Jamaica – What a true beauty!
In January when the news broke about Jamaica and said to “stay away” my wife and I deliberated for days to see if we should still make our trip to Jamaica. Good parenting or bad we decided to proceed with the vacation and are we glad we went.
Resort Beauty: Arriving at the resort, we were greeted with beauty, we knew we made the right choice to keep the vacation! We were received warm and immediately handed our keys to our room. Greeted with warm smiles and many “Ya Mons” we made our way to the room to find a stunning view and that they had set up separate beds for my 2 girls (11 + 12). Room was more than spacious, extremely clean with a breathtaking view of the ocean + pools. Kids had comfy beds with good pillows.
Food
Big worry when you go away is always the food. How does it taste, is it cooked right etc. (you know the thoughts you think). I have never tasted food with so much flavor. I can not find one complaint about the food.
Restaurants (4 of them) are where we found the best service. Italian + French + Steakhouse + Japanese are the 4 choices and it is hard to get reservations but $$ makes everything happen faster.
Buffet Always good and the food was yummy. Beachside was great the Jerk Chicken had so much flavor.
Pools + Ocean
Pools were different temperatures (all warm) and this was refreshing to get into “cooler” pools. They were so clean and my kids had a blast (yes you can bring floaties from home) bar service we had no issues with and always provided us drinks when needed. The ocean was incredible I have never seen such amazing snorkeling. I saw over 15 different kinds of Fish INCLUDING an Octopus! Yes, 8 legs and all! The beach was rocky but once you are in 3 ft of water you are swimming with fish all around you in the beautiful sand.
Kids: They have an amazing Kids section with water slides and an outdoor entertainment area, surrounding the entertainment area is 10-12 shops that sell local Jamaican items. Prices are 100% cheaper than going to the local markets and they DO NOT pressure you
First world problems
1. The maid left the door unlocked and open, unfortunately, no one from the resort seemed to actually care. They asked me to look around and see what was missing, housekeeping management took the call but did not offer any assurance it would be taken care of to ensure it would not happen to the next guest. Always lock your valuables in the Safe!
2. Housekeeping, they do a good job but don’t go the “extra mile” in any way. We tipped her $5 a day and by the end was struggling to tip her as I had to ask for many items (new towels or blankets) but she did do a great job ensuring it was cleaned daily.
3. You really on island time
Value: Well priced + close to a 5 Star but more like a 4.5
