Dana & Maritza - February, 2013

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 First to qualify our report somewhat.

We have been to Temptations, Cancun, Cabo, Hedo, Adventura Palace and Spa and Desire Cabos, some numerous times.
While not a travel authority, and we are not "high maintenance" we do except some return on our money in the way of amenities and service.

The trip to Jamaica from Dallas was uneventful.  All flights were on time.
Clearing Customs in Jamaica went very smooth.  After checking in with the transportation, we boarded a large bus. We were the first stop and only took about 30 minutes to arrive at The N Resort.  It is very secluded and would have drove right past it.  No signs, just a guarded gate.  Customs in Dallas, little slow due to volume.

The check-in went smoothly but was our first hint of the service.  Not many smiles.  They did offer drinks.

Rooms: Upon arrival at the rooms, nothing that we did not expect from the pictures.  The resort is old.  Having said that, the rooms were very clean and very well maintained.  The air conditioning was very adequate, in fact, we needed at blanket at night.  They did provide a device with a wafer for mosquito control that worked very well. 
We only had problems at night outside the room.  We did use some spray during the evening events but all in all, it was not a big problem.
First night there, the hot water went out.  Not sure if it was do to the fact that all the guest were placed in the buildings close to the pool and all were using it at the same time it or not.  A couple of mornings, it was out also.  Other than the water, no problems with the rooms.  RATING: B-

Food and Drinks:  The food was the normal Jamaican pulled (insert meat here).  I must say that the onion rings were super!!  Lunch by the pool was good and nice choices of salads and toppings.  The Italian restaurant was OK, nothing to shout about.  Not a large selection of food choices at the buffet but what was available was good.
The breakfast buffet was the same every day.  The normal eggs cooked to desire and extras.  Not a large selection however.
Our major problem was at the dinner buffet, when some of the guest decided that eating naked at a nudist resort was the norm. 
Now we realize that this is a nudist resort, and that is super and fully understand, but seeing a hairy dude, leaning over the buffet line with his junk hanging out is not very conducive to an winning appetite.  I think I actually lost some weight! I would guess that 75% did cover up while eating.  Towels were provided at the door to wrap/sit on.  Something that we had not seen at the more LS friendly resorts.  Drinks were not a real problem, just the service.  While at times the wait staff would come around the pool for drink orders, it was  up to you to get a drink on your own. Ice did seem to be rare and rationed.  You needed to ask for a drink and a glass of ice to be enough.
RATING: C+

ENTERTAINMENT:  Being Jamaica, the entertainment was enjoyable.  The fire eaters, dancers etc involved the audience and it was a fun time.  No complaints.
There was not music around the pool other than someone's CD player by the cool water jug.  When asked, the response was the Freddie, the manager, did not want music around the pool.  The MC at the nightly entertainment hour was very monotone and did not display any excitement or desire to get the audience pumped up.  He was just doing a job.  RATING: C+

POOL:  The entire time we were there, the pool was cloudy.  You could smell the chlorine so that gave one some hope of sanitation but the water level was below the skimmers the entire time and it was cool.  The coolness was probably due to the constant wind blowing 20+mph.  You could almost set your watch by it.  Calm at 6pm and about 10am it would start to blow pretty good.  I wouldn't say the pool was cold but it took a couple of minutes to get used to the water temperature.  Definitely needs to be heated.  The best way into the water was down the slide and just getter done!!  The slide was not used very often by the guest.  We had to ask them to turn it on for us, which they did and they finally started a slide contest.  That was the highlight of the fun around the pool.  They did play some games on the beach.  One afternoon while we were in the pool, we noticed a staff member getting ready to clean the pool. As we watched, he rolled a little dolly up with a pump motor attached and length of pool hose to start cleaning the pool.  This motor dolly was setting right on the edge of the pool!  We notice that the end of the electrical cord was just three bare wires!  He now had our attention.  As we watched he went to the electrical box and was going to just stick the wires into the box.  When asked if there was a GFI breaker he just said something and coiled the wire up and put everything away.  WOW!  We were about to be dinner!!  The last day of our trip, they did fill the pool up.  RATING: C

SETTING:  The N Resort has a beautiful setting.  It is very lush in tropical plants and is maintained.  We found out that there were 62 guest during our stay.  There are 96 rooms so that would put the occupancy at about 1/3.  There are 8 rooms to a building or blocks as they call them, two floors of 4 rooms each.  Toward the eastern edge of the property the buildings, yes, some were right on the water, were closed up and not in use.  The eastern hot tub, not used.  Rumor had it that the resort was being sold March 5.  That might explain some things as it did seem that where ever you turned, corners were being cut to save money. The location is great and it has huge potential.  Close to the airport, isolated enough to provide privacy and with a little work the facilities could be top notch, albeit old.  The beds were a little hard for us but that is a personal preference.  The WiFi seemed to work all around the property.  It seemed to be better outside more so than in the room, but still was good.  The major problem was service.  You should be made to feel that the resort is happy to have you as a guest and value your patronage.  The staff were very friendly but they needed to understand that friendly does not equal service.  We might be spoiled, but the service that we have always gotten (other than Hedo) in other resorts is superior by far.  Freddie (manager) was always on property but did not seem to take an interest in what was going on or to fix things.  If the resort is being sold, he might be on his way our so really didn't care, not sure.

In summarizing,  if going and to a tropical island, siting in a lounge chair reading a book under an umbrella or trees, walking around naked at ALL times and not overly concerned about service, food selection, group activities, then this resort would work for you.
It was way to sedentary with no socialization for us.  We will not be going back. 

To each his own and this was just our opinion of a resort.  You pinion may vary. Off to Desire Cabo for Halloween!!!

Happy Travels!

Dana & Maritza

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