Beaches Royal Plantation Trip Report

November 4 – 10, 2002

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

For additional questions contact Crystal at cmarmstrong08@aol.com

Monday, November 4, 2002

¨ Departure from Atlanta & Arrival into Jamaica:

We arrived at the airport at 5am for the 7am flight out of Atlanta. Little did we know that the Air Jamaica (AJ) counter didn’t open until 5:30 a.m. So for anyone flying out of Atlanta, keep that in mind. We used the park and ride which is quite handy and cheaper for us than taking taxi’s in both directions and more beneficial for the end of trip (to be discussed in detail later in the report).

Once the AJ counter opened, we learned that the 7am flight was cancelled and that they had put us on an 8:50 am flight. We had called Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon to confirm the flights and everything was on time. When we called Saturday we also gave them our phone number at home and at BRP in case there were any problems with the flights. Needless to say they did not call us to let us know. AJ had not contacted any of the passengers (approximately 12 couples) behind us to let them know about the cancelled flight because there were a lot of dissatisfied customers. We also learned that we would not be making our 11:15am AJ express flight so we were prepared ourselves to take the 2-hour car ride to BRP.

At the AJ counter they were advertising first class upgrades for $110/person each way. We decided to pay for the upgrade since it was our anniversary week and proved to be a good move on our part (to be discussed in detail later in the report). We initially told by AJ and by our Travel Agent (TA) that we would pay about $400 extra per ticket for first class and that we could not upgrade at the counter. Bottom line – if you are interested in it – check at the counter when you check in at the airport.

First class staff were very attentive and brought around a couple of Jamaican newspapers to read during the flight.

Customs into Jamaica was a breeze. It took the luggage about 35 minutes to show up in baggage claim. It was neat that all first class luggages were together so it was quick once it began to come around. We gathered our luggage and proceeded to the Sandals/Beaches desk.

¨ Ride to BRP:

When we went to check in at the Sandals/Beaches desk, they knew we were “VIP” Sandals return guests and we were immediately placed in a private car instead of one of the buses that were not scheduled to leave for another 20 minutes. We were quickly told that the gentleman carrying our luggage was not part of Sandals – which we assume were vying for a tip. We tipped him $5 for 4 large bags. Our driver was Stephens. He was GREAT!! He had only been working for Sandals since August. The trip to BRP was very nice in terms of our driver pointing out interesting historical sites along the way. We also asked many questions about life in Jamaica, education, parishes, etc. so we learned A LOT. It ended up being a good trip since it was our first time to Jamaica. We saw Sandals Royal Caribbean, a few of the Super clubs, Ritz Carlton, Holiday Inn Sun spree on the way.

¨ Arrival at BRP and Suite:

What can I say? The brochure does NOT do this property justice. The weather was GORGEOUS!!! I was grinning so hard as we pulled into the property, my husband was laughing at me. I knew immediately we were going to have a great week – I could feel it. It was a nice slight breeze and you could hear and see the ocean the moment you stepped out of the car. You immediately felt yourself relaxing. We received the complimentary cool cloth and champagne upon arrival and we sat on the couch in the concierge area while another couple was checked in.

We received the short tour (as the property is not very big). Everything was intimate and elegant. I was very impressed with the ambiance of the entire property. The décor was wonderful and the staff and guests were all pleasant.

We were in suite 254 in the West Wing, which to us is a very nice wing. We liked being on the second floor of the west wing because you didn’t have to do a lot of steps to get to the main portion of the property or Bayside. The west wing is near 2 of the 3 restaurants (Bayside, Royal Café’). Papillion is in the middle of the property. We LOVED the view and the suite. It looked just like the brochure. I know that’s sometimes hard to believe. The bed was a large king size bed that was high and you could see the ocean by sitting or lying on the bed. There was a large TV with VCR in an armoire. Two beautiful lamps sat on each of the desk and beside table. There was a CD clock radio next to the bed as well. There were two phones in the suite (one cordless) with another phone in the bathroom. They did change out the phone in the bedroom so you can see if you have messages waiting from the corded phone without going into the bathroom to look for the blinking light.

The bar is fully stocked. We had brand new bottles of Absolute Vodka, Tanqueray, Appleton Rum, and Jonnie Walker. My husband loved the Tanqueray. There were also coffee’s, teas (mint, chamomile court, & orange garden). Inside the bar was Champagne, Ting, 7 up, Pepsi, diet Pepsi, club soda, apple juice, grapefruit, orange juice, pineapple, cranberry, bottled water and red stripe. I learned early one afternoon of the Wyclef Champagne and it is DELICIOUS. It is smooth and a little fruity. I would recommend trying it. I am not a big fan of champagne but this was great! They started stocking my bar with it, which you have to request when they refill it. They gladly fill your bar with whatever you want and take out what you don’t want.

The sitting area was comfortable with two large sitting chairs and the table that we used frequently for room service (mostly for breakfast). There was a plate of cheese and crackers and a welcome card from Mario – the General Manager. We later learned that Mario was out of town on business for the week.

The walk in closet was HUGE and WELCOMED. We loved it because it gave you an opportunity to hide your bags and still have enough room to walk around in it. It also housed the ironing board and iron on the wall out of the way.

The bathroom vanity area was GORGEOUS!! We loved the marble counters, mirrors, lighting, and other light decorations. There is a large floor length mirror on the wall behind the vanity, which is nice as well. They had the lemon grass body shampoos and hair products, which my husband loved.

The bathroom is nice and roomy and the title patterns are nice and colorful and match the color scheme of the vanity area.

While we waited a few moments for our bags to arrive and for them to tell us a little about our room, we opened the balcony door and listened to the breeze and just smiled. We ate some cheese and drank juices.

¨ Lunch:

We then realized we were pretty hungry since our day started at 4am and it was now 2pm. We went down to the Royal Café’ for lunch. Debbie has a new menu for Royal Café’ it is exactly the same one that is at the Café’. They happened to have the chicken Quesadilla’s as a special so I had those. They are delicious. I also learned later in the week that they would still make them for you even though they aren’t part of the menu. I also ordered the fruit plate with banana bread which is awesome! I also ordered a side of fries. The ketchup appeared to have a sweeter taste than Heinz. It is eatable but we also bought our own for the room.

Mark had a wonderful Caesar grilled shrimp salad, which we quickly adapted as one of our favorite dishes and had it, daily. He also ordered the lobster BLT that he said was also delicious. As a reference, you can also order a small Caesar salad and you can combine the grilled chicken and shrimp.

It was funny because we are used to sharing appetizers and ordering ice tea so when we first sat down, we forgot we could order ANYTHING to drink – we started with Pepsi – only because we aren’t big drinkers and were sort of taken aback for the first order. Mark also reminded me that I could order my own separate appetizer – again another thing I quickly adapted to.

Their ice cream menu is limited but good. All of the sorbets we tried were very good!! I would highly recommend trying the different ones and see what you like. We tried banana splits for dessert, which were very good as well.

We went back to the room, unpacked, and rested until the Manager’s cocktail party.

¨ Manager’s Cocktail & Beach Party:

We went to the Manager’s cocktail party, which started at 6pm. They had finger sandwiches and the drinks were rum punch & champagne. The cocktail party was held on the patio near the Jacuzzis and pool. We met Giovanni. He is WONDERFUL!!!! He indicated that he would be around a lot since Mario was away on business. When I mentioned Debbie’s website he was so shocked that anyone had mentioned him since he considered himself still “new on the block”. It seemed to be so happy about that and that people actually said good things about him. I also really surprised him about knowing he was from Aruba. He also had some VERY nice things to say about Debbie J.

Giovanni also talked about a new Sandals possibly opening up in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. He also hopes for one in Aruba. Which would be similar to BRP. He also indicated the property will now be called simply Royal Plantation Resort & Spa by Beaches. I started seeing some room service tags that had the new name on them.

We also had a couple of drinks in the Appleton lounge before dinner, which has a great ambiance to it.

The Beach Party started at 7pm and was great. They had several stations of food; salad, cold pastas, hot pastas, seafood, roast beef and pig carving, hot meats (jerk chicken, shrimp) and deserts. They also had lobster bisque soup, which was wonderful. My favorite soups during the week were the cream based soups. As a side note – Bayside & Papillion are closed on Monday nights for the beach party. ALL of the food we ate was delicious. The deserts were to tie for.

Dress was beach casual – men wore shorts or khaki’s and polo style shirts; ladies wore shorts, sundresses, skirts, and casual tops. I didn’t see many people wearing shoes, as it was a little difficult to walk in the sand with shoes.

The balancing chair act and the fire-eater were excellent. The announcer is telling you to take pictures but I would recommend video so you can truly catch the essence of the show. It was great.

Everyone was friendly and it almost felt like a little family because there were about 11 tables out on the beach. There is also a photographer that takes pictures and you can see how they come out. They were $8. We bought one because they came out really nice and they printed “Beaches Royal Plantation” on the upper right. It was a nice touch. Met a couple that quickly became our buddies for the week that were originally booked for Dunn’s River and hated the rooms. They were about to fly back to San Diego until they were told about BRP. When they stepped on the property they fell in love and moved their entire reservation for the week to BRP.

¨ Turndown Service:

Turndown occurred between 6:30 and 8:45pm. We later learned it happened between 7pm and 7:45pm. It was great to come back to a cool room after being a little on the warm side on the beach. They change your bath towels out if you have used them during the day as well as lay down these white cloths that we later learned in the week had “Good Night” imprinted on them as you step into the bed and “Good Morning” imprinted on them as you step out of the bed. I thought that was pretty cute. They would always turn on the AC, draw the curtains, lay a positive quote/thought, and a breakfast room service menu in the center of the bed. It was definitely nice to walk into that every night.

Tuesday, November 5, 2002

NY Times newspaper fax arrived promptly under our door.

We had ordered room service for breakfast at 8am. It arrived on time and it was great! BRP really spends time on taste and appearance of their foods. They did a great job at both. I had the omelet’s fried well, English muffin, home fries, hot chocolate and pineapple juice. My husband had the omelets with egg whites, French toast, and mango juice. It was all delicious. Whenever you order room service they bring a tablecloth and enough china to feed a family of four. It was so elegant.

Took a nap until my reflexology spa treatment. The staff there is great!! Dorothea at the front desk is very pleasant, professional and helpful. I decided to book my spa treatments 2 weeks before arriving to be sure I had the time slots I wanted. I would highly recommend this if you are seriously interested in spa treatments. Nadia did my treatment and did an excellent job. You lie down on a heated table in one of the spa rooms with a light sheet and blanket over top of you. There are candles and light music playing…. VERY relaxing…. I would highly recommend this treatment, as it’s a combination of pressure points applied to your ankles and feet. It’s a 35 min. treatment and it cost $67. When you first get there, they show you around the spa – pointing out the lockers, tea, steam and sauna. They provide you a locker, robes, and flip flops for any treatments you receive. I decided to do the eucalyptus steam bath. At first breathing in the eucalyptus is very strong so I had a difficult time breathing in there. Although I liked the way it opened up your pores. I ended up only staying in there about 5 minutes. Just be sure to drink your water. I would highly recommend anyone using the steam baths and sauna – especially because they are included in the package.

You can pay for your treatments by charging it to your room or by using another credit card. It’s your choice.

After the spa treatment we went to lunch. I had the grilled shrimp Caesar salad and seafood linguine, which quickly became one of my favorite dishes. Mark had the grilled shrimp Caesar salad as well and the Monte Crisco sandwich special. It thought it was wonderful as well. I think we ate entirely too much shrimp and seafood but what the heck it was our vacation and they were doing an awesome job preparing it!

We relaxed on the beach for a while then decided to go to our room for a bit. We decided to order the room service of jerk chicken and fries. The service was fast and the food was great. Mark asked for the jerk seasoning to be light and it was actually pretty good.

At 5:30pm we had our couples moonlight massage on the pier with the flags. It was AWESOME. That night they had 5 couples that were scheduled for the massage. The combination of the ocean waves, the burning of the lemon grass, and the treatment were heavenly. It is something we highly recommend for couples. To finish it off, they gave you champagne to sip on after the treatment, which was a classy touch but the downside is with so many couples scheduled, you couldn’t stay on the pier and enjoy it as much as you would have liked.

There were quite a few couples that were receiving the couples massage so it is definitely a big hit. We met one couple that did the couple’s massage and the couple’s aromatherapy treatments daily. We were a little envious especially because the staff does a great job.

We ate dinner at Bayside and it was beautiful and actually a little crowded. You had to wait for a seat on the patio. Service and food were great. They set up a wine/champagne table in the middle of the patio nightly and the staff serves you from that table. I had the pan-seared chicken in shitake mushroom sauce, Caesar salad, and shrimp cocktail. For dessert I had peaches crepe (which is divine). The chicken was great as well. Mark had the Caesar salad and shrimp cocktail as well. He also had the lobster. For dessert he had a lime sorbet, which turned out to be very tart so be careful if you select that one.

Turndown service was complete by the time we returned to our room.

Since BRP is only given a certain number of slots nightly at Kimonos (Japanese Restaurant at Dunn’s River) and Valentino’s (Italian Restaurant at Ocho Rios), we decided to book Kimono’s for Friday night. We booked 4 slots for us and another couple. We were looking forward to it – I will tell you more about it later the report.

Wednesday, November 6, 2002

NY Times newspaper fax arrived promptly under our door.

Room service was running late (which seemed to be a pattern for the rest of our stay). We assumed most were eating in their room. We scheduled room service between 7:30 and 8:00. They called at 8:10 to say they were going to be late. I asked how late and he said, we will be there right away. We are creatures of habit for breakfast and basically had the same thing as we had Monday. We later found out that room service was slow because of a lot of people were checking out today.

After eating we went to work out in the gym. It’s nice with treadmills, bikes, stair climbers, free weights, exercise balls, mats and resistance strings. The cool lemon grass towels were also there and plenty of water. It was nice because they have two televisions and several music stations to keep you occupied. It was nice and kept very clean.

We then went to the gift shop and bought a few souvenirs. We didn’t buy a lot of souvenirs because we planned to buy more across the street on Thursday. You can also charge things there to your room as long as you swiped your credit card upon check in. There you can also get information on tours and stuff.

We decided to go down to the Royal Café’ for a little lunch. We both ordered the shrimp Caesar salad again. My husband ordered the jerk ribs (lightly jerked) and I ordered the seafood linguine again. My husband loved the jerk ribs. He also ordered a site of barbecue sauce. He said the barbecue sauce was actually much hotter than the jerk seasoning – so beware if you order something with barbecue sauce on it. To my surprise after a few bites of my salad, I began feeling really sick and didn’t finish my salad. I also asked the server to cancel my linguine. No worries – it wasn’t the food - for some reason I have been having some problems with my stomach getting upset.

I decided to go lie down to get my stomach settled a bit. We later went down to get some of the chocolate ice cream. It is delicious. We then got into the water for quite a while and then went up to our room to relax before going to the returning guests party at 6pm.

What can I say? The returning guests party was wonderful!! Sandy and Giovanni are the best!! They were great host. There were a total of 4 couples for the party. Our evening kicked off in the drawing room upstairs next to Papillion. They greeted each lady with a single red rose and a glass of champagne. We then signed the guest book and mingled. They took a group picture that they slid under our door on Friday – there was no charge. At 6:30, we went next door to Papillion. They served:

o Shitake mushroom and potato soup

o Roast Guinnea chick lobster with tarragon sauce

o Sorbet in champagne

o Pan fried fillet with Dijon mustard, gherkins and white wine

o Crème brule in filo pastry

o Petit Fours

Substitutions were made for anyone that wanted/needed it. Needless to say, Sandy in PR kept the table very lively. She is a joy and is very funny. She knows a lot about different topics and was able to keep everyone engaged in the conversation. We ate, sat, and talked until 8:30 when the Hatsfield Cultural Group performed then we went downstairs to the covered patio and watched them and had additional drinks. It was a great show! The show ended at 9:30.

Special Note: Giovanni told us later in the week that they are looking at the possibility of adding a cocktail cruise to the returning guests party itinerary. This cruise would replace the drawing room reception. They are trying to procure a boat that will hold 20 to 30 people. Stayed Turned. I told him to keep Debbie informed of that neat addition to the returning guests party.

We then decided to go to the game room for a couple of games of pool. We ended up playing with our friends from San Diego. We played 2 couple games. We ended up each winning a game. By then it was 11:30 and you could say that we were a little tipsy because we had been drinking non-stop since about 6:15 earlier that night.

Again turndown service was provided when we returned to our room. We placed our breakfast room service order for our anniversary and retired to bed.

Thursday, November 7, 2002

NY Times newspaper fax arrived promptly under our door.

Room service as a little late again but it was good. Since today is our anniversary it really didn’t matter. Today we added the muffin basket, which was really good. It had an assortment of muffins and Danishes and banana bread.

We asked the water sports guys to take us on the glass bottom boat. We mainly wanted to take some pictures from the water and get out for a relaxing ride. They take two boats out 10:00 and 1:00. It’s free and it’s a 35 min. ride. You get to see coral reef as well as the BRP’ General Managers house, Sandals Ocho Rios and Beaches Grande Sport. It’s a nice relaxing ride. We went out at 10:00 and had the boat to ourselves, which was neat.

We went shopping across the street and got some really good bargains and souvenirs. Just make sure you know the prices of the stuff you are interested in by looking in BRP’s gift shop. Then you will know how to bargain. We got a few tips from the guys at the front desk – ALWAYS have singles and fives when you go to bargain, if they give you a price, go half that and then meet somewhere in the middle. It wasn’t a lot of pressure and was fun. One example that sticks out is the Blue Mountain coffee; in the BRP gift shop 1 pound is $19.99, across the street you can get it for $8 to $9 a pound. We don’t drink coffee but my dad loves different coffees so we got him some.

We ate lunch at Bayside for the first time this week and it was great!!! I had the fried calamari, grilled chicken Caesar, and the Louisiana fish sandwich. I also had strawberry sorbet for dessert. I loved the calamari but I liked the shrimp Caesar better than the chicken Caesar. The fish sandwich was pretty good but tasted a little fishy which could have been the type of fish. Mark also tried the grilled chicken Caesar, shrimp Alfredo and the strawberry sorbet. He said the Alfredo was delicious.

We then relaxed, ordered some drinks, played in the pool and then relaxed in the Jacuzzi for a bit.

We had decided earlier that we would like to order room service for dinner. We had more fried calamari (you have to ask for this for room service and they will fix it for you even though it’s on the lunch menu), peppercorn soup (DELICIOUS), shrimp Caesar, and lobster. We also had a bottle of Wyclef champagne and the Chocolate Truffle Cake (THE BEST DESSERT). We had a great dinner! Giovanni had them make up one of the plates with our names on it that said “Happy Anniversary” I thought that was really nice.

After we ate, I saw a gecko that was crawling up our wall. Needless to say I couldn’t rest until it was out. Mark was able to get him out with hurting him in one of our towels.

After that we listened to jazz, opened our gifts and enjoyed the ocean sounds….very romantic

Friday, November 8, 2002

NY Times newspaper fax arrived promptly under our door.

We awoke to rain. It rained until about 1pm I think. We decided to eat at the Bayside this morning. The menu is similar to room service and everything was good. It was very busy – we assumed because of the influx of people on Thursday.

While eating we met a couple that had never been to Sandals and had booked at Sandals Montego Bay – they were bumped all the way to BRP. They didn’t know the difference and of course were not dressed for any of the restaurants. They didn’t seem upset.

We met another couple from San Diego on their honeymoon that was so displeased with Sandal’s Dunn’s River that they were prepared to go back to California on the next flight out. They indicated the rooms at Dunn’s River were old, paint was peeling, runs were ripped and they were in the next to best category room. They were saddened to learn that the best category room wasn’t impressive. They were told that they could check out Sandals Ocho Rio’s and BRP. They decided to go to BRP first and they said as soon as they pulled up to the lobby, they knew they were in the right place. Luckily there reservations transferred pretty easily.

We relaxed today as we had done many days this week. Our jobs are very hectic – 60 to 70 hours per week – so we were VERY happy for the lazy carefree days that we had received at BRP. We played some more pool, read, relaxed and then trotted off to the beach.

During the day we had to keep running for cover because a rain shower would sweep through then the sun would come out and rain but it was brief so it wasn’t bad. It stopped raining at we got a bite to eat at Royal Café’. They would have let you eat it in your room but you would have had to take it upstairs to your room yourself. We were able to get a table right near the bar so we were protected.

We went back on the beach, read then got in the ocean for a bit. We later learned from Giovanni that we could have food on the beach. Some of the staff had told us that it was not allowed. There had been not bar service really on the beach much of the afternoon until Giovanni spoke with the staff then they were out there taking requests. We ordered a few daiquiris and some ice cream and I read a bit.

We met up with our friends from San Diego and we played out in the ocean for a while until we decided it might be getting close to the time for us to go to Kimono’s. We decided to meet them at the lounge at 6:30 for drinks. They had run out of Wyclef and Giovanni found us some more.

The shuttle to other properties for dinner was full that night but it was fun riding over with everyone and hearing about their experiences. There ended up being two sisters that also had reservations for Kimono’s that night so we ended up eating with them as well. Since we got to SDR early, we walked around the property a bit. It was a HUGE property compared to BRP. There were many people, very busy, noisy and a bit smokier. We quickly agreed that BRP was the right choice for us.

We arrived for our 8pm reservations. We had a great table of people. I ordered an assortment of sushi and Mark ordered the Chicken Tofu Spring Roll, which he surprisingly liked. We both ordered the chicken and rice soup. For the main course everyone received the rice, vegetables, chicken, shrimp, fish, beef and pork! It was VERY filling. I don’t think anyone at the table finished all of their food. Again the drinks kept coming. We got some great pictures and it was a lot of fun. The food was great!!

We came back and danced to the Jamaican band until about 11:30 then retired to bed after a great evening!

Saturday, November 9, 2002

NY Times newspaper fax arrived promptly under our door.

We had room service once again for breakfast. We spent our last full day at BRP on the beach. We ate lunch at Bayside. The spicy pumpkin soup was DELICIOUS. Giovanni was able to get the recipe for me. If anyone wants it, let me know! It is the best. Actually ALL of their cream based soups were delicious.

We ended up going back up to the room before dinner to shower and pack since we had to have our bags out front at 7am the next morning (which I highly recommend). We received BRP t-shirts and a trinket box in our suite by the door, which was really nice.

We had dinner at Bayside around 7:30. Had my last bowl of spicy pumpkin soup and my last lobster for a while. It was all delicious. We were too full to order dessert then so we decided to order it later in our room. We later ordered key lime pie and the chocolate truffle cake. BOTH of these desserts are to die for. I think I could have eaten an entire key lime pie but decided it wouldn’t be a good thing.

I was VERY hesitant to do the 7am baggage check in at the game room but in the end was very glad we did. I would HIGHLY recommend everyone use it if you can.

We retired to bed early since we had to get up pretty early the next morning – the first time I had done that in about 10 days J.

Sunday, November 10, 2002

We received our last NY Times newspaper fax this morning under our door.

Sad to say it’s our last day and we got up at 6:15am to do some last minute packing and get the bags ready to be out front our door. We had to be over at the game room between 7and 8. When we first arrived, no one was there but after about 10 minutes an AJ representative and a security person to check your bags showed up. We were the first ones there so it was good. They actually do everything for you as if you were at the check in counter at the airport. We got our boarding passes and then the security person checked our bags. They said we wouldn’t have to see our bags again until we landed at Atlanta – little did they know! L

We then picked up our larger size BRP shirts. We took some final pictures of the property and went to relax for the last time in the open lobby under Papillion. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! This was something we hadn’t done all week. We were not early risers this week so we didn’t get to take in the property before in a beautiful quiet state. We discovered the great coffee, teas and assortment of muffins and the wonderful banana bread. If you can try the orange flavored muffins, they are GREAT!!! To sit in the open lobby, eating and listening to the ocean is so hard to pass up. It made you rethink the pre check in we had just completed.

We ate our last breakfast and then relaxed a bit. We went to go gather our carry on bags to check out by 11am and that’s when they told us that we could keep our room until 2:15pm when our shuttle was scheduled to take us to AJ express. We were excited because we wanted to relax once again on the beach and Jacuzzi.

We met our friends for our last lunch at Bayside – it was wonderful of course. The soup of the day was the seafood bisque – DELICIOUS – as all of their cream based soups were this week. We also ordered the special of the day, which was a chicken stew in a light sauce with mushrooms and rice. It was great. We were really surprised at how good it was. We also had the Caesar salads. We were going to have dessert but time caught up with us and we didn’t get to have any.

We then took the short 20-minute ride to the AJ Express station. We ended up having to wait an hour because the flight was delayed – little did we know just the beginning of our delays en route to Atlanta. The flight was great. I have to admit the one time I took a propeller plane it was VERY VERY bumpy and I could feel everything. However, this flight was great! It was fairly smooth sailing except for one little bump about 10 minutes before landing. You could see pretty well from the plane – I think I have a picture or two of that in my collection. We landed without incident at the Montego Bay airport and they shuttled us over to the main terminal.

As soon as we walked in is when we were VERY VERY grateful that our bags had already been checked. The line for AJ was AT LEAST 1-1/2 to 2 hours long to get to the counter. It was that many people leaving Sunday. People looked miserable. We turned to go directly through the security check and got through without any problems.

We did a little window-shopping then proceeded to the first class spot to relax until our 6pm flight. So far so good there were no problems and it was on time. My husband just happened to get up to go to the restroom and he saw that it was delayed one hour. We then decided to go get some wings from Margaretville. There were MANY horror stories about AJ having problems all weekend trying to get people home so I was getting a little anxious. Finally it was time for us to go to our gate and we learned that the flight had not gotten to Montego Bay. AJ had all of their passengers waiting at the gate to board and the plan was not even there. They did not tell you anything until 7pm when we were suppose to be pulling from the gate that the flight had JUST landed and was being prepared for us. They said we would depart at 7:30pm. So we all sat right there on the floor in line until then. They did not actually start loading the plan until 7:50pm. The line was so long and I think we finally got on the plane at about 8;15. We ended up not backing away from the terminal until 8:40pm (As a little reminder – we were suppose to be getting OFF the plan in Atlanta at 8:40pm.)

We were cruising along nicely, first class was great then all of a sudden my ears started acting up. I woke Mark up and said, “Something is not right here, we are changing altitude.” We cruised for another 10 minutes or so then the pilot came on and said that Atlanta Customs was not going to wait for the plane to land and that our plane had to land in Miami to go through customs. The passengers were amazed. So we began our dissent and landed at 10:10pm in Miami. Everyone and our luggage had to get off the plane, go through customs and recheck all the bags (This is where the AJ representative from this morning at 7am in the BRP game room told us we wouldn’t see our bags again until Atlanta – some how this doesn’t feel like Atlanta). They told us that this would not take long and we would be back up in the air “in no time” – never trust those words. Customs was a breeze because they gave us “red carpet treatment”. There were guides taking us through the airport leading us to where we had to go. Once our bags were loaded, just out of curiosity I checked the departures screen. They had us departing at 12:15am (Yes – Monday morning) I couldn’t believe it. We then had to go through security and it felt like I almost had to undress because I kept buzzing. We were finally cleared and ready to go at 11:00pm. But we had to wait another hour and 15 minutes.

Finally midnight rolled around and they began calling us to board. I was surprised they didn’t call first class first but they loaded from the back of the plane to the front – obviously we were close to last with us being in seat 2A & 2B. We finally were all settled and ready to go at about 12:30am. We are ready to go and then the Pilot comes on the speaker saying, “The pilots that flew you in to Miami have used all of their duty time, we are the two replacement pilots and we ask for your patience for another 30 minutes while we do our cross checks.” I think everyone just about lost it then. We were all thinking – why couldn’t that have been handled while we were on the ground for the past 2 hours. So here we are – all strapped in, ready to go, and having to wait ANOTHER 30 minutes. Finally we pulled away from the gate at 1:05am. “Lucky for us” the Atlanta towers provided us with a flight plan that could get us to Atlanta in 1 hour 15 minutes. So off we were again…

We finally landed in Atlanta at 2: 25am. Glad to be home we quickly got off the plane. I think just about everyone was sleep as we walked to the trains that would take you from the international terminal to baggage claim. But wait ----- no it couldn’t be, here we are in Atlanta at 2:30am in the morning and the train that takes people through the airport is now shut down. If you have never been to Atlanta – its approximately a 1 and a half mile walk from the international terminal to baggage claim. Needless to say EVERYONE was livid. On top of having a late departure, re routing to Miami, sitting in the Miami airport for 2 hours, then waiting on the plane, we now had to walk close a mile and a half to get your bags and get out of the airport? We should have landed 6 hours ago this was ridiculous. Needless to say, we walked – tired and all. When we got to baggage claim, luckily all of our bags were there. We collected our things and got to our car and home without any more fanfare. I doubt if we could have taken much more.

We finally pulled into our garage at home at 3:40am Monday morning after having started our day at 6:15am Sunday morning. What a return home…. On top of that my husband had to leave home at 5:30am to go to work.

We are just happy to be home and that we didn’t have to be stuck in Jamaica as many travelers had to do.

Summary:

¨ First Class – well worth the money based on the flight problems we encountered. The seats are pretty large and roomy. I think the service you get from Atlanta to Jamaica in terms of pre boarding, the attention given during the delays etc. were better than what we got on the return from Jamaica to Atlanta.

¨ Food – I don’t remember having anything that was bad. All of the food was delicious. Breakfast. Lunch, dinner and snacks. Also all of the drinks were good. They will make anything for you and all of the liquors are top shelf.

¨ Hotel in General - Beaches does a good job trying to describe the ambiance but it doesn’t compare to seeing the real thing.

¨ Suites – were just gorgeous. They look exactly like the brochures describe them. They are very clean and neat. They look as if you were the first couple that stayed in that suite. They do a great job at keeping them up.

¨ Water sports Staff – pretty nice guys. Seemed to know the different sports and kept an eye on BRP guests to be sure they were ok. Also appeared to be very knowledgeable about Jamaica and things to do.

¨ Spa Treatments – book them as early as 2 weeks prior to your arrival to ensure you get the time slots you want.

¨ Other Sandals/Beaches restaurants – book those upon arrival if you know which ones you want to go to.

¨ Entertainment – was nice and not too long. They would have nice music playing during dinner and then Jamaican music of some type around 9:30pm until about 11:00pm. I liked the mix of cultural and dance hall type Jamaican music. I also enjoyed the trio that would play at the Royal Café’. It was a great combination next to the beach or while you were eating lunch.

¨ Party’s – the Manager’s Beach Party and the Returning guest’s Party were great. I enjoyed both. I liked the relaxed feeling of the beach party and the more formal Papillion for the returning party.

¨ No Solicitors – I enjoyed very much that there were no solicitors or pressure to buy items while you were on the property. The only time vendors were allowed were at the Beach Party and they were not persistent, only if you came over to their table did they try to get you to buy something. There was another vendor that was doing a lot of painting by the beach. He would lay out his art work just about every day and you could buy one if you wanted but again he didn’t pressure you or ask you questions.

¨ Jet Ski – my husband was going to jet ski but he thought $45 for 30 minutes was a little steep. We paid $30 for 30 minutes in Antigua. There weren’t many takers but the owner certainly did ride up and down the beach enough trying to get people to ride.

¨ Fishing Boats – many fishing boats were out. You could take a small boat or one of the larger ones out for either half days or full days. I think the gift shop had information about that.

¨ Suite Key Problems - make sure you don’t get your room keys wet. We had 3 sets of keys that kept going dead. We know only the first time they may have gotten wet but we are not sure what happened the other 2 times. They will re key them for you at the front desk..

¨ Air Jamaica - the worst part of the trip to us was the return flight home. I hope others going in the future will not experience anything as hectic as what we had to go through. We heard they had switched to a new computer system Friday night and it was throwing everything off. I would say that’s an understatement.

¨ Staff Kudos – We had many wonderful people helping us this week – but these people stuck out the most:

o Natalie – primarily at Royal Café’

o Nicole – primarily at Bayside for lunch

o Audrey – primarily serving drinks for the Appleton Lounge

o Sandy – PR Office

o Mark – primarily at Papillion

o Giovanni – Asst. Manager

o Michael – Bayside Dinner

o Sunshine – Concierge

I hope I have covered everything but please feel free to drop me an email if you have further questions!

We can’t wait to get back!!!