctant to allow us to get food and drink items to take to our rooms. Also, the resort charges a $50 per person fee for dining at Piccolo Mondo which seems excessive. While we enjoyed our stay and had an overall positive experience, I don't feel like the resort provided a good value. Or put another way, I would have expected more for what we paid. If you go to this resort, be prepared to do some walking. The resort is spread out and somewhat hilly but the grounds are very well maintained. If you go on an all inclusive package, don't freak out when you 1st go to a restaurant and see prices on the menu (that happened to us). Apparently the resort offers day passes to people who are not staying at the resort and the menu prices apply to those people (we didn't know this when we 1st arrived). Not related to the resort but I would also recommend considering airport arrival and departure VIP options. We did it exactly backwards on our trip -- we had VIP arrival service which proved to be practically worthless because our escort all but abandoned us as we had a hiccup with our immigration forms (more on this below). We did not have VIP departure service which in hindsight was a mistake as it took us forever to get through customs and security because of the lines. Regarding the immigration forms, you have the option of submitting online immigration forms 72 hours prior to your arrival. If you do that, you will receive a QR code that you will present to the immigration agent at the airport. Do this! We did not (because our destination was a surprise for our kids) and our Delta flight crew told us that if we didn't already have a QR code, all we needed to do was complete 1 paper immigration form for each family. That is not accurate -- the immigration officers at the airport do not accept paper forms so once we got to the immigration checkpoint with our paper form, we had to get out of line to do the online submission from our phones in the airport and then go back through the line again. Don't make that mistake.

Whilst we had a lovely family time here the service left a lot to be desired. The staff were generally lovely but very inflexible and not prepared to go out of their way. We had booked ground floor beach front rooms but were allocated an upstairs room. No willingness to move us. When cockroaches were found at night no action was taken even though my daughter was there with a young baby. Check out is early with limited facilities for those waiting for a late flight and charges to extend room were $75 US dollars. If you’re looking for five star this is not it.

My family had a wonderful stay at St. James Club over Christmas and New Year’s. We’ve stayed here many times before, but this visit was especially memorable thanks to the attentive staff and excellent service. A special thank you to one of the managers, Kersha, who was incredibly helpful and made our experience even better. We look forward to returning.

We chose this resort because we were bringing 17 family members together from around the world and they could accommodate us for a decent price. The food was great and plentiful, with several locations for dining. The accommodations for all of us were quite comfortable. The pools and beaches and other activities are delightful and kid-friendly. We also participated in a few excursions which Naomi helped us schedule. Askiya helped us plan a very special dinner for our family at the Hibiscus Gazebo and it was a wonderful. The VERY BEST quality of this resort are the PEOPLE!! The whole staff, from the top on down, were always smiling and helpful. We had some extenuating circumstances occur and the Donna and Rion went above and beyond to help us out. We would recommend this resort, especially for families.

Not only was this a wonderful week-long vacation for our family of 17, when caught up in the flight issues of January 3, the resort team stepped up way beyond the call of duty to support us!!! Our family came together from all around the world to enjoy our time in Antigua. Everyone on staff is friendly and carries a smile! The facilities are beautiful with access to both the Ocean side and the quiet Mamora Bay side. The food was absolutely wonderful and catered to a wide variety of appetites!! We also arranged a special Family Dinner on our last night at the Hibiscus Gazebo that was simply spectacular!!! Of special note were Riian, the Resort Mgr, Donna, the hotel manager, Askiya, who organized and executed our Family Dinner, Joslin, the best bartender at the resort, Naomi at the Tour Desk and the entire front desk and room cleaner team. And of course the restaurant staffs and chefs…fantastic!!! And once airspace closed and our flights were canceled for days, they allowed us to stay with them and accommodated us beautifully!! Thank you, St James Club team!! You made an amazing experience for us and created a lifetime of family memories!!