Jeff’s & Amy’s Honeymoon at Beaches Royal Plantation October 28 – November 3, 2002

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 6:05 a.m. from Cincinnati so we stayed in a hotel near the airport the night before. We took a 4:30 a.m. shuttle to the airport. There was no one at the airport so check-in took about two minutes. (FYI….You cannot get a cup of coffee or anything, for that matter, at CVG before 6:00 am) We flew from Cincinnati to Atlanta and Atlanta to Montego Bay. Both flights were on time and pretty uneventful. When we got to MBJ, we breezed through immigration and customs and went on to the Beaches/Sandals booth. I asked about the flight to Boscobel and it was scheduled to leave shortly so we decided to take the flight. We were shuttled to another part of the airport to wait for the flight. The flight to Boscobel ended up being delayed about 45 minutes. The flight takes you right along the coast and it is absolutely beautiful. When we got off the plane, we found the BRP driver. We were driven to the resort in the Sandals stretch Mercedes-Benz. What a way to begin our vacation! Our driver was very friendly and pointed out some of the different resorts. We passed Beaches Boscobel, GLSS, and Couples Ocho Rios on the way to BRP.

BRP is absolutely gorgeous. It is everything that everyone says on TTO and then some. We were greeted at the resort by Sunshine (his name says it all – very friendly, energetic man). There was another couple checking in at the same time we were. The couple was on the same flight we were from ATL to MBJ. They took the van and had just arrived at the resort so the flight ended up taking a little more time because of the delays. Check-in was quick and easy. Sunshine and Cyrus were taking care of the other couple and us at the same time. After check-in was complete, Sunshine gave us a quick tour of the resort (while they got our room ready for us) and then Cyrus took us to our room. We were in Room 354. It was beautiful and the view was incredible.

The first night was the beach party. We went down to the Manager’s party first and Mario went around and talked to everyone. He is a very nice man. Then we went down to the beach party. We were sat at a table with two other couples on their honeymoon (the one couple was checking in the same time we were). The buffet dinner was very good and the fire dancer guy was entertaining.

We would spend most of our days lying on the beach. The beach never really seemed crowded except the first full day that we were there (there were still plenty of places to sit). There were people from a cruise ship at the resort. I guess that they were there with some travel agents. I don’t really know the story on this but I got the impression from Mario that this was a one-time thing. They had even set up a buffet lunch at the Royal Café that day. The beach butler service was always GREAT! We never really had to put up the flag because the waitresses would just walk around and ask if you needed anything. They would also bring a fruit plate around occasionally.

We didn’t do many watersports. We went out on the glass bottom boat one afternoon. It only takes you past SOR and the BGS beach (probably not more than a 20 minute boat ride). We also snorkeled one day. This was neat for me because I had never done this. They don’t take you very far from the resort and you are out there for about a half an hour. We only saw a few fish and a small eel. We went to Dunn’s River Falls with 2 other couples from the resort. We had a great time doing this. We had a guy from the resort video taping us the entire time. We bought the tape for $30. The tape is 17 minutes long. It’s neat to see but I’m still not sure it was worth the money. The vendors outside the falls are very pushy. If you have a hard time saying no, then I wouldn’t even walk through. I left my husband with no money so I figured he was safe not to be talked into buying anything but he ended up taking some wood carvings and we had to leave $20 at the front desk for the vendor.

The atmosphere around the resort seemed very laid back and quiet all week until our last night there. There was a big party (probably a group of at least 20 people) that had just arrived at the resort for a wedding the next day. The resort is very small and intimate so you pretty much knew when there was someone new there. We also became friendly with a lot of the guests that were there for much of the time that we were. We would sit and talk after dinner or hang out in the bar with a group of people. We were on a first name basis with quite a few other guests. We went to BGS disco one night with 2 other couples and we went to Margaritaville on Halloween with 2 other couples from the resort. BGS disco was OK. There were probably only ten other people in the place. Margaritaville was a blast. We all wore our swimsuits and went down the slide and hung out in the pool. We were the only people in the pool. There was a free shuttle running from BGS to Margaritaville on Halloween so we asked the concierge at BRP if they could have it swing by and pick us up. No problem, mon.

We ordered room service for breakfast a couple of times. It always arrived on time. The food was very good and hot but they never got our order quite right. It was usually close enough but never right. We ate at Bayside on other days for breakfast and the food was always very good. I think we had an omelet for breakfast every day we were there. We would eat our lunches down at the Royal Café. Food was very good here. My husband discovered “jerk” food and loved it. I liked it a lot, too, but the jerk sauce that they give you on the side is too spicy for me. We stayed 6 nights at BRP and ate dinner at Bayside 4 of the nights. The food was EXCELLENT. I had lobster every night. I would usually order the lobster and also a steak so they would bring me smaller portions of each. My husband got the lobster tail one night and it was HUGE. I’m somewhat a picky eater so I stick to what I know that I like but my husband was trying different things and liked everything that he ordered. He tried the escargot and loved it. He would also get the soup every day and he liked every soup that he had. We went to the French restaurant one night with the two couples that we had sat with at the buffet. The French restaurant was good, but Bayside was just as good. In fact, we though the service at Bayside was much better. We went to the Italian restaurant at SOR one night. Food and service were great at this restaurant. SOR is gorgeous; it is just a lot bigger resort than what we had grown used to at BRP.

The service at BRP is incredible. Everyone was great but there were some people that really stood out. Audrey (waitress – Bayview/Appleton Lounge) was awesome. If one of us would start to walk inside to get a drink, she would stop us before we would get to the door. She was so nice and friendly. We also loved Siboney and his bar tricks. He kept a group of about 12 of us entertained one night in the Appleton Lounge. Giovanni was such a nice man. He will do anything in his power to make sure everything is going the way you want it to. He was always asking how everything was every time we seen him. He would also just hang out and talk with you. Our room was always cleaned while we were down at the beach during the day, our beds were turned down every night, and our fridge was re-stocked everyday. We had talked with many other people at the resort about how spoiled we were going to be after being at a place like BRP. Everything was absolutely wonderful.

We took the bus back to the airport. When we were leaving BRP, Giovanni and Sunshine were both out there to say good-bye to everyone, they were waving as we pulled away. The bus ride wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was neat to see the sights along the way. Our flights home were uneventful and we arrived back to the cold weather of Cincinnati. Kind of hard to believe we were just in Jamaica.

We had only ran into one couple that had been “bumped” to BRP and that was because they were at BGS and didn’t like it, so they asked to be moved somewhere else.

I know that this is kind of long and rambles a lot but there were just so many good things to talk about that I didn’t want to leave out. We will definitely be back to BRP. I don’t know how soon we will make it back but I do know that we will DEFINITELY be back.