When we booked 30 James Street, we’d been looking for somewhere special for an early 10th anniversary getaway. We’re not usually ones for booking nice hotels, often opting for a Travelodge or Premier Inn as they’re clean and comfortable and really that’s all we usually want. When I came across 30 James Street though, I know that was the hotel we needed to book. It had heaps of history, being the old White Star Line offices (the company who owned the Titanic), had a real elegant look to it and an out of this world spa. I was sold.
Approaching 30 James Street there’s no real indication that you’re looking at a hotel, in fact we’ve both walked past the building many times before when we’ve been to Liverpool and never realised. It’s a beautiful grade 2 listed building just opposite the docks and the only indication you’ve arrived at the right place is a small sign on the entrance wall that says ’30 James Street’. As we visited at Halloween the entrance was beautifully decorated with lots of pumpkins, lanterns and candles.
Once you step inside you’re greeted with large chandeliers, a winding staircase and opulant theming. It doesn’t have the tag line ‘home of the Titanic’ for nothing and the whole hotel is themed like the luxurious liner. An informative board at the start of the staircase tells you all about the buildings history from the White Star Lines offices to the hotel it is today.
The hotel has many different styles of rooms, we opted for one of the cabins on the lower ground floor with it’s stone tile corridors and huge black mirrors. We took a trip to every floor of the hotel and each level is decorated in a slightly different way but each corridor is just as grand as the last. We were put in the Celtic Cabin which can sleep up to 4 people. In our room, were 2 large, comfortable beds, a huge window and a smart TV. The bathroom was a large wet room with a monsoon shower and toiletries provided. The room was huge and very comfortable and although we were just below ground level and our room looked straight out onto a main road, the traffic did not disturb me at all, and I’m a very light sleeper! However because of the positioning we had to keep the curtains closed almost the entire time we were in the room for privacy. The mattresses in the room were very comfortable but in all honesty the pillows were the worst pillows I’ve ever slept on. We had a total of 8 pillows in our room and of those we ended up with just one each that was kind of acceptable to lay on, the rest were extremely hard and lumpy.
The monsoon shower in the bathroom was amazing, I’m a bath girl through and through and usually jump in and out of a shower as soon as I can but I honestly could have stayed in that shower all day. We were provided with plenty of towels all of which were huge and very fluffy which made peeling myself out of the lovely monsoon shower slightly easier!
30 James Street has a bar and restaurant which we didn’t bother visiting so I can’t really comment on these. It’s also home to Morgan’s Spa, there’s a £10pp fee for hotel guests to use the hydrotherapy pool and sauna and you can book other spa treatments as well. The spa also welcomes day guests. When I saw the online images of Morgan’s Spa, I knew we had to book in and I’m beyond glad that we did. We only booked to use the pool and sauna, which hotel guests get the use of for 2 hours and it was honestly one of the most relaxing experiences ever. The spa itself looks exactly like it does online and I was just blown away by it. I cannot recommend booking this enough, either as a day guest or as a hotel guest. I’d book this again in a heartbeat.
As a summary of our stay I thought I would highlight the good and the not so good points as a quick guide to the hotel:
The good:
- The history – there’s photo’s dotted around the hotel of some of the important White Star Line/Titanic employees
- The location – right on the docks so easy access to all parts of the city
- The showers are amazing and the towels are super snuggly
- The spa – hands down the best thing about this hotel
The not so good:
- The pillows are terrible
- Lack of privacy in cabin rooms
I would definitely recommend booking a stay at 30 James Street and if you haven’t gathered I more than recommend visiting Morgan’s Spa. I’d love to return to the hotel but try one of the different rooms, the other suites higher up have jacuzzi baths so if I was to book again I’d opt for one of those suites for a better view, more privacy and the bath.
In all our stay was lovely and I’m glad we chose this hotel to celebrate such a big milestone!
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