Trip Report: Beaches Royal Plantation 1 cindypny (49/F/Watertown,NY) 2/2/02 11:07 am

We just got back from BRP last night, so here goes with the trip report. I will leave out all of the gory details about getting to Montego Bay as we live out in the boondocks and have to leave about 2:30 am.

The Montego Bay airport has gotten much more efficient over the years so it took only about 15 to 20 minutes for us to go through immigration and get our bags. We had school supplies with us for the Mansfield school so we had to go through the line for items to declare. They made us open the box and basicly describe what we had in it and once they realized we weren't smuggling something we went on our way.

We were greeted as usual, promptly at the Sandals desk. We inquired about the free plane from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios and the person in charge said that we were in time for the flight, but she said they didn't recommend it because it was 45 minutes from the Ocho Rios airport to BRP and Sandals didn't provide transportation from the airport to the resort there, we would have to hire our own driver. We didn't think this sounded right, but after a long day already, it was about 2:00 pm, we decided not to argue with her and we drove to BRP. A little information about the bus ride, the drivers leave every hour at 25 minutes after the hour, for transfers to BRP. So, if you get in like we did around 2, you have to wait about a half hour before the bus will leave. This is because they try to get as many people on the bus a possible. The information about a Mercedes limo with refreshments is totally wrong. You will get a Juta shuttle bus from the airport to the resort. We had a good trip however and our driver was good at explaining much about the countryside and Jamaica. The ride takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on the traffic. In regards to the airplane information given to us by the Sandals agent, it is very wrong. We checked at the resort when we arrived and the drive from the airport in Ocho Rios to Royal Plantation is only about 20 minutes and Beaches does provide transportation from the airport to the resort.

We arrived at the resort about 4:30 and were met by the concierge desk and promptly offered cold towels and a glass of champagne. We were escorted to our room, 159 in the West wing, and were very pleased to receive a 2 category upgrade. We had booked the lowest category room. We had a view of the West beach and the breeze from the balcony (sliding glass doors that opened into our room, not a real outside balcony) was wonderful. We also had the jacuzzi in our room, which we took full advantage of considering our already long day. About a half hour after we got to the room they brought us a fruit and cheese tray, which we had not ordered, but were very grateful for, since we were hot, tired and hungry and had no idea yet about restaurants and meal times on the resort. Frank asked for a bottle of white wine and the waiter promptly brought us one about 10 minutes later. It was HEAVEN!! We unpacked, took a tour of the resort and checked out the dinner menus. We ate at Bayside and the meal was wonderful. Frank had venison and I had Veal Picatta. So far the food and service was everything and more than we had expected.

Sunday morning, our first full day at BRP, and our hopes that we would have lots of sunshine. We ate at Bayside for breakfast and ordered omelets. There are lots of choices for ingredients, but a word to the wise. If you like your eggs cooked well, not runny, even the omelets, order them cooked hard. The omelets were delicious but they were a little undercooked for our tastes. After breakfast we headed down to the beach and some sun time. Both beaches are very small, but the West beach is the largest. It is almost impossible to get full sun all day at either of the beaches without putting your chairs on the pier and then you have to contend with the blowing sand. After a couple of days of chasing the sun around and moving our chairs, we decided to try the pool deck and this was much better. For those who want to get the best benefit of the sun, the chairs at the pool work the best and you are also close to the hot tub. If you like the option of sun and shade, the beach will work very well for you. They do bring out the yellow flags about 10:30 in the morning and whenever you want a drink you put the flag up and someone will come and take your order. We were very disappointed with the service around the pool though. We only had someone come to inquire about getting us drinks once during the 3 days we were up there. Most times we went to the bar ourselves and got our own drinks. Also, we found that the drinks that they brought you either on the beach or at the pool, were very light on alcohol. We are not heavy drinkers, but there were a couple of times our drinks tasted like they hadn't put any alcohol in them at all. We had much better luck getting our own from the main bar off the lobby instead of the beach bar. I did mention this to the managers and put it on our questionaire that we handed in before we left. We had been told, and it was very evident from the lack of people there, that the resort was only about one third full. So we didn't quite understand why we had such a problem getting service.

From here on, I'll try to summarize things to make this a little shorter.

The weather was very beautiful most of the time we were there. We did have a few nights of heavy rain, but things cleared up by mid morning and the rest of the day was hot and sunny.

The restaurants are excellent to say the least. We did not have a bad meal while we were there. We tried room service several days for breakfast and once for lunch and the orders were delivered promptly and were very acurrate. We did not try room service for dinner. We dined at Le Pappillon once and the food, service, and wine were excellent. Their menus at Le Pappillon are heavy on seafood and since Frank is not a big seafood eater, we tried to check these out before we made reservations. We had the Flambe one evening at the Bayside and it was very, very good. It is a set menu that doesn't change and you must make reservations 24 hours in advance for the Flambe. We did not venture off property for any meals as the food at BRP was too good to pass up. We couldn't imagine finding anything better elsewhere. At the Bayside for dinner, they have a set menu and then specials that they change everynight. Our dinners were top rate, on a par with some of the finest restaurants we have ever been to. For lunches you have a choice of eating at the Beach grill where you can come from the beach in your swim wear with a coverup, or you can eat at the Bayside where you need to have shoes, shirts etc. Both choices are great and while the basic menu stays the same for both places, they do offer daily specials for both restaurants.

We did try the Moonlight Massage from the Spa and while I enjoyed it very much, the girl that was working with my husband must have been a little more heavy handed as he was very sore the next day. I used the gym and it was very nice, the equipment is excellent and they do have TV's to watch or music to listen to if you are interested. A couple we met, signed up for tennis lessons and said that there wasn't really a lesson, the instructor was just feeding them tennis balls. The tour desk is part of the gift shop and you need to make your reservations there for Dunns River Falls etc. They are very knowledgeable and there are many tours to choose from. We did do Dunns River Falls and it was a great experience. You don't really get the full effect of the falls from pictures, they are really breathtaking.

The entertainment on the property is very laid back. They have a band that plays every evening during dinner and a piano player in the main bar. There are no real shows, like the other resorts, but the night we had the returning guests dinner, Wednesday night, they did have a special performance by local folk dancers which was excellent.

We did bring lots of school supplies for the Mansfield school, the resorts local project, and Sandy McKoy arranged for us to meet the children and their teachers. The children range in age from 3 to 5 years old and they are taught in a 1 room school building where the 2 classrooms are separated from each other by only a chalk board. The resort hopes to help them build another classroom so that they can have real separation for each group. At age 5 they are already teaching them arithmatic and the children love to learn. There are about 25 to 30 boys and girls and something they could really use is clothing and shoes for the children. They would like used clothing only as they have to pay a duty on any new items. Sandy McKoy is going to get us an address of where to send items in the US that is a clearing house for Sandals/Beaches deliveries from the US to Jamaica. They will then, forward the items to BRP for the school. We plan on checking with friends and neighbors for clothing etc. that their children have outgrown so that we can send it along. I will post the address for anyone else who might be interested in participating, once Sandy gets it to me.

As a symopsis, BRP is a very beautiful resort, the rooms are lovely and the food is outstanding, however, we found that it is a little too quiet for us and lacks some of the wonderful things we have found at other Sandals resorts. Our favorite still remains Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay. We did leave early on Friday from BRP and stopped on SRC to say hello to all of the wonderful people we know there and to spend a couple of hours on the beach. And even though we had just finished a week at BRP, we didn't feel as though we were really home until we got to SRC.

We hope to get back there in the fall. We hope that this helps everyone and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.