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Beaches Negril 11/20/02
Reviewers Rating:  Fair
Once we arrived, we were escorted to the lobby, sat down, asked our names, got a cold drink and waited. We were a little confused, because no one told us what was going on. Then someone returned with our keys and compliment bag. We were then escorted to our rooms. Apparently there is no standard check-in procedure. The entrance to the Beaches Resort looked O.K., the lobby was also in good condition. Upon entering our rooms, our Bell-Hop gave us a quick once through, and left. I tipped him $5.00 because this is what I am used to doing. Upon further inspection of the room, we had noticed the bathrooms were sub-par compared to previous trips we had gone on, particularly the bath-tub, tile, and caulking. There were rust stains in the bath tub, mold on the floor outside the bath-tub and on the tiles. During our week stay in this room, our bed linens were never changed, floors were only swept, never washed. Our stay at the Hyatt, linens were changed everyday, floors were washed. Same response from the people that stayed at Swept Away & Couples. Service was also slow in cleaning the room, 3 days out of our stay the room did not get cleaned until after 3:00pm. Our room was also missing a gust services book, which I requested and never received. Out of all the vacations weíve taken our rooms were always done before noon, thatís a standard, especially for a 6 apple vacation. Beaches Resort ñ Room/Room Cleaning, 3 Apples Once unpacked we took our own tour around the Resort. The overall appearance in general did not live up to a 6 apple billing. Paint and general cleaning in our eyes, was a must. Beaches Resort ñ Buildings, 4 Apple Beaches Resort ñ Main Pool, 5 Apple Beaches Resort ñ Beach, 6 Apples Beaches Resort ñ Kids Zone, 4 Apple Beaches Resort ñ Overall Appearance and Cleanliness 4 Apple. The first thing noticed was there was no room service or pool service. This in general is a MAJOR high point of any vacation weíve taken. To have no service at the pool, room or beach , especially the pool and room, is not acceptable. I was told Swept away and Couples have room and pool service, none by the beach. From this point, I am going to describe the lack-of- services for the rest of the week. First Full Day. Sunday Morning, early riser, 6:00am. Where do I get something to drink, or eat? First stop lobby (above main pool), small portion of fruit and pastry. Mostly gone by 7:00am. Now something to drink, I prefer soda or orange juice. No orange juice or soda there. Letís ask someone, ìyou can get some soda by the 2 machines, one is behind The Mill the other is by The Piazza Food Court. O.K., lets go to the Mill first, soda machine there, NO GLASSESÖ Instead of asking someone for glasses, letís walk over to the Piazza Food Court, NO GLASSES . Now whatÖ.. This was a common occurrence everydayÖ No glasses by the machines, not only in the morning, but periodically throughout the day. We learned to take our own glass from the room to get a drink early in the morning. (only soda or coffee, no juiceís to be found until breakfast). Also for 3 days there was no Pepsi at the Mill Machine. Never changed. Next was Breakfast. Breakfast was supposed to be served at 7:30am, however, 80% of the time tables were not ready for anyone. You were seated with no silverware or napkins, and getting the silverware was always a treat. Getting back to the Pepsi Challenge, when I had asked for someone to get me a Pepsi, it was always a major accomplishment, first because the machine was not working, and second because no one knew where to get a Pepsi, and third the expression (look) of ìthatís not my jobî, filled the air. The overall food served for breakfast at The Mill was typical of any other breakfast buffet Iíve had at Dennyís or Perkins. There was nothing that set it apart to make it a 6 apple breakfast. Beaches Resort ñ The Mill Breakfast, 4 Apple Beaches Resort ñ The Mill Breakfast/Service, 2 Apple At Swept Away you can fill out a slip the night before, (incase youíre an early riser), for fruit plates, pastries and juices delivered in the morning at basically any time. Beaches Resort ñ Overall Morning Breakfast experience, 2 apple After a sub-par Breakfast every day, the first couple of days we lounged mainly at the Main Pool. We had already established earlier there was no pool service, so you had to get your own drink at the pool bar. Unfortunately, again, lack of service, pool bar did not open until 10:00am, so were do I get a Bloody Mary between breakfast and 10:00am, NOWHERE!! Once the pool bar open, again, service (with a smile) was non-existent, getting a Bloody Mary made correctly (or near correct) was terrible, nor could be accomplished. Now, I have been to a few tropical bars, all of which had some sort of drink menu to choose from. At this particular resort, the best you could get is the daily special, or the bartender special. There was no selection to choose from, at all !! The pool bar was also disgustingly dirty, it was never kept clean during the day. A strawberry daiquiri was not fresh, came from a machine and had one shot of cheap rum thrown on top. They ran out of bananas for 2 days. (Remember this is a tropical island). There was mainly only one bartender serving the pool and beach, getting a drink took forever. Drinks in general where made very poor, unlike the quote from beaches ìwith a total of five serving unlimited premium brand drinks.î This was non-existent, Plus they were in cheap plastic cups. Beaches Resort ñ The Main Pool Bar, 3 Apple Beaches Resort ñ The Main Pool Bar/Drinks, 2 Apple Beaches Resort ñ The Main Pool Bar/Service, 2 Apple Entertainment by the main pool was equally unimpressive. However, I am not one to get in on those types of games, especially when most where geared towards children. There was not much from what I saw in adult participation, so I can not give a fair rating on that. However the music played by the main pool is another story. Everyday the same cassette was played, over, and over and over. The music played was half Jamaican half who knows what. By day 3 I asked if they played anything else, my response was management wanted the same music everyday. Again no variety. The pictures on the web site is also deceiving, the first picture shows a couple laying across a strip of concrete/tile. This is actually up from the pool and acts as a waterfall and can not be gone in or on. Beaches Resort ñ The Main Pool Bar/Entertainment, 3 Apple That Sunday we also signed up for scuba, since it is unlimited/ once per day. Weíve had pool classes before from previous trips. This trip, I was told the scuba training for non-certified divers will take 3-4 hours of training. First off, for most people this is a deterrent, because of the length of time, and also the 6 laps in the pool. Especially if you where out the night before, and after breakfast. This is well planned by the resort, in my eyes. This to me is also a deterrent to save the resort money . Let me explain moreÖ. Of all of the places I have done the pool requirement, it takes 1 ‡ hourís and you do not do 6 full laps. The resort does this to push getting the certification and to deter people from scuba because it takes to long. They also only offer the course on Monday and I believe Wednesday. Correct me if I am wrong, but by doing all this you are limiting everyoneís ability to try and go scuba diving, thus saving money. Nevertheless a bright spot was we did sign up for our certification and finished the class by Thursday. Our PADI instructor was excellent and I give that portion 6 apples. Unfortunately I was not impressed that the resort went to the same location everyday. Beaches Resort ñ Scuba/Snorkeling, 5 Apple Sticking to the activities of the day (Water sports), that also was a BIG disappointment on the vacation. Lets look at them one at a time. Kayaks, quantity 3-6 depending on when they were put out and how may they felt like putting out. Windsurfing, quantity 1-2 boards. Aqua Trikes, never saw them until midweek, and only had (1) one. (count 3 on web site) Hobie Cats , quantity 2 Sunfish Sailing, quantity 0. The web site shows multiple Hobie cats, windsurfing boards and or Sunfish sailingís. The problem I am getting at with the above, is you barely could get to anything because of the amount of people to equipment. There is a false pretence from the web site to the actual equipment put out. Last, but not least, water-skiing and banana boat ride. The boat being used was not in service until, again Wednesday. Even when it was running, it was still having engine problems. So water-skiing and banana boat ride were pretty much a non-existent. When asked on Monday if the boat was going to be fixed that day, I got , ìNO MON, theyíre going to bring the boat down from Sandalsî, which never happened. Further more, what really got us FRUSTRATED was the fact that when Beaches Sandy Bay opened up on Thursday, they came down with their own boat to take kayaks and other equipment to their resort. Now from my point of view if Beaches Sandy Bay was closed, why did they not bring the boat down from that resort? and also take equipment, which we were short on ? Also, correct me if I am wrong, the water-skiing is suppose to start at 7:30am not 9:00am, for the two days the boat was running . GENERAL NOTE: EVERTHING THAT WAS SAID TO START AT A CERTAIN TIME ALWAYS, AND I DO MEAN ALWAYS, STARTED 45MIN TO 1 ‡ HOURS LATE. Hereís another example of timeliness, concerning the beach and pool areas. The dreaded towel barÖ Towels are suppose to be theyíre at 8:30am in the morning. First off, I think that is very late already, should be between 7:00am and 8:00am. Most of the time it was 8:45 ñ 9:00am, plus they ran out one-day. I saw one couple wait for approximately 45 minutes before they even got a towel. This is unacceptable by all standards. Beaches Resort ñ Water Sports, 2 Apple Nightly Entertainment, There virtual was none. Beaches QuoteÖ. At the first sign of the moon, the pace quickly turns into non-stop excitement, rich with romantic flavor and alive with the energy of music and laughter. Bar-none, Beaches Negril boasts the best choices in bars from Piano Bar to a Theater Bar ...with a total of five serving unlimited premium brand drinks. The pace quickens even further with live entertainment at the Big Top Amphitheater. Or, dare to dance the night away in the disco. Because there's never a dull moment at Beaches Negril. This has got to be the biggest non-factual statement made. There was absolutely nothing that made you want to stay out and do anything, except for one evening. There was no romantic flavor and alive with the energy of music and laughter, nor was any created by the resort. Places I have stayed and from other peoples trips, had social directors to keep the night rockíin. The most people I saw during the entire trip in the disco was 4! Plus the size of the disco, could not hold more than 20 people. If there are no promotions to go to, people are not going to go. Their promotions consisted of writing things sloppy on a white board. The best night was Wednesday. The food was served on the beach with a party afterwards. Everyone was out, and that was the most fun I saw people have. Otherwise, other than that, virtually everything was dead, because nothing was promoted. Most people sat at the main bar, wondering what to do, when that closed at 10:00pm all that was left was the Disco and Piano bar, which in turn left 90% of the people turning in for the night. That also leads back to the drink serving. After the pool bar shuts down at 5:00pm, which is early, the Main bar did not open till 6:00pm. Question again lies, were do I get a drink, NOWHERE !! Now, letís say I want to get a drink and go back to the room , after 10:00pm that leaves the disco and piano bar, which to me is not acceptable there should be a main bar near the lobby or by the ocean to get a drink. Note: Most of these bars had the same problem, lack of service, except the Piano and Disco bar, because no one was in those. How about food after 10:00pm, where can I get a snack, NOWHERE !! Beaches Resort ñ Nightlife, 2 Apple From The Coupleís & Swept Away resort nightlife existed every night with well ran events. Staying in Cancun Nightlife is abundant everywhere. Todd and Lisaís comments: Everything Jerry and Mary Ann pointed out, we agree with. We have taken a cruise, spent a week in Puerto Vallarta (non all-inclusive) and a week in Cancun (all-inclusive). All of these vacations were far superior to this vacation due to a number of things, but one item stood out more than the restÖSERVICE. The service at Beaches Negril for the most part was non-existent. The service we did get was always slow and with attitude. What we mean by attitude is, they always made us feel like they were not there to help us, like we were always asking them to do something out of the ordinary. Iím sorry, but when we pay $3000 for a vacation at a 6 apple resort (suppose to be the best), we expect to get pampered, not attitude. At these resorts we look for great service, good food, good drinks and a pool or ocean to relax by. As already mentioned the service was terrible. Next comes the food, which wasnít much better. Besides the example Jerry and Mary Ann provided, we had just an awful experience at the Last Stop Saloon. This happened to be the very first restaurant we ate at on Saturday evening. First, the menu selection was very limited. Second, the attitude or service provided by the host and waiter set the stage for the rest of the weekÖlousy. Finally the food. Todd ordered the Shrimp and Seafood Medley. On Saturday night (our first night), this dish was FANTASTIC! It was so good that Todd had to order it two more times during the week. The second time Todd ordered it, later in the week, the presentation was not the same and it seemed like the food came from a warmerÖmeaning that it wasnít freshly prepared. At the end of the week, Todd tried it one more time. It was barely warm and tasted terrible. It made us think that at the beginning of the week they made a large portion of this dish and just kept serving it throughout the week. The food at Teppanyaki was equally disappointing. After the trip we spoke with our travel agent about our disappointment. We asked him what makes this place (Beaches Negril) better than the rest. He made two main points, water sports and top shelf alcohol. Jerry has already commented on the disappointment regarding the water sports, so we donít need to add anything more to that. The drinks however, we do. First, if you donít drink alcohol, that immediately eliminates that from being a plus. We do drink alcohol, so this might have been a plus if the drinks werenít made so poorly. The alcohol in the drinks may have been premium or top shelf, but the drinks as a whole were CHEAP. These so-called tropical drinks contained no real fruit juice or fruit. The drinks contained only juice from concentrate or syrups. Even the most common of tropical drinks, such as a daiquiri, came from a ìsmoothieî machine. No real strawberries. Every other vacation weíve taken in the Caribbean or Mexico, the drinks were made using real fruit and/or real fruit juice. The glasses the drinks were served in made me think I was at McDonaldís. Completely unacceptable. Now we could have lived with the bad food, bad drinks and the lack of water sports, but the attitudes and lack of service, is what we could not tolerate. Not one person ever smiled. Not one person would look you in the eye. Not one person would ask if you needed any thing. Not one person acted like they wanted to be there. This is the first vacation where we were happy to be going home. Our experience at Beaches Negril was so bad, that not only would we never visit Beaches again, we have no reason to ever go back to Jamaica. We looked forward to the vacation for over a year. Now after it we feel like weíve been duped. Apple, Beaches, and Sandals needs to make this right. Summary of events Good points.. (1) Good beach area. (2) Scuba & diving where good, and the only thing that ran on time. (3) Weather was good, but humid. Bad points. (1) Ski boat did not run for 1/2 the week. Boat when running did not start till 9:00am the board says 7:30am. I like to ski when it's calm. (2) Lack of sporting equipment (3) Towels were suppose to be at the hut by 8:30am not 9:00am, then run out quickly. (4) Rooms were ok, bathrooms were not good. Maid service, sometimes did not get to the room until 4:00pm. sheets were never changed(all week) (5) Pool bar was disgustingly dirty, never kept up during the day. Heard the same cassette played over and over and over. (6) Drinks were poor, no drink menu (6) Food got worse as the week went on, left overs ?? (8) Beach activities, were non-existent, (1) Beach party mid week. (9) No room service/Pool service. (10)Cheap plastic cups for drinks/ that showís no class. (11) Soda machines (2) (1) Pepsi broken the both 75% of the time no glasses (plastic cups) (12) Poor service overall, to much attitude. (13) lucky 13, NO Nightlife. In conclusion, All of the trips and places we have gone, put this Resort to shame. Service was the main issue, along with promotions that did not exist. Our average vacations to the Caribbean, Cancun , Puerto Rico, Puerto Vallarta, EtcÖ.. have cost us on average $2000.00 - $2200.00 per couple. In each of these instances we got 6 apple service, style and cleanliness. This resort was nowhere near the expectations of a 6 apple vacation. At best I would rate this hotel/vacation as a 2 or 3 apple. Note, we will not recommend Beaches Negril to anyone. For the services we received and the quality of the drinks, food and entertainment, this trip should have only cost us between $1600 - $1800.00 per couple, and thatís a stretch.
Jerry
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