Trip Report - Couples Negril
 

Couples Negril, May 2003

My husband and I went to Jamaica, Couples Negril for 9 days May 23-31. Roundtrip air was through Air Jamaica out of Atlanta. I?ve flown AJ twice now and have to say that they are a pretty good airline. We had a delay outbound, a couple of hours, but nothing too outrageous. As you know?airline delays to and from the Caribbean can be part of the experience. You have to ?roll with the punches.? The return was great?no delays!

Arrival at the resort was uneventful. Check in went okay. The ?have a seat and we?ll check you in? is okay I guess, but it?s rather cumbersome trying to write and fiddle with your paperwork while in a comfy chair. Sometimes you?d rather be at a desk or a counter to get this done.

We were taken to our room, which was a very nice garden view. It was in building one on the second floor at the end. This is the first building going north of the lobby. We liked it very much. Very close to everything, but never noisy. CN is very well laid out. The rooms have nice bathroom, huge tub, with a great big counter. The furnishings are bohemian contemporary?very stylish! There is a coffee maker in the rooms and lots of pillows. Loved that!

Your beach towels are in your room when you get there. After that you have to turn them in every day at the towel-lady stand for dry ones. This is okay, but she leaves kind of early in the day, and so we always had wet towels in the morning. Didn?t like that at all.

It rained all day our second day, so I had a massage. The spa is very nice. It?s in a separate building, very peaceful and Zen-like. My masseuse, Margaret, was very good. I opted for the aromatherapy. Very, very nice!

CN has the most amazing food!! This is an understatement to say the least. We thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the food. Breakfast had everything and anything you could imagine. Lunch, more of the same. Dinner was menu some nights and buffet others. I can?t rave enough about the food. The cheeseburgers in the beach grill are awesome! Also, the service in the restaurants was excellent. People complain about ?Jamaican time,? but we really never experienced it here. When your coffee cup was empty?boom?they filled it! Same with the water and drinks.

The gourmet restaurant, Otheite (pronounced oh-ta-hee-tee) was fantastic. You make your reservations across from the front desk. You may reserve as many times as you want. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. I had an awesome beef tenderloin?the entire meal was wonderful. We sat next to each other at a little green velvet banquet. It was very romantic. The picture guy came by that night and we got a lovely souvenir.

That is something that really makes CN stand out from other resorts in the Caribbean--the staff and the service. The staff was very professional and accommodating.

We went on the complimentary catamaran cruise and that was lovely. You ride to the pickled parrot on the cliffs and you have the option of jumping off of the boat, swimming to the cliffs, and then jumping off of them. We did not, but it was fun watching the others. The ride was about 2.5 hours.

The pool is wonderful at CN. We parked ourselves at the pool everyday and then went back and forth between the pool and the ocean. The ocean is like a lake--very calm with no undertow or waves. We didn?t see much sea life other than one stingray and a little puffer fish that was swimming very close to shore.

The entertainment during the day was pretty tame. We had some fun games of pool volleyball, but other than that, there wasn?t any deviation from what was scheduled. Most of the entertainment took place at night?late at night as far as I was concerned.

The workout area could use some improvement. There are only two treadmills in the whole place. That led to much waiting. You had to get up pretty early to get one (before 6:30 am). The cardio machines, i.e. treadmills, bikes, and stair climbers were in a little tiny room. The muscle machines (I don?t know what else to call them) where in a larger room, along with an aerobics studio, which was empty 90 percent of the time.

Summary. Great resort and beach. Excellent food and staff. We will be back to CN!!

Thanks for the report. My husband and I will be there first week of August for our 25th Anniversary. We stayed at Sandals Royal Caribbean 1n Montego Bay 18 months ago and are anxious to compare this with Couples Negril.

Would like to hear more about the Catamaran cruise. Did you go to Rick's?

We have booked a gardenview deluxe but considering upgrading to a suite. Can't decide if it would be worth the extra money.

Any more tips that would be helpful would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm also going to CN to celebrate 25th wedding anniversary. Going at end of July and very much looking forward to it. I have never been to Jamaica.

I'm very much looking forward to our trip.

I don't think upgrading the room is worth the money. Check out some other posts. I asked the same question and most people said save the money and use it to stay longer.

I would skip the suite and get more days...because you won't want to leave!


The catamaran trip was great...it's twice a day...you wade out into the ocean to get...the staff were really really nice. This trip doesnt go to ricks, it goes to the pickled parrot and you can swim over to the shore and jump off the cliffs there. They had a shuttle that went to ricks a couple of times per week, but we didnt go. I heard from other people that the food was outrageously priced and so were the drinks.

We updated to a suite, and i wish we hadn't spent the extra money. didnt think it was worth it for the amount of time we spent in the room!

Rick's is fairly expensive (not by American standards but certainly for Jamaica). The Pickled Parrot has been closed for a couple of years but the big catamarans still go there.

There are many, many great places along the cliffs to eat and drink and even jump....I doubt the catamaran goes to them but taxis do. Next time, check out Rockhouse (on the same cove as the pIcled Parrot - I'm sure you saw the little villas set in the cliffsides) or LTU Pub for fancy meals that are delicious and worth the $, or 3 Dives, or Pirates Cave for funkier (and cheaper but very tasty) meals. Xtabi is about in the middle (OK, food, prices a little high but great atmosphere) and has great water access via several cliffs and lower sundecks as well as caves (open to the public) that you can walk down to and swim from, if you like. There is even a tiny sandy beach there.

Sunset is about the same no matter where on the cliffs you watch from.

Rick's does have more divers than the others, but it also has, on an average night, hundreds of tourists (for an hour or two) that arrive by the busload.

It's a matter of your style and taste but I like the places I mentioned MUCH better than Rick's (or the Pickled Parrot when it was open, they did have a cool slide though, now closed).

All are completely safe to visit in a taxi or a boat, I know that's a concern some people have about going places that the resorts don't have tour arrangements with.

Xtabi also has a fresh water shower which most places do not.

Rick's is a tourist trap with over priced food but it is fun to visit at least once.

MM