Couples Negril

 I think I’ve got a touch of island fever

I do believe I feel a bit sautéed

We flew American Airlines through Miami to Montego Bay, no hassles, quick trip. We passed through immigration and customs without problem or lines (our flight was not full and there weren’t many other flights arriving at the same time). Went to the new Couples booth in the airport (well, it’s new to us—I did say it’s been 3 ½ years since we were in Jamaica) and there was a crowd of people and luggage waiting there. A Couples agent asked our name, gave us our registration card to fill out and told us it would be about 20 minutes, so we went to the bathroom and tried to stretch out our muscles a little. Some people were getting Red Stripes at a bar but we’d had a couple minis on the plane and were set. As promised, about 15 minutes later the porters started loading our luggage and they directed the Swept Away and Negril people outside to the buses where they separated us again. We left the airport at 11:00 am and arrived at the resort about 12:15. The drive was uneventful—we had 7 or 8 couples on the bus but it was pretty quiet—everyone seemed self-contained, and we just enjoyed the scenery as we drove through the countryside.  

Check-in took about 10 minutes—we sat down, they came around with cool cloths and then champagne flutes. Soon a desk clerk came by to ask for our registration cards, our visitor cards (from immigration), our credit cards, and hotel vouchers if appropriate (we booked directly with the resort). When the clerk took my information I requested the 3^rd floor of Building 1, as that is where we spent our honeymoon and thought the location was perfect. She came back and told me that Bldg 1 was full and she had to put us in Building 2 (just next door) but we could check back the next day for availability in Bldg 1. We planned to do that but decided that Building 2 was just as convenient as Bldg 1 so we stayed put.  We had a Gardenview room—this is the cheapest room and perfectly fine in my opinion. We like the third floor—despite the extra stairs involved—because when we sit on the balcony we’re at tree top level with the birds. Plus, no one is above us. I have no idea if you hear room noise from people above you or not—we never heard any room noise from the sides, except when we were outside and others were also out on their balconies.

The deluxe gardenview room has a tile floor (occasionally slippery, so do be careful), a king bed with low tables on each side, reading lamps, a side chair, entertainment cabinet & table, standing drawers, and closet with luggage rack. The balcony contained two faux wicker chairs and a table, as well as a towel rack for drying (there are also several wooden hooks inside the room for drying swimsuits & towels).  There are mirrors and outlets in the room (none in our bathroom, and the bathroom hairdryer is hard wired, so if you bring your own hair dryer you’ll have to do your hair in the bedroom) There’s also a full length mirror on the back of the door, a safe in the closet (it has a keyed lock you get at check-in) and a large umbrella. We never used ours, despite the rain, but we saw others using it—it’s a HUGE golf umbrella, will easily cover two people. There is air conditioning and a ceiling fan and both work great! Bugs LOVE me so we had to sleep with the balcony doors closed and the a/c on. If bugs don’t bother you, you can probably sleep with the doors open and the fan on instead. Several people have mentioned low water pressure and that continues to be a problem, but if you give it a couple minutes the water pressure (and hot water) will come back. It didn’t ruin my stay, that’s for sure! Also, I had no problem with the hairdryer that comes standard in the bathroom—it’s a regular 1500 watt, not a salon dryer but it gets the job done. Plus, it doubles as a nightlight—very cool!

This is our favorite part of the resort!!! My husband’s biggest complaint (except when he’s hung over) is that the bars don’t open until 10 am….Well, they have to restock sometime.  There are four bars—the pool bar, the Beach grill bar, Main bar and Piano bar. You can get cocktail service on the beach using a red flag. We mainly used the pool bar and Beach Grill bar. All the bartenders were friendly and I never had to wait more than a couple minutes to get a drink, no matter how many people were around.  I noticed that the bars had Red Stripe Light now (due to some keg issues, I was never sure what kind of beer would be available at whatever bar I was at—but no problem mon!)  We had lots of rum drinks and rum cream drinks because, well, who wants to drink vodka in Jamaica (apparently, lots of people do, but I don’t drink it at home so I’m not going to drink it on vacation—we’re rum drinkers) I also filled my water bottle quite frequently at the self-serve station in the Beach Grill. They have soda and fruit juice too, but I’m a Diet Coke drinker and Couples only has Pepsi products.

 There are three restaurants and seemingly many more dining options—they’re very flexible! The restaurants are the Cassava Terrace, the Beach Grill, and Otaheite, and we ate in all of them. We ate a great deal, it seems. Breakfast is a large buffet in Cassava Terrace that opens at 7:30 (coffee is available before that, and there are also coffee makers in each room) This buffet is wonderful and covers ALL the bases. There is an omelet station, pancakes, breads, muffins, Danish, and bagels, fresh fruit, a woman making smoothies, yogurt & cheese, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and then a Jamaican specialty that was different each day. I usually got a bagel with cream cheese and smoked fish (they had smoked salmon or smoked marlin each day) and bacon, and whatever else looked yummy that morning. Had a smoothie one day. Had mango and soursop fruit another day. Coffee or tea, and water are delivered to your table, and fruit juices are available on the buffet. You can order room service for breakfast—you put a sign on your door the night before stating what time you want it delivered (half-hour time slots) but the options are limited—fruit and/or muffins & such. We like breakfast and usually want more than that so we didn’t use that option this trip.

 The Beach Grill opens at 11:00. It has a soup of the day (I am ADDICTED to the soups at Couples and frequently had 2 or 3 bowls a day from different restaurants!) nachos, fruit & salad (varied by day—one day they had a Caesar salad station, one day they had baba ghanouj & hummus with crudités, etc) At the grill, you can get beef or chicken patties, hamburgers, fish & chips, jerk chicken, a couple other standard grill items. One day they had gyros, another chicken pitas. Also fries. Enterprising people got fries, added the cheese from the nacho station, and had cheese fries for their afternoon snack. In the evening, the Beach Grill becomes a pasta and “basics” restaurant—steak, chicken breast, fish. Alas, we never made it for dinner this trip. I had several enjoyable meals there—I love the Jamaican beef or chicken patties, the jerk chicken, and the fish & chips are quite yummy too. But the star is the soup….. Last week I ate red pea soup, conch chowder, clam chowder, shrimp bisque, split pea soup, pumpkin soup, pepperpot soup, creamy potato soup, chicken noodle soup, and vegetable & beef soup. I loved them ALL!

 Cassava Terrace has a lunch buffet that runs from 12:30-2:30 I think. They also have a soup of the day (two soups at lunch is why I often ate between the two restaurants), sandwiches, salads (pre-made as well as lettuce and other raw veggies) and hot dishes, including local specialties. Then fruit and desserts too. Huge selection. More food choices than I need at lunch! Sometimes we’d eat in the restaurant (which is a lovely open-sided area with a tall wooden ceiling, fans, and views of the ocean if you sit in the smoking area. The non-smoking side can be a little dark, but you need a rest from the harsh glare of the sun sometimes.)  Sometimes I’d get a plate and go back to my lounger at the pool and eat there.

 About half the week, Cassava Terrace has an a la carte menu and seated service for dinner. When this is the case, the menu is placed outside the restaurant so you can decide if you want to eat there. The Beach Grill also posts its evening menu ahead of time. Cassava Terrace meals include an appetizer, soup, salad bar (similar to the one at the lunch buffet), entrée, and dessert. Wine is served by the waiters, or you can get cocktail service from the adjacent Main Bar.  We LOVE seafood and seemed to gravitate towards seafood options during our stay, but there are plenty of non-seafood items as well. The menu was very well balanced and I think there was always a vegetarian option as well but cannot swear that to be true. I was almost always too full by dessert but managed to squeeze some in a couple of times.

  Grand Buffet

The nights when Cassava Terrace is not a la carte there are specialized buffets. On Monday is the Grand Buffet and Beach Party (we missed it), on Wednesday there is a Mediterranean buffet, and on Saturday is the International Buffet. Each buffet was full of DELICIOUS items—fish, beef, pork, soup, mixed salads, breads, desserts—all appropriate to the theme of the evening. Another buffet that we did not have a chance to investigate was the “Jamaican Restaurant” which seemed to operate as a mini-buffet outside by the pool (or upstairs on the porch when it rained) There were SO many good things to eat at all the restaurants but we’re still sad we didn’t have a chance to check this one out. Next trip…..

My goal this trip was to exercise every day, and I almost succeeded. I woke up at my traditional 6:00 am on the first morning and went to the cardio room and used the recumbent bike before breakfast. The rest of the week I attended various classes held by Amy, the visiting instructor who is from New Mexico. She was amazing! She was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, fun & safe. I did yoga, body sculpting, water aerobics a couple of times.

 The cardio room has lots more equipment than I remember three years ago (though the tv was sadly missing when I was there). There were treadmills, stairclimbers, bikes (both recumbent and upright) and a machine I believe is an elliptical but since I don’t use those, correct me if I’m wrong. While there were people using this room (even at 6 am when I was there) it was never full and there were machines available if you wanted. The weight room and aerobics studio also usually had at least one person using the weights (Cybex machines and free weights) but again, it was never crowded. If you wanted to use a mat and do stretches or floor exercises and there was a class in the studio, you could take a mat someplace else. Each day’s schedule of classes was different and usually posted the night before, on a board in the front of the aerobics studio so you could check it out before bed and plan the next day.

 Similarly, other resort activities were posted daily on a board outside the Beach Grill. This board had games around the resort as well as off-site tours & trips departure times.  As I mentioned, we were feeling extremely lazy and didn’t do a whole lot of things. The only off-site trips we did were the glass bottom boat tour (I won’t snorkel or scuba so this is my only opportunity to see any marine life, plus we didn’t do it on our last trip) and the walking trip to the crafts market across the street (we didn’t buy anything and mainly just did that to see something new). The Catamaran trip (“Booze Cruise”) was cancelled a couple of times due to bad weather (we didn’t plan to go on it so it didn’t bother us) and the shopping trip by boat was overcrowded so they had to supplement with another power boat (we didn’t do that trip either—just watched everyone loading as we dozed in our beach loungers).  The one thing my husband was enthusiastically looking forward to was windsurfing, which he learned to do on our honeymoon. He valiantly took windsurfers out each day, trying different times throughout the day, but rarely did he find good wind. Presumably the sailors discovered the same lack of wind—I know the watersports staff had to tow a few people back in (my husband chose to swim and tow the board back—he got his workout that day!)

As returning guests, we each got a free half hour massage. On our honeymoon, we upgraded this to an hour-long couples massage (where you’re in the room together). This time, my husband only wanted the half hour but I still wanted an hour so I upgraded on my own. I also requested Doreen who had massaged me before, and she was available. We scheduled our massages at 9:30, which works out nicely—you don’t really want to eat or drink right before a massage, and we’re over breakfast (we eat as soon as it opens, 7:30) and the bars aren’t open until 10 so you’re not typically drinking yet. The spa building doesn’t have walls to the ceiling but it’s very quiet and restful. Each room has a ceiling fan to keep things cool. Doreen is a goddess and if I fantasize I can still feel her fingers massaging my scalp (I forgot to bring a baseball hat so if anyone saw me and my Madeline Kahn/Young Frankenstein hair when I left, I apologize if I frightened you—but I felt GOOOOOOOOOD) The massage is a blend of styles and her firmness was just right for me. On a future trip, I’d love to take advantage of some of the other specials they have, maybe a wrap and a massage. I brought home a spa price list; if anyone has questions, please email me.

In all, I thought 6 nights was a little too short, but I think I really needed this vacation. Some people only go for long weekends and I don’t know how they can tear themselves away! We had a relaxing time and did most of the things we wanted to. The staff were all helpful and efficient and treated us well.