Newbie Trip Report 4/12 - 4/19

[drenee]

Newbie Trip Report

I will do my best at this trip report thing....but bare with me! There were several red stripes, vodka drinks and southern comfort drinks involved, so my memory may be slightly “fuzzy”.

This was our first time flying internationally (myself, my husband and our 2 “kids”, ages 18 and 19) Another couple joined us as well for 5 out of our 7 days.

We flew out of Buffalo airport Saturday, April 12th on the 6:20 am flight, so had to be up very early. Swear I must’ve checked 50 times before we left the house to make sure I had everyone’s passports....and a couple times on the way to the airport. My biggest fear was forgetting them!

Flight went perfectly, landed on time. Customs was a breeze. Expected it to take a lot longer than it did. I had seen how many flights were landing around the same time as us, and had almost bought Club Mobay, but with paying for 4 people, I just couldn’t justify the cost. I’m so glad I didn’t, as we didn’t need it at all.

Kingsley met us at the airport, and had his driver Dave take us to Negril. They were both very nice, knowledgeable guys. Made one stop for a cold beverage and were back on our way. Stopped at the Hi Lo in Negril for some Red Stripes/Absolut/Jack Daniels to keep in the room, along with some water (good for replenishing the liver), and exchanged some money.

We stayed at CocoLaPalm, and we were very happy with our choice. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, the staff was all super friendly, I felt completely safe there, and the pools and hot tub were nice to have. LOVED the beach there! After walking up and down the beach and looking at other properties, I felt like CocoLaPalm had the best stretch of beach, and it was never crowded. Only downside was there wasn’t a whole lot of action there, but that was okay since there were so many places nearby.

[Seveen]

I live for trip reports!

[tranquilitygurl]

Coco La Palm is one of my favorite hotel accomodations in Negril. The staff have always been very attentive!

[VVHT]

Very nice start!

More please!

Thanks,

VVHT

[justchuck]

Tell us more!

[Vince]

Yeah, what they said

[jimnkim]

Need More

[drenee]

One of our first stops after getting settled in was at Sun Beach, just 2 spots up from CoCoLaPalm. The $2 Red Stripes caught our attention We met Dennis the Menace - who is a great, super friendly guy. We had a few cold drinks, walked the beach some, and stopped at Country Country for some drinks (loved the bar there, and the bartenders/waitresses Opal and Angie were very friendly, also met a nice couple from Texas, who filled us in on different places to check out). Country Country would also be on my list of places to stay if we ever make it back. Eventually, we ended up at Chances for pizza, which was pretty good. Waitress made a comment about the amount of our tip, which irritated me, because we tip very good, here at home and when we were in Jamaica. We ended up there for pizza the next night too, and she was there again, and made another comment. But, it was the only place open, and we were hungry! I did notice a lot of the restaurants closed earlier than we were expecting....but we also have a bad habit of waiting until right before bed to eat.

Sunday we did the One Love Pub Crawl. We had an absolute blast! Lenbert picked us up at 2:30, and to be honest, I’m not really sure what time we got back (we had started quite early that morning, long before the pub crawl started). Our stops were Negril Palm Court (just okay, not my favorite), Canoe Bar (loved it there, service was great, view was beautiful), Sky Bar (really cool view from the top, and they had really pretty blue toilets LOL), Negril Escape (couple of the guys from the bus dove from the lighthouse), Xtabi (went down in the caves and got some neat pictures), Home Sweet Home (more beautiful views), Seastar Inn (loved the atmosphere here). I think I got them all. Very impressed with the trip, and we met some great people. Lenbert played some great dance music, and by the end, the majority of us were dancing. The bus was full, but not crazy overcrowded. Overall, a great day, and I would highly recommend this trip.

View from Sky Bar


View from Canoe


Caves at Xtabi

[Bnewb]

Eventually, we ended up at Chances for pizza, which was pretty good. Waitress made a comment about the amount of our tip, which irritated me, because we tip very good, here at home and when we were in Jamaica. We ended up there for pizza the next night too, and she was there again, and made another comment. But, it was the only place open, and we were hungry!

Sorry to read this part...that waitress seems to have an issue...did the same to us the other night...told off a friend of ours (Jamaican) for not leaving a $20us tip on a tab that was just over $20us....wth! But, was surprised how good the pizza was...hadn't been in years.
Thanks for the fabulous trip report!

[allibaba]

Great report so far! Love reading these!