Been to any of these places...?
 

We are looking at a Jamaica trip in September and have narrowed it down to 3 places - Coco LaPalm in Negril, Coyaba in Montego Bay, and Starfish Trelawny in Falmouth. Tell me your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc! Thanks in advance!

I saw Trelawny before it was renovated and hated it, but my manager has stayed there three times since, and her pictures are really nice. she said it is a very simple hotel, but the beach is nice, and the staff is excellent. She plans on returning again soon.

Skip Coyaba in Montego Bay. It has been a while but it was nasty and the staff was not friendly. Not familiar with Coco LaPalm in Negril but I love Negril in general. If going low budget I would pick Negril.

Staying in MoBay to Falmouth area will more or less 'maroon' you at the resorts,with difficulty getting out esp.on foot. CocoLP is a good value==we've overnighted guests there
on an around-the-island tour--and it will let you explore the entire beach on foot and the area outside Negril by guide. The landscape's sweeter as well.
All 3,mind you, are tourist resorts.And the magic of Jamaica is not in the resorts...

Coco La Palm out of your 3, definitely.

Definitely, Coco LaPalm. Negril is the place to be - great beach, safe and plenty to do. I stayed at Coco in April and highly recommend it. Call to see if you can get a room around the main pool. They recently annexed the Coco Inn - not even on website yet. The rooms numbered 800 and up are from Coco Inn. Don't let them give anything below 822 or so. Some of the rooms are nicely located but we got one on the road and our view was a chain link fence. It was cheap but unacceptable. I would have gladly booked a more expensive room had I known that one existed. We were able to move after a couple of days. Other than that, the location of the property is great - you can walk all along the beach trying different bars and restaurants. The beach bar there has good food and great Dirty Bananas. The food at Coco is good but there is better along the beach. Take a couple of cheap inflatable rafts with you - planning to leave them there of course. The ladies in the salon there do hair braiding and they are as cheap or cheaper than the ladies on the beach. There is a nice art galery on the premises for gifts that are nicer than the standard gift shops.

Thanks for all of the advice! Keep it coming!!!

What do you all feel about Jamaica in September? Bad idea?

Had 2 September vacations in Negril - paradise. Less crowded, fewer kids. Short rain in late afternoon gave us an excuse to sit on our verandah with a glass of wine and gaze out at the sea. Weather was pretty wonderful otherwise. I know it's always a risk, but in a dozen September vacations in Jamaica and the Bahamas, we only had one problem with weather where we had to leave a day early to avoid a hurricane.

We once considered staying at Coyaba. It's part of Small Luxury Hotels and I thought that was a plus. When we corresponded with the management, they were friendly, accommodating and helpful. (But that's typical of the sales phase.) We had a good feeling about Coyaba and really wanted to stay there, but then I read a post that the beach was muddy and unpleasant for wading, so that nixed it for us. I was disappointed because it looked charming and it's a short ride from the airport. We ended up in Negril and was really glad we did because the beaches of Montego Bay did not look very nice to us from the air.

KeyGal - where did you stay in Negril?

Hi! We just returned from our honeymoon and we spent the first half of it at Coco LaPalm in Negril. Beautiful!! The beach in Negril is just amazing -- we loved it. Coco LaPalm was a great value. Nice rooms -- large and comfortable. The staff is great. The grounds are well cared for -- nice garden/tree areas, pool and hottub. The beach area is large and also well cared for. There is a restaurant and bar/grill -- although we didn't eat there (we preferred to walk along the beach and find places to eat away from the hotel.)

Coco LaPalm was recommended to us by friends who have been returning guests to that hotel for many, many years. They love it -- and so do we!!

Good luck!
Cindy

Sorry I missed your question. We stayed at Swept Away and totally loved it. Charming rooms, amazing food, every kind of sport facility & instruction, gorgeous grounds, that incredible beach, wonderful Jamaican people. Swept Away is really good if you're health conscious. There are loads of activities, but none of that rah-rah attitude, no attempts to get people to participate -- a very laid back, serene place with amazing facilities.