Kristin and Donnie’s Trip
Report from Beaches Royal Plantation
10-20/27-2002
Our 4th wedding
anniversary, October 24
We were originally booked at Sandals Halcyon for our
anniversary but decided to switch after we had heard many negative reports from
friends. I decided to do a little
research on other Sandals and in my search I found Tropic Travel Online and
started reading about Beaches Royal Plantation.
After viewing pictures and reading trip reports we decided to change our
trip and booked at BRP, and I am SO happy that we did!
We got up on Sunday morning at 5am as we had an 8:40
flight. We got ready and loaded the car
and we were on our way at 5:45. We parked in long term parking and we were at
the Air Jamaica gate at 6:15
and there were only 2 parties in front of us.
It only took us 10 minutes to check in and another 15 to go through
security and by 7am we had already
had a cup of coffee and bought our magazines for the flight! We thought it would be much more crowded but
the check-in attendant said the flight wasn’t even near full. We started boarding at 8am and the flight was EMPTY! It was an Airbus, one of those huge planes
that holds 8 people per row. . .2 on each end and 4 in
the middle. The middle was completely
empty throughout the entire plane except for some families that wanted to sit
together. We took off at exactly 8:40 and we were on our way. We were served the champagne breakfast and
had omelets and mimosas. It was actually
pretty good! The flight was excellent
and it took 2 hours and 50 minutes to Montego Bay Airport. I hate flying
and was very happy to land! When we
landed the weather was absolutely perfect and stayed that way the entire week
except for two 10 minute showers!
Immigration and customs was a breeze, not taking more than a half-hour
for both. We claimed our luggage and
went to the Beaches desk. We were
greeted and our bags were taken by a redcap and they told us our shuttle was waiting. Donnie was then asked if he wanted any “good
reefer” by a baggage guy! I don’t think
he was a Beaches employee. We politely
declined and got a good laugh. I asked
them if the flight to Boscobel was available, but the next flight was at 1pm and it was 11am. He said we could wait for the flight or take
the shuttle. We decided to take the
shuttle! Even though I hate flying, I
was willing to do it just to avoid the shuttle ride everyone talks about. It wasn’t horrendous, just very bumpy and our
driver was not a defensive driver! We
were constantly passing cars and it was kind of scary, but it went fast and we
chatted with 2 other couples on the shuttle.
Mark and Sue were celebrating their 10th anniversary and Brad
and Missy were on their honeymoon. The
driver asked us if we wanted to stop for a bathroom break but we all decided to
keep going. . . we just wanted to get there! The trip took a total of 1 hour 45
minutes.
At 1pm
we pulled into the resort and I knew RIGHT THEN AND THERE that this was THE
place for us! It was absolutely the most
gorgeous resort I have seen. It looked
exactly like a southern plantation! We
were greeted by Allester and he took the girls to the
game room and the men claimed our luggage.
When the guys arrived we were given cold, lemon
scented towels and champagne. We gave
our credit cards and filled out a little paperwork and were told our suites
weren’t ready just yet and that we could eat lunch until they were ready. We went to Bayside for our first of many
EXCELLENT meals. We had shrimp “run
down” with rice the most delicious seafood bisque. We had cheesecake and chocolate pecan pie
for dessert, yummy! After lunch our
suites were ready and Simone took us to ours.
We had booked the deluxe room (lowest category) and I’m not really sure
if we were upgraded or not, I’m pretty sure we were. We were in suite 108 in the East
wing and we were very pleased with our room!
The view was spectacular and we had a huge walk in closet which was very
nice. We had more than enough room and
were very happy with where our room was located. We were right by the verandah, the spa, and
the gym. Great location! We were both exhausted and decided to unpack
and take a little nap. While we were
sleeping we got a phone call from Giovanni, the new assistant manager. All I can say is that I love him! He is just adorable! He just started 4 weeks prior to our arrival
and was very energetic. He wanted to
know if we were happy with our room and if there was anything he could do for
us. Since I was sleeping I’m not exactly
sure what I said! We got up and showered
and got dressed for dinner and walked around the property. We were amazed because it seemed as if we
were the only ones at the resort! We had
dinner at Bayside, Cajun swordfish and rice and more seafood bisque, again
amazing. While we were eating Giovanni
came up and introduced himself. I apologized if I was a little out of it when
he called and he actually started laughing because he said I did sound out of
it! We talked for a little bit and he
told us about the resort and he suggested the “couples moonlight massage” on
the beach. He made us guess where he was
from. . .with a name like Giovanni we of course said Italy. He said no
keep guessing, that the country began with an “a” and ended with an “a”. I eventually guessed correctly.
. .it’s Aruba! So if he asks
you to guess, you can shock him! After
dinner we had a few drinks and talked to the couple we met on the shuttle. There wasn’t really much going on with
entertainment, there was a band playing and when they stopped we were off to bed.
Before falling asleep we decided to order room service
for breakfast, which we ended up doing every morning! At the beginning of the week we ordered
strictly off the room service menu, however in the middle of the week we looked
at a breakfast menu at Bayside and decided to try to “write in” what we wanted
to try. We realized that you could order
ANYTHING you wanted for breakfast.
Donnie is a big fan of eggs benedict which wasn’t on the room service menu. . .no problem mon! Eggs benedict it was! Side of bacon? Again, no problem mon! Breakfast
was on time every morning except one, the one day it was late they had good reason. . .I’ll address that later.
Monday and Tuesday we did the same thing both days. We ordered breakfast, went to the gym and
were on the beach by noon. The gym is perfect. We only saw 2 people in there the entire
time. They have 2 TV’s, a CD player, a
water cooler, cool lemon scented towels, and clean dry towels. The first day on
the beach we were met by Cleon, one of the watersports guys. He
gave us towels and our beach flag and asked us where we wanted our beach
chairs. He then told us if we needed
“anything at all” to see him! Nobody at
Beaches came right out and offered ganga,
but we got the impression it was available if you wanted it! We decided to try the flag and get a
drink. I put the flag in the sand and
within 30 seconds (no lie) someone was waiting to take our order! We ordered the special which was a frozen
fruity drink, very good. For lunch we
went to the Royal Café. They have
excellent food here as well as Bayside.
I expected it to be hot dogs and hamburgers for the most part, but they
had an excellent menu and all the food was delicious. The soups were incredible all week long. Seafood bisque, lobster bisque, pumpkin
chowder (my favorite), potato and leak, cream of onion, they were the highlight
of the meals! We stayed at the beach
until 3:30 almost every day, which was when the sun disappeared
from the beach and we went to the pool until 4.
There was sun at the pool until 4pm. It was perfect because when the sun was gone
it meant TEA TIME! We loved tea
time! The champagne was put out and we
had pastries and sandwiches which were great! They had cucumber, cheese,
salmon, swordfish, and crab salad sandwiches plus raison scones, fruit tarts
and chocolate chip cookies. All were
just delicious. Donnie smoked a cigar
and we ate sandwiches, listened to the piano player (who was excellent!) and
drank champagne and sometimes did this at the hot tub! The concierge “Sunshine” would run around
with a bottle of champagne balanced on his head and would fill everyone
up! He truly was a ray of sunshine! He
always had a huge smile on his face and gave wonderful personalized
service! I was a little shocked when a
couple we were talking to said Sunshine told them he mad $3 dollars an
hour! THREE! I hope that’s a lot in Jamaica, but I can’t imagine that it’s alot
anywhere! : ( I overheard a
conversation between Sunshine and a guest one afternoon at tea and the guest
was asking what the dress code was for Bayside.
I was kind of shocked when Sunshine replied that shorts were perfectly
acceptable! The guest even said “are you
sure I don’t have to wear long pants” and he replied “no” shorts were just
fine! From then on I checked out what
men were wearing and 90% of the men did wear shorts each night. Some guys took advantage of that wearing
athletic shorts and thong shoes!!!
Monday night was the manager’s cocktail reception and
beach party. The food was incredible
(see pictures!). At the cocktail party
we talked to Giovanni and met the service manager, Georgio. Georgio was really
into his job! He was telling us how even
if food is not great, if the service is great the food BECOMES great. Not that the food was bad here, but his
theory is that if the food and the service are both great you have VERY happy
guests. I won’t argue that! He also told us that BRP is regarded as the
“diamond” of the Sandals family. They
had fire dancers and a steel band and the house band played as well. We sat with a couple that was on their
honeymoon and were booked at Sandals Ocho Rios and
they were bumped to BRP. They were NOT
happy about this. Sandals told them it
was a HUGE upgrade and they should be happy which I think angered them
more. I can’t really blame them because
they had researched SOR and they wanted more of a party atmosphere. However, by the end of the week they were loving BRP! It
was a very nice evening and after the party we went to the games room to watch
Monday Night Football and played pool.
We met Audrey, an adorable cocktail waitress, in the games room and
ended up talking to her for a while. We were drinking some champagne and she
literally ran to get us champagne! I
told her not to worry I would get it (it was only a few steps away!) but she
continued on! Donnie is a huge Steelers
fan and the room was empty so we played pool, watched the game, and drank
champagne! He was in Heaven!
Tuesday the beach and the pool were completely empty,
except for 2 or 3 couples and I asked Sunshine how many people were staying at
the resort. He said it was 40%
full. I really felt that we had the
entire resort to ourselves. We ate lunch at Bayside and were the only people
eating there except for 1 other couple!
After they left we had the whole place to ourselves! I had the angel hair pasta with mushrooms and
sundried tomatoes and bruschetta. Donnie had the island crab sandwich. They were both so delicious we split each
others! We had booked the couples moonlight
massage for Tuesday evening at 5:30pm. We went to the spa at 5 to get changed and
use the steam room. At 5:30 we went down to the water sports area on the east
beach (closed down, we were the only ones there) in our robes where they had 2
massage tables set up. We had our
massage right there, listening to the ocean for 50 minutes! It was FANTASTIC! In a previous trip report I read that there
is a smell a burning wood in the air in the evenings. It gave the resort a very cozy feel and
really added to the atmosphere. Later
that evening I told Giovanni we got the massage he recommended and I asked him
what the smell was because it really gave a romantic feeling to the resort. He smiled and paused for a second, then
admitted that they actually burn lemongrass behind the spa to give the resort
that cozy feel in the evenings! Tuesday
was also the returning guests dinner at Le Papillon. We had
drinks in the drawing room and the women were given roses and we had our
picture taken then Chef Hugo came in and introduced himself. This was our first time at LePapillon. The menu
was set and we had potato soup, lobster, beef tenderloin in a tarragon sauce
and crème brulee for dessert. Don’t get me wrong, the dinner was delicious,
but we just didn’t think it was THAT much better than Bayside. We spent the evening in the bar and the
bartender Aldi (or Aldo) was making some VERY strong
drinks. I had two and I felt them! Donnie and I both were a little tipsy and Aldi was making obscene objects out of napkins! Then when they found out we were pharmacists
all the staff wanted to know about was Viagra!
It was a fun evening but I felt those drinks in the morning!
Wednesday, after room service breakfast
: ) we went to Dunns River Falls. We rented
water shoes and got a locker. The shoes
were $5 a pair and the locker was $8 and when you turned in the key you got $3
back. My shoes were in really bad
condition, so bring your own if you want to see the falls. Donnie wasn’t happy about the fact that his
shoes were PINK. Kink of cute I
thought! I didn’t expect the falls to be
so massive! We left at 12:30 with 4 other couples in the BRP shuttle. The falls were spectacular, but they were a
little more dangerous than I had expected.
We all held hands and made a line and started climbing. I thought that was sort of strange that we
had to hold hands until I realized how much I depended on the guy in front of
me! We finished at about 2pm
and went through the market. The market
was out of control! I had to hold onto
Donnie and they were literally putting those carving things on us! We just kept saying no thank you and walking
trying to find the exit. It’s really a
shame because I would love to just browse through there but it’s literally
impossible because they are so in-your-face.
We made it through the market and back to the shuttle and we were back
at BRP by 3pm. We were off
to the pool for some afternoon sun and champagne. We were hungry when we got back but didn’t
want to leave the pool to sit at the Café.
No problem mon! They will bring your lunch right to your
chaise lounge poolside! We split a tuna
pita and an order of “Stamp and Go” which was AWESOME. “Stamp and Go” were deep fried cod fish
fritters and were our favorite lunch item! That night we ate at Bayside and
both had Surf-n-Turf, goat cheese salad, shrimp cocktail and bread pudding for
dessert. Absolutely sinful! The entertainment was a woman playing
acoustic guitar and singing, she was very talented!
Thursday we continued our room service breakfast and went
to the beach. We wanted nothing but rest
and relaxation this vacation and that’s exactly what we got! There was a lot of activity today and it
wasn’t all good. However it wasn’t BRP’s fault. Sandals Dunns River and Sandals Ocho Rios had
both overbooked and were sending TONS of people to BRP. In about 2 hours 10 couples arrived, 10 very
pissed off couples! They were bumping
everyone to BRP and Giovanni said the house was almost 100% full. I believe it because there were people everywhere! I also don’t think BRP was prepared for this
all in one day as the service wasn’t the same today. There just wasn’t enough staff to accommodate
all these people all at once. There was
nowhere to sit at The Royal Café and there was only one waitress. The bumped people were getting very agitated
(f-words were flying) and then Giovanni, Georgio, and
Mario Machado started working at the Café!
They were all in a tizzy, talking on the bar phone, Chef Hugo was there
too and he didn’t look very happy either.
Georgio was running around giving people
ketchup and getting drinks, Giovanni was serving drinks, and Mario was running
around! Mario actually was never seen
sitting still the entire week! Every day
we saw him he was running somewhere! It
actually was quite funny. Lunch took
about 2 hours but, hey, I had nowhere to be and I enjoyed watching everything
going on! Another large group of 12
arrived and they were a wedding party. . .bride,
groom, parents, attendants, and friends.
They had the wedding at the Bayside Gazebo and it was gorgeous (see pics). The resort was really hopping on Thursday
night! Because of the unexpected numbers
of people dinner service was SUPER slow.
We went to dinner at 7 and didn’t get done until after 9! The people that had been bumped couldn’t eat
at LePapillon because they didn’t bring dress clothes
(they actually enforced wearing the jackets at LePapillon,
none were on backs of chairs an they actually stopped men at the entrance and
made them wear one of the restaurants jackets before they could enter). Everyone was out that night and people were
wound up and drinking! A reggae band
played and the dance floor was full!
This was rare compared to the other nights where nobody was out and
nobody danced! There was a ton of energy
that night at the resort!
Friday everything was back to normal! We decided that maybe we should leave and see
another resort! I have to say that we
were having such a good time at BRP I really had no desire to leave. . .but we figured it was included so we got up and
took the shuttle to Sandals Ocho Rios. While we were on the shuttle 2 ladies were
telling us how they and their spouses got bumped from Sandals Dunns River and how they came here to party and ended up at
BRP. They said they have to take the
shuttle every morning to SDR and then come back at night to BRP. They said they were told when they landed
they were getting upgraded to BRP and they knew nothing of the resort. Well, they too came to Jamaica to party and were not happy. I never ran into them again but I was curious
if the resort grew on them! We arrived
in like 2 minutes at SOR (I really didn’t realize it was RIGHT next door!) and
I couldn’t believe the difference. There
were people everywhere and it seemed HUGE compared to BRP. We finally found our way to the beach and
playmakers were screaming “RING TOSS, COME PLAY RING TOSS” and Donnie and I
looked at each other and laughed. . .we were ready to
go back to BRP. We weren’t sure where
the pool was and I asked a watersports staff member
and he ended up giving us a mini tour of the property. It was nice resort, just not what we were
looking for. BRP is just so intimate,
every staff member speaks to you when you pass, the
feeling was just not the same at SOR. We
made our way back to the beach and decided to walk back. Donnie thought we would be harassed by the
parasailing/jetski man but he just asked us if we
needed anything and we said no thank you and that was it! He didn’t follow us, in fact he never
moved! It took about a minute to walk
back. We were stopped by a security
guard when we got back on the BRP property just to make sure we were staying
there. We showed him our key and Beaches Pass and we were back!
The rest of the afternoon we spent at the pool. We had lunch at the Royal Café and they were
telling us how they had a brand new menu being unveiled today. The lobster BLT was awesome! It was a triple layer sandwich (similar to a
club sandwich) only it was layered with chunks of lobster! We met a lovely couple, Jennie and Derek,
and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. We had our tea and champagne at 4pm and went back to take a nap. Hey, all of this going to the beach and pool
can wear you out ; )
!!!!!!!!! We showered and went to
dinner where I had the pasta carbonara, shrimp
cocktail, and soup and Donnie had surf and turf again. Excellent dinner again! The evening entertainment was a flutist and
he was incredible! We spent the evening
hanging out with Jennie and Derek drinking Red Stripe Lights in the bar! The bar was hopping that night also. At one point a group got up and started
dancing and we saw a couple of “full moons” being flashed!
I was so sad on Saturday because this was our last full
day in paradise! We decided to make it
as long as possible. We got up early and
ordered room service. Jennie and Derek
had told us to try the hot chocolate, we did, and we were hooked! It was the best hot chocolate we have ever
had! I couldn’t believe we had waited
this long to try it. They also told us
how they ordered a pastry basket early one morning (about 7am) and the pastries were still HOT! Jennie said the chocolate was oozing out of
the chocolate croissants just like in France! I’m telling
you this place is sinful! For lunch we
ate at the Royal Café and had grilled marinated vegetables with goat cheese on focacia bread and conch fritters. Donnie couldn’t resist the lobster blt! We made reservations for LePapillon
for 8pm. We figured
since it was our last night we’d try it again.
We spent the afternoon doing the beach/pool/tea time combo! We drank champagne in the hot tubs until
about 6:30 and then went to get ready for dinner. We went to dinner 15 minutes early and the
restaurant had 2 couples in it!
TWO! We had the salmon special,
asparagus, cream of onion soup, and crème brulee. Again, it was delicious, but not
phenomenal. I actually enjoyed Bayside
much better. We ended up talking to one
of the couples, Charlotte and Howard, and they told us they were staying in the
Governor’s Suite. We were amazed since
all week we were saying how we’d love to see one of the huge suites, and they
invited us up after dinner to see it. It
was amazing! The suite had a furnished
foyer, 2 bathrooms, 2 verandahs, a huge living room, 2 TV’s (one in the
bedroom, the other in the living room) and the bedroom was enormous! It was absolutely breathtaking! From their entrance you could see the private
villa swimming pool and grounds. Thanks
again Charlotte and Howard for your hospitality! They said they were just as impressed with
the suite as they were upgraded from a honeymoon category! We went back to our
room at 11pm and unfortunately had to pack. We packed and went to bed after putting out
our breakfast order.
Sunday. . .we sadly had to say
goodbye. We got up at 6am and put our luggage out. We did the Air Jamaica pre check in and went
back to our room to take a nap since we had the room until 11am. There was
only one flight back to Montego
Bay on Sunday at 4:45pm and our flight was at 5:40pm so we had to take the shuttle which was leaving at 2pm. We ate our
breakfast and went to check out at 11am. After check out we sat on the verandah for a
while, played some pool, and then the Steeler game
came on again! Donnie had a few beers
and I went to find Jennie and Derek to say goodbye. At 2pm
we went to get the shuttle. There were
so many people waiting for the shuttle that there wasn’t enough room for
us! Giovanni said not to worry, that
another shuttle was being called. About 10
minutes later it arrived and we were on our way with one other couple. It was an uneventful ride, just bumpy. We arrived at the airport in 1-1/2 hours and
since we had over an hour until our flight we bought some alcohol at the duty
free shops. We boarded our flight at 5:15pm and took off 6pm. The flight was extremely rough and since I
don’t like to fly to begin with it was a tough flight for me. We were served either chicken or fish for
dinner and they offered free champagne and wine. We landed at 8:55 at BWI. It
took forever to get through customs and immigration. The lines were long and slow and by the time
we got our baggage and got to our car we ended getting home around 11:30pm.
This vacation was just incredible from beginning to
end. We have cruised, been to other all-inclusives, non all-inclusives,
and none of them compare to this resort.
I’m begging Donnie to take me back for my 30th birthday in
January! The quality of the food, the
quality of the service and the general ambiance of this hotel is just
unmatched. Sure, the service was slow a
few times, but it was always courteous.
Every employee was so nice, friendly, and so willing to help with
anything at any time of the day or night!
The resort has this feel that I just can’t explain.
. . it’s cozy, friendly, romantic, peaceful but fun all at the same time. I’ve never been to a resort were management
knew your names and remembered them the entire week! And thanks to Debbie’s Dieting Tricks I only
gained 4 lbs! Not bad for eating like a
queen for 7 days! It was truly amazing and I would highly recommend this
resort! I can’t wait to go back!
Kristin and Donnie