Couples Negril by Bonnie Edlbeck
I do extensive research on the Internet prior to each
one of our trips and so I like to write a trip report for those who enjoy
reading about other’s experiences to help make their plans.
We
are in our late 40’s and this was our 5th trip to the Caribbean,
our 3rd to Jamaica. We
had been to Couples in Ocho Rios twice, once in 1993 and once in 1998.
We talked about going to the Couples in Negril so I did some research
and I found a special $1000 off for bookings in the year 2000 if you booked
your trip before September 23, 1999. We
booked our trip through Go Classy Tours in September and then waited for May.
We like to travel in May as we find it’s before summer vacation and
hurricane season and after spring break.
The rates are usually lower after April 15th and our
Anniversary in is May. We receive
the Couples brochure “Connections” which is sent out about twice a year.
I noticed that they offered a complimentary one-way flight from Montego
Bay to Negril. The travel agent
said I would have to make my own arrangements for that.
I called the Couples number and they said to fax down our flight
information, which I did about 6 weeks before we left.
We
flew Air Jamaica from Chicago at 6:30 AM on May 13th.
The flight was on time and we landed in Montego Bay at 10:35 AM.
Customs and Immigration were a breeze.
There was someone to help us find the Couples desk and they gave me a
few forms to complete. They found
our names on the Air Link list and we were brought to another terminal to
catch the short flight to Negril. We
waited about hour and then we were taken out to a small plane.
It was a 6-seater plane, room for 5 passengers and the pilot.
The flight was very smooth and interesting as we followed the coast
down to Negril. We arrived in
Negril about 15 minutes later and someone from the hotel was waiting for us.
We walked into the lobby of Couples a few minutes after 12, our room
was ready and we went to unpack. It
was nice to get there so early in the day.
The
room was very much the way others have described. No one really showed us anything and it took a day or 2
before we figured out the temperature controls.
The room had a large ceiling fan and sometimes it was nice to use it
and turn the air conditioning off. The
TV had about 6-8 channels, actually we didn’t even watch it except for the
daily activities, which were shown on Channel 13.
The hair dryer was not heavy duty and I was glad that I brought mine
from home. They had the usual
lotion, shampoo, soap and conditioner. The
maid filled our ice water pitcher and replaced towels twice a day.
It was nice to have the CD/tape player in the room as we brought some
favorite CD’s and tapes from home.
Our
room was in block 9 on the first floor. We
had a view of the ocean from our patio if we stood up, but our patio looked
out over a garden area and natural pool. The landscaping was beautiful, with many natural pool areas,
flowering shrubs, and palm trees. I
liked being on the ground floor; it was a little more convenient.
Orientation was held a couple times a day, they explained when the
different restaurants and bars were open, and about the other activities
available during the week.
THE
FOOD
There
were usually 3 choices for dinner. The
formal restaurant, Otheheite, was open every night except Monday.
It was the only restaurant that required reservations.
We were able to make reservations up to 3 days before we wanted to eat
there. The food was excellent,
although a big eater might find the portions small.
There were 5 courses; appetizer, soup, salad, entre, and dessert.
They also offered truffles, after the meal and coffee or tea.
The beach grill turned into the Mediterranean restaurant in the
evening. They had an antipasto
bar, salad bar, dessert bar, and several choices of entres.
The main restaurant was open air and buffets were set out for breakfast
and lunch. Some nights they had
specialty buffets and other nights they offered menus.
On Monday evening the specialty restaurants were closed and they had a
Caribbean buffet. They had a huge
variety of foods including many Caribbean specialties.
I noticed that they would set up different specialty buffets at
different times. For example, one
night there was a sushi bar, one night there was a Middle Eastern buffet, one
lunch was Tex-Mex. They also set
out snacks and desserts after 10 PM. We
never even looked to see what they had. A
couple mornings we had continental breakfast delivered to our room and we ate
on our patio. There was so much
food that we started skipping meals, we couldn’t possibly eat every meal.
THE
DRINKS
The
bartenders were great; they had special drink of the day and were happy to
make any drink using top shelf liquor. Sometimes
they were busy and it took a little longer.
They also had “red flag” service on the beach.
You could get a flag at the water sports hut.
When you wanted a drink, you just put up the flag and a waitress would
come and take you’re order. Though
they didn’t have a wine list, they always offered wine at dinner, usually
offering a red and a white. It
was not a problem when we ordered champagne for our anniversary in the fancy
restaurant.
THE
BEACH
The
beach and pool were extremely beautiful.
The beach had soft, white sand and the water was very clear.
Some people took out breadcrumbs and small fish would come for the
food. We noticed that a school of
small fish would swim around us when we were in the water.
There were plenty of floats and lounge chairs, with lots of sunny or
shady areas. It was possible to walk along the beach in front of Grand
Lido to the south and to the north where they were building a large new hotel
called the Riu. The first day
locals came up to us and hustled us, but after that they left us alone.
At the south end of the beach towards Grand Lido there was a small
fenced off nude beach with a small self-serve bar.
It wasn’t used much, but the manager told us that they planned on
building a hot tub in the area and improving the bar.
THE
SPA
I
used the spa once for a massage. I
thought the prices were reasonable and the service very professional.
There were many services offered including hair styling, manicures,
pedicures, braiding, aromatherapy, reflexology, etc.
The spa/beauty complex is in a beautiful area by some natural pools.
THE
WATER SPORTS
Water
sports equipment included kayaks, hobie cat sailboats, a sunfish sailboat, and
wind surfers. The water sports
guys were happy to give instructions and then send you on your way.
They would watch to see if you had trouble, and occasionally they
needed to help someone. We used
the hobie cats quite a bit and if the wind was blowing, they were a lot of
fun. They had snorkeling trips
twice a day and glass bottom boat rides.
We went on a snorkeling trip. We
snorkeled for about 30 minutes and saw lots of fish and coral.
I didn’t think the coral was as pretty as I had seen in St. Lucia,
but there was plenty to see. The water was very calm, which made the snorkeling a little
easier. They also provided
instruction for anyone who needed it. My
husband is a certified diver and he went diving a few times. You need to sign up the day before at the scuba hut.
If you want to dive the day after you arrive, remember to sign up that
day. Parasailing was not
included, but we decided to try it. There
are guys who come by on the beach and bring you out to the parasailing boats,
or the resort will call someone for you.
It cost $70 a couple, the operators picked us up and brought us down to
7-mile beach. It was neat to see
all the other resorts and the surrounding countryside.
THE
TOURS
There
are not as many tours provided as at Couples in Ocho Rios, but they offered a
few different tours. We did not
make it to the sunset party at Rick’s Caf and actually heard mixed reviews
about it. Apparently there can be
lots of people from other hotels and locals, and it can get noisy and very
crowded. We heard the beer was
$3.50 and other drinks were more expensive.
We did go on the Sunset cruise and that was a lot of fun.
We went on a catamaran and they had live entertainment, rum punch and
red stripe. They brought us to a
place called the “Pickled Parrot”. You
could jump off the boat and climb up a ladder and jump off the cliffs if you
wanted to, or you could just stay on the boat.
This was a trip not to be missed, unfortunately it was cloudy, so we
didn’t have much of a sunset. We
also went on a shopping trip to Negril. The
brought us to the “Times Square” mall, downtown stores, and a craft
market. Lots of the stores were
the same, but it was a good time to get souvenirs, crafts, etc.
THE
ENTERTAINMENT
Usually
the house band would play during dinner, and then they would have different
types of entertainment at night. It
would last for about 1 hour, after that the disco/piano bar was open.
We only made it to the disco 1 night; usually we were too tired to stay
up after 11 PM. On Monday night they had Caribbean Night and they had a steel
drum band, Wednesday night was a beach party with fire eaters and limbo dance.
Thursday night they had a bon fire on the beach, Friday night they had a guest
and staff talent show, and a few nights they had singers.
All the entertainment was pretty low key.
One night they had a wine and cheese party in the piano bar at 6:30 PM.
The piano player was great and we had a good time singing and
listening to him.
MISCELLANEOUS
Some
final thoughts:
1.
They had
candleholders in all the rooms, but they didn’t have candles.
We bought one at the gift shop, but you may want to bring a small
candle from home.
2.
When we first arrived
at the airport in Negril, the guy at the Couples desk gave us some check-in
forms. I completed them while we
waited for our Air Link flight. When
we got to the resort it made our check-in a little quicker.
3.
If you want a lounge
chair in the disco, as soon as the band quits, head up there as they were
quickly occupied.
4.
I got this idea off
the Internet and I will definitely do it again.
Bring some gifts for your maid. I
brought children’s books, hair ribbons and clips, colored markers, pens, and
pencils. They are not supposed to
except tips, but it was fun to bring something for her and her children.
5.
There is a huge new
resort being built on the north side of Couples.
Our room was on the other side, but we noticed no construction noise
and didn’t hear anyone else complain either.
6.
Sign up early for the
fancy restaurant, you might have to wait a couple days to get a table for 2.
7.
Comparison of Couples
Ocho Rios and Couples Negril: The
beach and pool are much nicer at Negril. The buildings are much newer.
The bay is calmer, and the resort faces the west so the sunset is
nicer. At Couples Ocho Rios the
wedding gazebo is nicer, but if you want to get married on the beach, I’d
pick Negril. The 2-person hot
tubs at Ocho Rios are great and the resort is more “elegant”. If you are into “au natural” the nude island at Ocho Rios
is better than Negril’s nude beach. There
are more tours included in Ocho Rios. All
in all I think it’s probably a toss up and I’d go back to either one.
8.
This was the first
time we didn’t use a local travel agent.
We heard about Go Classy from satisfied customers on the Internet.
We were very pleased, our documentation was all in order, they sent all
the necessary forms, and our airline seats were great.
THE
TRIP BACK
Of
course we had heard about the “bus ride from hell”. We decided to take the bus back to see a little of the
countryside. It happened to be
Saturday, and maybe there wasn’t as much traffic, so it only took us 1
hours to get to Montego Bay. I
didn’t think the ride was so bad. We
would definitely do it the same way next time.
It was nice to get to the hotel so early and we only left about 1 hour
before those who were flying back.
The
worst part of the trip was probably the airport on the way back.
Air Jamaica’s computers were down so we stood in line forever and
then they started taking 1 flight at a time and managed to get out only a
little late. We had no time to
buy anything at the airport and so we came home without rum.
But, not to worry. On the way back we thought about returning yet this year. Go Classy did such a great job, we checked into another trip. They gave us such a great deal; we couldn’t turn it down. We’re going back to Couple’s in Negril the end of November!