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Sandals Negril Resort Review
Friday – July 30th, 2004
We left San Diego at 10:30 PM so we could fly overnight
and arrive in Jamaica early on Saturday. We arrived in
Atlanta at 2:15 (5 AM EST). Our scheduled flight to
Jamaica at 7:00 AM was cancelled and we were bumped to
another flight leaving at 8:30 AM. We arrived in Montego
Bay at approximately 11:00 AM.
Saturday – July 31st, 2004
Our flight to Jamaica was smooth. On the flight to
Jamaica, we were instructed to complete a customs form
prior to arrival.
Here is my first tip to others. We had read on this site
that Sandals sponsored a local school. We wrote to
Sandals to ask what items were needed the most. We were
told that crayons, pencils, notebooks, etc. would be
helpful. So, we loaded up our suitcases with a good
amount of supplies. On the customs form, we listed these
items.
When we were in the Jamaica airport, there were two
lines. One was for no items to declare and the other was
for items to declare. The no items to declare line went
through pretty smooth. The items to declare line was
terrible. Every person that went through was required to
not only open each suitcase but remove all items. This
included clothing, toiletries, everything. There were
many unhappy travelers that had packed their suitcases
very efficiently and had to undo all of their work in
the airport. We were lucky in that we found a very
understanding customs agent who saw what we were
bringing, that we were bringing them for donation and
waved us through without having us to unpack everything.
If you are bringing items to donate, my tip to others
would be not to declare these items. If they are
“discovered” in your baggage, I would merely state that
they are for your own use (say that you like to draw w/
crayons :-). Unless you want to unpack everything (and I
mean everything), this would be the best plan.
We looked for the Sandals booth in the airport and
discovered that it a very nice lounge. They had couches
and coffee in there for their occupants. However, we did
not get to check it out thoroughly as there was a bus
leaving immediately for Sandals. Besides the line at
customs, our stay at the airport was very brief.
We were offered the chance to fly to Negril but based on
the advice of others; we decided to take the bus. We
agreed on the opinion that it is a good way to see the
countryside and view the other cities on the way to
Negril. The bus was like a Toyota vanagon. It was air
conditioned and the seats were quite comfortable
especially compared to the airline seats that we were
cramped into previously. The driver stopped for beers in
Montego.
I agree with others, pretty insane driving. I was not
aware that they drive on the left side of the road
there. That combined with the other factors made for an
“exciting” trip. Horns are used liberally there, they
not only warn pedestrians that they are approaching but
they are used almost every minute or so. Just going
through the small towns of Lucia and others is humorous.
The way the drivers beep and people get out of the way
is almost like a presidential motorcade is coming
through or something.
We stopped halfway or so for a bathroom and refreshment
break. Good chance to stretch the legs, etc.
We arrived at Sandals at about 1:00 or so. Here is one
small misunderstanding on my part. The driver that took
us to Sandals did take a tip. No big deal but I had
thought I read on other sites that the drivers are
Sandals employees but this wasn’t the case for us.
Again, no big deal but I did want to let other people
know so they can have a tip ready to go for the driver.
Now this part was cool. When we were at the airport,
they tagged our luggage as well and carry-ons with
Sandals tags. They also put a red sticker on these tags.
Little did we know that this sticker indicated concierge
level! When we checked in, they pulled us away from the
others and took us upstairs to check in. This was very,
very nice. It was a relaxing, air conditioned room with
couches, chairs, etc. They offered us our choice of
beverages (beer, rum, champagne) and we got comfortable.
There was another couple in there with us that was
getting married so we let them go first. Heck, we were
in no hurry at all now.
The concierge was very helpful, explained to us their
role and how they are there to help us and make the trip
smoother for us. Soon, an individual was summoned
upstairs and they led us to our room.
We were booked for the Sundowner block, first floor. The
Beachfront Concierge level rooms can either be in the
Paradise block or the Sundowner block. I’m sure that
each has its pro’s and cons but I can say with assurance
that I would not want to be booked elsewhere. The
Sundowner block is located at the end of the property.
That alone is desirable in that there is hardly any foot
traffic down there. It is very, very quiet. Also, the
beach that is in front of the rooms is big. We noticed
later in the week that a lot of people were walking down
to our area of the beach because of its width. There is
a lot of room to lie out. The first floor is also a
bonus because you can enter/exit directly to the beach
from the rear door. You can go lay on the beach and if
you need to use the bathroom or grab a beer, it’s just a
couple of steps away.
There is also a lot of nice foliage outside of the room
and hammocks as well. We found the grounds to be in
immaculate shape. I could not spot a dead leaf on any of
the trees. The flowers were beautiful and the
landscaping was truly something to behold. The gardeners
do an excellent job of maintaining the property.
The Paradise block is more in the middle of the
property. The first floor rooms do have a door to the
beach but there is a bit more foot traffic by the front
door. There are three stories here so the upper two
floors may be quieter but they lack the convenience of
direct access to the beach. When we return to Sandals
Negril in the future, I will ensure that I get a room in
the Sundowner block, it’s really nice.
The room itself is fairly basic. There is the bed, a
small table and chairs, TV, hair dryer, night stands
etc. The patio outside is cool; there is another table
with chairs and a rack to hang wet clothes. The bar was
GREAT. There was Red Stripe, champagne, wine, water,
soda, rum, drinking glasses, etc. This was re-stocked
every morning. Another nice feature of concierge level
was the ability to call room service at any time for
food. No matter what the time, you could place an order
for food. This came in handy many times when it was a
little late at night and we got a little hungry, we
simply placed a call. One thing that I had thought is
that the delivery time would probably be forever, but
that’s not the case. Our food was delivered in about 20
minutes each time.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I would HIGHLY
recommend a concierge level room. I don’t know what the
price difference is but it my opinion, it is well worth
it. The express check in, the in-room bar, 24 hour room
service, it all makes for a very pleasurable experience.
In addition to this, if you book a concierge level room
for 6 nights or more, you will receive a $250.00 credit
to use at the resort. This can be used at the spa, gift
shop or towards phone calls. We used ours for the spa.
One thing that I noted about this trip was how pampered
we felt. My wife and I have never stayed at any
extravagant resorts before and this certainly felt like
a top notch experience. Later in the week, I asked
others about this and they confirmed my thoughts. The
staff really does their best to ensure that your stay is
as pleasant as possible.
After checking in, we had a quick nap. We were pretty
tired after all of the traveling. Later that night, we
ate at the buffet. The food was good; the theme was
international with a focus on seafood.
Another thing that I was worried about (prior to going)
was the food. I can honestly state that the quality of
the food was good. I had read from others that the food
quality was mediocre but we felt that it was fine.
However, after a week we did see some of the same dishes
over and over and we did start to get a little “burnt
out” on the food. But, it all was very good. Some of the
deserts (like the chocolate-banana pie) were awesome.
Earlier in the day (prior to our nap), we met our
neighbors. After dinner, we ran into them again at the
sports bar. We had a great time with them and I
proceeded to get a little trashed on rum punches. They
had visited Sandals three years ago and said that things
had changed since then. This fact was confirmed by
another staff member that had remembered them from their
trip.
Apparently, a new manager came aboard about a year ago.
Prior to this, the bartenders poured drinks freely and
made it a party atmosphere. The new manager stopped this
behavior and toned down the free flowing drinks. Sandals
also was sending plain clothed “spies” that were hanging
out at the bar and reporting back to the manager.
This was a little disappointing to find out and they
certainly were disappointed as this fun atmosphere was
one of the facts that had brought them back. I think
that they still had a good time but they missed their
previous experience. I would agree with them that they
bartenders are pretty tame and laid back.
Sunday – August 1st, 2004
I awoke with a pretty bad hangover. All of the rum
punches combined with the traveling didn’t work out too
well. We called for room service on this day and took it
VERY easy at the beach. The wife wasn’t too stoked about
this waste of a day since I was pretty dead on my feet.
A little later that day (when I was feeling better), I
was sitting by myself out on the patio. One of the
gardeners was walking by and stopped to chat. After
talking with him for a while, the conversation touched
on the topic of “herb” and he made the offer to obtain
some for us. So, to confirm another person’s post on
this board, the gardener’s took care of us.
We ate dinner at the Sundowner. This was a very nice
restaurant and the food was good. You can either eat in
the restaurant or on the beach in front of it. Later
that night, an Elvis impersonator was playing on the
main stage. |
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Monday – August 2nd, 2004
I took a quick run in the morning at the fitness area.
It is well stocked with a good amount of equipment and a
trainer in there the morning also. Another tip, if you
ever find yourself in need of extra beach towels, check
here.
We had another relaxing day at the beach. We went to the
concierge office and setup our plans for the rest of the
week. I had taken the advice of others and we booked the
River Walk Trip and the cruise aboard the Wild Thing to
Rick’s Café.
We ate at the main restaurant again that night. This was
good because it was an ala carte (table service)
compared to the buffet of previous nights. The theme was
Jamaican food. The service was much better than when it
was buffet style.
Tuesday – August 3rd, 2004
We had a couples massage at the spa at 11:00 AM. While
my wife has had massages before, I have not. I have to
admit, it was pretty awesome. It was 50 minutes and it
was extremely relaxing. They do the arms, legs, back,
the works. I was a little worried that it might be a guy
doing it but that didn’t happen. I would highly
recommend this to any guy out there, it was very
refreshing.
Later that day, we took the concierge shopping tour.
This is a two hour trip with one of the Sandals
employees. There is another shopping tour that later
goes to Rick’s also but this tour was good in that the
Sandals employee was able to point us in the right
direction for bargains.
We went to three stops. The first was a craft market
pretty close to the resort. This wasn’t a very
pleasurable time in that all of the booths carried
virtually the same goods. The vendors really pressure
you to go inside, then they kind of obstruct the
entrance hoping that you will purchase something. I do
understand that the countries economic situation adds to
this behavior and I hate to turn somebody away but we
really weren’t interested in the goods that they were
selling.
The second stop was in downtown Negril and was a little
better than the first. The third and final stop was at
the Times Square Shopping center. This was a good stop
and had everything we wanted. It was more of a mall
style and the shops were very clean with little
solicitations happening. We purchased Blue Mountain
Coffee, T-Shirts and I bought a Cuban cigar also.
We ate at Kimono’s that night. Good meal and it was
shared with good company. We ended up going to the
talent show later that night with our group. The
audience members who participated were great. One guy
played a song on the bass with the band. Another guy did
a kickass song on a harmonica with the band and the
final guy did a song on the guitar. They were all really
enjoyable.
We finished the night with our dinner companions at the
sports bar. Pretty tame for me since I killed myself
Saturday night. Live and Learn :-)
Wednesday – August 4th, 2004
We went to the main pool this day and relaxed. We had
the booze cruise scheduled for later that night, so we
ensured that we got a good meal before departing.
The Wild Thing was an awesome boat. My opinion on these
booze cruises can go either way. A lot of times they are
great but when they suck, it’s not good because you are
trapped on the boat with nowhere to go.
The boat was late by a half hour but it was a top notch
boat. There was a full bar and they did all kinds of
little games, Limbo, Booty Shake dance for the women,
drinking game for the men. There were some appetizers
and everyone got a slice of pizza.
However, we felt the trip was a little expensive for
what you got ($70 a person), we thought it should be
more like $50 a person.
Rick’s was good. I did the jump four times with another
person that we met on the boat. We found a great group
to hang out with that added to the good time. The divers
that jump there are pretty awesome. These guys are
buffed out big time and they do some great dives. Of
course, they are going for the tips but they earn it.
Later that night, we had dinner at the Sundowner with
the rest of our party partners on the boat, eight of us.
This was followed by drinks at the sports bar. We
retired early that night since our River Walk tour was
picking us up at 8:30 AM.
Thursday - August 5th, 2004
The bus picked us up for the River Walk tour at 8:30 AM.
We took this tour based on another trip report on this
board and it was WELL worth it. It was $85 a person but
again, a great trip.
We picked up some people from other resorts and headed
out. The trip was about an hour inland into the
mountains. It was a great opportunity to see more of the
country and its people. Some of the views in the
mountains were truly breathtaking. There were so many
plants and trees everywhere.
Our driver was good, a little annoying at times but
overall an enjoyment to be with. He stopped many times
en route and picked off different plants and weeds from
the side of the road. He passed it back, gave us a
chance to guess what it was, and then he would provide
the answer and give us some background on the plant.
When we arrived at the Riverwalk, the guides took over.
I was expecting that we would walk along side of the
river up to some falls, little did I know that we were
actually going to walk up the river in the river itself.
This was very cool. The guides knew every little nook
and cranny of the river and would stop to show us it.
They were also very accommodating and helped each of the
guests up the river. It was tricky and slippery at time
to navigate but they helped everybody, every step of the
way.
If you are planning to take this trip, it is highly
recommended that you bring Teva type sandals, sandals
that have a strap in the back. My wife did not have any
and we ended up having to spend $45 at the gift shop
prior to going. Little did we know that you can rent
some shoes at Riverwalk for $3. It’s a huge potpourri of
shoes that they offer but at least renting is an option.
They give you a little palapa to leave your belongings
in prior to going up the river. It felt very safe. I
would not plan on bringing anything up the river that
you don’t want to get wet. They had another person that
went up the river and video taped our walk. At the end
of the trip, you have a chance to purchase a DVD of the
tape for $40. Although they don’t record with a digital
camcorder, the quality looked pretty good. We ended up
buying one. They will deliver it to Sandals in the next
few days. You specify when you are leaving Jamaica and
they do the high priority discs first. They even gave us
a customized cover on the DVD with my wife and I. They
remove the original audio and dub in some reggae music.
We are pretty happy with it. A little expensive but a
nice memento.
My advice, do every part of the river that the guides
show you. They are all a little different and great to
experience. The last set of falls is really cool in that
you actually go behind the falls and disappear from the
rest of the group for a little while.
After the river walk, you go back to the palapas and eat
lunch there. There is a choice of either fish or chicken
and either one was very good. They also have a bar on
site there if you want to grab a beer.
We got back on the bus and headed back to Sandals and
arrived at about 3:15. It’s a pretty full day.
We ate dinner at the 4 C’s later that night. It wasn’t
too bad. The menu was a little lite but that’s the focus
of the restaurant. I believe that it’s more for calorie
counting individual’s etc. I had the sugar cane tuna and
was surprised on the portion size. Although they may
tout low calorie, healthy food, the portions were
generous.
Friday - August 6th, 2004
Our last day :-(
We spent our last day trying to enjoy the resort as much
as possible. We took the snorkel boat out. This was
great. They take you just offshore from the resort but
we had no complaints, we saw plenty. We did bring our
own mask/snorkel so I don’t know the quality of Sandal’s
equipment but their fins were fine.
We went to the swim up bar and had some drinks there. We
got some final gifts at the gift shop, etc.
During the day, they started to build a stage on the
beach in front of the Sundowner block. We didn’t know
when we planned our trip (but found out when we got
there) that August 6th is Jamaica’s Independence Day.
They were setting up for a huge on-site party to be held
that night.
We went to the party later on. Sandals has to be
commended, they did an outstanding job. Although I did
get tired of being told to “make some noise” every five
minutes by the playmakers, the entertainment and food
were terrific. They setup a buffet right on the beach
and put the tables out there too. And of all places (on
the beach), this was the first time (aside from our room
and off-resort) that we were able to get a bottled Red
Stripe.
The entertainment was good. Besides the group
participation stuff, they had a limbo dancer (amazing),
a steel drum band, a guy who danced on his hands and
also did bamboo dancing and a fire breather guy as well.
Really, really good show.
The show ended at 10:00 and we went back to the bar to
say our good-bye’s to many of our new friends. Our
flight was scheduled to leave at 10:45 AM the next day.
Sandals will set up all of the transportation for you.
They wanted us at the airport at 8:45, so they picked us
up at 7:00 AM and they wanted our bags out in front of
our room at 6:00 AM, a brutal dose of “Welcome back to
reality”.
Saturday - August 7th, 2004
Not much to tell here. We called for room service as
soon as we woke up so we could get some food in our
stomachs before we left.
Long day. Montego Bay to Orlando, Atlanta and finally
San Diego.
In summary, a great trip. I was very impressed with the
resort, it’s staff and most of all the country itself.
One other thing that I didn’t note above is that we
received rain 5 days out of 7. It always rained later in
the day (around 2:00 – 4:00 or so) so if you go during
the rainy season and you want sun, get it early. The
clouds tend to roll in later in the day.
We definitely were very happy with our choice and would
not hesitate to go again.
Thanks to all of the others on this site who provided
other trip reports because they certainly helped us. And
thanks to John Gall for all of his advice.
Erick
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