Does The Caves Hotel have a restaurant/bar open to the public?

Would like to make my way through the gates one day just to see what all the fuss is about ....

Hey MC,
If you contact them you can set up a dinner in one of their caves. Also, The Sands bar is open on occasion, the actual nights slip my mind.

I believe The Sands Bar is opened to the public on Wednesdays. Never made it there but always wanted to drop by.

Open to the public from 4 to 7:30. Wednesday and Saturday. Sands bar. They also have a dining experience that can be booked in advance.

Gerry
The wife and I stayed there for 5 nights a couple of years ago. We did not think it deserved the $700 a night ,was nice but
seemed to be missing the vibe that you find on any other cliff spot .We did the cave dinner ,it was nice but just average food.
They do have certain days where you can go to a gated section for a drink and dinner. Believe me there is really nothing special
behind those walls
Farmer

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Originally Posted by gerryg123

Would like to make my way through the gates one day just to see what all the fuss is about ....

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Hi gerryg123,

You know I wondered myself what would be worth so much money so, when I had a chance in 2007 to cover the Negril Film Festival with a Press Pass, I jumped at the chance. I had a good time. The food was good but not spectacular. The view from the bar was good but nothing you can't see for 1/4th the price.


The highlight of my evening was spending a little time with Carl Bradshaw.

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my personal camera (not used for publication) that might "lift the veil" a likkle.
Attachment 34835

Attachment 34836

Attachment 34837

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Attachment 34839


Peace and Guidance

nice pics. we also have always wondered about the place but felt it was probably over rated. Too many nice places to stay on the cliffs with the same fews for much less

Sands bar often has jerk chicken for purchase when they have a bus come in from MB, I think it was a Wed when we went.

Thanks for posting the pics. Doesn't strike me as anything "special"

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Thanks for posting the pics. Doesn't strike me as anything "special"

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I agree. Regular folding chairs? For those prices, I was expecting velvet.

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Originally Posted by gerryg123

I agree. Regular folding chairs? For those prices, I was expecting velvet.

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I was at the Film Festival and those folding chairs were used at the Film Venue on the other side of the street. It was a nice event that I would like to see come back

Closest I'll ever get:Attachment 34844

Made my way up to the gates once. Felt like I was the tin man trying to get in to see the wizard. "Bring back the wheels from step asides cart, then you may see the wizard of caves"...
I would have but didn't have the heart... Badoom boom...
Tough room.

haha.. we also felt like we were asking for a visit with the wizard when we rang the bell one day in an attempt to see the property. Rang the bell..little door opened…(I swear someone popped their head out like in the Wizard of Oz, but I may have embellished that in my recollection) We gave our request .. said they would check… asked where we were staying… locked the little door back up...a few minutes later the "magic gates opened" :) I guess guests of Swept Away were on the approved list. haha .They were very nice and gave us a personal tour of the property. We were impressed enough to book a few nights there for our next trip.
Having said that..we enjoyed our time there , but found it to be overpriced and overhyped. Food was ok..nothing special, that includes the private cave dinner. A once in a lifetime experience for us.
And to answer the original question… The Sands bar at that time was open for sunset hours on I believe Wednesday and Saturday like has already been mentioned. At the time I think you could also purchase jerk chicken on Saturdays.

The Caves and other ultra-Expensive properties in Jamaica are all about the hype. After all, would you expect a rock star or a wall street tycoon to stay in a $100 a night place? To rich people, the rooms at the Caves are pocket change and the fact that they have some type of exclusivity via locked gates etc. is part of that allure.

This is a Chris Blackwell (producer of artists like Bob Marley etc.) and owner or controller of many properties in Jamaica who came up with this concept he dubs http://www.islandoutpost.com/ .


I used to live in Treasure Beach and I am quite familiar with how the Henzells (Perry of "Harder they Come" fame, Sally (wife of Perry) and self-described "Tycoon" Jason (of Jake's) http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/50u...p#.Uxh_Ds62x9U became (with Chris Blackwell's help) such a powerful force in the area.

They took a property at Frenchmans that was going to be demolished, painted it up funky and called it "Jakes" and then convinced people through slick advertising that staying there http://www.jakeshotel.com/stay/rates.html for hundreds of dollars a night was somehow "sexy" and the in place to stay when all around the property, rooms were and still are going for $50 a night.

It's all about perception and status. No one wants to think that they overpaid for something so they suck it up and put a smile on their face when they tell their friends. If you have money to blow then by all means do just that. I am not against people having what they want. But to think that The Caves is something you can't get elsewhere for less money is an illusion.

Just my opinion.

Peace and Guidance

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Originally Posted by Accompong

It's all about perception and status. No one wants to think that they overpaid for something so they suck it up and put a smile on their face when they tell their friends. If you have money to blow then by all means do just that. I am not against people having what they want. But to think that The Caves is something you can't get elsewhere for less money is an illusion.

Just my opinion.

Peace and Guidance

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So true Accompong :)
A diamond is really just a rock...now thanks mostly to DeBeers, it is an overpriced rock that we are made to feel we need to purchase if we want to "get hitched"...Definitely all about perception.

This thread makes me think of the lyrics from Neil Young's song "Sail Away":

"See the losers in the best bars
Meet the winners in the dive
Where the people are the real stars
All the rest of their lives"

I would assume for such high prices, you can expect a better level of service. It should be more than just perception. At Sandals, for instance, they do treat you better than at RIU Club. Basic principle of business -- high risk, high return.

I don't know gerry… maybe thats true to a degree. But for me personally, while the staff were all very nice,I didn't feel they went above and beyond what we normally experience in Negril. That was our biggest surprise, along with the food not being outstanding. I think Accompongs post is spot on.

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Originally Posted by shell

I don't know gerry… maybe thats true to a degree. But for me personally, while the staff were all very nice,I didn't feel they went above and beyond what we normally experience in Negril. That was our biggest surprise, along with the food not being outstanding. I think Accompongs post is spot on.

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Tensing Pen or Catcha just as good if not better bar, rooms and food

Caves has a help yourself bar late night or so ive been told.

Booked a cave dinner once..expensive..never made it called and canceled ocean filled the cave but they offered on site dinner for same....decided ivans at catcha was the way to go since I was staying there

Have to agree with a lot of posts here, maybe I'm a simpleton or maybe I don't have the kind of money that has spoiled me like some do, but a day at Catcha, followed by a night at Ivans is pretty much the greatest thing I have ever done in my life and it maybe cost me $300 total. If it can get better than that I can't imagine it and I sure as hell don't want to pay for it. Catcha is a bargain compared to anything like this. If I won the lottery, I wouldn't go to the Caves, I would just go to Catcha....a lot more often!!!!

M&M

hey Gerry .my friend and I did a hotel inspection of the place for her travel agency...They were very proper and nice -showed us a few of the rentals, showed us where they have the caves dinnner and then we had a very nice lunch there ...not sure if open to general public...The service was top-notch,best i've ever exp.in Jam-but over-all i found it not worth the price tag..dont get me wrong, i'd stay there in heart beat but not for what they ask a night..reminded me of citronella or catch falling star (when they had fewer properties )...but a few notches up on the quality ladder....

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Originally Posted by Monty&Melo

Have to agree with a lot of posts here, maybe I'm a simpleton or maybe I don't have the kind of money that has spoiled me like some do, but a day at Catcha, followed by a night at Ivans is pretty much the greatest thing I have ever done in my life and it maybe cost me $300 total. If it can get better than that I can't imagine it and I sure as hell don't want to pay for it. Catcha is a bargain compared to anything like this. If I won the lottery, I wouldn't go to the Caves, I would just go to Catcha....a lot more often!!!!

M&M

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Nice post. Made me think a likkle bit about when I talk to people and tell them I live in Jamaica. A lot of them (who went there, of course) do what I call "reply to impress". What I mean by that is saying they stayed at Sandals, Hedo, The Caves, etc. with an expectation of impressing me on how classy they travel.

When I say that I live in deep in the Cockpits and that it cost me about $3500 - $4000 to live there for about half a year (including my airfare), they are usually quite confused as that was about what they spent on a week or two.

I was an Economics Major and I explain the "value" of your money in what is called "utils" (stands for Utilization Value). In other words, if you spend a dollar and get a dollar's worth of value then you get "one util", if you get more, you get 1.(whatever) and less you get .(whatever) etc.

What is hard to evaluate are the intangibles like "peace of mind", etc. so staying at say Catcha would probably be a higher value than staying at The Caves based on money spent for the value received because "peace of mind" is a constant so that once you get it, you don't need to spend any more to achieve it.

My conclusion is that it doesn't take a pile of money to get a good value for your buck. Regardless of where you stay and how long you stay, if you achieve "peace of mind" then you had a good vacation.

Just an observation.

Peace and Guidance

You definitely don't stay at The Caves looking for value. What I've found in our two stays there is that it's like staying at a rich person's home with all their staff, very un hotel like.
I've stayed in a few really high end properties and what I've found is you get past the kiss butt service and end up with something more casual, but extremely competent.
Anything you want for breakfast, great service, good food. Accommodations are rustic chic, not marble everywhere, but cool furnishings, nice little touches. Bar is just left open when the staff leave for the night.
It's all about the vibe.
That said, I'd rather spend my time in the Owner's Villa at Nirvana, just more of a beach person.

So for example, you might think a new Lambourghini Diablo would cost $250,000, but in Bill Gates dollars that's 31 cents.

That fully loaded, multimedia active matrix 233 MHZ laptop with the 1024x768 screen you've been drooling after? Half a penny.

A nice home in a rich town like Palo Alto, California? Two dollars. That nice mansion he's building? A more reasonable $63 to him.

You might spend $50 on tickets, food and parking to take your date to see an NHL hockey game. Bill, on the other hand could buy the team for 50 Bill-bills.

You might buy a plane ticket on a Boeing 747 for $1200 at full-fare coach. In Bill-bills, Mr. Gates could buy six 747s (Not tickets, the planes themselves). Two for him, two for Melinda and two for young Jennifer Katherine.