Almond Beach Club St. James

We were married at The Club last month and everything was perfect! Ann, the wedding coordinator is a God-send! The room was quaint and the roar of the ocean, which was practically right beneath our window, lulled me to sleep nightly and sometimes after lunch. The food was amazing and the people were very friendly! The club does attract a lot of retirees in the winter, so it was a little quiet, don't go there and expect to get to have a rip roaring time. But if R & R are what you need, you'll get it there.

We were married at the Almond Beach Club, and stayed a couple of weeks. We paid in advance for an ocean view honeymoon suite, which we never got. For the same price, we received a shabby, run down room. The employees seemed very rude to Americans, but that seems to be the norm lately around the world. The beaches and town are littered with drug dealers, constantly trying to sell you ganja. You can't walk 50 feet without being harassed by the locals to buy something. The island is run down for the most part. However, the nightly entertainment at the resort was incredible, especially the Harrison High School steel drum band! Rum and Cuban cigars are abundant, and very cheap. The weather is hot, all year round, and perfect for serious tanning. If you walk south down the beach from the Almond Beach Club, go about half a block, and there is a huge mansion on the beach, recently built by Steven Segall. Rather than Barbados, if I were you, I'd go stay at one of the resorts on Palm Beach, Aruba. Garrett Valentino Bellevue, WA USA

AVOID either the Almond Beach Club or the Almond Beach Village in Barbados. These are two of the shabbiest (and most overpriced) resorts that I have ever seen! The facilities are in poor condition, service is slow and rude, rooms and public areas are dirty and in need of refurbishment (my "upgraded" room smelled of urine, the "gym" was covered in layers of dust), beaches are rocky (Almond Beach Club has basically no beach), activities (including water sports that are part of the "all-inclusive" package) are frequently cancelled due to lack of participation or lack of equipment ("being repaired"), locals hang around the property and harrass guests with racial or sexual comments, food is of poor quality (poor hygiene standards including bugs in food and birds that eat off plates/drink out of cups) and all this costs over $600 per night for a small standard room.

I arrived at Almond club only to be told that the rooms were overbooked and that I had to spend two nights at the nearby, and far less nice, Discovery Bay. They overbooked 17 rooms! We and many others were forced to stay at the dumpy Discovery Bay with no compensation for our convenience other than a $5 bottle of champagne. We were told by locals that this had been going on for over three weeks!

At least five more times the Club staff was lazy and unhelpful and would try to make it up with apologies before doing again the next day. The beach is nonexistent and what there is is in the shade until the afternoon so be prepared to sit by the pool. It is perfect if you are looking for an inexpensive trip away and don't have too high expectations.

The village is much much nicer than the Club and I wish I had been able to stay there, although it was overbooked as well. If you don't make reservations for the Italian restaurant and the Seafood restaurants at the village (actually quite good) on the day you arrive, you will have to eat at the basic restaurants which are okay.

I feel taken advantage of by Almond and did not get what I paid for. It was unacceptable and unprofessional and I have email addresses for 8 other rooms of people it happened to while I was there!

Other guests left for the Bouganvillea and said it was much nicer. If you must stay at Almond, stay at the village, alhtough service will still be an issue!!

I just returned from a 5 day stay at the resort. The all-inclusive deal was an absolute bargain.

Merely being in a beautiful tropical environment such as Barbados goes a long way toward making a vacation enjoyable. But it is the terrific food, great drinks (burb!), good service, free upgraded room, very good entertainment and activites, and the friendly local environment thats puts the experience over the top. We had a great time!

Got a fab last minute deal to Almond Beach Club in August 2002. Was a bit apprehensive about going all inclusive as never been before, but it was definitely the right choice!

The hotel room were extremely spacious (not sure what the person who put room was small is used to!!!) and the free upgrade to a beachfront suite was really appreciated!

Water is fantastic for snorkelling and gorgeous sandy beach just around the corner. If you're into snorkelling or diving you really will love this. Very shallow reefs, so see loads of fish you would normally have to dive into quite deep water to see.

Food was fantastic. Special mention to Enids and the Italian at the Village. However Sunset also fine. Treat yourself to room service! Doesn't cost any extra! Very decadent.

Fruit punches (with or without rum!) delicious! So what if they're never identical twice! (You don't really care after a few of the rum ones!)

Tip - don't pay any of the beach hawkers astronomical amounts to bead your hair... the hotel does it for free! (It really is all inclusive!!)

Tip no.2 - aloe vera in it's natural state (bought from beach hawker) might be good for sunburn, but it smells absolutely awful, like really bad BO!!!

Staff were overall fine. A few could have been more enthusiastic (special note to the short order cook and watersports staff), but on the whole they were fine and were mostly helpful.

Only criticism is that the jet skis roar up and down the beach all day and can be very annoying.

However, for us this really was an ultimate chillout experience. Like a different world. Highly recommended. Would definitely go back!

Overall this is a great resort. Not overcrowded, like some. The rooms are small, but quite adequate. Checking in was quick, we were upgraded instantly. The food was very good. The service in the restaurants, was excellent. The Italian restaurant in the village was well worth the 20 minute shuttle ride. Water sports staff, very good. The beach area is small. But there are larger beaches 100 feet away.

Grounds were well kept, pools were beautiful. Most of the staff were polite, (only a few grumpy bartenders). Best of all.....no children!

Food servers were very good, Enid's -Excellent food! It seemed that middle management was insulting with their attitude. At one point we complained and he said 'It didn't matter' when we said we will not return. No beach, bartenders didn't make a drink the same way twice (only a very few were any good). The beach bartender was seen not properly washing the plastic glasses, even though there was a diswashing machine. Was told to go to the center of the bar for service, asked for a tray to carry several drinks, and was told the trays were 'over there' and pretty much get it yourself. Check in was four hours! They had overbooked Almond Village - what a mess. We were at the Spa, I believe we were delayed because of that. I do believe that the Brit's liked the place and the Canadians and the Americans, especially from New York and New Jersey, they really didn't care too much about the place. Pretty much it was a nice place--but dropped the attitude and relax the rules.

I was there for my sisters wedding in December 2001 and even though there were 17 of us (rather a lot for a small hotel to deal with in one go) the staff were brilliant. I have never met more friendly and accomodating staff. The food was great. Special mentions to Tommy of Tommy's Bar and The Band (especially AMW)

My new wife and I spent our honeymoon after Thanksgiving 2001 at the Almond Beach Club. We got a great deal on skyauction.com, and we enjoyed the many activities they had from the hotel. The Island Safari is the best - don't miss the 4X4 tour! Also, their Bajan picnic is excellent. They basically rent a whole beach out for the afternoon and bring all the food and booze you want.

What disappointed us on our honeymoon was the robbery of $300 out of our hotel room during one of the hotel-sponsored excursions. It was done by either a maid or by a maintenance man, as the hotel knew we were gone. And, get this, it was taken out of our safety deposit box! Yes, we hid the key in the room, but who would know they would search around, find the key, and take our money. It must be nice to know when your guests are gone!!! They were generous enough to not take my wife's $3000 engagement ring. How nice. We filed a claim with the local police - Barney Fife would have been better!

Management assumed no responsibility, and the manager tried to "look into" the problem. Nothing was done. We felt terrified for the rest of the trip. The least they could have done would have been to compensate for a trip or two.

Nice resort, nice (mostly British) guests. Poor security, and very lack-luster management.