Review: St. Jame's Club, Antigua (4 Star)

Overview: 
30 mins from airport
25 mins from St. John’s
South-east side of island (Atlantic side)
6 pools (1 adults only)
4 Restaurants (2 buffet)
4 Bars
238 Rooms (in mostly 2-3 storey buildings)
All Inclusive

My initial thoughts are that this is ideal for 50+ adults, who want a beautiful quiet property, with high service standards, but don’t quite want to do a romantic couples resort like Sandals.
This is medium sized property which is made of several 2-3 storey buildings on a peninsula, and on the opposite side of the bay are private villas that cannot be booked than run up a cliff. The buildings, common areas, gardens and décor are all very beautiful and modern. There are 2 beaches surrounding this property, and though the beaches in bays the water still seemed somewhat rough since it’s on the Atlantic side. They don’t quite have that vibrant blue water that many of the other resorts have. While there are water sports available, it doesn’t seem like an active, lively resort. The food was exceptional, especially for a buffet. The staff in the restaurant were wonderful and personable.

Accommodations: 

The rooms were very nice, solid 4 Star. The Premium rooms were even nicer, what you might see in a 4.5 + Star. Ocean view rooms are great, but all of the rooms are walkable to everything on the resort, so may not be worth the upgrade if you just wants to ensure being close to the beach. Rooms are all modern design, Bathrooms were very clean and you could tell they try their best to make the rooms elegant. They also offer Villas (2 bedrooms) with a kitchen, but the regular Suites only have a mini-fridge and no kitchen items. In addition, they rent out villas for long stays on the other side of the bay. These are for people who live there for several months.

Pools:
 
There are 6 pools throughout the resort, all small and not incredibly lively.

Beach: 
There are 2 beaches, one small and one medium. Both have wonderful white sand, but don’t quite have that vibrant blue water that many of the other resorts have, rougher waters on both beaches compared to other resorts we saw on the island. The larger beach on Mamora Bay is nicer, whiter sand.

Facilities: 

There are 4 restaurants, from what we saw all looked very nice and elegant. The buffet food was great with lots of variety (their buffet food was comparable with some of the a la carte meals we had at Jolly Beach). Non-motorized sports are available all along the beach, though it didn’t look like they were getting much use. Not many active people out and about. There`s also a gym, sauna, spa ($), wi-fi in lobby.

Overall, this is a great alternative to Sandals for older couples who want a quiet, romantic getaway.  It is rated correctly as a 4 Star for it`s rooms, food and service. The only downfall is that it doesn`t always have that white sand beach and bright blue waters like other resorts in Antigua. I think that if someone wants to go to Antigua, it`s likely for it`s beaches, so I personally would want to be on the Caribbean side of the island to experience nicer beaches. For more pictures, check out their website:

http://www.stjamesclubantigua.com/