Trip 11/00
This was our first trip to Grand Lido Braco (GLB) and our second trip
to
very high
expectations for GLB since
we loved Couples and GLB was
considerably more
expensive and offered no
excursions in the price.
To give
you a quick summary, we loved the
resort and plan to return
next November.
Facilities
Room
We arrived
in
greeted by singers at
the airport. Immigration was a breeze! The hour-
long bus
ride was not bad at all. Check in took about 30 minutes and
was a
little disorganized. We were booked for a Jr. Suite A/N. We
gave them
a voucher for
a free upgrade. They took us to
our room
#3029 on the ground floor of the second building. It
was a 1 bedroom
suite. The view
was wonderful!!! And the convenience outstanding!!!
The room
was very simple
but very clean. It remained that way all
week. The maid
service was outstanding. We got clean towels twice a
day. Later in the week we received a beautiful
bouquet of flowers and
a fruit
bowl and
days the
bed was turned down at night with
a towel sculpture on the
foot of
the bed and
radio turned on but
not every day. We were
totally pleased
with our room with the exception of the shower. It
varied from
burning hot to
freezing cold the whole length of
the
shower no
matter what time of day. Bring your own hairdryer; the one
in the room is
almost useless!!
Beach
The beach
was beautiful! The wind
varied from day to day. It was
never too
windy to enjoy the
beautiful water. We found it to be a
very quiet
place. People tended
to stay to themselves. There were
some rocks at the waters edge but not
enough to wear our water shoes.
There were
plenty of floats if you wanted to
use them. Beach towels
were in
short supply. You had to grab them as soon as they brought
them around 10 am and they were not
restocked the rest of the day. So
late arrivals
were out of
luck. We also found that we needed to
reserve our
chairs early in the morning to get the spot we wanted.
Snorkeling right off the beach was OK. A lady did
find an octopus and
took it
to the Japanese restaurant to put it in the aquarium
there
but not
before it bit her on the hand. Baby turtles began
hatching
our last
night and we
helped to collect them to take
them to the
marine lab. Security was certainly present but was
very relaxed about
clothing and cameras.
Pool
The pool
was fabulous! Very
pristine. We found most people hung out
there and
were much more social than at the
beach. The pool bar was
the center
of activity. Keecha, Shy, Carleen,
Michael, Boyd, Tamika,
and of
course
been hired
away by the new Ritz Carlton, so
there were a lot of new
trainees. Ate lunch
here several times.
Small portions, but very
good. The lunch
Buffet on Thursday was very good.
And Cynthia, the
fruit lady was always there to sing for
you. There were several kitty
cats to keep you
entertained.
Hot tubs
The main
hot tub was kind of greenish all
week. The temperature was
good. It was
a pretty quiet week, not a lot of activity. The little
secluded hot
tub was very
nice and certainly
saw its share of
..activity.
Gym
The gym
was under total reconstruction so it was temporarily located
over the main bar. It looks like when it is
completed it will be very
nice.
Restaurants
]Japanese
]
We ate
here twice. The first night was
better than the second..your
cook makes
a big difference, Tyrone the
first time, Luke, a trainee
from
The food
was wonderful, the service very good. An enjoyable 2 hour
experience!!!
La Pasta
The food was
mediocre, the service TERRIBLE!!!
Victoria Market
Good food,
all times of day
and good service. The band during and
after dinner was very
good.
Room service
Very
prompt and good.
Piacere
Very
nice. Service excellent, food very good.
Harpist was wonderful!
Nanny's Jerk pit
Good food, good
service.
Club House
Food was
good, although small
portions. Service was
worse than
terrible!!! The incompetence was
unbelievable!!! There were always
staff members
sitting around doing
nothing and when you asked for
something they
looked at you
like they did not know what you were
talking about. We went there once for
breakfast, got so frustrated we
went back
to our room
and ordered room service and got it in 10
minutes. Never could
figure this out since room
service comes from
the Club House.
Activities
Toga Party
Steve was
the male model
for the toga tying demonstration
in the
afternoon. Toga party was
poorly attended.
Beach Party
Buffet
Food was
plentiful, entertainment good.
PJ Party
Well attended,
mostly by A/N
side. Very entertaining, to say
the
least!
Street Party
Unbelievable
amount of food! Beautiful presentation!!!
Snorkeling
Much better than expected. We saw a ray, lots
of sea urchins, an eel,
several brightly
colored fish and
even glimpses of some colorful
reef. We saw
a guy spear fishing and snapped a picture of his catch
for the
morning. The water
was really rough
on Thursday.
Unfortunately, Cathy got
seasick. The captain was
very kind and
helpful.
Shopping
Plenty of
stores, prices comparable
to other Jamaican shopping.
Really enjoyed the tables set up by locals to
sell their wares around
the textile pool
every day.
Summary
Excellent resort,
great facilities and the
right amount of
activities. Service on this trip was definitely sub-par
for a resort
of this
caliber. Definitely had
a feel of two resorts sharing a
common hub
of activity. There are a few things that could improve:
the shortage
of beach towels, serving
beverages in glass containers
around the
pool, service in the club house
and La Pasta, picking up
trash and
used glasses both
around the pool and the beach , and
providing bar
service both at the beach
and pool. These things
certainly would
not keep us from staying here again. We are counting
the days until we
can return! ª
Trip/00
We just
returned from our
honeymoon at this
resort, and had a
FABULOUS time! It was so much nicer than we
expected, and we had high
expectations from
all the good reviews we read on the internet. We
left early
on Monday morning
(saved some money traveling
Monday-
Monday instead
of on Sunday) and got into
One of
my bags didn't
make the connection in
flight was late from Raleigh-Durham and we didn't
think WE were going
to make
the connection, I
wasn't too upset did have our swimsuits
with us!
After filing a lost bag claim (the airline got it through
customs and sent it on to the resort the next day)
we made it through
customs and went out to the Couples counter in the
airport. The drive
to Negril
took about an hour and 45 minutes
there were 3 couples on
our bus,
we had the "big" bus, not the mini-van. Our ride was fairly
comfortable have no complaints. Yes, the road is
rough, we drove fast
but it
wasn't that scary.
I appreciated seeing
some of the
countryside, since
this was my
first trip to
women on
our bus was
a travel agent from
familiar with
companion filled
us in and gave us lots of information and tips on
things to see.
We got to the resort about 2:30. Check-in was
quick, since there were
so few
of us and we had filled out our forms in the Montego
airport.
They brought
us champagne and a
porter gave us a quick tour as we
went to
our room. We were in unit 1 (no matter how I looked at a map
ahead of time, the
layout didn't make sense until we were actually on-
site) We
were on the
third floor -- no elevators, so this was the
only exercise
we got the entire trip J. This building was directly
behind the
Beach Grill, the
main building and Terrace Restaurant,
Otaheite,
the pool, the
pool bar, and the spa, and on the beach as
well. Truly the perfect location!! We didn't hear
any noise at night,
except when
we were in the bathroom with the
window open, sometimes
we could hear the disco. Because the bugs
were bothering me, we slept
with the
doors shut and the air conditioner on (only at night). When
we go back, we'll probably request this
building again! We also had a
"beach view "though we were booked for a garden
view. As others have
mentioned, beach view means you have to turn your head
on the balcony
to see
the waterbut we
had so much fun on the balcony, I didn't
really care!
I think all we did this vacation was sit
by the pool or the ocean and
eat and
drink! The food was good, and
plentiful! The soups were the
best I've
ever hadnot just
one of the soups, but ALL of them,
no
matter which restaurant. My favorite was the
pumpkin & clam pepperpot
soup we
had at the Otaheite
restaurant (which, according to
the
staff, is
pronounced 'Oh.
early (since
we went to bed so early) and had a cup of coffee by the
pool. I'd write in my travel journal and Dane
would read a book. The
breakfast buffet
opens at 7:30
in the Cassava Terrace omelet bar,
waffles, and
fruit smoothies every
day, fruit and cereal, cheese,
bagels and
other breads, lots
of rolls and quick breads to choose
from. The coconut muffins
were wonderful! I ate smoked fish
on my
bagel every
morning they had it. The bacon was wonderfulvery
crispy,
just the
way I like it. I shudder to think what my cholesterol level
is now! You went in and the dining room staff
would seat you, get you
coffee and
water, and help
carry plates back to your table if you
needed.
Most mornings
we sat by the
pool or the beach for a couple hours.
They had watersports instructions every day at 9:30 and 1:30, and we
wanted to
learn to windsurf, so Jeffrey helped us out. I only
went
once, and
stopped after ingesting a certain
amount of seawater, but
Dane continued to
practice a little
everyday. Jeffrey was
so
wonderful and
patient -- a
very good instructor! We took out
the
sunfish and the kayaks, never did get around to
taking the Hobie Cats
out. If you
can't sail or
kayak, Jeffrey (or the other wonderful
watersports staff)
will teach you how and send you on your way. They
also offer
waterskiing, snorkeling, and
resort scuba at no extra
cost.
If you
want to do the full PADI diving certification, it costs extra
and takes
2 full days (I think we met some people doing it
usually
people on a 2 week
vacation, not just 1 week like us)
The beach grill bar and pool bar open at
10 am. Yum!! The beach grill
opens for
food at 11:00, they have good soups, nachos, burgers, fish
& chips,
pizza, Jamaican beef patties, and a few other things a non-
changing menu,
except the soup. We ate lunch there a couple times,
and the
rest of the time went to the
buffet at the Terrace. As with
breakfast, they
had a couple of staples (sandwiches, pasta salads,
regular salads) then special things each day
also soup J. The Terrace
Bar (Main
Bar) opens for lunch (12:30-2:30)
and a cocktail waitress
will come
to your table to get your order.
After lunch, we would go
back to
the water of our choice, maybe do
a little sailing or other
activity until it was time for an afternoon
snack (I became very fond
of the
Jamaican beef patties!)
and the
hot tub. Though the first
couple days
the hot tubs
were set at
103, as the signs say, we
noticed after
that the one we
were in was only about 98, which is
what we
preferred anyway. They each
have thermometers on them if
you're picky about
your water temps like we are!
We were extremely lucky in the week we
chose to go to Couples Negril.
We were told they were only at about 40%
occupancy, and we thought it
was PERFECT. There are 234 rooms, so 40%
occupancy (if that number is
accurate) was
enough people to talk to and do stuff with, but not so
many that
we noticed some
of the problems other trip reports have
mentioned difficulty getting
lounge chairs or floating pads, long
waits for
drinks or dinner
reservations. On the last day we
were
there, we
noticed a lot more people had come in and the line for the
beach grill
restaurant was 45 minutes long or so.
Most afternoons, we
rested and showered in the afternoon, then went
to dinner
around 7 pm. We ate twice at Otaheite, twice at the beach
grill, twice at the "Grand Buffet" which
is outdoors at the pool, and
once at
the Terrace restaurant.
We thoroughly
enjoyed everything
(which is why we're
desperately trying to diet now!) Lobster night is
Friday each
restaurant serves lobster tails (little ones not like in
nonetheless!!) The Grand Buffets are impressive the first
one we went
to was
on Halloween, so there were carved pumpkins and squash, and
quite a
bit of pumpkin
in the menu (which is common in Jamaican
cooking anyway). The beach grill has pasta most nights, and
another
entrée lamb,
meat, seafood. They usually have
their menu out during
the day
so you can look and see if you're
interested in going there
for dinner.
There was
music playing during dinner sometimes a steel drum band,
sometimes a
singer. After dinner, around
8:30, they did shows a
talent show, a Halloween special, things
like that. That was about as
late as we could stay up! One night we did play
Jeopardy in the Piano
Bar (and
won 1st place a bottle of rum!) As much as I love to
sing
(Dane says he can't get me to shut up J we never made it
to the sing
alongs at
the piano bar. Not too many people did, from what I heard.
This really
was a more laid back resort what we wanted but if you're
looking to
party all night long with a bunch of people, this might
not be the right
place.
That described our basic day. Other special things we did
include an
orientation every day at 10 am and 5 pm, they give
a tour and explain
the amenities, hours of
restaurants and bars, etc. There is also a tv
channel that
lists activities, and a daily activities board by the
beach grill
and pool. The aerobics studio has
the gym schedule, and
watersports has its own schedule as well. The
"main" activities board
lists some
but not all of the other activities. It sounds
annoying
but it really didn't bother us at all. Some
daily activities included
pumpkin carving
on Halloween, scavenger
hunts, pool and
beach
volleyball, tennis
tournaments, game shows (honeymooners, newlywed
game, dirty
mind game, jeopardy),
bocce ball, horseshoe slots of
different things.
Other guests
said that the entertainment staff at
Couples weren't as good at getting lots of
people to participate, but
again, we
didn't mind. We wanted to relax, we knew what activities
were going
on, and if
we wanted to participate, we showed up. A
couple times
we were sitting around the pool
and someone would come
ask us
if we wanted to play a game,
which was fine any more "perky"
and I might have
resented the intrusion.
We went
on the shopping trip twice the
first time we scoped out the
prices and
availability of stuff,
then bought what we wanted the
second time.
We did this trip on the bus. It goes 4 times a week, at
10 am.
It goes to 3
places, but rotates I think. We went to Times
Square (jewelry,
perfume, and gift
stores) I did end up buying a
watch, after a quick internet search back at the
resort to see what I
could get it for discount in the
and some
mall in downtown
Negril were not interesting to
us. The
"mall"
didn't have anything
better at
stalls of
sarongs and wood
carvings. Very little
variety among
stalls, and
everyone is trying to get you to
go see their stuff. We
said "No thank
you" an awful lot, then got
back on our bus. On our
second shopping
trip, a few of us made
arrangements with the driver
to leave us longer at
hotel, without
visiting the other shops.
We did
not do the trip to Rick's Café,
heard it was nice but didn't
feel compelled to do it. We did do the catamaran trip to the
Pickled
Parrot that
was a great trip. We were
entertained en route by Hi-Fi
and Rasta
Ralfie,
judged a "dance" (gyrating) contest between
two
guests, and
had a limbo
contest. I came in second, but no one can
beat Rasta
Ralfie's
very low low limbo (in a leopard Speedo
even!!)
That man
has rhythm AND balance! The bar on the catamaran served Red
Stripe and
rum punch (free for us) I think the resort must charter
with different companies for
this trip, then cover charges for guests
while aboard
because the boat was not owned by
Couples. Once at the
Pickled Parrot,
quite a few people took advantage
of the activities
cliff diving,
a rope swing,
and a water slide. We did nothing but
dive off
the boat and watch other people fling themselves over
the
cliff. Then we
went back to
our perch by the bar. Someone in
an
earlier trip
report mentioned having to pay $5 to use the waterslide
but our
captain told us to tell the
people at the waterslide we had
come off
the catamaran because
it was free
for us. Was looking
forward to
a great sunset on the sail home, but it was just average.
But hey,
average for
while!
All honeymooners get a
free half hour massage, and on the advice of
other guests,
we upped our
massages to a full hour and paid the
difference totally worth it! Dane and I had it done
in the same room.
He had
Frances and I
had Doreen (and
Doreen got my ears, which
endears her
to me FOREVER because I love having my ears
massaged!)
The massage prices, as
well as other
spa services, are
very
reasonable--$35 per
person for a half hour massage, if you share a
room. If you
go alone, I
think it's $5
less. One of the other
activities we
did was the couples' massage
class; Doreen taught it,
and since
there were only 3 couples, she did a lot of hands on work,
showing us
exactly what to do. I also did
yoga one day on the beach
perfect!
This was
our first all-inclusive, and from
what we heard from other
travelers, we'll
have a hard
time matching this
experience.
Definitely get
your "bang for your buck". Our room was not luxury,
but we
had lots of
pillows, the mattress was comfy.
We liked the
radio listening to local channels, even though we had brought
cds. I
love that all the rooms have balconiesI didn't spend a lot of time in
my room,
so having a
suite probably wouldn't have been
worth the
splurge to
me. What time we were in the
room, we were mostly on the
balcony. Bugs were
a problem, but even though I brought bug spray I
never used
it. My fault I ended up with bug bites all over! We never
got sunburned, one
day a little
dehydrated, but we tended to use
lower SPF
formulas too (I
know I know, skin cancer some day) We
really enjoyed our trip, even though in general
we tend to like trips
where we
do more exploring on our own. For
once, especially after a
wedding, it was nice to sit back and relax and have
everything handed
to us
J The weather
was gorgeous no
rain at all, not even an
afternoon shower. A bunch of people showed up
from Couples Ocho Rios.
I guess
it was cloudy there, and they
switched resorts. Between the
weather and the slow
occupancy week, we really lucked out!