Tourist Jamaica: Negril

Best Things Nearby:
The infamous Rick's Cafe, complete with CLiff Diving. Also one of Jimmy Buffet's famed Margaritaville's.

Best Things About the Resort:
The long beach (it's located on the stretch of the famouse Seven Mile Beach).

Resort Experience:

Negril is not what I had hoped for. I was looking for cultural Jamaica, and instead I found more than a hint of college student's Spring Break in everything (and I was there in November). My husband and I came here for our honeymoon, flying in from Ocho Rios, which we LOVED. It was bad from the moment we stepped into the resort. We had to wait about an hour to get into our room, and our room was terribly dirty. Our safe was broken, and none of the windows shut properly. We lived with huge bugs for the remainder of our stay in Jamaica (when you pay $400-plus a night for an all-inclusive, you expect a little bit more). I also came back to my room one day noticing my new magazine had mysteriously disappeared, hmmm. I suffer from heat induced migraines, so every time we left the room we would leave our air-conditioner on. Sure enough, when we'd come back to the room the maid would have turned it off. Also, the toilet backed up in our room, throwing sewage all over the bathroom.

This was more than disgusting, I didn't take a single shower the entire time I was there. And we had to go to the front desk to request a "Do Not Disturb" sign, which you would consider standard protocol for honeymooners. The evening entertainment was poor at best, and the entertainers constantly harassed my husband and I to get involved in their schemes. The staff in general at this resort was very unhelpful and unfriendly. Compared to Beaches Boscobel, this resort is a disgrace. I sent Sandals' a very lengthy letter, explaining in detail all of the misdoings of their resort. I received a letter of apology via email 7 weeks later. They did nothing to compensate my husband or I for our honeymoon. I would not stay here again.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Poor
• Unit Satisfaction: Poor
• Family Friendliness: Poor
• Service: Fair

My husband and I took the PADI resort class at Sandals' Negril Resort. This class cost us $70 a piece, and included classroom, pool instruction, and at least one 35-foot dive. I was very impressed with the classroom and pool instruction. Our instructor was very thorough and patient. He made me feel very comfortable, and helped me with skills I was having trouble on. The next day we did our dive in the ocean, and this I was very unimpressed with. There was one dive instructor with us (there were about eight of us, all different levels of experience), and one photographer. Before I knew what was going on, I was in the water and going down. They did not explain the procedure on the boat, nor did they pair you up with a buddy. There were several times when I began floating away from the group, with no one to notice. It was somewhat scary for such a novice. They didn't even help me back onto the boat when the dive was over. I would recommend doing some diving before taking a resort class, so that you can feel safe and comfortable.

Rick's Cafe is one of the most popular attractions in Negril. That, combined with the fact that our resort offered a very inexpensive bus to the location, drove us there. I was decently unimpressed with the service and food. Since we had just consumed dinner at the resort, we planned on having a drink or two, and also dessert here. As soon as our waitress found out we were only eating dessert, she became immediately rude. She ignored us several times, and it took us over an HOUR to get our bill from her once we finished dining. We ended up having to request the bill from another server. And I found the dessert quality to be a bit poor and lacked in variety for selection. As usual with tourist destinations, the food was overpriced. It was worth seeing once, however, as the cliff diving is exciting to watch (or try, if you're brave enough). They also have a guy there that jumps from an overhung tree— amazing!!! While we were there, they had a local reggae band (poor, at best) playing during sunset. Personally, I would not go there again, but I am glad I went once.

We went to Margaritaville with a bus from our resort. The bus was free (yeah! as nothing in Jamaica is ever free), and they had several buses going back to the resort at different times of the evening. I got the impression that the buses were a courtesy of the bar, as when leaving, the buses stopped at most of the resorts along the way to drop off passengers. The bus was very nice—a definite party bus! Before they get you on, they have you all put on lei's, and they give you take along cups for your drinks from the resort. When you get to Margaritaville, you are greeted with intense and fun Jimmy Buffet music and videos. They have some adult games up on their mini-stage (I would leave the children at home for this during the evening), and they have a bird mascot that gives out free shots of tequila! The food, I found was pretty poor, though. I had the veggie burger, and it tasted like cardboard. When I informed my server, she just took my plate away. She didn't offer me anything else, and she left it on the bill. As a server, I KNOW this is poor service. They have a nice bonfire on their beach, though, which is connected to the bar. There they also have a statue of the World's Largest Rum Runner. I would be interested in going back here, as they had two water trampolines out, which I would love to use! My only real complaint was that the fun only lasted about 2 hours, after which the bar died down to nothing. I would recommend adults to check this bar out at least once. I will be going back, but for drinks only.