After a year and a half of wedding planning, we needed a nice getaway. When looking for honeymoon destinations, we were pretty locked into the Sandals chain because it included all inclusive scuba diving. We got our PADI Scuba Diving Certifications a few years ago at Table Rock Lake and never had a chance to scuba dive in the ocean. Sandals is more geared towards beginners, so we thought it would be the perfect place to wet our fins. I originally saw a deal through WeddingVibe for Sandals Ocho Rios. Our makeup artist also happened to be a travel agent; she gave me a free trial if she booked our honeymoon and was completely free to book with. I asked her if the deal I saw was good. She recommended Sandals Negril as it was smaller and more laid-back. We aren't the late night partying type, so a more relaxed resort sounded perfect for us. The RoomsAll rooms had a king sized bed that were quite comfortable. Rooms were very clean and room service came daily. The shower was huge and walk in, and the shampoo and conditioner seemed good. Had we booked ourselves, we probably would have gotten the base level room. However, our travel agent recommended us the Paradise Honeymoon Beachfront Walkout Club Level Room, and we took her recommendation. Since it was a walkout, we were on the first floor, which was nice because we could walk out out back door and were just a sidewalk away from the beach. There's no card reader on the back door, though. So you had to either go out the front and walk around, or leave your door unlocked. I believe the "Honeymoon" level specifies the building, so your room is with all the honeymooners towards the middle of the resort as opposed to the far end for the regular rooms or the suites on the side closer to restaurants and stage. "Club" level is the middle level, in between the base "Luxury" level, and the "Butler" level. As an upgrade from the base level, we got room service, unlimited whiskey, rum, and tequila in the room (in addition to the wine and beer provided to the base level" and a separate concierge that only club level people had, so it was easier to talk to them. The concierge books room at some of the fancier restaurants on the resort. The Food & DrinkAs far as food, they had 7 restaurants on our resort, all included. There was a menu towards the front of the resort that listed out all the foods each restaurant had each day. The Italian restaurant (cucina romana) and the Japanese restaurant (Kimonos) both need reservations. The others include a pizza place (bella napoli), and then some generic restaurants (Beach Bistro, Barefoot By the Sea, the Sundowner, and Bayside Restaurant.) The Italian place was my least favorite, and what I learned is that if you're on a beach, you should really stick to seafood. We got to try marlin and sea bass. Since it was Jamaica, the jerk chicken was also a great choice. The Japanese restaurant was cool because you didn't have to choose from the menu, you got to try them all; it's Japanese steakhouse open grill style, so you eat in a group of 6 people. Each restaurant had a couple of reds, whites, and a rose for free. You could buy wine as well, but it was nearly $30 a glass for the non-free stuff. Rum is the main liquor in Jamaica, but they have all the main stuff. You can ask for anything that bars carry, like Rum Runner or Sex on the Beach. They have frozen drinks cocktails pre-made, like mango and strawberry. They also have a daily drink that you can order. It's all included, so we drank a lot. The BeachThe water in Jamaica was beautiful and blue. There were barely any waves the entire time we were there, not even small ones. There were areas netted off to swim in with small floating seats for a couple of people. The sand was beautiful and white, but it was dense and hard, obviously imported. There were no seashells anywhere on the beach. There were small clear fish to see and small crabs in the water. The nice thing was that, even on Memorial Day weekend, it was fairly empty. There was never a rush to claim a sun chair. You could get a chair pretty much any point along the beach: next to your room, next to the bar, or close to the restaurants. There were a few people peddling bracelets and weed, but they were mostly kept at bay by the security that would come to make sure they couldn't set up shop; they had to keep moving. The ScubaJamaica isn't known for scuba diving. There are no fish to see as soon as you enter the water and huge schools of fish are rare to come by. The visibility I would rank as pretty average. However, it was our first dive in the ocean, so our standards were pretty low. Plus, based on reviews, this resort had the best dive team, and we had so much to learn. On our second day, they convinced us to sign up for the advanced open water course, and I'm so glad we did. It meant we got a personalized dive-master to take us on dives and lead us through the course. Our dive-master, Enron, was very easy to work with. We had some book work, which stunk on vacation, but he made it easy to complete, and we even got free t-shirts at the end. We had two dives each day for 4 days. We did not dive the 24 hours after we landed (company policy) or the 24 hours before we left. They had a good variety of dive sites, including a wreck, that was around 90 feet deep, so we wouldn't have been able to see it if we had not taken the advanced course. There were a variety of reefs, all within 15 minutes by boat. The dive sites were easy to get to, with no waves and no currents. We saw eels, lion fish, lobster, stingrays, puffers, and plenty of fish. Overall, we had so much fun diving. I don't quite understand sitting all day on a beach, so I'm so happy we got to explore the ocean. By being able to dive and having a guide, we got better control of our breathing and buoyancy. The ConclusionOverall, I would highly recommend a Sandals Negril vacation. There were comfortable rooms, a nice beach, good food and drinks, and fun diving. The only bad thing was that it rained hard for nearly an hour every afternoon we were there. I'm not sure what the weather is like year round (I didn't look at the best time to go, since we were pretty set on going after our wedding); however, the temperature was absolutely perfect every day, so it was still good most of the time.
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AuthorHi! I'm Amber. I love spreadsheets and painting. This blog is where I post about my crafts and adventures. Archives
November 2018
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