Hey, it’s Jasmine! Gotta spill the beans on this trip – it was wild!
Alright, so the last six months have been a total stress-fest for my fam. But guess what Jeff does on Boxing Day? Hits me with a surprise – cute earrings and a note that reads, “We’re peacing out for a week, pack that swimsuit!” Um, can we get a heck yes?
So you can imagine, this trip was like a burst of excitement! Honestly, I had no clue where we were headed until we hit the airport. Jeff’s all about surprising, and I’m all about being surprised, so it works! I only found out we were Jamaica bound when we were at the airport, and Jeff’s off parking the car. A Sunwing rep is throwing out destinations – Jamaica or the Dominican. There I am, looking like a shady mule, but luckily Jeff swoops in just in time to get us checked in.
The big reveal happened at Jamaica customs – Negril was our spot! Talk about a thrill, we hadn’t been there before!
Moral of the story? If you want to win major points with your girl, go ahead and book a surprise getaway. So many ladies have told me they wish their guy did that, and let me tell you, I loved every second of the anticipation!
Traveling To Negril
Jeff booked with Sunwing Vacations through Expedia…and we STRONGLY suggest booking Elite Plus. This gets you:
- Extra legroom on the plane which was great for this longer flight.
- Express check in
- Advanced boarding (which we never use, we are ALWAYS the last ones on the plane but super nice for some)
- Quicker to get to your shuttle upon arrival AND
- You get a fun sign with your name on it at the Montego airport! And who doesn’t love to see their name on a sign?!
We landed right at rush hour and with Negril being the furthest from the Montego airport, Jeff booked a private shuttle so we wouldn’t have to stop at every resort along with way which was fantastic.
Even with one stop though – for beer of course – in this private ride, it still took about 3 hours from touchdown to arrival at the resort. Yes that is quite the drive but we didn’t mind, we were officially on vacation! Cold drink in hand, humidity in our hair and taking in the gorgeous views – that’s pretty much all we cared about.
The Beach
The snorkeling right in front of the resort’s little cove is pretty epic – we even spotted a Barracuda! Fed some bread to the fishies, caught crabs having their snack, nearly stepped on a tiny stingray, and witnessed a parade of little squids. Oh, and the people-watching game was strong (loads of bikini selfies happening, you know how it goes).
Lounge in the sun with a drink in hand, go for a tube ride or a fishing trip, get a massage on the beach or zip over to 7 mile beach to watch the sunset! All this, right from the comfort of your beach chair. Life is good.
Guess what got us all hyped? Your wristband pulls double duty as your room key! Seriously, this was a total game-changer from other resorts. No more fumbling around for your key or, let’s be real, losing it after a few too many drinks! We’re just simple folks, and this? Well, it made us pretty darn happy!
We didn’t even think to take pictures of the room, something we will try and improve on next trip! #newbiebloggers
The room was quite big, on the second floor, with an ocean view balcony. This is by far the closest our room has ever been to the beach at a resort and it was pretty epic to see and hear the ocean from our bed! *Super comfy King bed*
The bathroom had a big shower with 2 heads including a rain shower! There was a big soaker tub which Jas was pumped about – but it was almost in the center of the room. Weird right?
We thought so too at first, but ya know what? It was really nice to be able to watch tv, chat, listen to music and drink wine together while Jas bathed!
His & Her sinks with lots of counter space and storage; nice tile, flooring and counter tops (we dunno what kind because honestly we don’t give a shit about that kind of stuff).
The water closet (just the toilet) is right by the door and very not sound proof but we’ve stayed in places where the toilet is literally next to the bed, so this we could deal with.
Our room overlooked the main walking path so Jas always had to change in the shower or water closet or shut the curtains. Jeff couldn’t care less as he would often sit on the balcony in his underwear. It’s likely no one could see in except at night but ya kinda felt on display. Not a big deal though, worth it for that view!!
- There is a store on site that carries most necessities, clothing & souvenirs
- Spa & Gym – Jas brought her workout gear… but didn’t quite make it to the gym. But she did go to the spa for a massage which was amazing and the spa is huge, beautiful and very relaxing.
It was Jasmines birthday when we were there, and they left us with a well wishing card, bottle of Chardonnay and a birthday door banner that stayed the whole week! Such a sweet gesture!
Here are a few downsides in our opinion, but you may not mind at all!
- the rooms with swim out have limited to no sun and they are right by the pool (some actually walk right out to the swim up bar)
- the pool & beach loses sun about 4:00 pm due to building shadows
- balloons & ribbon are used for dinners and also pool party games
- pool music was pretty limited (none at all or staff members personal playlist)
These didn’t really affect us that much, but we did take some balloons back to our room so they didn’t get caught in the wind or ocean!
This resort has 7 restaurants including a “Chef’s Table – Culinary Experience”. We don’t know what that means, we didn’t check it out but it sounds like something Oprah or Chris Hemsworth would be down for.
There is the:
- buffet
- seafood
- tex-mex
- italian
- japanese
- steakhouse
- bistro & sports bar
If you like jerk chicken, Jamaica is your place ‘mon. It’s everywhere and it’s delicious…And there’s 24 hour room service… yessssss
Our faves are Hunter (steakhouse) and Armadillo (tex-mex). So good that we went to both twice! Yes to allllll the steak & tacos. Another fave was Dorado (seafood & grill). Even though she isn’t really a seafood fan, Jas loved the salmon.
There’s also a coffee & ice cream shop, and the main bar – the Martini Bar. Ohhhh yeaaahhh. SO MANY types of martinis and they are all delicious!
It’s impossible not to feel fancy when you’re drinking a martini
Wow they are mega talented! We have a whole bunch of videos of the nightly entertainment, but until we learn how to get them on here… the Michael Jackson show, Steel Drums, Movie Theme Night, Bob Marley show & it was also the Superbowl while we were there! They had the most beautiful synchronized swim show one night at the Hideaway Pool
Not to mention there is almost always live music going on somewhere, and they have fun things like karaoke and “name that tune” …which Jeff slayed at, cuz that’s how he rolls…
Things We Loved The Most
- Wristband is your room key
- Paper straws are used
- Large Ocean View pool with swim up bar
- Quiet beach, easy to get chairs
- Outdoor entertainment stage
- Hideaway area is smaller
- Everything is in close proximity (especially the beach!)
- Ocean view room (garden is available as well)
- Spa is gorgeous
- Well maintained & clean
- Relaxing
- Friendly & wonderful staff
- On site photographers to capture your memories
- Guest satisfaction is a priority here!
- We say again – the ocean was literally steps from our room. Amazing.
Does this resort feel like your vibe?
Book it HERE on Expedia!
And since we dropped the ball on taking any videos, we’ll just leave this here…
Traveling From Negril
The last day of vacation is so sad isn’t it. Gearing up for the exhausting travel home and having to leave paradise. Ugh. Our flight time home was for 5:30 pm local time but our Sunwing rep told us to be in the lobby at 12:40 for the shuttle. We still had the private ride booked to take us back to the airport, but turns out the non-private shuttle would be leaving at the same time…
We knew right then, that we’d be at the airport waaaay to early. But considering how long it took us to get to the resort, and for the sake of the feedback for this blog – we got into our van bus at 12:40 – and arrived at the airport at 2:10. Yeah. Way too early.
Something to keep in mind though, is that because we were Elite Plus we had express check-in so it went very quickly. The other line was super long. So I imagine if you don’t have Elite Plus, you’d need that extra time just to check in. Montego Bay airport is very small and very busy. So we breezed through check-in and off we went to the airport Margaritaville to fill our bellies.
This was obvs more info than you probably cared to have, but we felt it was important to share because no one wants to leave a second sooner than they have to!
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