Honeymoon in Negril ..help with hotel choices
 

My fiancé and I have decided on Negril for our honeymoon in 2004.

Originally I was interested in Swept Away but decided against All-inclusive, and with the savings we could stay twice as long.

We want a unique, funky, fun, private, romantic small hotel with a spectacular beach, easy to get around from, very good amenities and service comparable to a 5 star hotel.

So far we have found and are interested in the following in order of preference.

Kuyaba - Honeymoon Suite

Rondell Village - One bedroom ocean front villa

Idle Awhile - Junior Suite

Coco La Palm - Junior Suite

Sea Splash - One Bedroom Suite

Having never been to Jamaica or Negril before, and only judging these hotels online I would appreciate very much if you could give unbiased, honest views on these hotels. Please state the good versus bad or each hotel if you have stayed there before.

Thanks a lot!

Hi! Congratulations upon your impending nuptials! You'll love Negril. My guess is that you'll get a boatload of opinions you are looking for over at www.jamaicans.com . Have a great time.

We too have choosen Negril for our Honeymoon. Nov. 2003. We also were looking for the same type of hotels. I did lots of research on several boards and came up with. Ideal Awhile 6 nights and Rockhouse 7 nights. I would suggest looking into these two hotels.

Swept Away is perfect for a Honeymoon and is a really special place. Idle Awhile has priviliges at the fitness center at Swept Away which is the best in Negril.

Coco LaPalm is pretty also. I don't care for Rondel.

I have been to Negril 20+ times and peronsally would recommend a few nights on the cliffs at Rockhouse and the rest on the beach - the best of both worlds.

kim

Check out the Caves at www.islandoupost.com. I think it's every thing you are looking for, however it is set on cliffs overlooking the Caribbean so there is no "beach". It's very private, romantic and funky and fun. I'd go back in a heartbeat. It's one of the best places I've ever stayed.

If you split your time between cliffs and beach, I would recommend either Moondance Villas Honeymoon suite (Lilac Mist I think) or Idle Awhile for the beach and The Caves for the cliffs. www.moondancevillas.com Website for The Caves posted above. The beach is not as nice in front of Rondel or Kuyuba. Beach is better at Coco, Idle Awhile or Charela. There will be fewer kids at Idle Awhile and none at The Caves. If you do reconsider AI, stick with Swept Away. I have stayed there twice and it is a great place for the honeymoon.

Just to clarify....when you stay on the cliffs you ARE on the water, there is no sandy beach but you can jump off the cliffs (not as high as they sound) or there are usually steps and/or ladders. Great snorkeling too, and no sand fleas :)

PS: Blue Cave Castle has a penthouse suite that has the best view in Negril, is totally private, huge (3 levels to yourselves, one indoor, one coevered and several private decks), for somehting like $100 a night.

Funky, unique, fun, private, romantic are all great adjectives for this place.

Thanks everyone for all your responses; so far the overwhelming response has been for Idle Awhile (on jamaicans.com).

What I have also discovered is that Idle Awhile is owned by the same people that own Swept Away, and while looking at photos of both resorts on the net you can see the furnishings and beach chairs are the same :D.I do not think we would go wrong with Idle Awhile either, they get great reviews.

Thanks as well for the suggestion of staying on the cliffs. I am a total beach person but will consider a few nights for the experience, and I really like Rock House and that would be my choice.

Hi

Have you and your future hubby thought about splitting your stay at two resorts??

My husband and I are planning our 10 year wedding annivesary trip in July 2004 and we plan split our stay between Kuyaba, Idle Awhile and/or Whistling Bird. 3 nights at one, 4 at the other...

This way you get a taste of two instead of one. Your are right about not doing the AI which would allow you to stay longer, which is what I told my husband, but he still likes all-inclusive, and whistling bird does offer that. Let me know which resort you choose...

Louise

If my honeymoon was in Negril, I would definately spend part of it at the Rockhouse..I love that place and hope to stay there soon...Last time we were in Jamaica, we stayed at Xtabi, which was really nice, but Rockhouse looked fabulous..

Not to make your choice tougher, but I'd also consider Nirvana's 1BR beachfront suites....really beautiful shady garden setting adnt eh resort is large but the # of units is small, so it's all very private nad you will NEVER have to reserve a beach chair.

I've also stayed at Rondel but prefer Nirvana.

I would go to www.unforgettablehoneymoons.com , and
purchase for $10.00 their honeymoon planning DVD , Islands of Paradise. Then you can look at actual footage of the resorts before deciding. We decided on Fiji after watching the DVD, however.. I will definitely go to Jamaica soon and based on the footage we saw on the DVD I would choose Swept Away or Couples Negril. Swept Away looked a lot more secluded , but Couples Negril looked very swanky and upscale. We found that Unforgettable Honeymoons had the best deals and their agent's stayed at the resorts. We read about them in Islands magazine and Newsweek.. very reputable.. Georgette