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Frigate Bay Resort is a friendly resort hotel set on a hillside in Frigate Bay in St Kitts. It sits in brightly painted modern buildings centred on a large pool and bar, which sees some upbeat activity, and it is just a walk from all the action of St Kitts’ liveliest beach nearby. The rooms (actually all self-catering apartments) are comfortable and decorated in bright, modern Caribbean style. They have good flexibility, giving the option of regular hotel bedroom or a studio up to a two-bedroom apartment for six people, and they are equipped with everything you need to look after yourself. As a well priced resort, it is ideal for independent travellers (some families, others regional business travellers), who want a base near the heart of the action for a Caribbean beach vacation. Frigate Bay is easy-going and sometimes up-beat (there is some entertainment in the winter) and although it is not right on the beach, it is a short walk to the bars and watersports of Frigate Bay South, and right in the tourism heartland with its golf course and restaurants.
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KEY FEATURES
| Hillside Caribbean resort with 64 rooms in several buildings all together. Good for family Caribbean holidays. Rooms with cable TV, air-conditioning, fridges, internet access (DSL internet service available), coffee/tea makers, iron/ironing board and hairdryers, including self-catering studios and suites with full kitchens. Jasmines Restaurant and The Bistro, 24-hour front desk gift shop, 60 seat, air-conditioned conference room. WiFi access. Large swimming pool with swim-up bar, walk to beach, wedding packages, golf nearby. |
STYLE
| Bright yellow and blue condominium-style buildings in three storeys, simple, comfortable and well kept. A pleasant, low key Caribbean atmosphere |
CLIENT PROFILE
| Couples, families and single travellers both from all over, popular with regional business people, restaurant used for local functions including weddings, graduations, birthday parties |
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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. |
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Beach & Swimming
Frigate Bay Resort is not right on the beach. It is a short walk across the golf course from the western end of Frigate Bay South. Frigate Bay has two sides, ‘North’, on the Atlantic side, where the water is much wilder and not so good for swimming, and ‘South’, which is the calmer Caribbean side and ideal for swimming and watersports. The strip is about three quarters of a mile of light brown sand, which is backed for much of its length by beach bars. There are busy bars, quiet bars, large and lively or small and secluded ones, so you can wander along to your heart’s content until you find the right place for you. There are watersports concessionaires along the strip too.
Frigate Bay Resort has a very large swimming pool with a swim-up bar. It is surrounded by loungers and parasols on three sides and the bar is at the shallow end. |
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Sports & Recreation
The hotel itself offers no sports equipment for use on the beach, but there are concessionaires on Frigate Bay Beach that can offer it. You can organise kayaking, snorkelling (there is a nice reef at the eastern end of the beach), windsurfing and dinghy or catamaran sailing. Jet skis and scuba diving are also available through operators on the beach.
Frigate Bay Resort gives directly onto the fairways of the 18 hole Royal St Kitts Golf Course – though you will need transport across to the club house, which is over on the Atlantic side of the bay. It is an attractive course, part of which run along the Atlantic shoreline (so beware the onshore winds). Frigate Bay Resort offers a golf package. There are also tennis courts on the other side of the bay. Horse-riding is available too in the north of the island. Rides take you up onto rails through cane fields as well as onto the Atlantic beaches.
If you are feeling less active, spa treatments are available in your room. And if you fancy a flutter then there is a casino at the Marriot hotel on the other side of Frigate Bay. |
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The Rooms
There are 63 rooms at Frigate Bay Resort and they overlook the pool and restaurant from three storeys. There is good flexibility. The two-bedroom apartments, which are large enough for six when taken as a whole, can also be subdivided in various ways - giving a number of different categories, ranging from Hillside and Poolside Rooms, through Studios to two-bedroom Condominium Suites. The furniture is wicker and they are brightly decorated in Caribbean style, based in white with bright, floral fabrics. All rooms have at least a free-standing fridge, a coffee maker and an ironing board and iron, but of course the larger apartments have a full kitchen. While they are all air-conditioned, they also have ceiling fans.
Internet access can be arranged for your room (it is also available at the reception area and around the pool). |
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Dining
Frigate Bay Resort has two restaurants, which are next door to one another down by the pool. The main dining room, called Jasmine’s, is set indoors (with some tables outside) in a large split level building with an attractive wooden interior. Jasmine’s menu is international in style and has a good selection of fish and seafood. The dining room is open for all three meals. The second restaurant is The Bistro, which is set next to the poolside bar under a series of blue parasols. The Bistro serves lighter fare – soups, salads, burgers and some light platters. It is open for lunch and dinner – though you can bring your breakfast out to the tables here if you wish.
This is where entertainment takes place, on a small section of lawn above Jasmine’s. There is entertainment twice a week in the season, usually a local band and a steel band. There are a couple of buffet nights. |
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Weddings
Frigate Bay Resort is happy to stage a wedding for you. They have plenty of experience in arranging events and they have all the catering facilities for a reception of course. The favourite location for the ceremony itself is on the lawn above the pool and Jasmine’s restaurant, but they are also able to organise a ceremony on the beach for you, or if you would prefer a tropical garden then there are the grounds of the lovely Romney Manor in the north of the island.
The hotel offers three wedding packages. These include as a minimum all the legal obligations (a visit to a Justice of the Peace, the licence) and an officiating minister, a corsage and bouquet, but of course you will end up adding other elements such as champagne, a wedding cake, a photographer and possibly entertainment. Then of course there is all the back-up of the hotel, so they can provide all the food and drink you would like at your reception. |
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Conferences
Similarly Frigate Bay Resort has long experience in organising conferences and events. They have a dedicated building with all the specialist equipment you need in the way of projection equipment and of course they can provide catering. The conference room can seat eighty in theatre style and sixty in lecture format. |
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Children
Children are welcome at Frigate Bay Resort. They keep some equipment especially - cots for the rooms and high chairs. Jasmine’s has a special children’s menu. Baby-sitting can be arranged at extra cost. |
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Rates
| | 15 Dec-15 Apr 2007-08 | 16 Apr-14 Dec 2008 | | Hillside Twin 1-2 Persons | 135 | 100 | | Poolside Twin 1-2 persons | 145 | 110 | | Poolside Studio 1-2 persons | 160 | 125 | | One Bedroom Suite 1-2 persons | 220 | 175 | | Two Bedroom Suite 1-4 persons | 320 | 250 | | Extra person (excludes studio) | 25 | 25 | All rates are in US$ per room, per night, room only, and are subject to 9% Government Tax and 10% Service Charge. Special MAP supplement with 7 breakfasts & 3 dinners for US$199 per person plus tax and service. Children under 12 years stay free (room only) when sharing with parents. During the 2008 Music Festival (25-28 June) all rates are an additional US$20 per night. A three night deposit is required to secure all reservations. Cancellation within 21 days of arrival will incur a loss of deposit. |
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How To Book
If you wish to make further enquiries or a reservation, please use the WEB LINK or DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page to make contact with Frigate Bay Resort, or if you wish to telephone them, please click on TELEPHONE CONTACT to reveal the number. |
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UK Tour Operators
If you wish to book through a tour operator or travel organiser, please follow the TOUR OPERATOR link below.
See List of UK Tour Operators
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Locality
As the name suggests, Frigate Bay Resort is situated right in Frigate Bay, the centre of tourism in St Kitts. It is a short walk (via a path over the golf course) to Frigate Bay ‘South’, the Caribbean beach, where the beach bars stand almost shoulder to shoulder along the sand. It is a popular beach with the Kittitians as well as tourists. There are many more hotels on Frigate Bay ‘North’, the Atlantic side, where there are also some restaurants – try the pizza restaurant, PJ’s - and a couple of beach bars that you can visit as an independent traveller. You will also find the club house of the Royal St Kitts Golf Course on this side.
In order to see real St Kitts life, you have to climb out of the valley to the north (you are likely to have arrived from this direction when coming from the airport). After passing through a light industrial area you come into Basseterre the capital, on the Caribbean coast of the island. It is a pleasant town which (unlike many other towns in the Caribbean) has not been completely rebuilt in concrete. You will notice the pretty stone and wood ‘skirt and shirt’ buildings. There are some cafes and shops around the ‘Circus’ and Independence Square.
The mountainous north of the island is exceptionally attractive. Until recently it was blanketed with the light green of sugarcane fields, but the industry closed in 2006 and so the land is gradually being reclaimed by the darker green of tropical scrub. Many people make a round-island tour, stopping off at the small villages and maybe at one of the plantation houses such as Ottley’s. If you head south out of Frigate Bay you come into the South-Eastern peninsular, a section of hills that is barely developed (though there is plenty being planned for the far southern tip of the island). There are several good beaches along the peninsular, several with beach bars. |
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Meet & Greet
If you are travelling independently, Frigate Bay Resort would be happy to arrange for a taxi driver to meet you at the airport with a sign board. The ride takes around ten minutes and costs US$12. You should pay the driver direct. Alternatively, if you would prefer to be taken care of from the minute you arrive at the airport until the time that you leave, a Transfer and Concierge Service is offered by Kantours.
If you have booked your trip through a travel organiser, it is likely that their representative will be at the airport to meet you. This service and your return airport transfers should be included in the cost of your holiday. Please check at the time of booking. |
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Getting Around
You should definitely explore St Kitts while you are visiting. It is an exceptionally attractive island, for its mountains and its sea views, and it is fun to see a bit of West Indian life. This can be arranged through an island tour, of which there are plenty, or through a taxi tour. Frigate Bay can arrange it for you.
If you hire a car you can travel at your own pace, visiting beaches by day and restaurants in the evenings - and of course it is very useful if you are catering for yourself and need to get groceries. We recommend that you book your rental car in advance via your travel organiser or direct with TDC Thrifty Car Rentals, who will deliver to the property and issue your Kittitian driving licence, price US$20. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or be collected from the property at a pre-arranged time on the day of your departure. Be aware that over Christmas, February and in August there can be a shortage of cars in St Kitts, so you are advised to book in advance. Also book early if you want one for a week or more because the pre-booked rates can be better. |
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