This is part 1 of what will be a 4 part series on all inclusive properties and excursions I experienced in Jamaica. First off I want to give a shout out to Amstar who brought us from the airport in Montego Bay to our hotel. Our driver Ramone was awesome. He had a lot of great stories and took the time to show us great historical sites like, where Christopher Columbus stopped to get fresh water and Usain Bolt’s school. He also told us about driving people out on a Bob Marley tour. He said typically on the way out people are pretty mellow. Then they get there and buy some “Special Brownies” and it is a sing along all the way back. Sounds like a wait for it…”trip” for another time. I’ve always wanted to visit a country where they drive on the left side of the road. Thanks to the strong Brittish influence here, that has finally happened. As strange as it sounds, I’m pretty stoked about that.
First impressions of the hotel, were less than stellar. We got there early to be fair to the hotel, around 11:00am. They told us to come back at 3:00 to get our rooms, normal check in time. The hotel does have a really nice changing room off the lobby complete with a shower where we could change our clothes before dropping bags with the bellhop. We were also greeted with a glass of champagne complete with cherry. At a lot of hotels, especially higher end ones, they will offer to let you check back earlier in case a room opens up. This was not an option and when we got back to the desk at 3:00, only 1 of the 3 rooms was ready. We had folks arrive around 3:00 and their rooms were not ready until after 5:00, so just be prepared that your room may not be ready when you arrive and put a swim suit at the top of your luggage. Later the manager stopped by our table at dinner and apologized saying their system was down and that caused the delay, so hopefully that is not the norm.
One of the issues about not getting your room number is you cannot log into the wifi until you have a room number. This was a problem as I was hoping to go on a dive and could not communicate with the dive shop I had scheduled as I was counting on Voip over wifi or at least being able to e-mail. The people at the front desk agreed to make the local call after a bit of pleading and it turns out the seas were too choppy to go out. No problem Mon. We will just go grab a bite to eat and then head to the pool and hang out. Still feelin ire, ya mon.
Right, not gonna happen. The buffet does not open until 1:00! Seriously! I’m freakin starving over here. We asked a few bartenders and staff around if there was another option, no success. Ok, so we will roll with this. We are professional travelers and we came prepared with snacks. To the bar! As anyone else who is in a tropical paradise would do, we got drinks to drink our calories and lay by the pool until the buffet opened up.
The buffet somehow managed to disappoint. The food was not nearly as good as other places I have eaten. I’d recommend the restaurant we ate at the second day Las Olas. It was fabulous. It’s open for breakfast (not until 8:00 though), Lunch and at dinner it becomes a Brazilian Steakhouse. At lunch they had jerk chicken which was great. Look out though the sauce has some heat. Don Pablos was also another good restaurant but you will need a reservation for both at dinner time.
There are a lot of pools on this property and a ton of beach space. You shouldn’t have any troubles finding a place to lay out and soak up the sun. During the day they also have a lot of activities going on and as this is an adults only property they can get a little crazy. Oh, and by the way, the bartenders are not messing around here. A lot of places offer you watered down drinks with barely any kick. Plenty of kick in these drinks. At one point in the pool another travel agent was about 4 feet away from me and said she could smell the rum in my drink. Yum, just like we make them back home! You have been warned.
The entertainment both during the day and at night were pretty good. During the day they have the usual DJ guy who somehow (with the help of heavy pouring bartenders) gets everyone to loosen up and do things they will later regret after being posted on social media. At night there is a sports bar/casino that we nearly got tossed from due to an over zealous Ohio State fan whose name will be withheld to protect the innocent. The sports bar and some of the bands are actually on the adjoining Grand Bahia property which you have privileges to use when staying at the Luxury Bahia.
Each night is a bit different with the evening entertainment. The Grand had a really good reggae band both nights we were there on the balcony right by the lobby. There was a beach party on Saturday night and then Sunday night they had a Michael Jackson show. It was mainly dancing but the entertainers did a really good job.
There is a great place on this property for weddings. It is right on the beach and faces towards the sunset for amazing pictures. This would be a great destination for a wedding especially if you have families bringing children. They have great beaches and a great water park for the kids. Speaking of beaches, here is a tip for you. Walk over past the Grand if you want a nice long beach with a bigger swimming area. The beaches directly in front of the Grand and Luxury Bahia have man made breakers. That’s great to control the surf, but they are smaller and the sand has a lot of pebbles. The beach on the other side is nicer, but don’t go too far unless you want to be on the nude beach. It’s sectioned off so you don’t have to worry about the kids getting an eyeful, but it is there.
I can’t end this post without talking about the cats. They are everywhere and so friendly. If you are a cat lover it will be a nice added extra. If you are allergic, you should not have any issue staying away from them, but they do come into the restaurants as people feed them.
Overall the property was nice and I would recommend it. The service was good in most places but the staff at times was not as helpful as they could have been. In my opinion this was not due to a lack of wanting to help, but they could probably use more training on the food options and times of restaurants on both properties as that seemed to be a mystery to many of them. The other thing that is a challenge is the timing of meals. We heard there was a snack bar that was open outside the hours of the restaurants, but could not find a person working there that really knew where it was or the details. If they fix those two things they will get a “great” place. If you want to see more pictures of the property you can go to the album I have posted at this link.