Marblue rooms
Jan 25th, 2007, 08:46 AM
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Marblue rooms
Tiverton in particular - but would love to hear from anyone familiar w/ Treasure Beach. I see you recommended to someone a while back asking if Marblue would do a downstairs Jr Suite without dinners. In fact, they agreed to do down or upstairs without dinner for us. Any reason why you specified downstairs? We were thinking of opting for upstairs, but do you think down is nicer? We'll have breakfast there & plan to have dinner there at least 1 night, but wanted to experience some other places as well. That's kind of our favorite part of vacations is checking out different spots, particularly the more "local" spots. Also, if you have other recommendations for dinners etc. that we can walk to from Mar - I'm vegetarian & my husband loves seafood, fish, meat etc. & we love to check out local spots. Thanks!
Jan 25th, 2007, 09:06 AM
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timshelly, I think you've picked a fantastic spot! My husband and I stayed at Mar Blue Verandah right after they opened in '05 and we loved everything about the trip except the long drive from the airport! I wrote a very long and detailed trip report, and if you're interested in reading it you can search of it using Mar Blue (I made the name two words in my trip report).
In a two story building like Mar Blue or MB Verandah, we prefer being on the second floor. The ceilings are raised, which gives a greater sense of spaciousness, and when sitting out on our balcony it felt more private than being on the first floor when anybody could walk by. I read that there is now a plunge pool suite at Mar Blue, which might tempt me to choose that over a second floor room.
Other than the private plunge pool suite, I think the rooms on the first floor are slightly less money than rooms on the second floor...
The food we ate every morning and evening was nothing less than stellar. Axel was the chef during our stay and each morning he'd ask us about our food preferences for dinner that night. The food we ate there was much better than anything else we ate in the area, so we did the MAP meal plan on tiverton's recommendation.
We did eat at Jake's, Jack Sprat, and two other places whose names I no longer recall but would be mentioned in my trip report. The food was all good at these places, but not on the same level as Mar Blue. But at these places I was able to try curried goat and ackee for the first time, so I was generally well-pleased with all of my meals.
We loved Treasure Beach and have every intention of returning one day. We loved Mar Blue and its location, which was an easy walk to restaurants and one of the main TB beaches. The beach immediately in front of Mar Blue was quite eroded, but a short walk in either direction brought us to small private sandy coves for swimming. At first we were disappointed with the beach right there, but after our first night when we could hear the waves on the rocks we were disappointed no longer.
Finding seafood will be no problem, but finding a purely vegetarian meal might take a little effort. Main vegetarian dishes might be hard to come by, but you should find plenty of side dishes like ackee or rice & peas, etc. There's also the cheese pizza at Jack Sprat. You might be able to get folks there to do a veggie curry for you, too.
In a two story building like Mar Blue or MB Verandah, we prefer being on the second floor. The ceilings are raised, which gives a greater sense of spaciousness, and when sitting out on our balcony it felt more private than being on the first floor when anybody could walk by. I read that there is now a plunge pool suite at Mar Blue, which might tempt me to choose that over a second floor room.
Other than the private plunge pool suite, I think the rooms on the first floor are slightly less money than rooms on the second floor...
The food we ate every morning and evening was nothing less than stellar. Axel was the chef during our stay and each morning he'd ask us about our food preferences for dinner that night. The food we ate there was much better than anything else we ate in the area, so we did the MAP meal plan on tiverton's recommendation.
We did eat at Jake's, Jack Sprat, and two other places whose names I no longer recall but would be mentioned in my trip report. The food was all good at these places, but not on the same level as Mar Blue. But at these places I was able to try curried goat and ackee for the first time, so I was generally well-pleased with all of my meals.
We loved Treasure Beach and have every intention of returning one day. We loved Mar Blue and its location, which was an easy walk to restaurants and one of the main TB beaches. The beach immediately in front of Mar Blue was quite eroded, but a short walk in either direction brought us to small private sandy coves for swimming. At first we were disappointed with the beach right there, but after our first night when we could hear the waves on the rocks we were disappointed no longer.
Finding seafood will be no problem, but finding a purely vegetarian meal might take a little effort. Main vegetarian dishes might be hard to come by, but you should find plenty of side dishes like ackee or rice & peas, etc. There's also the cheese pizza at Jack Sprat. You might be able to get folks there to do a veggie curry for you, too.
Jan 25th, 2007, 09:16 AM
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Nicole, my assistant, is shown in the grey dress on Mar Blue pix on www.jamaicaescapes.com on the balcony of STAR/the upstairs jr.suite, spent
3 weeks there on holiday, twice. The only real difference btw. upstairs and down is that balcony -- worth the bit more. Axel can do more than goat and
can accomodate vegetarian needs. On island, vegan food tends to be Ital-style veg stews/rundowns and a big bowl of pumpkin soup at a little cookshop
can be really good. Since this is a prime fishing area, seafood/fish abound
in restaurants...Little Ochie in Alligator Pond is the top pick around
for that (see listing on EAT AND PLAY section on tb.net and click on the
OUTSIDE TB grey circle) to bring up
their site.
3 weeks there on holiday, twice. The only real difference btw. upstairs and down is that balcony -- worth the bit more. Axel can do more than goat and
can accomodate vegetarian needs. On island, vegan food tends to be Ital-style veg stews/rundowns and a big bowl of pumpkin soup at a little cookshop
can be really good. Since this is a prime fishing area, seafood/fish abound
in restaurants...Little Ochie in Alligator Pond is the top pick around
for that (see listing on EAT AND PLAY section on tb.net and click on the
OUTSIDE TB grey circle) to bring up
their site.
Jan 25th, 2007, 12:36 PM
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Thanks to both of you. EJCROWE - I'm so glad you wrote - I had read your review - I believe it was on TripAdvisor? It's crazy...I always agonize over these decisions! But in the end, I'm always glad I did because most of our vacations spots have turned out fantastic & you learn a little bit every time you go. From the websites, I was inclined to pick Jakes & I have a feeling we'd enjoy it there too. But they get such mixed reviews & MarBlue just seems to be raved about. In addition, they've been so nice to deal with via email & so responsive thus far & I feel it'll be a bit more personal given it's more family-owned. The rate she quoted me seems terrific. So...we're going with MarBlue! Both up & down are same price so we'll ask for up. Your other information was extremely helpful as well. My husband & I are a bit worried about the drive & feeling rushed because we'll only have 3 nights there & then we head to a wedding in Ocho Rios. But...I think I've justified it by saying we can enjoy the countryside on the way to TB & on the way to OR & we'll get to experience the part of Jamaica that sounds like what we try to find wherever we go. We only have 3 days to experience the type of vacation we typically seek out, so we might as well make the best of it! I suspect we'd enjoy Negril Cliffs too...but probably not quite as much. And you only live once, right? It'll be 3 hrs to TB & 4 hrs to OR vs. 1 hr to Negril & 3 hrs to OR. For 3 more hours...would you agree it's worth it?
Jan 25th, 2007, 05:05 PM
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well, I've never been to Negril, and though I think I would enjoy the beach there, I really do prefer the community-based tourism of the Treasure Beach area. So yes, the extra hours would be worth it to me. Our whole trip was only 4 nights long, so we were pretty rushed, too. Though I'd much rather spend at least a week there, like you I'd prefer to go there for 3 nights than not at all! Sounds like you'll enjoy the area and will make the best of your time down there. Have a great time!
