Congrats on picking Negril as your first visit in Jamaica....My wife and I visited Montego Bay as our first visit, and while we had a great time, our second visit to Jamaica (and every other visit after that) was to Negril - and was 10x better.

We too liked the 'no worry' style of all inclusive, but wanted to also experience the local vibe. We like to stay at Couples Swept Away for 3-4 nights and then spend 3-4 nights at a non-AI, preferably Catcha. CSA - while expensive, is great for location but we also enjoyed the food, swim-up bar, staff, etc...Haven't been to any other AI's in Negril, but we loved CSA. Ask anybody about Catcha and they'll tell you your wife will be in love as soon as you get there.

Our next trip (November) will be completely non-AI this time...looking forward to it, 4 nights on the beach at Country Country and 3 nights at Catcha. While it's easy to get used to the 'no worry' style of AI's, we're confident that we'll enjoy the 'NO PROBLEM' part of non-AI...