Editor’s Report: St. James’s Club & Villas

For years I’ve thought about the idea of celebrating a major holiday in the Caribbean, and this past Thanksgiving I finally decided to just do it and my husband and I headed out to St. James’s Club and Villas, an Elite Island Resorts property, on the island of Antigua.

For the first time in years, I spent Thanksgiving relaxing. No worrying about getting the food done or the table set. No worries over minor family squabbles – just sun, sand and someone else doing all the cooking.

St. James’s Club & Villas, which underwent a multi-million dollar update in 2009, is laid out on a 100-acre peninsula and features accommodations for up to 700 guests in two sections. Guests come from North America and Europe, with more than 90% from the United Kingdom.

The Club offers 215 rooms including 50 brand new luxury Royal Suites, all with private balcony or terrace, while The Village features 41 villas on a softly sloping hillside.

Beachside rooms are all located on one side of the resort in three adjacent buildings (named after local fruits: Pineapple, Mango and Papaya) and feature private balcony or terrace, air conditioning and ceiling fans, cable TV, radio-alarm clocks and more.

In addition to these standard room amenities, the waterfront Royal Suites offer scenic views of Mamora Bay, dedicated concierge service, a larger living space with sunken living room and two sofas, floor-to-ceiling windows, wireless Internet connectivity, premium pillow-top king-sized beds, marbled top wet bar, 37-inch HDTVs with DVD player, iPod docking stations and his and her walk-in showers and deep-soak bathtub.

The two bedroom Villas average 1,600-square feet and are comprised of a living room, dining area, full kitchen, master bedroom with deep-soaking tub and shower combo, and private terrace. Villa guests can dine at the resort’s restaurants, have meals catered by room service or prepare their own meals.

In addition to the villas, The Village also boasts a small grocery, an Internet café and a small salon and spa. Wireless Internet also is available in the lobby and garden patio.

For recreation, two white-sand beaches are available to guests – Coco Beach and Mamora Beach – as well as six swimming pools, six tennis courts, ping pong tables, and complimentary non-motorized water sports (including snorkeling, kayaking, pedal boats and Hobie Cat sailing). With the exception of the Hobie Cats, there is not time limit on the use of snorkel gear, kayaks or pedal boats.

A brand new onsite scuba center is also available for those who wish to take diving classes or tours.

Other onsite services include a fitness center, deep-sea fishing boat available for rent, and concierge service for booking nearby shopping and adventure excursions.

St. James’s also offers family guests a teen area and Kids’ Club.

The beachside open-air teen area features pool tables, ping pong and air hockey. During high season and peak holiday weeks a new Teen Pool Party will occur twice weekly, which will offer food, music, dancing, movies, karaoke and Wii. The Kids’ Club offers child-friendly fun for kids aged four to 11 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Children enjoy crafts, baking, treasure hunts, swimming, field games and more. Babysitting in the evenings is available for a fee.

Dining

As with most all-inclusive resorts, dining is a key aspect of vacation life. St. James’s Club & Villas offers four nonsmoking restaurants, plus a beach bar and grill and six bars.

In addition to the bars, a friendly beach buggy bartender patrols the beaches carrying a selection of cocktails, wine, beer, soft drinks and water.

Overlooking the lobby patio and pool, Rainbow Garden serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It has a comfortable open air feel with high ceilings and hurricane doors kept open during the day.

Coco Beach Restaurant serves breakfast and lunch. Designed as an oversized beach hut, lunch options include a buffet of salads, fish, pasta and meat dishes or an a la carte menu of burgers and sandwiches.

Throughout the day, the Docksider Grill & Bar, on the main Mamora Beach, serves drinks as well as hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and fries.

On most evenings, dinner is served in a choice of two or three restaurants, including Rainbow Garden. Another dinner venue is The Docksider, which features Caribbean fare, with an emphasis on seafood. On most evenings, there is live music until around 11 p.m. Thursday nights at The Docksider is Caribbean Night, offering a buffet of dishes from around the region, and live steel drum music.

Set on the hillside, nestled among the villas in The Village, Piccolo Mondo is the resort’s premier restaurant, open for dinner only. Serving Italian cuisine with a slight Caribbean twist, Piccolo Mondo offers the best food at the resort and comes with a price tag of $35 per person for all-inclusive guests.

The dress code at Piccolo Mondo is always casually elegant; men must wear long trousers and collared shirts, while long pants, or dresses or skirts are required for women. The rest of the resort features a slightly more relaxed casually elegant dress code after 6 p.m., as men may wear three-quarter pants at dinner. Thursday nights are casual to allow diners to enjoy Caribbean Night.

Caribbean Night during our stay just happened to fall on Thanksgiving. There’s nothing quite like enjoying turkey and stuffing to the sounds of a steel drum band and the warm breeze of a Caribbean evening.

For more information or to book client stays at St. Jame’s Club & Villas, visit www.stjamesclubantigua.com, e-mail reservations@eliteislands.com or call (800) 345-0356.To contact the resort directly, call (268) 460-5000.

Elite Island Resorts also offers Antigua-bound clients two other properties – The Verandah Resort & Spa and Galley Bay Resort & Spa.