Hotel Recap November 2016

Any boardies who have followed my postings over the years know that Janet and I usually plan numerous new adventures. This year was a bit different. Retirement is now within my grasp and we wanted to see what it was like to spend 16 days in Negril doing nothing. We were content to spend the entire time at Blue Cave Castle just snorkeling, reading, watching the sunsets and eating out. As it became clear that Blue Cave Castle would not be open, we made arrangements to stay a week at Coco la Palm, 3 nights at Xtabi, and we would figure the rest out when we got there. This is a recap of the hotels, with restaurants and a few things we managed to do coming in future posts. By the way, I did manage to read 7 books (3 were easy financial retirement books).

Hotels:
It's funny, when you return to a hotel your impression is formed by your last visit. The only thing we remembered about our last visit to Coco was that the jacuzzi was broken the entire time, and they promised to have it fixed “tomorrow”. But this time was different. We were upgraded to a nice room in the new section on the third floor with a private balcony. The king bed was great and the pillows were the best I've ever laid my head upon. The previously spotty WIFI was strong, even in the room. Someone told me they had an American working on the WIFI and as far as I'm concerned he did a bang-up job. The jacuzzi was working everyday, and was hot and clean. The beach was wide, plenty of lounge chairs, enough shade for everyone who wanted it and security top notch. The pools were clean and I watched as an employee tested and treated the water using a colorimeter. The grounds were immaculate and all the employees were polite, cordial and engaging. The continental breakfast (included in the price of the room) consisted of coffee or tea, juice or fruit and a basket of various rolls, muffins and toast and believe me, they have some great bakers at Coco. If you went hungry, it was your own fault. There is a woodcarver on the property but we have a carver in Red Ground so we didn't even look, but it seems he had a lot of things for sale. You can also get a message on the beach, but we didn't do that either. Monday nights they have a free get together with a mento band, hors d'oeuvres and rum punch, although we just had fruit punch. Another night they had a buffet (price based on your entree) with a live band that played reggae jazz for the first hour (great for dining) and then amped it up a bit for the second hour. Because we were returning guests, we comped free Coco T-shirts. We booked through Negril One Stop at a fantastic price. Coco has got to be one of the best bargains on the beach. We stayed a week. Sorry, no photos of the room and very few of Coco itself.

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Our next stay was at Xtabi, which was also booked through Negril One Stop at a pretty good price for 3 nights. We stayed across the street in the main building. Our reception was less than thrilling, almost like it was a bother. We were taken to our room and given a remote for the small TV which didn't work. We also noticed we were missing a wash cloth and that the outside light on the porch didn't work. The room and bathroom were clean but rather dated. The bed's headboard was painted on the wall and there were no drawers to put your clothes. The a\c worked well as did the hot water. About 7:30 PM I asked the front desk about a TV that worked. When he said they didn't have any more TV's, I just disconnected it (it was maybe a 22”) and took it to the front desk and told him it wasn't doing me any good. We still hadn't received the wash cloth either. A few minutes later he came back to our room and offered us another room, to which I inquired if it would just be easier to bring the TV to our room from the spare room. Geesh, so much drama in the first 7 hours! Not a good first impression, and we already knew it was 3 nights and out. The pool is nice, refreshing and deep. We spent most of our days across the street next to the bar in a little shaded area. The lounge chairs had seen better days and when you looked around it was clear the place needed a major sprucing up. We went down into the caves and spent time snorkeling. One morning we ate breakfast at Xtabi, and when we ordered the Jamaican Breakfast all we got from our waitress was “an eye roll”. I don't get it. There was a safe in the room, but I think there was an extra charge for it.

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After the first day at Xtabi, we went looking for a place for our last 5 nights. We had already talked to Susan at Blue Cave Castle and knew our booking for our last 2 nights in Negril in the Penthouse was not going to happen. We had 2 places in mind: Sunset on the Cliffs and Home Sweet Home. We stopped at Home Sweet Home first, and never made it to Sunset on the Cliffs (maybe next time). As “walk in's” during the slow season, Tina said there was a 15% discount. She was charming and personable and showed us 2 different rooms. The room was clean with a king sized bed good a\c and hot water. There was a safe in the room at no charge. Each room had a small covered porch with ocean view. There is a small pool on site which is good for a cool down but not swimming (too small). There was easy access to the ocean and a few lounge chairs down near the ladder. The grounds are well kept and there is grass by the sea wall which is so much more inviting than all concrete. There were enough chairs and lounge chairs on property. The is a restaurant on site. Above the restaurant is a mezzanine with a couple of chairs which were great for sunset views. There was security that stayed on site. The house keeper did a fantastic job everyday. We liked the place well enough for another stay if Blue Cave isn't open.

The next photo is in the cave at Xtabi.

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The last set of photos is from Home Sweet Home


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Hey rjonsun,
Whagwaan.
Home Sweet Home looks and sounds like a winner.
Thanks for all the heads up.

Thanks for the review and the photos. We haven't been to HSH since they painted the buildings and replaced the patio doors. Lookin' good! The Seaview Deluxe rooms are still a great value (nice to hear about the walk-in discount). We once splurged for the new suite next to the restaurant (room 16). You can't get much closer to the sea without falling in!

Thanks for a great detailed summary of the different properties!

Hey rjonsun, thanks for the report. Very good mon' . I also give a big "thumbs UP" for Coco. I just stayed there for 2 nights in one of the "standard" rooms. One of the brand new rooms, it was great. King bed, Refrigerator, big flat screen tv, room safe. Everything was spotless. Employees were nice. The continental breakfast quite substantial. I also booked thru negrilone stop. My next destination wasn't so good. I don't want to talk about it. Then I finished up my vacation at Seastar Inn. I love this place. My room was #3. Amazing room, spotless. Comparable to Coco, except for the neighborhood dogs barking at night. I was a "walk-in" at Seastar. So, yeah three thumbs up for Coco, Seastar and Negril one stop! And a big thumbs up to Negril.com Thanks Rob.

Nice report. Tina attended out wedding she is a total sweet heart.

We are staying at HSH for the first time for new years. Glad you enjoyed it.

rjonsun, was Gibson still working beach security at Coco? He was terrific last year when we were at Coco.
Did you try Best in the West across the street from Coco?

Great report, thanks for posting!

VVHT

I agree with Coco review..they are running a really efficient operation there..everything was the best that I have ever experienced there..I was there 2 weeks ago..Gibson was in Atlanta visiting family VVHT so we missed him..

Ya'll are killing me. 20 more weeks. errrggggggghhhh.