Grand Pineapple closing August 11th...

Thanks Clarity. I called them after I posted and they said they don't have any official information so they couldn't tell me anything. I booked them through Orbitz and Orbitz said that Sandals had contacted them about my call. I do not want to stay anywhere except Negril and just want to get away from Sandals completely.

I just checked my e-mail and got this from Orbitz:
We have been contacted by the Grand Pineapple Beach Negril that they are unable to accommodate your reservation. The Grand Pineapple Beach Negril has oversold their hotel rooms. On behalf of the hotel we truly apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

To secure your accommodation upon arrival in Negril, we have arranged your stay at the Beaches Boscobel at no additional cost. The property is of the same star rating and you will be provided the same or comparable room type. You may click the link below for further details:

http://www.beaches.com/main/bo/bo-home.cfm

Kindly reply to this email if you agree with the above information. Should you decline this alternate hotel, we can cancel your reservation and process a full refund.

Also, we are more than happy to help you find a comparable hotel which you may consider reserving at current hotel rates. Please let us know your decision at your earliest convenience.


Again, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to doing business with you in the future.

Thank you,

Mae
Orbitz Customer Service

***************************

This is not acceptable. I do not want to stay at Beaches Boscobol! My reservation was for an AI in NEGRIL, not somewhere else.

I love the way Mae does not leave her last name. Orbitz is a multi-million dollar company, no???

IMO, considering the inconvenience, they should not give you a "comparable" room at the same rate, but a "PIMP" room at a BETTER rate. Am I crazy????

Then again, I just checked the rack rate -- it's 600 per night!

I'm on the phone with Orbitz right now, and they act like they are on another planet. The rep is pissing me off, I told her to put me at Beaches Negril and she said she has to see if a room is available BS!

Update:
I demanded to talk to a manager and the guy was just as stupid and clueless as the other rep. He said that he would call GP about my reservation, completely not getting it that I don't have a reservation there anymore even though I must have told him 4 times. Wow, I'm in shock. I think the best thing would be to just cancel. I am no longer going to deal with Orbitz, they are incompetent!

Wow, I'm so glad that I was able to get out of everything to do with Sandals, and I hope you are able to get your money back asap and rebook somewhere else.

They said that RIU was available and I said no way. I have trip insurance but now I'll have to buy other trip insurance for my new rebooking. I still want to stay at an AI, do you know of a good one?

Well, I got my reservation changed to Sunset At the Palms, they look like a very nice place and have heard a lot of good things about them.

Dont do Club Riu,do the Riu Trop....Club Riu had kids,the beach is sand over cement,lots of algae in the water.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fred Stripe

Dont do Club Riu,do the Riu Trop....Club Riu had kids,the beach is sand over cement,lots of algae in the water.

---

I actually don't give Riu Club that negative of a review. Did 4 nights there in April. I wouldn't stay there or anywhere on bloody bay again, as it's not close enough tot he rest of Negril.

However, I give the Resort decent marks.

I was told by even the locals though - DO NOT under any circumstances walk from Club to the other resorts at night unless you are with a big group.. They said it was most dangerous as there is no lighting etc.

very disappointed. the best value in negril. perhaps they did not charge enuff. we very much enjoyed visiting with patrizia when we stayed there.

negrilaholic, while at satp, you are a stone's throw away from office of nature . . . you'll love that vibe . . . i absolutely loved everything about sunset at the palms, never minded crossing the road to the beach. no hassles from anyone at that end of the beach.

Well...got off the phone with Sandals...they were dead set on putting us at Beaches Boscobel in Ochi...and I demanded a refund on my deposit!!...so, now what? NegrilIrene, as far as AI's go, SATP,RIU's...could take a chance and do one of the Merrill's....I'm gonna have to really look some..

if you get over the AI life would be a lot easeier!
Go for the mom and pops and enjoy!

I know I'm only going AI because that's what my friend feels most comfortable with, but I do know that if one has to go AI, that from all the pics and reviews I have seen, Sunset at the Palms is the way to go! I'm just glad that those who want refunds are able to get them..after reading reviews of Beaches Boscobel, I know I would not have been happy there at all!

Quite frankly, if this was happening to me, I truly would be ticked! However, with many trips under my belt, I would choose not to go AI. Step out now that you have a chance and talk a "walk on the wild side" and enjoy all that Negril has to offer. Plus, you will have money to enjoy some extra fun trips! There are so many great places on the beach and the cliffs to spread your wings and fly to the good times. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Don't get me wrong, I am not totally against the AI experience...my first 2 trips to Negril were in an AI and I learned quite a bit while there. Luckily, we got to know many of the employees who were honest enough to let us know about all the fun outside of the resort. Once we had a taste of that, we stepped out on our own and haven't looked back. BTW, we are still great friends with the employees to this day! After 26 plus trips!! Good friends indeed!!! :)

They are sending us to Boscobel too. there is 8 of us and we had our hearts set on taking our kids to Negril. Not sure what we are going to do yet. :(

Fred Stripe, definitely not staying at any RIU, I would hate it there, not my idea of where I want to stay.

lisapat, thanks for the thoughts of AI's but I wasn't given SATP as an option, don't want RIU, and when I checked to see prices for SATP, it's more than I can afford, I'll look at Merrill's. GP was actually more than I could afford but I really wanted to stay there.

I went ahead and cancelled, I was so ticked off at how I was treated, I just wanted to be done with it and I will never use Orbitz again. I used Travel Guard for my trip insurance, I wonder if they will let me keep my policy as this was an unforseen situation and just add on the new hotel at no cost.

Why are they saying that GP's rooms are overbooked, why can't they tell the truth?

IIRC, as long as your trip dates do not change, Travel Guard will not need to make any changes. Any time I buy trip insurance the only info they require are the trip costs per person and the travel dates, they never ask the name of the hotel or airline.

NegrilIrene...there are other choices along 7 mile beach that are locally owned/run that offer the "A/I option"...there have been threads I've seen here in the past that talk about them, and how some are not necessarily the "traditional" AI that most are used to...I'm looking at Bob and Susan's site now, and am sure we will book something with them http://www.negrilonestop.com/ <--take a look, seems they get/give some of the best rates I've seen..and have GOBS of info on the properties :cool:

Well.....it looks like we are headed to Boscobel Bay. We discussed the options with our kids and apparently they don't care where we go since they are getting a free vacation. lol We really wanted to take them to Negril, but I guess we will satisfied simply to take them to Jamaica. As one of our kids said....."It doesn't matter where we are, as long as we are all together we will have fun!" Such a good kid!

You will be close to the falls....

Another vote for checking out the Office of Nature while you are at SATP.

lisapat,

How does Negril One Stop compare to the other sites like Travelocity? Are their prices lower than those?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NegrilIrene

lisapat,

How does Negril One Stop compare to the other sites like Travelocity? Are their prices lower than those?

---

Highly recommended. These are good people. Travelocity is is a giant web presence. One Stop are Negril people

IMHO

Just to clarify, Negril One Stop is a Canadian company that provides travel agency services to the traveling public. They are not located in Negril or Jamaica and never have been.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rob

Just to clarify, Negril One Stop is a Canadian company that provides travel agency services to the traveling public. They are not located in Negril or Jamaica and never have been.

---

I didn't know that. I did know that they were not in Negril some of the time.

They were very accommodating the only time I contacted them.

My mistake

I just booked with One Stop for the 2nd time.They are very good and also have discount books that actually are accepted.You can also set up xfers from the airport with them($125 round trip which is a good price). If you ever tried to book a Jamaican hotel directly you will learn that they are very slow to respond. Let One Stop do it for you.I just got CoCo Le Palm through their sale at $93 per nt with tax & breakfast.

The same company that owns the re-opened Braco in the Trelawny Runaway bay area is shopping for a Negril Resort....Hmmmm?????

Blessings!

SKB

Well I just found out from my friend that she doesn't want to go to YS falls after all, her budget is $250 for the week, which I guess is doable for an AI for sure, just not if you want to do a lot of anything else, but I'm going to treat her to a day with Famous Vincent snorkeling and checking out the West End myself, that is a must do for me, and I just know she will love it. The only bummer about not doing Grand Pineapple for me is how wonderfully centrally located it was, but even SATP isn't too far away, and there is always the next two weeks after my friend leaves where I'll be at Travellers and will be able to walk up and down the beach and swim up and down the beach to my hearts content, lol! ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fred Stripe

If you ever tried to book a Jamaican hotel directly you will learn that they are very slow to respond.

---

This is a rather broad generalization Fred. In 14 years of visits to Negril and the six different properties I have stayed at I have never had a problem getting timely email responses. Frequently same day. And a phone call always works. Maybe I've just been lucky...

My travel agent has come thru! Sandals wanted to send us to Boscobel Bay. My wife stood firm and called Sandals to tell them this was unacceptable. They said they had to deal with my travel agent. I emailed him and passed onto him some of the details Sandals told my wife. I got an email from him this morning saying they had switched us to Beaches Negril. Not exactly what we wanted.....but at least we are back in Negril! Woo Hoo!

Right on, good for you for sticking to your guns!

Greg and Kelly you should have been able to get booked somewhere you are happy at.

Thanks guys! We didn't want a "family" resort, but it is in Negril and a more upscale resort that we booked originally, so we won't complain. Now, start the countdown to spring!!

Gregandkelly63, I take it that you are travelling before March of next year...I was sticking to my guns, and demanded to speak to a supervisor(dealing directly thru Sandals)...they said that our dates(last week of March) was prime Spring Break period, and unfortunately there was no way they could place us in Beaches or Sandals in Negril.....as boscobel is not acceptable at all...I am waiting on my card to be refunded(they said 2 business weeks)...make sure your travel agent/you can get that in writing is my advice...Now we are seriously considering a Non-AI for our week

Good job Greg, Bocobel is tired and your'e not in Negril.

lisapat,

We are going in mid-March. We already have the confirmation email with our reservation number on it from Beaches Negril. I don't know how our travel agent did it.....but I'm glad he pulled it off! I wonder if a travel agent has more pull since they could threaten to direct clients to other resorts. Just wondering!

good job is right!!....Maybe the travel agent has more sway than the individual who has booked directly through the company....I didn't see the need to argue with someone who was as relentless to keep going as me, kept putting me on hold, and had my deposit in the bank if I didn't act within 7 days of booking(was in the fine print for"Unique Vacations", the booking "alias" of Sandals)...just as well I guess....We are seriously considering CocoLaPalm or Negril Treehouse now.....just like to drink alot on vacation is the only problem:confused:

Can't believe this is still up....letting people book for Negril
http://www.grandpineapple.com/
....and it even has a link to read tripadvisor reviews....like this one my husband posted
http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/NautiBoy

Your T/A really pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Sandals would only switch me to Boscobel, so I got my deposit back. I hope Grand Pineapple reopens under new owners -- I don't want to see a boarded up property there or even worse...abandoned property.