My husband ate a Piano at Grand Lido Negril
Written: Jun 07 '01 (Updated Jun 11 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: beach, sun, sand, food, service, need I go on?
Cons: Laid-back atmosphere sometimes makes things not happen when you thought they were going to
The Bottom Line: A week in the lap of luxury.
|
|
|
| LauraRN's Full Review: Grand Lido Negril |
Yes, he really did. But more about that later.
We just returned from Grand Lido Negril, an all-inclusive resort in Negril, Jamaica. Grand Lido is one of several resorts in the Caribbean owned by Superclubs. This was our second trip to a Superclubs resort (see my review of Breezes Bahamas http://laurarn.epinions.com/trvl-review-66F1-34E83038-39B26174-prod5/tk_~CB003.1.198) We had the time of our lives and will definitely be back.
The concept of an all-inclusive resort is simple- everything is included. You lock your wallet in the safe in the room once you get there and take it out when you pack to go home. Airport transfers are included, but the driver expected a tip. (We didn't realize this and didn't give him one.)
The bus ride from Montego Bay to Negril was harrowing, very bumpy and windy. My stomach doesn't do landings well, and after four connecting flights the ride left me feeling quite sick.
Once we got to the resort, we entered the lap of luxury. Our bags were taken by the bellman and we didn't see them again until we got to our room. My husband was afraid they would steal something, but it turned out ok.
Standing at the front desk was apparently not luxurious enough. They sat us on a couch, offered us a drink, and processed our check in while we waited. The lady then escorted us to our room, and explained the dining options on the way.
The rooms
The resort is quite large. There are three sections of rooms, the ones facing the clothing optional beach, the garden view rooms, and the ocean view rooms. We had an ocean view room, which was a free upgrade. The room was large, we had a king sized bed, two chairs, a coffee table and a TV. They called it a junior suite, but it was really like a large room. The bathroom was roomy, but no Jacuzzi. The satellite TV was broken for two days, but eventually fixed.
Activities
There is plenty to do at Grand Lido. There are tons of water sports, paddleboats, diving, snorkeling, and it's all included. There is a glass bottom boat ride, but we never made it on it. They had a schedule of activities each day, not as many as other resorts we’ve been to, but enough so no one should be bored. There are indoor board games, tennis, a fitness center, a basketball court and a giant chessboard on the beach. There are some optional tours, but we found plenty to do at the resort. Tennis lessons are available daily. Of course, you can just float in the pool with your fruity drink if you want. I did miss having poolside games like they had at Breezes Bahamas and the Blue Bay Club (http://laurarn.epinions.com/trvl-review-2AA0-5764DBE-3A290FE9-prod1/tk_~CB003.1.90) .
The highlight of the activities is the M/Y Zein, a yacht that belonged to some famous royal people. A sunset cruise is included. However, the cruise was from 3:30 to 6:30 and the sun hadn’t set yet. It was still nice though.
The property also has a spa, which I will write about in a separate review.
FOOD!
The food was excellent. I did not eat one thing that I didn’t like. There were many many options and everything was wonderful.
Breakfast consisted of a huge buffet with the usual breakfast type food. There were omelets, waffles, bagels, cereal, fruit, and many Jamaican specialties. Anything you could think of eating for breakfast was there. Breakfast was also available via room service. We chose this option on our last day and enjoyed fruit and muffins on our patio. There is a card with your breakfast choices that you hang outside the door at night and then it arrives at your specified time in the morning.
There was a lunch buffet similar to the breakfast one. It seemed to have different themes every day. One day there was a Mexican theme, another day a Jamaican one. Of course, if you don’t want the theme items, there is always something else to choose.
There are four restaurants and three clubhouses on the property. The clubhouses serve lighter meals and snacks. They also will deliver to your room 24 hours a day. Each clubhouse also has a bar and a hot tub that is open 24 hours.
Scotch Bonnet is a Jamaican restaurant open for dinner every night except Monday and Friday. Traditional Jamaican fare is served here and it is casual. It is their newest restaurant and I don’t think they had menus printed yet. They just told us what was available and we tried a little of each thing. We ate there on the first night and we were still having a hard time understanding their accents so we had a hard time understanding what they were saying. We did sample jerk chicken and pork and really liked it.
La Pasta is an Italian restaurant open for lunch and dinner. They serve pasta with a variety of toppings. We ate here twice, the first time I had a traditional meat sauce, the second time I had ham and bacon tossed with olive oil. They also had a really good minestrone soup.
Café Lido is a semi formal restaurant open for dinner every day except Monday and Friday. They serve continental cuisine, one time I had a steak and another time I had pork. The food comes very artistically displayed on the plate. The chefs have won many culinary awards and I can see why. This place is very busy, so I would suggest either going very early or very late.
Piacere is their formal French restaurant. This was the fanciest place I have ever eaten in. The servers had white gloves; they held my hand as I walked up the steps. They served sorbet to cleanse the palate before the main course. It was simply incredible. The steak (I ate a lot of steak at this place, it was really good!) was perfectly cooked. It was the type of meal that would have easily been $100 for my husband and I had it not been all included. In other words, not the type of place we eat at regularly. This was where my husband ate a chocolate piano for desert. I was very mad that I didn’t order one.
On Friday nights, they have the General Manager’s Grand Gala Buffet. This is a formal affair, although many of the men were wearing shorts and T-shirts. The buffet was the largest I have ever seen and the highlight was the deserts. They had about 30 different cakes. I am not a cake person, but we had to sample several and they were wonderful. I highly recommend the chocolate shavings. Excellent.
On Monday nights there is a Caribbean beach fiesta. They set up a buffet on the beach and had a show. It was a great party and a great was to end our vacation.
Service
The service was incredible for the most part. As soon as we sat down, some one would be there wanting to take our drink orders. Waitresses walked up and down the beach and around the pool to take drink orders. (It’s not like we couldn’t just get up and go to the bar ourselves!) The maid came twice a day. However, sometimes they would forget things you ordered, like a coffee at the end of a meal, or a drink would take a long time to come. But overall it was excellent. I think they are just more laid back then we are used to.
Overall
This place is excellent. If you go, I recommend getting the Super Surprise package. There are 10 Superclubs resorts in Jamaica. You can pay one price, which is cheaper than the cost of the cheapest resort, and end up at any one of the 10. You can also pay a little more and eliminate one or two of them. In our case, we eliminated both Hedonisms. We paid $1600 for both of us for 1 week. They will book airfare for you, but I found a cheaper flight on my own.
Make sure to bring bug spray. There are a lot of bugs, especially at night. Also make sure you bring a nice outfit. Jackets are required for the Piacere and Café Lido and the cruise are semi formal.
For more information, check out http://www.superclubs.com
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
LauraRN
|
|
Location: Rochester, NY
Reviews written: 64
Trusted by: 22 members
About Me:
Nurse practitioner seeking employment.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.