ROOMS
Our room was #5146, a ground level Beachfront Deluxe. While at first I was a bit nervous about being on ground level (privacy and break-in issues), the very visible resort security eased my fears. Besides, it’s a lot easier to run into your room from the beach for forgotten items if it is at ground level. Our room was very clean, and the A/C worked fine HOWEVER I do prefer temperatures on the warmish side (72 – 74 degrees). If I was one of those people who likes it cold, cold, cold, I might have been uncomfortable. The bathroom was fine, although water pressure in the shower could have been better (I think the showerhead could have done with being replaced). Also, the toilet ran unless you jiggled the handle (a minor annoyance). The bed was very comfy. TV channels are limited – but come on, are you really shelling out the big bucks to watch TV? (Also, there are sports channel TV’s over at the sports bar). The open closet was spacious. There were plantation shutter windows with screens on either side of the patio doors. There was one feature of our room that proved very troublesome: the locks on the doors. Our hall entry door featured a knob lock and security latch system, and our patio door had a knob lock that you couldn’t unlock from the outside (no keyhole). So on our first night, we accidentally locked ourselves out when we locked and latched the hall door, then exited through the patio door – which we locked behind us. So there we were, locked out of our room even though we had keys. Seems like a setup for constant lockouts if you ask me. Someone did come and help us get back in, after a little bit of waiting.

NOISE
I add this because on our very first night, a Sunday, I was unable to sleep until 3 a.m. due to the sounds of very loud bass speakers coming from the south side of the resort (I could feel and hear the thudding, although not the music itself). I was REALLY CONCERNED that this might be the first of many sleepless nights, but a bartender told me the next morning that it was some of the resident citizens putting on a party outside of the Sandals boundaries. Fortunately, they did not repeat their festivities again. In all fairness, I should point out that I am a light sleeper. I regretted not bringing earplugs for just this reason! My husband, who could sleep thru World War III, was not troubled at all. FYI, I have read that roadside traffic on the non-beachfront rooms could be kind of bothersome.

BEACH
The beach was beautiful and long. I read on one of the Sandals Negril reviews a complaint about the beach being muddy when you got about 10-15 feet away from the beach (into the water). It is not muddy. There is fluffy algae stuff in some parts, but it didn’t feel gross. The resort drags the algae stuff out to sea every once in a while. I think there might have been more algae than usual when we were there due to the October rainfall and resulting water turbulence. To the north is Hedonism II (which makes for an interesting stroll, if you’re into voyeurism, I guess) and to the south is Beaches Sandy Bay (a Sandals for families – not as nice as Sandals Negril by a long shot). There are lots of “vendors” eager to sell you their products – legal and otherwise – on the south side. They are not overly pushy, and will accept a simple “No thank you”. Just a warning note: I am all for anyone having a good time during vacation, but only a fool would contemplate bringing the good time home, if you get my drift.

WATER
The water is fine to drink – very good, actually. I’d say it tastes a lot better than most bottled waters.

POOLS/JACUZZIS
The pools were a bit on the smallish side, but otherwise fine. The only time things seemed a little overcrowded was during mid- to late- afternoon, when pool volleyball was taking place. While you did not need to get up at the crack of dawn to “claim” pool chairs, they were pretty much all taken by noon.

FOOD
In general, I thought the food was very good. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style at the main restaurant. For breakfast, try the orange muffins at the pastry table – they’re yummy. The melon carvings are unbelievable and there is a large assortment of most of the things you would find at a nicer restaurant if you were doing the brunch thing on a Sunday, plus eggs benedict, made-to-order omelets, etc. For some reason, we seemed to have trouble getting napkins at breakfast. Here’s a tip: there are lots of crow-type birds who are assertive about their right to breakfast and lunch leftovers (at empty tables), so look at your seat before you sit down!! (I sat down on bird poop at least once). Lunch has the usual assortment of goodies, but a lot of times we were still so stuffed from breakfast that we just skipped it. The beach grill has great jerk bacon cheeseburgers; my husband had one at 2 a.m. and enjoyed every bite! (The beach grill also has standard hamburger/hotdog/fried chicken/etc). I read on one of the many websites I visited that it was a good idea to make reservations at Kimono’s, the Benihana-style onsite restaurant, early in your stay – the idea being that you could meet & then socialize with other people during the rest of your stay. We did that, opting for the “middle seating” at 7:30 p.m. the day after we arrived. I later found out that it was a good choice, as the earlier seating tends to be a quieter, less sociable crowd (no evening cocktails yet, I guess). We enjoyed it very much, and made several nice friends there. We tried to dine at the Sundowner, a very lovely Jamaican-Asian fusion restaurant on the south side of SN. However, wait time tended to be very long, especially after 8 p.m. or so. I also heard that while appetizers appeared quickly, entrees took forever, so if you go, go early and order LOTS of appetizers and drinks to tide you over. We ate at the “4C’s” restaurant our last night – sort of a you-pick stir-fry place, with an emphasis on waist-control measures. Very good and a nice change of pace…

STAFF
GENERAL ATTITUDE: I really do hate to say this, but both my husband and I felt that the attitude of the SN staff was somewhat lacking. Anyone new to Sandals might not notice this, but it seemed obvious to us that there is some apathy – especially compared to our stays at the Sandals Royal Caribbean thirteen years ago and Sandals Antigua eight years ago. Our first impression – the perfunctory “ho-hum” greeting and longer-than-average check-in when we arrived on Sunday – was not great. Then when we tried to go in the hot tub later that day, a pool maintenance guy told us very curtly that the pool & jacuzzi were closed. I felt that his tone was impolite, given that there were no signs anywhere to indicate (to a clueless new guest) that the pools were closed (for cleaning and chlorination) at that time. This is not a blanket condemnation – there were wonderful staffers who took obvious pleasure in their jobs. But there were quite a few (Garrett, a playmaker of all things, comes to mind – NOT to be confused with Garret the waiter) who were below average at best. On the positive side, we loved going to the swim-up bar when Andre (a real ham) and Chris (quiet, but a great bartender) were there. Patrick, a waiter, and Sascha, a waitress, were great if you were eating in the main restaurant. Our lovely, very sweet housekeeper Carlene brought us a wonderful bouquet (left over from a wedding I think) on our second day. Icyline at guest services always had a no-problem attitude and a wonderful smile. And a very kind and prompt maintenance guy helped us get back into our (inadvertently locked) room at midnight the same day we checked in. It seems to me that many times you get the attitude you give – it does help if you don’t leave your manners at home!!!! But this trip I think we just didn’t get (many times) the common courtesy that politeness usually produces. For some reason I especially noticed this with some of the female bartenders.

ACTIVITIES
We were especially lazy this trip, but there was lots of sports equipment and plenty of activities. Another Sandals “repeat guest” I talked to said the equipment was in better condition at the Ocho Rios Sandals, but that the Ocho Rios beach wasn’t nearly as long.

NIGHTLIFE
This tends to be a quieter resort (with the exception of our first night – see NOISE). The playmakers are not in your face but from what I saw are certainly happy to help you with activities, etc. (***Exception: Please see my note on IF YOU ARE A RETURN GUEST).

WEATHER
I was very worried before we left, because I went to weather.com to check the forecast for the upcoming week. Much to my dismay, all it said was “cloudy/rain” for each day! Well, I don’t know who fell asleep at the weather charts, but our weather was okay, considering it was rainy season (Jamaica gets almost 7 inches in October.) We did get rain in the afternoons, but it was sunny with patchy clouds the rest of the day. So my advice is don’t worry too much if the forecast on weather.com looks dismal.

SECURITY
There was visible security – guards routinely walking the grounds, but unarmed. You can leave the beach to stroll up to Hedonism II on the north side or Beaches Sandy Bay on the South Side. Sometimes the guards at either end of the beach take your name and room number, sometimes they don’t. We did not hear of any robberies, etc. happening on the resort.

SPAS
Heard their spa was great, but didn’t get a chance to go.

MISC TIPS/NOTES
SCHOOL SUPPLIES: Sandals sponsors a local school. We brought with us a large bag of basic school supplies, which one of the managers, Burchell Henry, was delighted to accept. He was very proud of a large fundraiser that Sandals was holding in Christmas to benefit local hospitals and school, and told us the supplies would be distributed at that time…so if you have the room in your bags and the time to gather such things, it’s something that does make a difference for Jamaican people. We used the leftover space in our bags to bring back souvenirs.
GIFT SHOP: Try to buy your postcards and stamps elsewhere (airport?). They charge $1/postcard and $1/stamp (the exchange rate at the time we went was $100 Jamaican = $1.80 U.S.)
LIQUOR: Yes, Sandals does have premium brands. Yes, you do need to ask for them by name. Yes, Red Stripe does seem to be the only beer. Yes, the bartenders are happy to re-mix a drink (or concoct a shooter) if you are not satisfied. Enough said.
BUS TRIP FOR SHOPPING AND RICK’S CAFÉ: We did this and I wouldn’t recommend because you do not get enough time to shop (only 30 minutes in our case – very hard if you have vendors clamoring for your attention). After the vendor area we went on to a total tourist trap-type store for another 30 minutes. If you want to shop, get
a red-plated (insured) taxi and find out the best places to go. Then take the Booze Cruise on Friday night! I read complaints that Rick’s Café was a tourist trap, but didn’t find it so. My husband and I had some of the best shrimp I’ve ever had there – and we lived on the coast of S.C. for years.
“BOOZE CRUISE” on Fridays: This “party boat” will take you to Rick’s Café, where you can watch insane, scantily clad people dive off cliffs and view the spectacular sunset while partying as well. We left Friday morning, but lots of people we talked to were going and looking forward to it.
OTHER: One of the best-known and liked couples we met were smart enough to bring their own plastic beer mugs – identifying their home state football team. Not only did this mean bar trips were less frequent for them, but the mugs were a good conversation starter, too!
HELPFUL WEB LINKS: http://snclub.homestead.com AND www.gallconsulting.com AND www.travelocity.com

IF YOU ARE A RETURN GUEST
Go to guest services right away so that they know who you are – after we informed them we got a bottle of rum, a discount certificate for the gift store, and a few other goodies. I read in one review that the manager’s cocktail and dinner for “repeaters” was fun. My advice is…skip it, or maybe just go to the cocktail party. The cocktail party was nice, but dinner was a long ordeal, especially because we were seated next to a bored playmaker named Garrett, (not the waiter Garrett) who obviously wanted to be anywhere but there (stilted conversation, long pauses, glazed expression, totally bored) and the whole thing took 3 hours (from the beginning of the cocktail party until the dinner thankfully concluded). They did give us another bottle of rum, and had a quite impressive “show” featuring flaming plates – but it wasn’t worth the time for us, especially since it was a very long time between appetizer and entrée and we had to endure Garrett.