Reviewed: St James Club Morgan Bay resort, St Lucia

I am never going to recommend spending your entire holiday tucked inside one all-inclusive resort, when there’s a fabulous destination right on the doorstep to explore. But having spent just a few days at St James Club Morgan Bay in St Lucia, I can now understand how you might be tempted – especially if you’re travelling with kids.

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And after a long-haul flight with a toddler, even a very well-behaved one, a view of the Caribbean a cool mint-scented flannel and fruit (or rum) punch on arrival felt like the perfect reward. So what’s it really like at this all-inclusive Caribbean resort? Read on for my review…

EDIT: THIS RESORT IS NOW ADULTS ONLY

St James Club Morgan Bay review – the essentials

The resort is definitely not small – there are 345 rooms and seven different categories – but it never felt crowded. As well as the swankier hillside suites, you can have ocean, pool or garden view with a king or two double beds. Some connect to make family rooms as well, and all seem to have a balcony or terrace.

Ours (726) was probably in the perfect spot – looking out to the palm-fringed beach and sea, as well as over the main pool, it was still only a few minutes’ walk up to the kids’ club and pool or over to reception, as well as a few minutes to the restaurants. You can also stay right next to the kids’ club and pool.

Having two double beds was a bonus as well, as I could bring a jetlagged Minnie in with me when she woke at 11.30 on the first night, while my mum slept peacefully in hers with no wriggly toddler to disturb her.

The restaurants at St James Club Morgan Bay

With a buffet for breakfast and lunch (we never quite made it in for dinner), the Palms is where you’ll eat most of the time, but there are five other restaurants in the resort for some extra choice.

Plum Tree Grille, by the kids’ pool, is open all afternoon which is ideal for early tea times, plus plenty of toddler-friendly items on the menu.

There’s also a pizza and pasta restaurant, Tree Tops, open in the evenings, as well as three a la carte spots. Bambou specialises in modern Caribbean and Asian fusion – I had breadfruit and shrimp gnocchi, followed by coconut steamed mahi mahi. Morgan’s Pier juts out over the sea, with a seafood packed menu.

But my favourite (naturally) is Le Jardin, the most formal with pianist, air con and the most perfectly presented food along with bottomless champagne (if you want) – well worth the $25 surcharge for the menu here. All the rest are all-inclusive.

The facilities: what’s at St James Club Morgan Bay?

Let’s start with the basics – as well as having the Caribbean on the doorstep, with plenty of shaded loungers on the beach, there are two big adults pools at the heart of the resort (kids also welcome).

The separate kids pool is actually a series of interconnecting pools – a few splash zones with shallow water, interesting steps and stepping stones, and a slightly deeper one with two mini slides.

Given the choice, I think Minnie would have stayed in all day, and bribery was about the only way we could tempt her out… Even so, she kept looking at me optimistically for days, saying ‘swimming?’ Somewhere, there’s a hilltop pool with views down to the sea, but we didn’t manage to get that far.

Then there’s the watersports. Kayaking, sailing, paddleboarding, windsurfing, wakeboarding, water skiing, snorkelling, plus a whole string of other activities from fitness classes (if you’re far more dedicated than me on holiday), beach volleyball, tennis, tai chi, Caribbean dance.

If you don’t want to lie on a lounger all day, you will not be bored. If you’ve overdone it, there’s a spa too.

Is St James Club Morgan Bay family-friendly?

To say kids are welcomed is an understatement. Every member of staff we met was putty in Minnie’s pudgy hands, half of them seemed to have learned her name by day two, and no request (some milk, a high chair without wheels, a plate of cucumber) was too much.

From a practical point of view, children are welcome pretty much anywhere except Le Jardin restaurant, which is for over 12s only, plus there are cots, high chairs and special kids’ a la carte menus at the lunch buffet… to give you even more choice.

There’s babysitting for an extra fee if you do want a bit of a break, by kids’ club staff who were fantastic confronted by a wailing Minnie.

The kids club itself is for over twos, as long as they’re potty trained. We got permission to have a sneak peek and play inside, and there are several rooms with toys, slides, a playground outside and various activities.

As it was out of term time, I suspect we didn’t really see it at its best – Minnie was the only one in there, so I suspect it would quickly get boring if there are no others to play with.

St James Club Morgan Bay, St Lucia: Need to know

The resort is set in the north of the island, near Gros Islet (pronounced Grosilly) and about 10 minutes from Castries. It’s just over an hour from the main Hewanorra international airport in the south.

For more tips on what to do and see in St Lucia, check out my guide

ST JAMES CLUB MORGAN BAY REVIEW: PIN FOR LATER

Disclosure: My stay was courtesy of the resort. All opinions remain my own.

Images copyright MummyTravels

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