Chris & Liz - August, 2017
August 13-19
Another nice trip to beautiful Negril. Immigration was trivial - took only ~15 minutes, then another 10 or so to get our checked bag. Had a bit of a delay on the bus, due to heavy rain. The street in Lucea was flooded, with ~7 inches of water, so traffic was backed up for ~30 extra minutes. No worries, though, and the ride was pleasant overall.
Front of house was great - quick check in and kudos to Lorna and the team for being so nice and responsive to any requests. Same for the baggage team - super nice and welcoming.
Upgrades are continuing on the resort. 2/3 of the prude side rooms were closed for construction (the ocean view block and the middle block). The word was that the block by the road are all done. It'll be interesting to see if they all get those swanky bathroom updates w/ bowl sinks, glass doors, etc... that Harry showed us last year. Those were excellent - the best design I can envision for that existing footprint.
The nude beach bar and grill updates are very good. Lots more overhang around the bar for shade and rain refuge, and nice marble tops on the bar and tables in the pool. The grill is modernized and about 50% bigger, with a nice sized patio & table seating. The big surprise for us was the size of the nude beach area. It's about double what it was a year ago, since a bunch of natural sand has washed in. Plenty of room for tons more chairs than in past years. And it looks like there's a vast amount of chairs available, stacked by the watersports shack.
One minor issue is there were some rather significant leaks in the main dining room & bar area. Water was dripping solidly onto the bar and a few spots scattered around the lobby & dining room. They had towels laid out and caution signs. It's a shame, since there's some serious water damage to the trim above the bar & elsewhere. No big deal for us patrons, aside from the slick floors & dodging drips at the bar. It was almost like being at a rustic bar on the West End during the afternoon rain.
EC team was superb. Sociable, good activities, and the shows were exceptional. Very professional and entertaining. Like nothing you'd expect at an AI resort. Big shout out to Winston and his team all around.
Food - Very good as usual. Repeater's party apps were superb. Buffet was very good - as we've grown accustomed since Anthony returned a few years ago. The calamari at Flame was as good as any I've had in any restaurant anywhere. Next time, I'll get 5 of them.
Bars - Very good as usual. Eldon is a star, as are Tista, Paulette & Oswald. It'd be nice to have real lime juice, in addition to the artificial bottled stuff. It's a shame to ruin a high-end drink with Grey Goose, Don Julio, etc.. with that low-end preserved & colored juice. I brought my own limes this time.
Scuba was great as always. It was a treat to have Ritchie join us for a few dives, filling in as instructor when Seaweed was out. Kudos to him and the dive team. The sexy dive boat is laid up, so they're using the 40 year-old scow. Perfectly serviceable, but it'll be nice when a new boat gets unveiled. The new guys raking the nude beach are ok, but leave a lot more cigarette butts and other small crap than Richard or Augustus.
Overall, a great, relaxing mid-summer trip. :)
Chris & Liz
Another nice trip to beautiful Negril. Immigration was trivial - took only ~15 minutes, then another 10 or so to get our checked bag. Had a bit of a delay on the bus, due to heavy rain. The street in Lucea was flooded, with ~7 inches of water, so traffic was backed up for ~30 extra minutes. No worries, though, and the ride was pleasant overall.
Front of house was great - quick check in and kudos to Lorna and the team for being so nice and responsive to any requests. Same for the baggage team - super nice and welcoming.
Upgrades are continuing on the resort. 2/3 of the prude side rooms were closed for construction (the ocean view block and the middle block). The word was that the block by the road are all done. It'll be interesting to see if they all get those swanky bathroom updates w/ bowl sinks, glass doors, etc... that Harry showed us last year. Those were excellent - the best design I can envision for that existing footprint.
The nude beach bar and grill updates are very good. Lots more overhang around the bar for shade and rain refuge, and nice marble tops on the bar and tables in the pool. The grill is modernized and about 50% bigger, with a nice sized patio & table seating. The big surprise for us was the size of the nude beach area. It's about double what it was a year ago, since a bunch of natural sand has washed in. Plenty of room for tons more chairs than in past years. And it looks like there's a vast amount of chairs available, stacked by the watersports shack.
One minor issue is there were some rather significant leaks in the main dining room & bar area. Water was dripping solidly onto the bar and a few spots scattered around the lobby & dining room. They had towels laid out and caution signs. It's a shame, since there's some serious water damage to the trim above the bar & elsewhere. No big deal for us patrons, aside from the slick floors & dodging drips at the bar. It was almost like being at a rustic bar on the West End during the afternoon rain.
EC team was superb. Sociable, good activities, and the shows were exceptional. Very professional and entertaining. Like nothing you'd expect at an AI resort. Big shout out to Winston and his team all around.
Food - Very good as usual. Repeater's party apps were superb. Buffet was very good - as we've grown accustomed since Anthony returned a few years ago. The calamari at Flame was as good as any I've had in any restaurant anywhere. Next time, I'll get 5 of them.
Bars - Very good as usual. Eldon is a star, as are Tista, Paulette & Oswald. It'd be nice to have real lime juice, in addition to the artificial bottled stuff. It's a shame to ruin a high-end drink with Grey Goose, Don Julio, etc.. with that low-end preserved & colored juice. I brought my own limes this time.
Scuba was great as always. It was a treat to have Ritchie join us for a few dives, filling in as instructor when Seaweed was out. Kudos to him and the dive team. The sexy dive boat is laid up, so they're using the 40 year-old scow. Perfectly serviceable, but it'll be nice when a new boat gets unveiled. The new guys raking the nude beach are ok, but leave a lot more cigarette butts and other small crap than Richard or Augustus.
Overall, a great, relaxing mid-summer trip. :)
Chris & Liz