Katie and Jeremy Jackson

Honeymoon at Royal Plantation

October 27 – November 6, 2003

Travel:

We drove from Minneapolis to Chicago on Sunday the 26^th and spent the night at the Days Inn O’Hare. We got a Park’n’Fly rate – 2 nights and 12 days parking for $100. The hotel was ok – not the cleanest, but everything went very well.

Took the hotel shuttle to the airport at 4:00am. Line was already pretty long to check in at the Air Jamaica counter, but we had plenty of time before our 6:15am flight to MoBay.

Flight was on time and we actually arrived in Jamaica about 25 minutes ahead of schedule.

Got through customs and collected our bags in a matter of minutes – very quick!

Headed to the Beaches desk, gave them our names, labeled our bags and were taken out to our shuttle. We were the only ones headed to RP, so away we went!

The one thing I would change next time would be to take the flight from MoBay to Ocho Rios. Jeremy and I both got very carsick on the roller coaster ride to and from the resort!

Check-In:

Within seconds of arriving (amazingly in one piece) at the resort, we were offered champagne, cold towels and were brought to our room. Room 305 in the East wing. It was beautiful! We booked the lowest category of room and if this was that category, I can only begin to imagine how amazing the other rooms are! Our view was great and the room was perfect – really loved the sitting area, fully stocked bar, big walk-in closet and HUGE vanity area outside of the bathroom. Our luggage arrived just a couple of minutes later.

Resort:

Breathtaking…Beautiful…Immaculate…Elegant… I could go on and on.

When we checked in on the 27^th, the resort was only at about 25% occupancy – we felt like we were the only ones there! We really loved how quiet and peaceful the resort was. Often times we were the only ones on the beach. The staff was so friendly and helpful – and they were wonderful. Maintenance of the resort was impeccable – they were constantly cleaning, raking the beach, hosing off the pool deck, cleaning out the pool, etc. The resort was actually more beautiful in person than in the pics on RP’s website. Our favorite place to sit, relax and get out of the sun was in a pool lounge chair on the deck below the pool/Jacuzzi overlooking the west beach. We spent many afternoons there enjoying the view, the breeze and a good book. We also enjoyed the covered porches to sit and read when a rain shower was passing through. Jeremy liked the pool table and we had a few good games. The night of the Vikings/Packers football game we hung out in the game room. We ordered room service for dinner and they had no problem setting it all up there. A few other couples drifted in and out to watch the game and a couple of employees watched with us as well. They were so great – always asking if we needed a drink or any food.

Beach:

Our daily routine usually involved being at the beach from about 8:30am – 1:30pm. Like I said before, oftentimes we were the only ones there – especially early in our trip when occupancy was so low at the resort (it got fuller towards the end of our stay – along with several “bumped” couples). We always went to the west beach – there seemed to be more sun there. Our preferred spots were on the pier where the chessboard is – it was nice to keep the sand out of our beach bag. Every morning there were clean towels on every chair and the beach was immaculate. There was never a time when the loungers were even close to being full.

Around 10:30 someone came around to take drink orders and pass out the yellow flags. I’m pretty sure we never used our flag because someone was coming to check on us about every 20 minutes! And by about the third day, we weren’t even asked our drinks – they knew what we wanted and brought them to us right away. Around 11:30 a huge tray of fresh fruit was brought around for a light & refreshing snack.

Like I said, the beach was immaculate and it seemed as though they were raking it non-stop.

Dining/Food:

Oh my gosh – amazing. I can’t think of anything I ate that I didn’t absolutely love. Chef Hugo sure goes all out. And what a nice man! We really liked that he came around to talk to the guests so often – we must have seen him doing that almost every day. The one thing I have to comment on is his soups. They were heaven in a bowl – outstanding!! I made sure to try them every day and they were all FABULOUS!!! We enjoyed all of the restaurants very much and found them all to have very efficient service. We never once waited for a table or more than a couple of minutes for our food.

Room Service:

We ordered room service at least once a day – usually for a late afternoon snack and sometimes for breakfast. We always received exactly what we ordered and usually really quickly. When we filled out the breakfast card, we always received it during the time frame we selected. The food was good – we really loved the fruit and cheese plates and the pasta – but I didn’t think it compared to the food at the restaurants. We tried ordering burgers a couple of times, but found them to be WAY overcooked – even charred once. Being able to eat breakfast in our pjs sure was nice though!!

Royal Café:

We really liked eating here and the food was always great. It was so casual and relaxing. I think the wait staff here was our favorite – they were so nice and so much fun! I wish I could remember names…. One day Jeremy ordered a Jamaican patty and they were out, so the next day one of the waitresses made a point to save him a couple. Now that’s service!! Most days they brought out chips and salsa as soon as you sat down – I think they were out a couple of days… Our favorite foods here were: Cod fish fritters, burger, all jerked food, coconut shrimp, the soups (of course), quesadillas and coffee ice cream sundae.

Bayside Breakfast:

Only ate here for breakfast a few times. We preferred to get right to the beach rather than spend the morning at the restaurant. When we did eat hear the food was very good. I loved the pastry basket (chocolate croissants, banana bread, muffins, etc.) and fresh mango juice. Yummmm. Once I had the banana bread French toast and that was very good. Jeremy had either an omelet or the steak and eggs. He liked both.

Bayside Lunch:

Nice place to get out of the sun, relax and have a nice lunch. Best thing on the menu – bruschetta with feta cheese – absolutely delicious. Other good things – seafood mixed grill, Caesar salad, calamari, jerked chicken and seafood crepe.

Bayside Dinner:

This was our favorite place to have dinner. Not that the food was better, but we loved sitting outside by candlelight and listening to whoever was performing that night. Only drawback was the millions of bats that swarm in the huge tree by the band shell. We were dive-bombed quite a few times and defecated on once each – yuck. Eventually we asked not to be sat near the railing under the tree. Each meal began with a breadbasket – loved those cracker things they put in there! Jeremy did have one bad meal here – the roast of the day. That day it was jerked pork tenderloin and it was terribly dry and tough. When they were carving it tableside, they could barely get the knife through it. At that point I was a little surprised they were even serving it. Jeremy couldn’t even eat it and when our server noticed that, he apologized profusely. We didn’t try any more of the roasts…. Our favorite foods here included: pot stickers, lobster tails (they were the HUGEST tails I’ve ever seen), Caesar salads, soups (again, of course), steaks, veal marsala, ostrich, pork tenderloin with spaetzle – I guess pretty much everything we ate!! Desserts were good here too, but I’m not a huge dessert fan, so I’m not a good person to give comments about them. I did love the sorbets though!

Le Papillon:

This place was phenomenal. Jeremy and I consider ourselves to be fairly knowledgeable in fine food and dining and we both were very impressed with this restaurant. The food was outstanding and service was great. The hostess/waitress here (again, wish I could remember names) was so sweet and friendly. We dined here 3 nights and went all out with 5-6 course meals each time. It was FABULOUS!! For appetizers, Jeremy always went with the quail – he loved it. I had the mussels, escargot, and frog legs – all were very yummy. I had the tomato and heart of palm salad each time and it was so so SO good. Jeremy requested a Caesar salad each time (even though it wasn’t on the menu) and that was no problem. We both had the creamy onion soup each time – to die for. I liked this much better than the traditional French onion soup. Then there was the sorbet…nice and refreshing palate cleanser. For our entrees, Jeremy had the tiger shrimp twice and the pan-fried tenderloin once. He loved the shrimp and thought the steak was one of the best tenderloins he’d ever had. I had the scallops twice and the mignons of veal. Both were out of this world. We had the cheese course normally – always good – and then dessert. I had the banana crème brulee all three times – I would have eaten it every night if I could have. Like I said, I’m not a huge dessert person, but this stuff was amazing. Yum!!

Managers Cocktail Reception:

Boring. There were several managers circulating and we were able to chat with them, which was nice. They had hors d’oeurves and cocktails and there were some vendors set up just outside of the game room. Could have skipped this though.

Beach Party:

We were at the resort for 2 beach parties and both of them were rained out. They set up the buffet under the covered patio at Bayside and everyone dined inside. Aesthetically, the buffet was pretty spectacular, but the food was just ok. Had a few really good things, and a few not very good things. There were tons of options though – soups, salads, seafood, meats, sides, desserts, etc. Maybe we would have enjoyed this more if it had actually been a beach party, but we would have preferred to just dine at Bayside or Le Papillon as normal.

Spa/Salon:

I had 2 manicures, a pedicure, a facial and a massage done here. They were all fabulous. Loved the steam room and used that a few times. The women working at the spa were great – they welcomed me by name each time I visited. Would have liked to try the couples massage – everyone was raving about it – but I couldn’t talk Jeremy into it. Never got around to using the gym…

Water Sports/Excursions:

This part is embarrassing. Due to the desire to nothing but relax on this trip, and I suppose partly to pure laziness, we didn’t take advantage of any of the water sports and only left the resort 3 times. For our first trip, we took a cab into Ocho Rios and did some shopping at Island Village and Taj Mahal. Island Village is a nice place, but don’t buy anything there – WAY expensive. You can find some ok stuff at Taj Mahal. We mostly just went to look around, not to do any major shopping. Our second venture away from RP was to Dunn’s River Falls. This was spectacular. When I first saw what were going to be doing, I was amazed. Amazed that we didn’t even have to sign a waiver or anything! We had a ton of fun though and I’d love to do that again. Jeremy wore his Tevas and he was fine, and I rented water shoes there to wear. Leaving wasn’t too bad – it was raining so most of the vendors had covered up their goods or brought them in their shops. They recognize your RP towels though and give you a hard time for that. The third time we left the resort we went over to Sandals Ocho Rios. We were planning on spending half of the day over their at their beach and pools, but only ended up staying about 45 minutes. Compared to RP it was nothing great – too loud and crowded – and we were anxious to get back. I’m afraid that it will be hard to stay at any other of the resorts after being spoiled at RP!

Check Out:

Our bags were picked up at 7am outside our room and we went down to the game room to check in with Air Jamaica. This was definitely a very nice service – being able to bypass check-in when you get to the airport is a major bonus. I was a little nervous about sending our bags to the airport so much earlier than we were leaving, but it all worked out well. We had to be out of our room by 11:00am, but since we would be at the resort until 4:00pm, they gave us a hospitality room to use for the day. The hospitality room was basically our identical room, but on the first floor by the game room. It was nice to be able to shower before leaving. When we were leaving, about 6 staff members came to say goodbye and see us off (again, I wish I could remember names!!). They were all so sweet it almost made me cry – It was like leaving home!! After another wild and crazy ride, we made it to the airport only to find out our flight was delayed by about 90 minutes. And as we were almost 90 minutes early, we had almost 3 hours to kill. We did a little last minute souvenir shopping and then went up to the Top Class lounge to wait. Having first class tickets and therefore being able to use the lounge was very, very nice. We found some comfy chairs and catnapped until our flight was finally announced. Arrived back in COLD Chicago a little late, but with no problems.

It’s hard to believe that we have been back from RP for almost 3 weeks now! And sometimes it feels like the trip was just a dream. I honestly cannot think of a single bad thing to say about the resort. I would recommend it in a heartbeat and I am counting the days until I can go back again. All of the trip reports on TTO helped us to choose RP and we were not led astray. I hope that this report can be of some help. And to anyone looking for their dream resort – look no further, this is it.

Feel free to email me with any questions.

klarson@thymes.com