Island hopping to Saint Lucia and St James Club Morgan Bay

After flying to Antigua with British Airways and spending a couple of nights at the impressive Verandah Resort & Spa, it was time to continue the Elite Island Hopathon on the beautiful island of Saint Lucia. Just a short 1 hour flight from Antigua, island hopping in the Caribbean really is very easy with daily flights to all the island nations. While you can fly direct to Saint Lucia from many international airports, the local airport caters for smaller planes from neighbouring countries. It's also conveniently close to our next resort called St James Club Morgan Bay.

St James Club Morgan Bay

Situated in a small valley leading down to the beach, the entrance, indeed most of the complex, is secluded giving first impressions of a relaxed and casual resort. The lobby was full of comfortable sofas to relax while you check in and lots of friendly staff to help us get acquainted with our new surroundings. The resort is a set of apartment style rooms in blocks situated around the complex, further up the sides of the valley. With the restaurants, bars, beach and pools mostly at the valley floor. This arrangement creates a wonderful feeling of being surrounded by everything you could need and of course with rooms higher up we got a great view of the entire resort from the balcony.

We were driven up to our room by the porter in oversized golf cart, up in the lift to the 4th floor and in to our One Bedroom Ocean View Suite. And what a view it was, looking down over the resort, the beautiful gardens and flowers cascading over almost everything you can see, the small private beach and the sun setting over the ocean. It's almost enough to make you overlook our grand suite with separate bedroom and lounge areas. Sofas, desks, ample storage and balcony access from both the bedroom and the lounge. There was also a TV in each room but with views this good you're more likely to spend free time  sat on the balcony, sighing with contentment.

Resort action

While the rooms are indeed lovely, there's a real sense of atmosphere and life to this resort, something I've not experienced quite to this degree before. The two main pools are a central point for the resort's facilities and ambience, with restaurants and bars conveniently located around them. The first impression I usually form when walking around a resort is how good (or bad) the facilities are, whether they meet my expectations. While they certainly met my expectations here my first impression was definitely more the atmosphere. On the first evening we were invited to the General Manager's cocktail reception. At every resort I've been to this is

usually a low key affair with a few canopés and not a lot of attendees. This was an altogether different experience. St James Club has a wonderful roofed social area with a bar, large stage and ample space for lots of tables and chairs. A steady stream of cocktails and canapés were making their rounds while a deputy manager spoke to the growing crowd, introducing every manager of every department, with a rapturous applause from all that watched. The climax of course was Mark, the general manager appearing with an almost celebrity like level of enthusiasm from his adoring fans (aka hotel guests). This really set the mood for our stay and the ambience of the place remained throughout. From the romantic dinners at the picturesque restaurants to the poolside bar and soft sandy beach.

I took a walk around the entire complex on one of our full days there to check out everything the St James Club Morgan Bay has to offer. This resort has 4 tennis courts, more than I've seen at any other resort and surprisingly 3 were in use! I've often seen tennis courts at resorts but rarely have they ever been used. There's also a children's play area, again it seemed quite popular, a family pool and also beautiful gardens surrounding every apartment block.

Fine dining

There's no shortage of places to eat here, so much so I was really keen to try out as many as possible during our short stay. There are two main buffet style restaurants open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Both are a very short walk from each other and have fantastic views of the pools and beach. The food rotates through a number of culinary themes so there's always something new to try each day. Le Jardin is a more romantic affair where an evening reservation is necessary. This indoor restaurant had a wonderful atmosphere from the moment we entered. Dimly lit and with a grand piano in the centre filling the room with all those ballads you'd almost forgotten. The food here was sublime and with a wonderfully exclusive feel. We also had dinner on the pier, out above the waves next to the the private beach. This is by reservation only too and with a more informal feel. Once again the food was fantastic and the sound of the gently lapping waves on the rocks nearby added to the ambience. If that's not enough culinary options there's also a Pizza restaurant near the resort entrance and a burger bar by the family pool. There's little chance of going hungry here.

An all inclusive experience

The Blogathon to Barbados in 2013 was our first experience of a romantic all-inclusive resort holiday and I'm still surprised at how great they are. I'd have to say the all-inclusive definition at St James Club Morgan Bay could easily include the atmosphere as you're made to feel part of a larger collective experience. Something we really enjoyed and would highly recommend. In my experience it's not often that a resort can create that kind of atmosphere. It takes the right layout, the right facilities and more importantly the right staff to pull it off so it was with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to St James Club Morgan Bay and headed back to the airport for the 3rd hop on the Elite Island Hopathon project, back to Antigua! More on that coming soon.