Just returned from a fantastic 2 weeks at The Beach Club, St James in Antigua - with my husband and children aged 11 and 9. Our first floor room looked out over the sea and was spacious and clean with a wonderful high ceiling. It was an easy walk down the steps to the breezy beach. The other beach at the resort is calm but very hot. Neither beach was crowded and in fact the whole resort gave the impression of being very uncrowded and peaceful - we wanted a quiet relaxing beach holiday and we were very pleased that that's exactly what we got.

Although the rooms at the St James Club itself were priced at a more expensive rate than ours at The Beach Club, they seemed smaller and not so well located - we had access to all The St. James Club facilities anyway.

All the pools were nice but we spent most time at the small Coco's pool because our children made lots of friends there. I have to say the Kids Club didn't amount to much - perhaps it is better for younger children but the staff certainly made no effort with our sons and the only two activities they wanted to join in on, during the whole holiday, were cancelled anyway. Not that it mattered as they had such fun in the pool - we also took out canoes and played tennis.

The food was plentiful and varied - drinks were fantastic especially being able to drink champagne anytime! We were glad we had booked "all inclusive" as the menu prices were vey expensive.

Apart from my comments about the Kids Club the only other negative thing I would say about our experience was that the staff are very efficient but not friendly. Although this was a bit disconcerting at first we just put it down to "house style".

Yes we would love to go back!

My mother and I returned from the St. James Club recently and had a fantastic time. We were greeted with rum punch and did not have to wait to check in. Our room was a standard hotel room. We had a large refrigerator, a safe, and a perfect view of the ocean. The bathroom was large with two sinks. It was very clean. Our towels were accessorized with fresh flowers.

Each day you pick which restaurants you would like to eat at for the next day. They post the present day and next day's menu. Each meal was better than the last. I can't even explain how incredible the food is! We did the all-inclusive which is definitely the way to go (The buffet is 45.00 US per person!). There were 3 restaurants to choose from each night. We were debating on whether to eat at the nice restaurants and pay the extra $35.00. When the staff heard this they gave it to us free! On the first night they even brought me a birthday cake and sang.

Most of the wait staff keep to themselves. I don't think it is because they are rude. I just believe it is their culture.

The pools were nice. There are about 4 of them. We usually went to the beach in the morning. The water was clear and there is always a nice breeze. There are several open clearings in the water to swim. The rest of the ocean has rocks and seaweed. At fisrt, I was disappointed but there was a big enough clearing to do some good swimming. Some people snorkeled over the rock areas. There was hardly anyone on the beach each day and plenty of umbrellas. (see the pictures)

The bay side was HOT! the water was calm and murky. Most of the kids were at the bay. They do have snorkel gear, kayaks, paddle boats and sun sailors to use. A guide will even take you out to teach you. This was great fun.

The drinks were strong and cool. A cart even drives around on both sides of the resort.

While there we did the Eli's Eco Tour. This tour is amazing! Go if you get a chance. The front desk will book all your outings for you. The cabs are VERY expensive so take lots of cash ($70 round trip for two). They charge by your party so you can't share expenses.

The resort is beautiful. The villas are all on cobble stone roads and they are on the bay side. The hotel rooms are ocean front.

We also had massages and facials at the resort which were serene and relaxing. Save these for rainy days because there is not much to do.

There is very minimal night life. If you are looking for a wild time go somewhere else.

We loved our stay at St. James Club and would return there if we travel back to Antigua.

Having read other reviews on St James/ Beach club I felt i had to write my view. My husband and i spent a week here for our honeymoon in January and thought it was fantastic. We had a apartment overlooking the beach and were no further than 100 yards from the water. Beautiful views from our apartment and found ourselves sitting on our balcony at 6 am appreciating it. The whole grounds of St James and beach club were kept to a very high standard, every morning we would walk to the restaurant for breakfast where we would watch a man sweeping the beach and removing any coral that had swept up, they really do take pride in the appearance of the beach. It was swept every morning to smooth out the sand. where else would you find that?! The food was fantastic and a vast selection at every meal sitting all cooked fresh. Ok the waitresses not very smiley people but hey who cares?! They only serve you a glass of water and you serve yourself at the buffet! They were always polite enough but it works both ways. They are just not loud people, but laid back which you would expect. The groundsman always said morning and also the cleaners so not sure why other reviews have said otherwise. We sat by the pool most days which was very quiet which was good! Dont miss a trip to Shirleys heights which was a fantastic evening out, where a steel band plays as the sun sets. A Boat trip around the island is also a must.
Overall we thought the whole holiday was a* im sure some people are just a little too picky - very quiet, great food and great beaches. what else can you say! Have a great time!

Before travelling I checked the reviews on this site, I found these to be fairly mixed and travelled with an open mind. On arrival we joined the long queue to check in and while standing in the queue were served a glass of rum punch, the Virgin air crew from our flight were given a priority check in and were in the pool before we had finished queueing- having checked in we then had to wait for almost an hour for our room to be ready. When we finally went to the room it was a little disappointing (really not up to 4 or 5 star standards) it was in need of a lick of paint, the jug of the coffee maker was chipped, the iron and ironing board were missing etc.
The food was really quite good at all meals, we did try the 'fine dining' restaraunt which attracted an additional charge, we found the food to be very similar to the other venues no better. While we were waiting a waitress dropped a jug of iced water on a guest at the next table, the guest was left sitting wet and had to gather linen from nearby tables to dry herself. I was then served a bottle of red wine with an apology that it had been in the fridge! We initially prefered the docksider but during our second week had three days when bad service spoiled our meals. On the first day while dining with new friend the waitress could not remember which steaks were rare, medium or well done and so we had to find out for our selves. On the second night it took 1hr 30 mins for our main course to appear and on the third night our wine by the glass was just that, one glass each in two hours. In short the good food was ruined by poor service. I also found it a little annoying to have paid for all inclusive in the St James Club and then have room only and Beach Club guests not being charged because staff failed to check. The champagne by the glass was sparkling wine, it was very nice but not champagne.
The location and grounds are lovely and the reception, guest services and tour desk were all very good. Prince in particular was very good.
The hotel is isolated, to get anywhere a taxi was required and most taxi journeys were $70 US return. This was OK but the hotel has its own taxi rank and would not call individual taxis, they insisted that guests going to the same location share, we assumed this meant sharing the fare but were wrong. The taxis were all people carriers and the drivers then charged each family or room $70. This meant that if you were the only ones travelling the driver charged $70 if three groups shared he charged $210??
I had a really good holiday but it could have been so much better, I am going to Antigua again next year, its a beautiful place, but not to St James Club.