After reading some of the reports we were a little worried. Generally the resort was nice, lovely location but not the nicest beach on the island, the lagoon was very safe for our small children and they were more than happy to play in the sand, the windier beach was a little cooler but our kids didnt like the seaweed. We were staying in a Villa which was fantastic, couldnt fault the accomodation at all. Have to agree that the staff didnt seem the friendliest staff we have ever met, we just put it down to being a caribbean thing. My main problem was the food, quite hard to feed small children a relatively healthy varied diet for a week let along 2 weeks (unless you are happy with chips every day) and quite often for adults there didnt seem to be much choice. We didnt go to the expensive restaurant but there didnt seem to be much difference in the food in any of the other restaurants, just a change of location. The buffets were the best and they only had those on certain days. The kids pool was nice and seemed to attract lots of the kids.

So all in all a good resort, food let it down for us a bit, Villa accomodation fantastic. Kids Pool nice, beaches OK, but worth getting out and about a bit as there are a lot better beaches.

This was far better than we ever expected stayed at the beach club not in the main hotel, and felt we had a far better room and veiws. Food was very good.Facilities on the beach club all included.
Would recommend this holiday to anyone.

We have just returned from St.James's club Antigua and although we had a lovely break we wanted to warn those expecting the same standards as St.Lucia that we were disappointed by comparison.

Having stayed in St.James's St Lucia at Easter 2002 & 03 we were expecting the same idyllic setting and standards. We were disappointed by the orginal room allocated, which did not match our booking or the description on the web. We were quickly moved to a better room in quieter part of the hotel. However, the happy smiling friendly staff we had seen in St.Lucia were not apparent in Antigua. This may well have been owing to the Easter break and it did seem short-staffed but my partner ended up on a mission to make the staff smile. I rather think this should be the other way round. There were one or two exceptions - the girl who ran the business centre was delightful but generally they did not seem as friendly or happy as our previous experiences.

The main pool seemed rather dirty and we did not see anyone clean it or test the water the whole time we were there and with an 11yr old we spent most days there all day!

A list of activites were published each day on the noticeboard but they did not all seem to take place. For example, Aqua Aerobics was listed each day at 10.30 am for the entire stay and it did not take place once. We were told by the activities coordinator that the cassette player was broken but there was a portable one in the gym working which easily could have been used for this. The gym had two running machines out of action the whole time and I did not see anyone attempt to fix these.

In St.Lucia the staff worked hard to create magical experiences such as Barbeques on the beach at night, live DJ party sessions by the pool in the afternoon but in St. James's Antigua they did not offer the same. Easter was particularly disappointing as absolutely nothing was laid on for the children - in St.Lucia we had all enjoyed the fun of the Easter Egg hunts. There was also a huge disparity between the prices paid by guests. One company seemed to have better rooms on the beach for their guests than other guests who had booked through a different source. If you are looking for a lovely safe bay for children to play then this is great but if you are expecting a luxury holiday for the money then do your research first as in our experience this holiday was generally not as luxurious as St.Lucia.

We spent 10 days at the St. James's Club in February and we would definitely go back.

The location is very good, although we practically could not use the ocean side beach because of the strong winds. The little bay with water sports is very handy if you want to paddle or have a little go on a boat, but if I have to be honest, we were somehow bothered by the constant noise of the motorized water sports in the same tiny bay. I found very dangerous to have a swim because I feared to "bump" into a boat or a skier.

Of the 4 restaurants, Piccolo Mondo and the Docksider are to be preferred both for the food choice and atmosphere. We were pleasantly surprised to find an excellent wine list and nicely presented meals.

The sevice, although sometimes "casual" is good and we could exchange more than a few words with some of the staff, particularly nice and helpful.

The Kids' club was run by a very cheerful young men that was able to captivate his young guests and entertain them with energy and good taste. In the meantime, parents can have some peace!

We were pretty disappointed by the front desk/reception. We paid for a room upgrade and an ocean view but we were given a tiny room, very dark and noisy with a view that was far more than partial and when we pointed this out, the receptionists said no one had ever complained for that room (where have we heard it , again?), so we just said we won't spend too much time in the room. In general, the whole front desk was very far from going the extra mile!

Thanks God we could rely on the guests help desk (just opposite!) thet were on the contrary very professional and helpful for reservations and other tips.

Th St James's park is very big but is cleverly done and you do not realize how many people are around: people use the spa, the gym, the pools, the other facilities and everybody is respectful of your privacy.

The kid loved the place and we did, too.

If we go back, we will be more attentive to the room choice!