Link to pictures: HERE
This probably has more detail than you want to read, but this is
serving also as a type of journal for ourselves to reflect upon in later years.
We got to the ticket counter at the recommended hour and a half before
the flight, but that was still before
the actual check-in stations opened at 4:30am.
Needless to say it was an early flight.
Tristan dropped us off and I tended to zip into DC to try to get some
sunrise pictures. The city threw him
some loops he could not fi d a place to park or at least a legal place to park
so he headed for home.
While I resisted Wendy's attempts to upgrade is to anything above
coach, the trip went real smooth. Bumped
I to TJ from class of 95 who was off to Couples Negril. They said it was their third time and loved
it. We later found out that Negro area
south of Montego Bay had a seven mile stretch of beaches. Perhaps another time. Getting through customs was easy and we were
pleased with the Hyatt reception area.
We were probably there just after 10am and did not refuse their first or
second offer for a red stripe beer. The
trip to the hotels was quick being less than a half hour.
Our arrival was smooth and the front greeter a Mr. Courtney assured us
even though check-in time was not for another 4 hours they will see what they
could do. After a quick walk to the
beach in front of the hotel we returned to the reception area to be informed
our room was ready.
We got a quick orientation to the area and then Courtney brought us to
our room. Wendy worked her magic back at
the Hyatt airport reception and got us a nicer view. They were basically tree buildings forming a
"U" and we ended up the bottom of the U with direct view of the beach
and pool. The room was great kind of an
upscale NY apartment feel.
Once unpacked we dropped down to the little British themed menu
restaurant near the lobby for lunch. We were the only ones there. It was pretty good with me having a pickle
and cheese sandwich. After that we went back to the room, changed and were on
the beach by 1pm.
I quickly got in the shade and stayed there. Wendy got to reading and fell asleep on her
stomach....thus leading to some sunburn.
We lubbed up but it did not work so well. We filled the rest of the day with switching
between swims in the ocean and pool.
There was also maybe ten big mattress beds under palm roofs. Tough get in morning, but in mid afternoon
they opened up. Thus we finished off afternoon and nice nap. Generally we laid by the ocean in the morning
and pool in the afternoons.
Back to the room we changed over for dinner. While getting ready for dinner we found the
tub had no hot water and the rain shower head shot up on the ceiling. We called to report the items and they had
people come but never really fixed the problem.
Wendy got one bath out of six days.
The rain shower worked but each day the spay on ceiling increased. We called each day, but no luck. Everything was so nice this issue did not
become too big of a deal.
Meals were a big part of the trip so rather than going day by day will
describe it by the meal.
Breakfast: first two days we tried room service but seemed to take long
45min first day and over an hour the second.
Seemed silly to be waiting in the room while there is a nice beach out
there. Third and fourth day we ate at
the Calipzo restaurant (all the restaurants and shops had "s" in name
replaced "z") which was great with a nice buffet and then full
menu. Calipzo is just off the
beach. The final breakfast we ate at the
Horizon right on the beach. The beach in
the morning is very peaceful with the, few people, low sun and freshly racked
sand.
Lunch: Hit the first lunch above.
Second day and third day were at the Horizon, again it was right off the
beach and close to where we were sitting.
Forth day was at Calipzo. The
final day we tried the 24 hour buffet, It was good food and as it was over on
the other side of the resort was busy with all ages. Horizon and Calipzo were more intimate and
generally in a place that could seat 25 tables there were never more than 5
tables filled at any place we went (except the 24 hour buffet).
Dinners: These were nice, with
us dressing up, watching the sunset before dinner and taken at a leisurely
pace. The first night and last night we
ate at the Brazilian Restaurant. We
ended up hitting all the restaurants except the Fuzion, an Asian themed that we
heard a couple bad reviews while down there.
Thus we decided that Brazilian place was so good we would make it our
last place. It had all the meat you can
handle and great salad bar. The second
night was the French restaurant Petit Pariz, this was really nice with as
expected great food. Third night we went
to the Italian restaurant, it was fine food but we ended up leaving quickly
because it was so loud in there. It was
busier than my previously mentioned 20% capacity, but there was something with
the acoustics that made it extremely loud.
Our fourth night was back to Horizon for their dinner. Horizon is billed as a Steak and Seafood and
it was again great. Calipzo and Horizon
take turns having live music and the night we were at Horizon they had a
saxophone player who was good until he got right up on the table, made it like
he would not stop playing in front of you until you looked up and at least
smiled at him. There were shows every
evening but we only caught one of them a type of romantic dancing show.
On top of the standard meals there was a Jerked Chicken stand right on
the beach and we split some each of the last three days, quality little snack.
We also utilized the water activities including taking a hobie cat out
two of the mornings, poor showing of trying paddle board and a two person
kayak.
We ended up never leaving the resort.
There were some weddings going on, some conferences but in all on our
side of the resort it seemed close to empty.
They said they were generally between 60% and 90% occupied while we were
there, but it never felt that way.
It was a very nice time. It was
romantic and exactly what was needed.
Don't know if we would ever go back as there are so many other places to
go, but we would certainly recommended it to everyone.
One of the pictures on the above website banner is an overview of the
resort. The left side is convention
center with most of the restaurants, the middle part is Ziva (which was a Ritz
Carlton until two years ago) and the far right in Zilara. This place just opened up in Nov 14'
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