Frigate Bay Resort

In Depth

You feel the change in pace the moment you come over the hill into Frigate Bay. After passing local houses and light industry, you are suddenly presented with hotels, bars and expensive homes among the fairways of the Royal St Kitts Golf Course. The view from the top of the hill on Dr Kennedy Highway gives onto the large hotels on the Atlantic beach on your left and over the lagoon to the right, where a few smaller buildings hide among the trees on the calmer Caribbean beach. Frigate Bay Resort is tucked up against a hillside beneath you to the right.

As you arrive at the hotel you see the strong Caribbean colour scheme at once. Yellow is the dominant colour, of which you will see different shades around the resort, even on the kerbstones. Immediately on your left as you arrive is the Reception building, which is fringed with white gingerbread trim. That and the carriage lanterns gives it a classic Caribbean feel despite the obviously modern construction. You will check in here and no doubt return from time to time to arrange a trip or book a sporting activity. There is a shop at the Reception building with essentials such as sun tan cream and beach clothes, and there is a sitting area with a computer at which you can log on. Heading downhill form the reception building into the resort, a second building appears on your left. This is the conference centre. Frigate Bay Resort sees quite a bit of conference business. The room can seat eighty in theatre style and sixty in lecture format.

Chances are, though, that you will simply walk straight by because you are on holiday. The rooms themselves are set slightly further down the hill, in three storey buildings. The paved road leads behind them to the right, where you will find parking spaces for your car. On the accommodation buildings the yellow colour scheme is augmented by blue, in the trim and balustrades on the stairs that take you up to the rooms. All the rooms look over the pool and the restaurant and bar.

And this is really the core of the hotel, the huge pool, its swim-up bar and the restaurant behind it. They have a nice West Indian style, with pitched roofs covered with wooden shingles reaching out over the bar and outside dining area, where there are yellow criss-cross balustrades and kerbstones and bright blue loungers. The pool is surrounded by a terrace on which there are loungers and parasols. The bar is set at the shallow end of the pool in an octagonal building. There are stools in the water right at the bar’s edge so you do not even have to get out of the water to get a drink. On the other side of the bar are the tables of The Bistro, which is set in a sunken area bordered by a yellow wall – with blue tables set under blue parasols. It operates for lunch and dinner (though you can also bring your breakfast out here if you wish) and it serves lighter fare than the main restaurant. Wireless internet access is available around the bar.

Jasmine’s, as the main dining room is known, is also an octagonal building, which sits above the pool on the other side. Set around a stone-clad pillar, it is huge inside and split into circular levels, where wicker armchairs and tables covered with bright Caribbean fabrics. The outer wall is louvered glass, so that the lower tables have a view onto the pool. There are also tables outside, under the extended roof. This area is also the centre of the activity of the resort. The entertainment takes place here, on a section of grass just above the bar or inside when the weather is not so good.

The path down to Frigate Bay beach leads off near the deep end of the pool. It takes about five minutes to walk down, along the side of the golf course, bringing you to the Caribbean side of the bay, which is the livelier beach (than the Atlantic side). At the other end of the beach there are many beach bars, where you can find a drink or hire some watersports equipment.

The 64 rooms at Frigate Bay Resort are ranged in four buildings that stand in a curve overlooking the pool. They each have some outside space with garden chairs and inside they are a good size, so they have plenty of room for you to move around. They have tiled floors and are furnished with wicker and brightly coloured fabrics. There is cable television and a free-standing fridge or, in larger apartments, a full kitchen in its own area.

The apartments, which are in fact individually owned but rented out as part of the hotel ‘pool’, have good flexibility in that they can be configured as studios, one bedroom and two-bedroom suites. They are well priced and of course they are fully equipped, making them ideal for independent travellers, either couples in a smaller room or a family in a two-bedroom suite. And finally of course, Frigate Bay Resort is just a short walk to the liveliest beach on the island.

Stop Press - The hotel is due to close in May 2012 for refurbishment and upgrading.