Jamaica

Couples Negril

Seven Nights - 20 Jan 00 to 27 Jan 00

I won't bore you with all of the pre-travel details. We flew Air Jamaica reluctantly. We had a lousy experience with them the first time we went to Jamaica, but they had more flights out of Philadelphia, and they were cheaper as well. That morning was our first snowfall of the season. The flight was delayed three hours, but that was not Air Jamaica's fault. On the way home, we landed about 10 minutes past our scheduled landing, which was incredible. Overall, Air Jamaica was pretty good to us this time around (of course, we skipped the food on the way back and were happier for it).

The flight was three hours. We landed, got our bags, and proceeded to the Couples desk. My wife & I had booked transportation to Negril through Air Link. It was $50 per person each way. We took a three- minute drive to the smaller airport which houses TimAir, AirLink, and Air Jamaica Express. AJ Express owned the largest planes, but they fly only two or three times per day. As far as I can tell, Air Link and TimAir fly continually.

The flight in our 8-seater was about 15 minutes, and very smooth. From there, Couples was across the street, but we waited a few minutes until we could get an attendant to call the resort for us. A car was sent, and we finally arrived at about 5:15 pm. I cannot stress enough how great it was to fly to Negril. We had done the drive to Ocho Rios a few years ago. It wore us out to be on a bus another two hours after traveling all day. We were told that the trip to Negril took closer to two and a half hours, and the road is terrible. They even have t- shirts that say "I SURVIVED THE BUS RIDE TO NEGRIL!" for sale in the gift shop. Even waiting a few minutes for the plane (we had just missed one, so we had to wait for them to fly up and back), we were still there at LEAST an hour before the bus travelers.

Around the Resort

The resort itself is very nice. The second floor lobby overlooks the main part of the resort. Standing in the lobby, you see the long Couples pool. Beyond the pool are the palm trees and the beach. The view is magnificent.

The pool is huge. It is very long, but only about 4.5 feet deep. At either end is a large jacuzzi, and they were almost always in use. Along part of the pool is a small waterfall spilling into a smaller pool, with the swim-up pool bar. Here we found the friendliest and best bartenders on the resort. Be sure to ask them for their "special" of the day, and they'll make up something interesting for you.

We had a garden room. Nothing terrible, but nothing exciting either. A king-size bed, small TV (not too many channels, but they did have Cinemax & HBO). There was a decent sized balcony, and the bathroom, shower, and tub were all acceptable. There are six room blocks are on either side of the pool. By the way, what you have read about beach- view is true. We did not have an ocean view room, but it looked like most of them did not really have a good view of the ocean, and they weren't much closer to the beach. Unless you want a suite, save your money and get a garden view room.

The Beach

The beach is fantastic. All of the raves about the beach do not do it justice. To explain, I hate beaches. Sand annoys me to no end, and in general I get bored at the beach. However, I did not want to leave this one. First of all, it is big. It is both long enough for a nice walk and also wide enough to have a few rows of beach chairs and not feel crowded. The sand is smooth, and the water is calm most of the time. The bay keeps the water calm, and you can walk out pretty far and still be touching bottom. It was very nice to lay out in the water on a raft. Although we didn't use them, the Couples staff walking around taking drink orders was very nice too.

One suggestion: There looked to be about one raft for every two lounge chairs. Once or twice we were unable to find an open raft. There were some people that put their books out on lounge chairs before breakfast (our things seemed to be safe even when left in one spot all day). You may want to do this if you must have a raft. Chairs themselves were never a problem to obtain. Rafts are very nice, since the water is usually very calm. We often spent some time floating out in the bay admiring the view.

The nude beach, from what I am told, used to next to the watersports area. It has been moved to the left side of the resort close to Grand Lido. It is basically a fenced off area of the beach. There were consistently about six to twelve couples on the nude beach. However, there is nothing to prevent people from walking through this area, and it really is a clothing optional beach, since no one enforces the au natural part. It is pretty much hidden from the main beach unless you want to go in the water. However, it is directly in front of one of the room blocks, so people walking to and from their rooms sometimes walked through the nude beach.

There was a self-serve drink area with soda and light beer on this part of the beach. From what I have read, this feature does not come close to the au natural tower island in Couples Ocho Rios. If this is an important part of your trip, you may be disappointed. My wife and I were there twice, but spent most of our time at the textile beach.

Other areas of interest -

There were two souvenir shops, along with a small newsstand that sold various sundries: candy, sun tan lotion, magazines, etc. We bought post cards and stamps to the states here. Interestingly enough, they had no post cards that said 'Couples' on them. Stamps were $0.75 each, and a waste of our money, since we mailed them the second day of our trip, but they didn't arrive for almost three weeks. Very anticlimactic to receive a post card two weeks after someone's return.

There were a few natural pools to look at. There were also a few swinging benches at the lobby, looking out over the ocean. These were very popular, especially around sunset.

Food

Food was pretty good overall. The food was actually authentic Jamaican food, with lots of Jerk chicken and pork throughout the week. Also, the soup was usually delicious. One of our favorites was the broccoli cream soup. It was nothing like the thick milky cream soup we get in the States. It was more of a broth with a slight creamy texture, and plenty of fresh broccoli. It is something we'd never eat at home, but are really glad we tried on vacation. There was a decent variety, with at least one beef, pork, fish, chicken, and pasta dish each night.

There were three buffets during the week (Thursday Night Mediterranean, Saturday Night Welcome Back/Farewell, and the Monday night Beach buffet). On the sit-down dinner nights, it seemed that the later you arrived to dinner, the longer your meal would take. We did have one night that we were waiting for a pretty long time, but that seemed to be an aberration. Dessert was always a buffet, so there was plenty of variety for those with a sweet tooth. We did notice, however, that if a dessert ran out, it was usually not replenished. So, if you see something that you must have for dessert, you may want to grab it during dinner.

Service and Staff

The service was excellent throughout. We had no problems with the cocktail service at dinner, and usually had 1 or 2 drinks with dinner without delay. Everywhere else in the resort, we found every staff member willing to go out of their way to make our vacation a great one. During our previous trip to Jamaica, we had pretty good service at the Enchanted Garden. However, there was such a difference in attitude at Couples. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was happy to help, and looked happy to be there helping.

The activities

The resort is a great place for active couples. We always try to stay active on vacation by participating in the activities such as beach volleyball, aerobics classes, and the various couples' games. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many other active couples participating as well. We even won a bottle of Tia Maria at the ring toss game! They also give one-hour couples massage course five or six times a week.

The water activities were both varied and fun. Steve tried the resort course for scuba diving and thought it was wonderful. The course started at 8:30 am with instruction and practice in a pool. They went on their first dive by 11:30. For those thinking of trying it, participation requires being able to swim 10 laps in a cold pool, so be prepared. You can do the resort dive as many times as you would like. This is a wonderful way to try out scuba. The resort will also give you the full PADI certification at an additional charge.

Since we are avid snorkelers (we even have our own equipment), we went snorkeling 3 times during the week, always at the same reef. We saw a moray eel, needle fish, squirrel fish, sea cucumber, urchins, lots of sergeant majors, and an anchor and a cannon from a pirate ship. The staff said they could try a different reef only if the weather cooperated. Unfortunately, it never did.

They also have water skiing (or should we say "face skiing, since neither of us actually made it up on the skis), hobie cat sailing (which was awesome), kayaks, and pedal boats. The staff was always friendly and willing to teach you how to do any of these things. We highly recommend taking advantage of these activities.

Outside activities included a sunset catamaran cruise (which is not to be missed) and a trip to Rick's Café. The sunset cruise consisted of 70 people on a catamaran, taking an hour ride to the Pickled Parrot. You have about half an hour to snorkel (if you have your own equipment). Also included at the PP was cliff jumping (30 ft.), rope swing and a water slide (with a BIG drop at the end, be warned!). Most people stayed on the catamaran and watched the adventurous jump off of the cliff. Steve thought the jump was great and highly recommends it. On the way back, keep your eye on the water - we saw a school of flying fish. They also had a great party with plenty of rum punch, a live Jamaican band, and a limbo contest. We never went to Rick's, but heard that it was a nice evening activity similar to the Pickled Parrot.

Entertainment

Each night at dinner there was a band playing instrumental American music. Very odd, but we heard very little Reggae while in Jamaica. After dinner, there would be a show lasting about an hour. There were various singers and bands. Most were pretty good. Later each evening, there were sing-alongs in the piano bar, but we never made it to them. There were also a few game-show events, such as copies of the newlywed game. Make sure you don't miss these, as they are usually very funny. We participated in one, came in first and won a bottle of rum.

Minor Complaints

We do have a few minor complaints and tips, but realize that these are being discussed for the sake of the review. Truthfully, we would be really pressed to come up with any true problems with the trip. My wife and I were bothered that you needed to sign up for various activities at different places. Reservations for the formal restaurant (along with paid off-resort excursions) were made next to the front desk in the lobby. Reservations for snorkeling and the catamaran sunset cruise were at the watersports hut at the far right end of the resort. Scuba sign-up was in the scuba hut next to the watersports hut.

This watersports hut was also the place to exchange beach towels. We were given two towels in our rooms, and we needed to get a receipt from the watersports hut before we checked out. Whenever we needed fresh beach towels, we had to bring them to the watersports hut. A more centralized location (such as the lobby or pool) probably would've been more convenient.

The daily activities were posted at the Beach Grill, while the fitness related activities were posted at the aerobics room. The schedules usually didn't match the listing provided in our room when we checked in.

Thanks to Steve for this trip report ...
March 2000