I'm considering a vacation at St. James Club in Antigua. Would like to hear your opinions, good or bad.

I stayed there last year after getting bumped last minute from the overbooked Galley Bay. My opinions were mixed, and can be taken with a grain of salt since I was really annoyed with not staying where I preferred. We had an ocean view room on the upper floor which was very nice, clean, spacious enough and the view was great. Food in the two dinner restaurants was excellent. Food served in the main dining room (breakfast and lunch) was not bad. The special buffet dinners served in the main dining room where awful. (that's the night to leave the resort for dinner!). Service was mixed. it always took forever to get a check to siqn (even though its all-inclusive you need to sign to your room), and drinks sometimes did not appear. The casino is small and very quiet. the pool was nice. My biggest disappointment, and the reason I would not go back, was that I did not like the beach very well. They advertise that they have two beaches. One is on a protected cove, the other is more open to wind and waves. I was under the impression that families with small children would tend to stay on the protected side of the peninsula, and the smaller, windier beach would have fewer people. Well, in April the cove side gets no wind whatsover and was about 110 degrees F. NOONE uses that beach. Everybody is on the smaller beach which means it gets pretty crowded, and there is a shortage of chairs and umbrellas. Also, the windier beach gets alot of sand build up, which means the water is not very deep. After about 1PM when the tide is not high, the water doesn't get above waist deep, and it gets incredibly warm from the sun, its like stepping into a bathtub. We ended up renting a car and going in search of better beaches. There are many better beaches on Antigua. Best thing at St. James was the daily snorkel boat which took us out to a small reef to snorkel for an hour. My personal opinion would be to check out Galley Bay, Hawksbill, or Pineapple beach instead. Galley Bay I liked better, the other two both have gotten very fine reviews.

Check out Pineapple Beach. We honeymooned there and loved it. It was a wonderful resort with excellent service and food. The beach was also beautiful. Since our trip 6 years ago, we have recommended it to several people who have also had equally great experiences. Email me if you want more details.

Thanks for the feedback. Were there a lot of families, or was it mainly couples at the St. James Club? We're thinking of going at the end of March into early April.

We were there in late April. There was a fairly good mix of people... couples and families both. St James has 2 bedroom villas and baby sitting services so it does appeal to families. <BR> <BR>just an FYI.. the last week in April is Regatta week in Antigua. That's when I was there. Since St. James has a marina a lot of sailors came in when they weren't racing which made the restaurants more crowded than usual. I wouldn't go during regatta week again. <BR> <BR>Also, St James has a dress code for the restaurants, and was quite firm about turning away folks wearing shorts.

My husband and I are about to book a vacation at the Saint James for a week in July, along with friends and their two small children. I'd appreciate anyone's opinions and experiences Has anyone been to the St. James (or Antigua) in July? Thanks very much.