Couples Sans Souci: Roy - April, 2014
CSS Trip
Report
April 2014 ( Link to some pics included at the bottom)
The Couples Lounge is still top notch and a cold Red Stripe on tap is a great way to spend the few minutes before they send you on your way to your resort. It is sad that other resorts have closed their lounges and leave guests to figure out their own transportation. Couples still does it the old way, and I love it still! Considering the inclusions at the Couples resorts they still seem like a great value for the price to me because of the included excursions, wifi, stocked minibars, great food and rooms, included transportation and airport lounge, etc....
We arrived at 4 PM and our room was ready. We were booked in a One Bedroom Beachfront Suite (Block A or B) and I was going to request a third floor room in Block A, but that is where they had us placed already. We were in Suite A34. The view of the main pool, beach, and water was excellent.
We loved the room and really appreciated the separate seating/tv area and the sheer size of the room. This room was almost 2x as large the rooms at other resorts we have enjoyed. The bed was very firm, and the furniture was attractive. The Dresser was old and the drawers were not easy to open and close but it was not much of an issue. This is to be addressed in the huge room renovation scheduled to being during low season later this year. We briefly toured the new look in the one newly renovated 'sample' room and it is great. Still very large, but with more of an open floor plan than in the existing rooms. We would be happy with the new design, but also loved the old layout. I will not miss that huge Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom when it is taken out during renovation. It took forever to fill it up and the jets were not strong enough to do much. We used it once, just because it was there but will not miss it when it's gone. It will be a year or so before all the rooms are done, but the time line mentioned at the Repeater Dinner was somewhat cloudy with no hard dates mentioned. We loved our room and would likely book the same class again due to its location on the bottom level of the resort and its proximity to Sunset Beach.
Speaking of the beaches.... this was the major weakness for us at CSS. We have been to Jamaica more than enough times and stayed at more than enough different places in Jamaica to know that the beaches on the north coast will never be the equal of those in Negril. This is simply a given, but even by North Coast standards the beaches were not very pleasant to swim in. They are beautiful to look at, and that is important too, but Negril has spoiled us a bit over the years. We actually only got in the ocean twice during the week (we are in it every 30 minutes or so when at CN). After meeting someone who spent the day getting urchin spines pulled from her foot by a local doctor we noticed that the only people who were going in the water more than ankle deep tended to have water shoes on. I would recommend them if you want to get in the water. Don't expect the beautiful white sandy bottom that is comfortable to walk on at CN and many other places in Negril.
Wifi was free all over the resort (but not at SSB from what I could tell) Many other resorts still try to nickel and dime you by charging extra for wifi. Those resorts will find themselves losing support over time I think and will need to rethink this. The world has changed and even on vacation reliable, included wifi is very important to a growing number of vacationers. The wifi was great at CSS, but as you move from place to place our devices often didn't switch to the new repeaters but this just meant we had to select them from the list of available wifi signals.
Room service was prompt, friendly, and the food was very good. We did not have dinner in the room, but we did do breakfast on the balcony once, nachos to watch a movie with one night, and a great Club Sandwich for 'second lunch' one day when we had late dinner reservations. The minibar was stocked on our arrival with Red Stripes, Coke, bottled water, Ting, Orange Juice, and Cranberry Juice. The bottles of liquor on the bar were fresh new bottles of Appleton Rum and Kirov Vodka (love the Appleton, not a huge fan of the Kirov!). But these were the bottles I had requested and there were many other choices for those who want something different. They checked every day to see if we needed anything restocked and took care of it quickly each time.
Breakfast is room service (continental or eggs/bacon/sausage, etc...) or the buffet at Palazina. It was excellent every day. Edgar had my eggs cooking before I asked for them by the second day. The fruit selection was great every single day! I love mango, papaya, naseberries, etc... and they were plentiful and fresh every morning.
Lunch is room service (sandwiches, pizza, soup, etc...), or buffet at Palazina, ala carte at Bella Vista on the beach, or buffet over at the nude beach. They cook burgers and things all day at the nude grill over on Sunset Beach, but they also set out a nice selection of salads, vegetables, and entrees at lunch time every day. It was great to be able to have a really good meal with varied selections without having to leave SSB. For the most part we found it worth the walk over to Bella Vista for the Jerk Chicken, soups, etc.. with table service. This was our favorite place to eat with nice tables, linen napkins, great service, and a wide menu.
Dinner could of course be room service, but we preferred the restaurants. Couples resorts continue to have the best food I have had at an A-I in Jamaica. Casanova is their 'upscale' restaurant that requires reservations but also long pants, real shoes, and collared shirt for men. We only ate there one night. The Filet Mignon was very good, as was the service, but the place was too hot and there was a battle it seemed going on between the piano player in Casanova and the Showtime band just outside the open doors. We ate at Palazina one night and it was good, but again, it did not draw us back. Every other night we chose Bella Vista and had the best meals, service, and ambiance of all for us. The cool breezes off the water just steps away, and the torches set along the beach made it beautiful as well as comfortable and the food and service were top notch!
There were three nights during the week when dinner was not at a restaurant. Friday night gala had great food and entertainment on the lawn. Tuesday night is the Beach Party which is dominated by mainly Jamaican dishes. Wednesday night is the Repeat Guest Dinner Party on the main pool deck. The food and entertainment was great at all three events and the decorations and preparations they put into getting the venues set up and ready for each event are just amazing.
The bars and bartenders were all excellent! On the nude beach the ladies there made the rounds on the beach to refill drinks and take orders all day long. We prefer to go to the bar ourselves, but we would not have needed to! Outstanding!
Sunset Beach is nude (not C/O) until it opens to allow all to view the sunset in the evening. Then it is C/O. The beach is large, with lots of sun, lots of shade, lots of palapas (shade structures), a great bar, a large pool with a pool volleyball going in part of it almost all day, and a great snack grill that operates most of the day. We ran into people who used to go to Hedo, and many people who we recognized from the old days at Grand Lido Braco who now call CSS home. It is an excellent nude complex, I just wish the beach had a nicer sandy bottom to walk on, but it is still nicer that Hedo's nude beach, but not as nice at Hedo's Prude beach (speaking only about the sand and water in this comparison).
Couples includes off resort excursions at each resort. We love the 3x per week Sunset Cruise to the cliffs when we are at CN! At CSS (and CTI) one of the included activities is Dunn's River Falls. This is a great excursion for anyone who has not done it, and a real added value since it is included in the A-I , but this is something we might do once every 5 trips or so. We get a lot more joy and value out of the sunset catamaran booze cruises several times a week at CN.
Due to being members of the Romance Rewards program we had a couple hundred $ in resort credit to spend. We usually spend it in the gift shop, but this time we did a couples massage on SSB and it was outstanding!
The down side at CSS (for some people) has not changed since it was GLSS... it is a lot of stairs to go up from the beach level to the evening entertainment, Balloon Bar, etc... You can call from the phones all over the resort they will pick you up in a van and take you up and down whenever you want, so it's not like you have to walk it if you don't want too. But a walk around the grounds at CSS is amazing! It is breathtakingly beautiful with so many hidden wonders to discover! There is a pool at the top level, a mineral pool and hot tub around the middle level, and the main and nude pools on the beach level. The resort was full but never once felt crowded at any time due to only having 150 rooms and a large number of great places to spend your time.
CN should take a lesson from CSS in the case of the beach grill at lunch! At CSS you sit and order from a great menu while at CN you have to order at the counter and hand around to pick it up when the call you. CSS has this right and CN should pay attention! Bella Vista Restaurant at CSS was a real treasure day and night!
We will go back to CSS, though I think I still prefer CN because of the included Cat Cruises, Lychee and Otaheite Restaurants, and the amazing beach!
Some CSS picks from this trip (and some CN pics from last trip) are located at https://royinva.shutterfly.com/