The staff also beat the Amingiri by miles. The staff at the Amingiri were insincere, sarcastic, dismissive, unhelpful, and sometimes even deliberately and needlessly awkward. Every staff member I've encountered at the Northolme has been genuine, friendly, helpful, efficient, pleased to help and proud about their resort and their country.

The Northolme is west-facing. I'm sure it gets good sunsets, and the villas ought to get sun on the deck from mid-afternoon, but I can't say for certain because I've only seen clouds.

The main pool area and sunbeds should get sun from mid-morning, but it is quite a small area. The beaches are also small and don't get much sun. With your own transport, a ten minute drive around to the north-east will take you to a lovely stretch of sunny beach with easy parking, white sand, and barely another soul in sight. However, driving the other way, back towards Victoria and the airport, is painfully slow and tedious. The roads are very narrow, and though there are glimpses of nice views there is never a place to stop. If you were planing a road trip, don't get too excited.

The spa is nice enough though nothing special. The gym is fine - small, but I go twice daily and I've been the only person each time. At night there is very little light pollution (unlike the Amingiri) so if it's not cloudy I'm sure you'll get some nice starry skies to gaze at.

As a Diamond I was given a book of vouchers:
Soft drink, x2.
Local cocktail (which means any made with Takamaka rum, not any using vodka or gin etc), x2.
Glass of house wine, x2.
4 bottles of water per day instead of 2.
20% off laundry throughout the stay
15% off the spa throughout the stay
A romantic bath experience - they make you a bubble bath with flowers in the shape of aa love heart on top of the bubbles, and supply two glasses of sparkling wine and a plate of fruit skewers.

The bath experience was done really well. The local cocktails are delicious. Overall it is a nice package. I'm travelling alone so the benefit is extra generous for me. Nice to feel like I'm gaining something for once, where normally as a solo traveller you pay the same for the room as two people and that's that. And yes, I'm solo but I still had the romantic bath experience complete with flower petals and love hearts, and not just two glasses of sparkling wine, but also the magic words, "you may as well finish the bottle". Thanks, room-service dude.

There was also a complimentary bottle of Merlot and a few small jars of snacks in my room.

One more part of the atmosphere / soul / personality on display here is the Ian Fleming connection. The Ocean View bar has some 007 themed menu items and wall art. That's not much, but along with a great menu, some interesting furniture and art, and a pool table, it's ten times the character available at the Amingiri. One of the villas has some of the furniture from Ian Fleming's room, where he wrote some of the Bond books. Sadly, it's not his room, which was in the building that now houses the restaurant, but I wish I'd been given that villa so I could be writing this at his desk.