Got back today from a great stay at the St James Club. Weather superb, although occasional rain showers.

Main Tip I will share is make sure you have ear plugs. The local wildlife gets very vocal between dusk & dawn.

The first experience was excellent, great welcome and taken off to room by golf cart. We had one of the bay suites, overlooking the Mamora Bay. The room was very clean, had great aircon and I would class as comfortable. We had a battle with Mozzi's and found putting a towel at the bottom of the door proved pretty effective in stopping them entering.

I can confirm that the area next to the reef deck bar has building work on at present, but this did not affect our pleasure whilst at the adjoining pool. We found that although this was the largest of the 4 pool's, we used the Coco's pool more as it benefits from a nice breeze off the atlantic.

We did try the Mamora Beach, but there is no breeze, so if frying is your game, then this is ideal. If you fancy a snack they do great burgers here.

We stayed all inclusive, and frankly as dinner menu's were no cheaper than $40 per person, I would advise upgrading from room only for $60 per day, and get all food & drinks included. Living costs are high in Antigua, and this is also relected in the fixed taxi costs. $50 to St John's or arrange through guest services in their twice daily shuttle service & paid $28 for both of us.

We also booked a trip to shirley heights (Sunday Evening), cost $8 each (taxi) & well worth the visit. Virgin customers get free entrance & first drink free. Great views & Great Atmosphere - a real must do. I was pleasantly surprised how cheap drinks & food were.

The food at St James is nice, we used Rainbow Garden & Coco's, but found breakfast the same every day, and evening variance not brilliant across all menu's. You will struggle to eat if you are vegetarian, unless you like pasta or salad. We always received great service whilst in the restaurants, and I will just mention that you should you need anything ask for Prince on Guest Services, as he was excellent, and remembers everyone he meets, even returning guests.

Not all time shares are a bad experience!
Through Interval International, we discovered The Villas at the St James Club in Antigua. We liked what we read and booked a trip for four adults.
Upon arrival, we discovered that the property is undergoing a facelift which prevented us from obtaining a direct beachfront villa but we were assigned an adjacent hillside location which was only a two minute walk to either of two beach areas. Our spacious accomodation was a two story affair with kitchen and living on the second floor and bedrooms and bathrooms on the lower.
Both upper and lower gave access to very nice patio or balcony areas. Outside areas were equipped with comfortable furniture as were the interior areas. The island theme and color scheme were very well done.
Beachgoers have the choice of two worlds in that one side of the resort is located on a quiet bay and the other opens to an open ocean location offering some wave activity and windsports.
Those seeking long beachside walks will be disappointed as both waterfronts while clean and replete with lounges and shade covers are somewhat limited.
Not infrequently, we were drawn to one of several sparkling clean pools, none of which were particularly crowded.
Several restaurants offer a variety of buffet and menu fare-Our favorites were "Dockside" and "Coco's." Beverages were "top shelf and plentiful. Unfortunately, we were not as pleased with many of the waitstaff. With few exceptions, they seemed bored with us and with their jobs. Our only real negative about the St James.
Especially high marks to our Concierge, Isabella, who spent a lot of time straightening out problems with local flight reservations and obtained restaurant reservations when we could not.
Daily entertainment in the restaurants, poolside, and staged was of good variety and well presented. We especially enjoyed the steel drums-a favorite of ours!
For no good reason, we didn't take any tours and our one trip to a nearby small town was not memorable.
This resort is not for vacationers who want "the joint to be jumping." Those seeking a more "sedate" vacation experience will enjoy the St. James Club. We give it high marks.
Parker&Eva Severaid

We spent a week at the St James Club 21-28th October, and were very impressed with most aspects of our holiday.
This was our first trip to the Caribbean, and we set off with few expectations, just eager to start our adventure!
The accomodation (studio room) overlooked Coco Beach, with a fabulous vista to wake up to every morning; this beach does not get over-busy and is the cooler of the two, with a refreshing sea breeze. The room was basic but clean and well-equipped, no fridge unfortunately. We had a problem with the air conditioning but this was rectified very quickly; the only disappointment was that our room was not routinely serviced every day (even though we left the door hanger asking for this) and we kept having to ring Guest Services for extra ice, coffee, more towels etc. The staff are particularly friendly -ask them about all the famous faces that come to stay!!-
I thought that the choice of restaurants and food on offer was very good, well presented and above average table service.
We have a keen diver in the family and we also went day and night snorkelling- the array of life just outside the Docksider restaurant at night is amazing---got a few strange looks from the customers as I flapped around in the water at 8pm!!
The dive school is excellent, Kevin and Xavier are excellent staff and will tell you all about the area-ask to see Eric Clapton's house on the hillside and the pelicans nesting in the trees. Xavier also does a mean backflip from the top of the boat! Safe and insured completely, equipment well maintained.
We went to Shirley Heights on the Sunday night, as recommended; food was okay, atmosphere was very party-like and the sunset and views amazing. Go for the earlier part of the event and take the lookout path (no flip flops!) down to Galleon beach before it gets dark.
Nelson's Dockyard also well worth a visit-go slightly later in the day when it's less busy but beware the mosquitoes!
The kids club was somewhat disappointing as my son is 9 and the club appears to cater more for the under 8's; he snorted with derision when he saw some of the activities on offer-bang went our ideas of some romantic time together!
All in all, a super holiday where you can do as much or as little as you like, next time we would book a longer period.

We have just returned from the St James's club and had a fantastic two weeks vacation. We have two children ages 6 and 8 who thought the kids club was excellent and they offered lots of different activities to keep them busy and interested.

The quality of the food was excellent and the service even better, most of the staff went out of their way to be polite and have fun with the children and most seemed happy all the time. We had a brilliant bay suite which was ample room for the four of us and had a great view of mamora bay.

The beach sports were excellent and the staff went out of their way to teach our eldest son how to sail and kneeboard at no extra cost.
Only one problem 'Jellyfish', cocos beach had lots, but mamora bay only a few and after the initial reaction, no one seemed particularly bothered by them. I would recommend this resort to anyone. Excellent see you in 2007!