How many hotels b4 you settled...

[gibby701]

Ditto what Living the Dream said...LOL!

[Peregrine]

we switch it up on every vacation, regardless of destiny

[Flipadelphia26]

Riu Club - All inclusive. Is what it is. Out of the way from stuff I like
Yellow Bird - I love this beach, bar and staff more than I like the rooms. Would stay there again
Bourbon Beach 2X - and prob never again. Every time I go there, I find myself ready to move on within an hour. Love the food though.
Wild Parrot - Had a great experience here. Want to stay here again in April/May or whenever I can make it back
Cathca - Great hotel - great rooms - great grounds. Pricey drinks and food. Bored to death after 2 days.
White Sands - Great room for the price. No complaints. Basic.


I would rank them like this.

Room Quality
Catcha
Riu
Wild Parrot
White Sands
Yellow Bird
Bourbon

Bar
Yellow Bird
Bourbon
Wild Parrot
Catcha
White Sands
Riu

Atmosphere
Yellow Bird
Wild Parrot
Bourbon
Catcha
With Sands
Riu

Beach
Yellow Bird
Wild Parrot
Bourbon
White Sands
Riu
Catcha NA

[Beebeluv]

Livin the dream

"sticky sweet smell of a Jamaica morning"
THAT is the best description I have ever heard........Good Job !

i was thinking the same thing

[Melody]

Melody- our stay was during the time it was changing owners. It was not a good experience because there were no owners on property. No security at night and one of the employees asking us for money and following us around. We had the "best room in the house" which had an awesome view and great bed. The bathroom and kitchen sink were "icky". Keep in mind this is before the improvements started. I also did a review on TA. New owners did respond and told me if I wanted to give it another chance to contact them directly and they would make it up to us. As I mentioned we are definitely beach people but if we were to stay on the cliffs I might give it a chance. It was just way too quiet for us. I can't swim and the water was to rough to get in. The pool was not in good shape and the jacuzzi did not work at all. We spent the whole time either sitting on our balcony or walking back and forth from the lighthouse to Canoe.

Thanks MoFromMonroe and billndonna! Good to read your feedback. It seems it has improved a lot, but I checked and they no longer have coffee pots or fridges in their cheaper rooms. The fridge is a deal breaker for me. You can rent both, depending on availability, but the rental cost was rather high. I bartered a bit and was told they would include the fridge for me if booking with them directly, rather than Expedia. Still a bit more than Mirage though. I have some concerns about both places being too quiet, perhaps ending up with too much solitude, but really looking for my seaview fix and curious about being located on the cliffs for a short time to walk around and get to know some of the little places better. Sort of an "excursion". I guess I'll never know for myself unless I try it. If I get lonely, I can always go to Seastar or Canoe or other smaller places. I will be in Negril 9 nights, with the first one, arriving late, probably 10 pm, so I figure that would leave me two full days to explore the area and then have 6 nights on the beach at Coco.

Mike_D - thank you! Really great to read about both properties. I really like the look of the rooms much better at Mirage. I emailed asking about any specials and was told they'd include the taxes in the rate. Nadine replied quickly and professionally. And don't mind at all not having a bar or restaurant because of the close proximity of lots of good ones, and I like to self serve my own drinks on property, so I shouldn't have to worry about them having a problem with that! Really, my biggest concern with Mirage is the expanse of concrete and lack of trees/gardens. Do they have any gardens on the side or from the road to the hotel? Did you look to see what their sea access is like? I'm not at all good with heights and wouldn't use ladders of any real length. I know I could always go to Xtabi if I wanted to swim in the sea. Is the stretch of road by Mirage decent for walking? Being a solo woman (especially), I'd need to know of a good taxi driver in the area to go to dinner and back (after dark). Do you have info on someone in particular you'd recommend for that area or did you find out if Mirage has a decent driver? I'd like to check out LTU or Pushcart as I haven't been. As mentioned, I won't arrive until about 10 pm and it'll be a Wednesday, so perhaps karaoke at Escape will be just about over, or just getting good?

[luvmylabs]

Trip #1 - Honeymoon at Royal Plantation, Ocho Rios, October 2002 - AWESOME!

Trip #2 - Club Ambiance, Runaway Bay, October 2004- Hotel was ok, food was good. Staff and guests were great. Still keep in touch with one of the entertainment staff, she has since moved to Florida after going to college in Ohio and we have met up with her in both Ohio & Florida.

Trip #3 - Royal Decameron Montego Bay, October 2006 - OK.

Trip #4 - Grand Pineapple, October 2009 - LOVED it. Great spot on the beach.

Trip #5 - Grand Palladium, October 2010 - Hated it, wouldn't return if it was free. The place is huge and the beach was horrible. (We only paid $600 pp for 7 nights including airfare so we thought we'd give it a try.) After being in Negril the year before, we were sooooo disappointed that we wasted vacation time going to this place.

Trip # 6 - Breezes Grand Negril, October 2011 - nice place, nightlife sucked.

Trip # 7 - Relax Resort (Merrill's 3), May 2012 - now closed - We liked this place. Smaller place, nothing fancy but nice enough. We were the only English speaking people staying at the resort so we became very friendly with the staff (still keep in touch with 3 of them).

Trip # 8 - Couples Negril, October 2012 - Really nice place but we decided we like the Long Bay beach area better than Bloody Bay.

Trip # 9 - Seastar, Catcha Falling Star & Coco La Palm, April 2013- 1st non-AI trip and we loved all 3 places.

Trip # 10 - upcoming in 5 weeks, October 2013 - We are doing our first repeat stay at Catcha Falling Star. We'll be at Catcha for 2 nights and then move to Couples Swept Away for 7 nights.

Trip #11 - planning on a trip in April - we'll do non-AI again and we will either do a repeat stay at Coco or possibly Treehouse.

We haven't found our "home" yet but we do know that Negril is our spot.

[love2travelchic]

Bar B Barn room 118 --- been staying there since my son was 3 -- he's 17 now lol

Wow! So BBB is your 1 and only stay in 14yrs.?

[Big_frank]

First stay in 98 was Samsara. It was booked through Sears in Canada and included a 25 dollar per week bar credit and an air equipped room with breakfast included.
Loved it. Loved the grounds and the nicest person we met at the hotel was the groundskeeper; Melvin.
Free daily transfers to Legends and back was a big selling point.
The next trip we decided to go all-inclusive at Trelawny Beach Resort which I believe was a "Starfish" branded resort at the time.
We had a great time, but the beach was always windy and more choppy than Negril. Visited Falmouth and loved it. Left my bank card in the machine and had people chasing me down the road to return it. They wouldn't accept a reward.
That last 8 visits have been to Seastar Inn on the west end (best end).
Chris and Francine are the best hosts in the parish and the hotel has some of the best vibes on the island. No need for us to go anywhere else; but if I couldn't find space at the popular Seastar, I would stay at Rhodes Hall with their wonderful infinity pool and spectacular setting.

[Ras Walleye]

My first stay was at Charela Inn in 1999 for a wedding. The next year it was the Blue Cave Castle solo. The next time it was a week at each with a group of friends. In 2002 for the marathon we stayed at RIU, there was only one then, as part of a charity group but were very happy to cut the wristband and get back to the Castle for the last part of our stay. After that the timeline gets lost in the haze but Treehouse was next. Then we would split our stays between the Castle and alternate Treehouse and Charela. One year we attempted a low budget trip and tried Jah B's but only lasted one night there. It was nice but a bit too rustic and no A/C. So on SLP's recommendation we moved to Yellow Bird and stayed there on several trips. Our wedding was at the Castle with family staying there and guests at Treehouse, Charela and YB. After a week at the Castle we honeymooned in a suite at Treehouse and got royally spoiled. The last few years we have rotated between the Castle, Treehouse and Charela. I can't say we have settled but after our 2 week stay in a Treehouse suite a couple weeks ago it is definitely #1 on our list. We love them all and visit each of them even when staying elsewhere. The joy is we are welcomed by name like family at all of them.

[captaind]

12 times since our return home. All at Seastar