Tweet
This is the Prelude to our April 2003 trip! We leave on Saturday! For those that didn't follow the "Negril Here We Come Post" - Sienna has bribed me with posting a trip report so I will be allowed to sample the famous 3 Dives chicken next Tuesday night!
February 2003 – My first trip to Jamaica! Although this was my first trip to Jamaica, this was my boyfriend’s, Be-Rad’s, third trip. My boyfriend’s previous trip were with groups of his wild single friends. They had rental cars each trip so they could travel all over the island and he was even fortunate enough to be able to stay over two weeks once. So coming down with me and two other couples will not be his typical trip! The other couples are Dummy and his wife Heffer - this is their second trip - they got married April 2001 at Hedo II and my friend Scooter and her boyfriend C. This is probably Scooter’s fourth trip – but her first to Negril. She used to come down with her old boyfriend and they stayed at some timeshares at Runaway Bay. This is C’s first trip to Jamaica.
FRIDAY - We decided to all meet up at my house at 1:00 p.m. for the drive to Chicago. We had already decided that we needed to take two cars and looking at all of the luggage, decided that was a good thing! We stayed at the Clarion Barcelo and making use of their Park-Ride program where we can leave our car there for the week. Rooms were $94 and estimated weekly parking near O'Hare was close to the same. [After thought was that we should have done a reverse Park and Ride – because we were so exhausted coming home, we should have really spent the night in Chicago before attempting the drive home after midnight.] We left Grand Rapids at a little after 2:00 and manage to hit Friday rush hour in Chicago. Should we take the Express lane – or not express lane – neither were moving!? So we each took one lane – the race was on! We ended up pretty much tying at the end! We wandered out of the hotel for dinner – using a map we located at the hotel and decided on a "Sports Bar" that had a variety of food to keep everyone happy. The place was a hotel restaurant called "Ribs" – we still have no idea why they named it that! The ribs were absolutely horrible and each of our dinners were extremely expensive for what we received! The first $100 of our vacation money was already gone – and it wasn’t even that good! But we were on vacation – back to the rooms – and even remembered to call and confirm our flights. The Apple Vacations message was so faint and those in our room were so loud that it took me five calls to understand which buttons to hit. I shushed the guys so many times that I finally whacked my boyfriend on the arm with the phone to get him to be quiet! No one had ever seen me even raise my voice or get mad about anything ever – so they were so shocked that the room was completely silent – so I guess it worked! Great start to our vacation! Even now – that is what everyone remembers first about this vacation! J gets mad and wacks Be-Rad with the phone and tells Dummy to “Be Quiet!” I finally can hear the message so I can punch in the right extension – everything is on schedule for the morning's flight. We drove to Chicago the night before so everyone could get a few hours of sleep before the flight – however, everyone seemed to be in a partying mood – so the boys went out and bought some beer and weren't planning on going to bed until it was gone. The girls went to bed around 10:30-11:00 p.m. and finally had to kick the guys out of the rooms, so they head downstairs to the hotel bar – they didn't manage to get into bed until well after midnight – with a 2:45 AM wakeup call – they were going to be cranky!
SATURDAY - Everyone meets in the lobby at 3:25 for the hotel shuttle to O'Hare. There were maybe 10 people on the shuttle with all of them going to Jamaica – but only two others going on our flight. We arrive O'Hare and stand in the Apple Vacations check in line with at least a hundred people in line ahead of us. The line was moving pretty fast when it was announced that our flight was going to be delayed one hour – 6:45 departure instead of 5:45 AM. Seems the pilot called in sick the night before and they were waiting for another pilot to arrive. On our way through O'Hare security – airport tells C that his carry on is too big – it fits inside the "rack" but has a stiff pressboard bottom that makes it difficult to get in and out easily. The airport rep tells him that there was no way it could be carried on and to go get it checked in. He grabs his sweatshirt and his book for the plane ride and an Apple Vacations rep steps in and nicely tells him that she will check the bag for him so he doesn’t have to get our of the security line. She stops and has a few choice words for the airport rep who keeps claiming that she could be fined $4000 if she lets him on with it – and the Apple Rep keeps telling her that it is ridiculous because it fits fine. The guy right in front of us in line has a garment bag that is twice the size and he gets to carry his on! Minutes later, C starts to think about what he left in his carryon – birth certificate, drivers license, etc. What is he going to do to get through Immigration before he picks up his checked luggage? Oops!
As we wait for boarding we wander back to Starbucks - they are out of cappuccino, they are out of iced coffee, they are out of everything but regular coffee or expresso. No thanks! Plane starts boarding at 6:00 AM – while entering the plane we hear that the pilot still has not arrived but they wanted to make sure everyone was seated and ready to go as he was just minutes away. We were still sitting there in our luxurious charter airplane seats 50 minutes later when we hear over the intercom that the "Janitor" had just arrived. Not too many laughs this early in the morning! Another 30 minutes and we were finally in the air. Pilot came on and apologized, said something about being in Milwaukee, been flying for 16 hours, he was very sorry but policy that he had to sit for hours between flights and he would try to make up as much time in the air as possible. Never did hear exactly why they don't have pilots on call for this type of problem. I've had pretty good luck on charters so can't really complain – we were still on our way to Jamaica! Got into Montego Bay and left C standing in Immigration. We cruised through Immigration and Customs without any problems. They barely looked at our paperwork. All of our luggage arrived – life was good. We went and retrieved C’s carry on from baggage and he cruised through Immigration without any problems too.
Apple Vacations rep pointed us towards the Tropical Tours desk to get signed up for our shuttle to Negril. Porter takes our luggage (Note: Be-Rad needs to go outside for a smoke so we haven't waited for the other two couples still making their way through Customs). The porter loads our luggage onto a bus and a Tropical Tours rep tells us it was leaving in about 20 min. and we could grab a few Red Stripes if we wanted them for the ride. I don't really even care for beer - but we were in Jamaica – so I decided I would be what the Jamaicans or at least the Jamaican tourists do! We bought two Red Stripes, got our first offers to purchase ganga, etc. and wandered back towards the airport exit to help steer our companions towards the bus. Their porter walks right past our bus and starts to load their luggage into another bus. – No! No! we say – wrong bus. The same Tropical Tours rep that directed us - tells us that this is the ONLY bus going to the Riu and wants to know which bus our luggage got loaded on. We go to the bus and cannot locate our luggage anywhere in the luggage cargo. We are then frantically searching the luggage hold of each of the four identical looking TT buses. I turn around and my boyfriend is now off buying more Red Stripes – does he not care that our luggage is missing? Trying to remain calm – trying to remember that everything will be okay – think Jamaica! The TT rep decides that our bus must have already left with another identical bus taking its place in the parking lot. No way – it hadn’t even been ten minutes tops since he told the bus was leaving in 20 minutes. TT Rep takes a description of our luggage and promises to call ahead to the bus driver – he states that the other bus wasn't going to the Riu – but after their last stop the driver would discover the extra luggage and have it dropped off at the Riu. Now what is the chance of that? We weren’t even sure that had happened. We did have Apple tags on it with our destination and the rep doesn't seem overly concerned – but we were in Jamaica – I’m sure no one would be too concerned there! I took a swig of my Red Stripe and imagined our luggage sitting at some other hotel for the week – riding all week in the cargo department of the bus, being brought back to the airport and sitting there for the week, etc. We got on the "right" bus with everyone else and sat back for the ride to Negril. I totally enjoyed every minute of the ride – some parts of the road had been completed – and there were other places with such tight turns and detours that the bus could hardly make it through. No one seemed to move out of the road for the buses – even the small herd of cows that decided to cross right in front of us. But what can you do – we sat and waited for them to graze across the road and off to the other side. My boyfriend had insisted that he get to ride shotgun with the driver – so we joked and chatted with him the entire ride. About half way we stop for a Red Stripe, smoke and potty break. Seems like half of the bus disappeared to one side of the building for their party break! Unfortunately, no one can remember the place's name – just remember the toilets didn't flush!
We arrived at the Riu – and guess what! Our luggage was sitting in the middle of the lobby waiting for us! And I was worried! I was acting calm (after all I had MY bathing suit in my carry on!) – but inside I was still very concerned that I was never going to see our luggage again! We tipped the bus driver for all of his help and proceeded to check in. We even tipped him more because he was so insistent that he was the reason our luggage had made it! We knew that it was doubtful that our rooms would be ready when we arrived – but after the 2 ½ hour flight delay we were hoping that everything would be set. But of course, despite arriving hours late, the rooms were not ready. The front desk sent us out to the Bloody Bay restaurant to have "Lunch on Them!" This was the first of how many times we were going to hear that joke! It was after 3:30 and the variety at the buffet was a little limited that late in the afternoon. Most of the food looked as though it had been sitting under the heat lamps for several hours – and probably had! Decided on a light salad with some tuna tossed on the top and guess what? Their tuna was awesome – it wasn't tuna salad – just nice flaky tuna meat – I ended up eating it almost every day – with a little balsamic on it – yum! While sitting there sipping our Ting or Pepsi – I say to myself – and then to everyone else - why aren't we drinking yet? Up to the bar I go for our first round of drinks. We immediately discover that not all of the bartenders make their drinks the same – during lunch we ordered the same drink and it came back looking and tasting different every single time! After a few drinks and a little bit of food and we were off to discover the Riu. It was absolutely beautiful – beach was long, wide and clean. We discovered that the beach was raked and even sifted for debris every morning. There were plenty of lounge chairs scattered from edge to edge of the large property. The water was shallow and warm – all soft sand - great for children. I stole several pieces of bread every morning and fed the fish. I would have a hundred or so of maybe three-four different kinds of fish around me at any given time – and usually had a crowd watching me every day! Kind of like at the zoo! The pools were usually pretty much empty while we were there, although there was a huge crowd at the swim up bar every afternoon.
The Riu was immaculate. The grounds very nicely kept – soft green grass and foliage all along the paths and buildings.. On any given day we could see new plants being planted or the outside of the buildings being painted – seems the pink buildings had been whitewashed white – or vice versa - and now they are painting them purple! It did appear that the resort looked older than its one year – however, that might be just the difference in the working environment/materials available in Jamaica.
There is an outside ping pong table and a small set of children's play equipment near the center of resort between the pool and beach area.
The Riu allowed vendors (for a price) to bring their wares into the resort. During the day the vendors sold their items along the path near the beach – in the evening they moved their tables up near the pools and bar areas.
After a brief self tour of the Riu – we went back to the front desk to get our keys. Our friends have been assigned Rooms 2206, 2207 – and my boyfriend and I were on the floor above at 2305. No porter was available so we took off with the entire luggage cart ourselves and proceeded to drag our luggage up the two and three flights of stairs to our rooms. We were fortunate to immediately meet C – our mini bar guy – so we each flipped him a nice tip and he stocked our fridges. He told us they were out of Ting but he would come back with everything else. He filled our small fridge with Red Stripe, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and left an extra gallon jug of water (water is no longer left in the smaller bottles that appear on some of the websites). It was too late to head to the beach – so we unpacked, put on our suits and headed to the swim up bar at the pool. The pool and pool bars close at 6:00 – so we get in one swim and a few drinks (although Dummy decides it is way too cold for him to go in!) He only managed to touch the water – both pool and salt - a few times all week – and he is a boater!
We sat out on the beach chairs to watch our first Jamaican sunset – it was absolutely beautiful. When the sun set – the beach erupted in applause and that seemed to be the cue for everyone to pack up and head back to their rooms!
We head back to the rooms – relax, have a few cocktails, shower and get dressed for the 8:30 dinner. We have been assigned tables 98-100 (back in the corner) for our first night and Tables 10-12 for the rest of the week We had a great dinner with our very entertaining server, SK. We already happened to meet SK as he was also our bus boy at lunch when we ate at the Bloody Bay restaurant. This is the first of many instances where we notice that many of the employees at the Riu have numerous jobs. C – our mini bar guy – also bartended at the Bloody Bay bar and also helped stock the pool bar. He was everywhere! When the pool bar closed, M and D moved over to the Bloody Bay bar. When it closed a few of the bartenders then moved into the disco.
After dinner we went and got seats near the stage for the evening's entertainment. Since we had a late dinner time, we missed part of the show. On stage were seven or so couples – the men were trying to do the most pushups with their partners lying on their backs. I had heard that the evening's entertainment was lacking at the Riu – but this wasn't that bad. It was actually quite funny at times. The crowd decides that the winner should be the guy that could only do one pushup and not the guy that did eleven. Commentator takes twenty minutes of polling the crowd to try to convince them that he shouldn't be the winner. But the crowd prevails and the "loser" gets the bottle of rum! Music comes on and we call it a night about 12:30. I am surprised we have stayed up this late! In all actuality – this was one of our later nights!
SUNDAY - Up at the break of dawn. Be-Rad heads to the workout room. Workout? Go ahead – I'll sit here and read! When he returns we all head to the Negril restaurant for the breakfast buffet. We ate the breakfast buffet (they had great croissant French toast that everyone loved) almost every morning. Not being used to big breakfasts, I grew tired of the buffet breakfast and was eating BLTs by about Wednesday! They had K’s made to order omelets, scrambled or poached eggs, bacon and sausage every day and they had plenty of juices, smoothies, fresh fruit, bread (they also had a toaster) to keep anyone happy.
Our friends have decided that they are not happy at all with their rooms –2206 and 2207 - they were very musty smelling and felt damp (they were still like this even after a few days of airing out). The taxi parking lot and road were directly behind their rooms and there was also a loud pump of some sort that we could easily hear even from our room. We were in 2305 and were more sheltered from the noise so it didn't really bother us. All in all we would have been happy with our room – we did not have any of the musty smell that they other rooms had and we had a nice view of the water through a palm tree in front of our balcony - where several little black lizards sunned themselves everyday. The other couples put in for an upgrade immediately and were told that they would have to check back on Monday morning, and then on Monday were told to check back on Tuesday, etc. The manager on duty said that we would be on the list (what list? He didn’t even write anything down!) – and told them that the Riu was totally booked and it might not be until Friday before they would have an opening – but if they wanted they could keep checking back.
SUNDAY This was Daytona 500 day and we already had plans to watch the race at Margaritaville. We thought that we would knock off one of the touristy spots and get to watch the race too. Us girls were a little more interested in getting into the sun – so we grabbed lounge chairs and sunned on the beach with regular race updates from the guys. We ended up taking two cabs down to Margaritaville – we thought that we would try and do the smart thing and not take the hotel cabs. But since there were six of us we had a little trouble trying to get all of us in one car. So we rode with two guys that were later described as "The Dealer" and the "Professor." No good deal on the cab fares today as we paid $15 each car round trip to the ride. The guys snacked at Margaritaville while I tried all day to find something good to drink. I got the "All You can Drink from 11-4 Rum and Vodka" wristband. Now after we paid for the wristband I find out that this doesn't include anything blended, just their plain old house rum and vodka with juice or pop. So the first full day in Jamaica and I drank a few of everything and ended up drinking Rum and Pepsi! Scooter's boyfriend and Dummy decide to parasail. They are taken out on the boat and drive by the beach several times - finally they were up. Be-Rad and I were the only ones watching – Heffer and Scooter were both totally oblivious – lying on their chairs on the beach! The tandem taxis arrive to pick us up at 4:30 – right on time! The Dealer is still trying to sell us stuff that he keeps under his seat – he keeps pulling out bag after bag of his “wares”! He can get us anything we want…
We run into C again – he says that there is still no Ting – but he brought one couple a bottle of Beam and another room a bottle of CC and each room a bottle of Rum Cream – that will do for now! We decide that we are hungry and don't really want to wait until 8:30 for dinner. So we head to D'Angelos for dinner. We ate out on the balcony of D'Angelos several times during our stay. The service by S was excellent and very quick – she remembered our drink orders perfectly on our second trip. There was a salad bar inside and they served pizza rolls, break sticks (both a little different from the US – order one appetizer per person!) calzones, a variety of pastas and sauces and several different pizzas – along with a special pizza every night. All of the food there was excellent. We were told that we couldn't take the food out of the restaurants at the Riu – however, we ordered pizza there late one night and took it back to our room without any problem.
Back to the stage bars for the evening's entertainment. We seem to have lost a few people on the way! Oh well - a few of us went out to the beach and laid out on the lounge chairs, listened to the waves and the music in the background. Back to the rooms before we pass out!
February 2003 – My first trip to Jamaica! Although this was my first trip to Jamaica, this was my boyfriend’s, Be-Rad’s, third trip. My boyfriend’s previous trip were with groups of his wild single friends. They had rental cars each trip so they could travel all over the island and he was even fortunate enough to be able to stay over two weeks once. So coming down with me and two other couples will not be his typical trip! The other couples are Dummy and his wife Heffer - this is their second trip - they got married April 2001 at Hedo II and my friend Scooter and her boyfriend C. This is probably Scooter’s fourth trip – but her first to Negril. She used to come down with her old boyfriend and they stayed at some timeshares at Runaway Bay. This is C’s first trip to Jamaica.
FRIDAY - We decided to all meet up at my house at 1:00 p.m. for the drive to Chicago. We had already decided that we needed to take two cars and looking at all of the luggage, decided that was a good thing! We stayed at the Clarion Barcelo and making use of their Park-Ride program where we can leave our car there for the week. Rooms were $94 and estimated weekly parking near O'Hare was close to the same. [After thought was that we should have done a reverse Park and Ride – because we were so exhausted coming home, we should have really spent the night in Chicago before attempting the drive home after midnight.] We left Grand Rapids at a little after 2:00 and manage to hit Friday rush hour in Chicago. Should we take the Express lane – or not express lane – neither were moving!? So we each took one lane – the race was on! We ended up pretty much tying at the end! We wandered out of the hotel for dinner – using a map we located at the hotel and decided on a "Sports Bar" that had a variety of food to keep everyone happy. The place was a hotel restaurant called "Ribs" – we still have no idea why they named it that! The ribs were absolutely horrible and each of our dinners were extremely expensive for what we received! The first $100 of our vacation money was already gone – and it wasn’t even that good! But we were on vacation – back to the rooms – and even remembered to call and confirm our flights. The Apple Vacations message was so faint and those in our room were so loud that it took me five calls to understand which buttons to hit. I shushed the guys so many times that I finally whacked my boyfriend on the arm with the phone to get him to be quiet! No one had ever seen me even raise my voice or get mad about anything ever – so they were so shocked that the room was completely silent – so I guess it worked! Great start to our vacation! Even now – that is what everyone remembers first about this vacation! J gets mad and wacks Be-Rad with the phone and tells Dummy to “Be Quiet!” I finally can hear the message so I can punch in the right extension – everything is on schedule for the morning's flight. We drove to Chicago the night before so everyone could get a few hours of sleep before the flight – however, everyone seemed to be in a partying mood – so the boys went out and bought some beer and weren't planning on going to bed until it was gone. The girls went to bed around 10:30-11:00 p.m. and finally had to kick the guys out of the rooms, so they head downstairs to the hotel bar – they didn't manage to get into bed until well after midnight – with a 2:45 AM wakeup call – they were going to be cranky!
SATURDAY - Everyone meets in the lobby at 3:25 for the hotel shuttle to O'Hare. There were maybe 10 people on the shuttle with all of them going to Jamaica – but only two others going on our flight. We arrive O'Hare and stand in the Apple Vacations check in line with at least a hundred people in line ahead of us. The line was moving pretty fast when it was announced that our flight was going to be delayed one hour – 6:45 departure instead of 5:45 AM. Seems the pilot called in sick the night before and they were waiting for another pilot to arrive. On our way through O'Hare security – airport tells C that his carry on is too big – it fits inside the "rack" but has a stiff pressboard bottom that makes it difficult to get in and out easily. The airport rep tells him that there was no way it could be carried on and to go get it checked in. He grabs his sweatshirt and his book for the plane ride and an Apple Vacations rep steps in and nicely tells him that she will check the bag for him so he doesn’t have to get our of the security line. She stops and has a few choice words for the airport rep who keeps claiming that she could be fined $4000 if she lets him on with it – and the Apple Rep keeps telling her that it is ridiculous because it fits fine. The guy right in front of us in line has a garment bag that is twice the size and he gets to carry his on! Minutes later, C starts to think about what he left in his carryon – birth certificate, drivers license, etc. What is he going to do to get through Immigration before he picks up his checked luggage? Oops!
As we wait for boarding we wander back to Starbucks - they are out of cappuccino, they are out of iced coffee, they are out of everything but regular coffee or expresso. No thanks! Plane starts boarding at 6:00 AM – while entering the plane we hear that the pilot still has not arrived but they wanted to make sure everyone was seated and ready to go as he was just minutes away. We were still sitting there in our luxurious charter airplane seats 50 minutes later when we hear over the intercom that the "Janitor" had just arrived. Not too many laughs this early in the morning! Another 30 minutes and we were finally in the air. Pilot came on and apologized, said something about being in Milwaukee, been flying for 16 hours, he was very sorry but policy that he had to sit for hours between flights and he would try to make up as much time in the air as possible. Never did hear exactly why they don't have pilots on call for this type of problem. I've had pretty good luck on charters so can't really complain – we were still on our way to Jamaica! Got into Montego Bay and left C standing in Immigration. We cruised through Immigration and Customs without any problems. They barely looked at our paperwork. All of our luggage arrived – life was good. We went and retrieved C’s carry on from baggage and he cruised through Immigration without any problems too.
Apple Vacations rep pointed us towards the Tropical Tours desk to get signed up for our shuttle to Negril. Porter takes our luggage (Note: Be-Rad needs to go outside for a smoke so we haven't waited for the other two couples still making their way through Customs). The porter loads our luggage onto a bus and a Tropical Tours rep tells us it was leaving in about 20 min. and we could grab a few Red Stripes if we wanted them for the ride. I don't really even care for beer - but we were in Jamaica – so I decided I would be what the Jamaicans or at least the Jamaican tourists do! We bought two Red Stripes, got our first offers to purchase ganga, etc. and wandered back towards the airport exit to help steer our companions towards the bus. Their porter walks right past our bus and starts to load their luggage into another bus. – No! No! we say – wrong bus. The same Tropical Tours rep that directed us - tells us that this is the ONLY bus going to the Riu and wants to know which bus our luggage got loaded on. We go to the bus and cannot locate our luggage anywhere in the luggage cargo. We are then frantically searching the luggage hold of each of the four identical looking TT buses. I turn around and my boyfriend is now off buying more Red Stripes – does he not care that our luggage is missing? Trying to remain calm – trying to remember that everything will be okay – think Jamaica! The TT rep decides that our bus must have already left with another identical bus taking its place in the parking lot. No way – it hadn’t even been ten minutes tops since he told the bus was leaving in 20 minutes. TT Rep takes a description of our luggage and promises to call ahead to the bus driver – he states that the other bus wasn't going to the Riu – but after their last stop the driver would discover the extra luggage and have it dropped off at the Riu. Now what is the chance of that? We weren’t even sure that had happened. We did have Apple tags on it with our destination and the rep doesn't seem overly concerned – but we were in Jamaica – I’m sure no one would be too concerned there! I took a swig of my Red Stripe and imagined our luggage sitting at some other hotel for the week – riding all week in the cargo department of the bus, being brought back to the airport and sitting there for the week, etc. We got on the "right" bus with everyone else and sat back for the ride to Negril. I totally enjoyed every minute of the ride – some parts of the road had been completed – and there were other places with such tight turns and detours that the bus could hardly make it through. No one seemed to move out of the road for the buses – even the small herd of cows that decided to cross right in front of us. But what can you do – we sat and waited for them to graze across the road and off to the other side. My boyfriend had insisted that he get to ride shotgun with the driver – so we joked and chatted with him the entire ride. About half way we stop for a Red Stripe, smoke and potty break. Seems like half of the bus disappeared to one side of the building for their party break! Unfortunately, no one can remember the place's name – just remember the toilets didn't flush!
We arrived at the Riu – and guess what! Our luggage was sitting in the middle of the lobby waiting for us! And I was worried! I was acting calm (after all I had MY bathing suit in my carry on!) – but inside I was still very concerned that I was never going to see our luggage again! We tipped the bus driver for all of his help and proceeded to check in. We even tipped him more because he was so insistent that he was the reason our luggage had made it! We knew that it was doubtful that our rooms would be ready when we arrived – but after the 2 ½ hour flight delay we were hoping that everything would be set. But of course, despite arriving hours late, the rooms were not ready. The front desk sent us out to the Bloody Bay restaurant to have "Lunch on Them!" This was the first of how many times we were going to hear that joke! It was after 3:30 and the variety at the buffet was a little limited that late in the afternoon. Most of the food looked as though it had been sitting under the heat lamps for several hours – and probably had! Decided on a light salad with some tuna tossed on the top and guess what? Their tuna was awesome – it wasn't tuna salad – just nice flaky tuna meat – I ended up eating it almost every day – with a little balsamic on it – yum! While sitting there sipping our Ting or Pepsi – I say to myself – and then to everyone else - why aren't we drinking yet? Up to the bar I go for our first round of drinks. We immediately discover that not all of the bartenders make their drinks the same – during lunch we ordered the same drink and it came back looking and tasting different every single time! After a few drinks and a little bit of food and we were off to discover the Riu. It was absolutely beautiful – beach was long, wide and clean. We discovered that the beach was raked and even sifted for debris every morning. There were plenty of lounge chairs scattered from edge to edge of the large property. The water was shallow and warm – all soft sand - great for children. I stole several pieces of bread every morning and fed the fish. I would have a hundred or so of maybe three-four different kinds of fish around me at any given time – and usually had a crowd watching me every day! Kind of like at the zoo! The pools were usually pretty much empty while we were there, although there was a huge crowd at the swim up bar every afternoon.
The Riu was immaculate. The grounds very nicely kept – soft green grass and foliage all along the paths and buildings.. On any given day we could see new plants being planted or the outside of the buildings being painted – seems the pink buildings had been whitewashed white – or vice versa - and now they are painting them purple! It did appear that the resort looked older than its one year – however, that might be just the difference in the working environment/materials available in Jamaica.
There is an outside ping pong table and a small set of children's play equipment near the center of resort between the pool and beach area.
The Riu allowed vendors (for a price) to bring their wares into the resort. During the day the vendors sold their items along the path near the beach – in the evening they moved their tables up near the pools and bar areas.
After a brief self tour of the Riu – we went back to the front desk to get our keys. Our friends have been assigned Rooms 2206, 2207 – and my boyfriend and I were on the floor above at 2305. No porter was available so we took off with the entire luggage cart ourselves and proceeded to drag our luggage up the two and three flights of stairs to our rooms. We were fortunate to immediately meet C – our mini bar guy – so we each flipped him a nice tip and he stocked our fridges. He told us they were out of Ting but he would come back with everything else. He filled our small fridge with Red Stripe, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and left an extra gallon jug of water (water is no longer left in the smaller bottles that appear on some of the websites). It was too late to head to the beach – so we unpacked, put on our suits and headed to the swim up bar at the pool. The pool and pool bars close at 6:00 – so we get in one swim and a few drinks (although Dummy decides it is way too cold for him to go in!) He only managed to touch the water – both pool and salt - a few times all week – and he is a boater!
We sat out on the beach chairs to watch our first Jamaican sunset – it was absolutely beautiful. When the sun set – the beach erupted in applause and that seemed to be the cue for everyone to pack up and head back to their rooms!
We head back to the rooms – relax, have a few cocktails, shower and get dressed for the 8:30 dinner. We have been assigned tables 98-100 (back in the corner) for our first night and Tables 10-12 for the rest of the week We had a great dinner with our very entertaining server, SK. We already happened to meet SK as he was also our bus boy at lunch when we ate at the Bloody Bay restaurant. This is the first of many instances where we notice that many of the employees at the Riu have numerous jobs. C – our mini bar guy – also bartended at the Bloody Bay bar and also helped stock the pool bar. He was everywhere! When the pool bar closed, M and D moved over to the Bloody Bay bar. When it closed a few of the bartenders then moved into the disco.
After dinner we went and got seats near the stage for the evening's entertainment. Since we had a late dinner time, we missed part of the show. On stage were seven or so couples – the men were trying to do the most pushups with their partners lying on their backs. I had heard that the evening's entertainment was lacking at the Riu – but this wasn't that bad. It was actually quite funny at times. The crowd decides that the winner should be the guy that could only do one pushup and not the guy that did eleven. Commentator takes twenty minutes of polling the crowd to try to convince them that he shouldn't be the winner. But the crowd prevails and the "loser" gets the bottle of rum! Music comes on and we call it a night about 12:30. I am surprised we have stayed up this late! In all actuality – this was one of our later nights!
SUNDAY - Up at the break of dawn. Be-Rad heads to the workout room. Workout? Go ahead – I'll sit here and read! When he returns we all head to the Negril restaurant for the breakfast buffet. We ate the breakfast buffet (they had great croissant French toast that everyone loved) almost every morning. Not being used to big breakfasts, I grew tired of the buffet breakfast and was eating BLTs by about Wednesday! They had K’s made to order omelets, scrambled or poached eggs, bacon and sausage every day and they had plenty of juices, smoothies, fresh fruit, bread (they also had a toaster) to keep anyone happy.
Our friends have decided that they are not happy at all with their rooms –2206 and 2207 - they were very musty smelling and felt damp (they were still like this even after a few days of airing out). The taxi parking lot and road were directly behind their rooms and there was also a loud pump of some sort that we could easily hear even from our room. We were in 2305 and were more sheltered from the noise so it didn't really bother us. All in all we would have been happy with our room – we did not have any of the musty smell that they other rooms had and we had a nice view of the water through a palm tree in front of our balcony - where several little black lizards sunned themselves everyday. The other couples put in for an upgrade immediately and were told that they would have to check back on Monday morning, and then on Monday were told to check back on Tuesday, etc. The manager on duty said that we would be on the list (what list? He didn’t even write anything down!) – and told them that the Riu was totally booked and it might not be until Friday before they would have an opening – but if they wanted they could keep checking back.
SUNDAY This was Daytona 500 day and we already had plans to watch the race at Margaritaville. We thought that we would knock off one of the touristy spots and get to watch the race too. Us girls were a little more interested in getting into the sun – so we grabbed lounge chairs and sunned on the beach with regular race updates from the guys. We ended up taking two cabs down to Margaritaville – we thought that we would try and do the smart thing and not take the hotel cabs. But since there were six of us we had a little trouble trying to get all of us in one car. So we rode with two guys that were later described as "The Dealer" and the "Professor." No good deal on the cab fares today as we paid $15 each car round trip to the ride. The guys snacked at Margaritaville while I tried all day to find something good to drink. I got the "All You can Drink from 11-4 Rum and Vodka" wristband. Now after we paid for the wristband I find out that this doesn't include anything blended, just their plain old house rum and vodka with juice or pop. So the first full day in Jamaica and I drank a few of everything and ended up drinking Rum and Pepsi! Scooter's boyfriend and Dummy decide to parasail. They are taken out on the boat and drive by the beach several times - finally they were up. Be-Rad and I were the only ones watching – Heffer and Scooter were both totally oblivious – lying on their chairs on the beach! The tandem taxis arrive to pick us up at 4:30 – right on time! The Dealer is still trying to sell us stuff that he keeps under his seat – he keeps pulling out bag after bag of his “wares”! He can get us anything we want…
We run into C again – he says that there is still no Ting – but he brought one couple a bottle of Beam and another room a bottle of CC and each room a bottle of Rum Cream – that will do for now! We decide that we are hungry and don't really want to wait until 8:30 for dinner. So we head to D'Angelos for dinner. We ate out on the balcony of D'Angelos several times during our stay. The service by S was excellent and very quick – she remembered our drink orders perfectly on our second trip. There was a salad bar inside and they served pizza rolls, break sticks (both a little different from the US – order one appetizer per person!) calzones, a variety of pastas and sauces and several different pizzas – along with a special pizza every night. All of the food there was excellent. We were told that we couldn't take the food out of the restaurants at the Riu – however, we ordered pizza there late one night and took it back to our room without any problem.
Back to the stage bars for the evening's entertainment. We seem to have lost a few people on the way! Oh well - a few of us went out to the beach and laid out on the lounge chairs, listened to the waves and the music in the background. Back to the rooms before we pass out!
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ) Can't wait to read the rest
) You and your friends sound like you must always have fun wherever you go. This was perfect timing - the engagement story right before you leave - and next week the wedding. I am so happy for you guys. Sure wish it would have worked out that we would be there too! But don't think our story is ending the same way. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] But life goes on! You, Brad and your kids have just one he## of a great time. Take tons of pictures. I will be thinking of you next week when I'm sitting here - moping around at work - waitng for trip reports from the week I wanted to go down...can you tell I'm feeling sorry for myself? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Congrats again! And everyone that meets this couple next week - give them a hug for me!
Comment