Breezes Runaway Bay by pritzkit

September 1 through 8, 2002

Went to Breezes Runaway Bay during the September Special. We probably would have chosen BRB anyway, but the promise of a free return trip if we wanted one sealed the deal. We were at Breezes Bahamas last year, and while we were a bit disappointed in that property, we felt comfortable with giving SuperClubs another try. We are a couple, 34 (F) and 47 (m), with no kids. An adult-only all-inclusive is very important to us, which limits our choices somewhat these days. Between the two of us, we’ve done almost all of the North American zone Club Meds and we met on a Windjammer Singles cruise.

Overall, we found BRB to be a great value, nice property, great beach & good folks. We’ve already booked next September. For more detail, read on. I’m warning you now, it’s long.

Property: Well maintained with a gorgeous variety of native plants & trees. Hibiscus flowers everywhere, including on your bed each night. Walkways are clean—no concerns about walking barefoot. They are laid out in such a way that you can take a nice stroll if you want to, but if you have a destination in mind you don’t have to go totally out of your way to get there.

Housekeeping/Rooms: Fine, nothing special. The only real problem is the layout of the bathtub & shower nozzle resulted in a flooded floor after every shower. We got used to standing a certain way to minimize the problem, but it seemed like such a silly for them not to fix. Housekeeping did a nice job, but it was often quite late in the day before the room was made up. I’m not sure what happens when the club is full (less than ½

full when we were there), but I guess they’d hire more staff?

Beach: Great stretch of soft tan sand, which the staff groomed continuously. Not sure if it’s the reef or the maintenance, but we never once encountered seaweed (which was our number one complaint with the beach at Breezes Bahamas). Water was warm and generally calm, but the current does have a little kick to it, especially as the wind picks up. The beach is long enough for a decent & safe walk, but once you leave the property, you do have to be prepared to deal with a little bazaar set up with 10 or so vendors or so selling junk and offering to braid your hair, and if you are a woman walking along, you’ll have to put up with hearing how beautiful you are and how you look like a party girl. A friendly but firm no is all it takes but you have to say it to each individual person. I personally did not find the walk worth the hassle.

Water sports: Always check with the guys if there is something you want to do. All sports were running, but if you don’t see anyone participating, it will seem to you like they aren’t doing the lesson or the activity that day. Just ask and they’ll tell you when the next time is, and quite often you’ll get a private lesson, catamaran ride, etc. Water ski instruction was not terrific—no beginner bar and not much help other than “keep your knees to your chest” ---but it was nice to be out on the boat anyway. People seemed to like the windsurfing instructor a lot. Glass bottom boat rides were offered several times a day (again, ask the guys---don’t rely on the posted schedule). The staff will take you out on a cat ride throughout the day. You have to wear those horribly uncomfortable, hot & sticky molded yellow life jackets, which made it unappealing to me, so I didn’t take one. They have sunfish sailboats you can take out, which is very unusual these days—most resorts only have Catamaran. They don’t have tiller extensions and the rope to the sheet is missing a pulley, so if it’s something you plan to do regularly, bring gloves, otherwise you will get rope burns & blisters. Do not miss the booze cruise on the big cat, which is free. With the right mix of people, it can turn into quite a party. Ours was supposed to have been an hour, but staff and guests were having so much fun, they took us swimming and we stayed out for two hours, which kind of explains Jamaica time for you---fun prevails over a fixed schedule every time. They hold them Tuesdays & Thursdays. Do the first one you are there for….weather is unpredictable and if they cancel, they don’t reschedule and you might miss out.

SCUBA & Snorkeling get their own paragraph. I didn’t dive that week, but people who did were really happy with the diving. The best part is the dive boats leave at a reasonable hour (9 or 9:30) which means the divers can actually have a life since they don’t have to get up at an ungodly hour to eat an early breakfast and be to the boat by 7. Night dive is available upon request. PADI certification for $300ish, 2 days of instruction and the rest is self study and open water practice. Snorkeling was fantastic. We went every day, right off the beach. I don’t know anyone who felt the need to take the snorkel boat, though they did offer it. All kinds of fish, plant life and coral. Some I’d never seen before. Very friendly sergeant majors, who will surround you if you just stand still. One day we saw some squid chasing each other around, squirting ink. Some people said they saw rays and flounder in the area near the nude beach.

Pool: Warm, nice & deep, long enough for laps. Skip the lap pool---very unappealing. About 10 or so brand new floats appeared a couple of days into our trip. The pool area is incredibly clean, with no standing water and no bar glasses hanging around. Plenty of towels, and though they make an attempt with the towel card thing, you can take as many as you want, whenever you want.

Land Activities/Entertainment: Staff are a really nice bunch of kids and you can tell they get along well with each other. They seem to enjoy helping you enjoy your vacation, but are also interested in and willing to discuss the political & social problems in Jamaica if you ask. Activities and games seem to take forever to get started, partly because it took so long for them to get people to participate, and by the time things started, the people who wanted to participate had lost interest. I think this is more a function of the club being less than ½ full than a reflection on the “fun-ness” of the guests or staff. Still, they kept at it everyday, unlike last year at Bahamas where they just gave up by Tuesday. On rainy afternoons, silly games and BINGO helped pass the time. Golf school was terrible. The pro was more interested in talking on his cell phone and helping experience golfers improve than he was with turning a rank beginner on to the sport. Tennis pro wasn’t much better—would shut down tennis at the first sign of rain---but there was a visiting pro (college student from California) with whom I had a great, free, private lesson.

Arts & Crafts with Clive gets its own paragraph: He is the best. It’s a must. Don’t miss it. T-shirt painting was a blast & I was quite impressed with myself when I wore my new creation out that night. Several afternoons a week, he paints scenes on fingernails. It is amazing the detail that man can get on a fingernail. It’s always a party in the Arts & Crafts shack, and Clive has to be one of the nicest human beings on the planet.

Bar staff: Quick & efficient. Easier to get to know the bartenders at the Pelican Lobby bar than at the beach/pool which is always busy.

Food: I enjoyed the buffet here more than any other all inclusive I’ve been to. My boyfriend only eats plain meat (no sauce or spices) and he felt limited at dinner. They had a carving station most nights, but only 1 type of meat. I found enough variety to keep me happy. A lot of people raved about Martino’s, the sit down restaurant. We weren’t impressed. Starlight Grill is nice if you want to get away from the noise of the band in the main buffet, but the choices there were really limited.

Nightlife/Entertainment: Unlike the Club Med entertainment model which uses the entertainment staff, the shows here were professionals. The house band was very good but repetitive. There are some songs I don’t care if I ever hear again as long as I live. Most of the visiting talent was really good. The time between the show and the nightclub was always a tough stretch---karaoke, casino, piano sing-a-long which just never got off the ground. We weren’t drinking that much this trip, so we often were bored during that period, lost interest and rarely made it to the night club. The night club played almost entirely techo music, which the staff really seemed to enjoy dancing to, and they are a blast to watch. I’m just not into that kind of music. If the nightclub is empty, I bet you could ask the DJ to play whatever you want. We did that last year, and had a night full of Motown and other 70’s and 80’s stuff. But, you have to ask. There was a fair turnout each night from what I heard.

Is that everything? Oh, no, weather:

Weather: First half of the week we had bright sunshine in the morning and around 1-2 pm the clouds would roll in and around 4-5 a light rain would fall. It actually provided a nice break from the sun and I think prevented some people from overdoing it and getting laid up with nasty burns. Midweek the clouds held off till much later, but the rain was heavier. Late in the week it was hazy all day. Our rule of thumb was, get in your beach time & water sports early in the day—afternoon the sea got too choppy & windy for most wind sports, the water got too dim for good snorkeling and the beach got too windy to be relaxing.

OK, now I’m done.