Our Trip Journal

Jamaica & Couples Swept Away vacation 12/27/2006-1/3/2007

Wednesday, December 27^th:

White stretch limo picked us up at 3:30 am, great way to start our vacation.  Comfortable ride to airport flew Air Jamaica flight 70, Champagne and breakfast flight.  The flight took just under 4 hrs.  Left Chicago and arrived in Montego Bay on time.

Arrived in Jamaica, went through immigration & customs, easy process and then on to the Couples lounge.  It was full, we were offered drinks.  Met Dr_Bird, Rastagirl and Ralf from the message board.  Waited for approx. 15 minutes and then hopped on a bus to Negril.  John was our driver and we had a nice ride considering we were riding on the wrong side of the road.  Stopped on the way and had our first taste of jerk chicken and jerk pork yum-o!  Saw locals in town, homes of various sizes, a little Jamaican boy waved at me and I saw my dream car, a Cadillac Escalade along the way.

Arrived at Couples Swept Away in Negril around 2:15 PM, got checked in, handed cool washcloths and offered a glass of champagne.  Check in process went very smooth, given keys to our room and our bags soon followed within 5 minutes.  Spent time unpacking, as we didn’t want to live out of our suitcases for a whole week.

Got room that I had requested through our travel agent (heard great things about this room on the message board).  Atrium room #1117 was more wonderful than we ever imagined.  Beautiful porch/patio area with hammock and built in couch area, first floor, loved the fact we could walk right out the back door and be on our way.  The bed is large, a bit too firm for my taste but Kev liked it.  Good size bathroom, large shower, very tiny bugs around sink area, walls, and floor and red ants on patio.  Hey it’s the tropics, what do you expect?  Partial view of the sea and love the sound of the waves crashing, we could hear it from our patio.  Shelved closet space-pretty good size, safe, iron, ironing board, extra pillows and a large umbrella inside.

Walked around a bit, went to Seagrapes/veggie bar and had sweet potato chips with 2 types of dips and a smoothie-the smoothie was not very tasty.  Service here could’ve been more attentive and helpful.  This was our first stop so we didn’t let that first experience sway us either way.

Went to the resort orientation at 5 PM.  Andre “Chubby”, the Entertainment Coordinator, was an excellent guide, fun, very knowledgeable and informative.  We would highly recommend this to all first-timers for sure.  Had a blast learning about all the resort had to offer, even after over a year spent on the Couples message board, I still learned things I had not read about before.

Ate at Cabana Grill, it was fantastic!  I had the snapper sandwich and Kev had the jerk chicken sandwich.  We shared the appetizer for two (various foods like calamari, spring rolls, conch fritters (yum-o), etc).  Patricia was very nice and helpful.

Took a stroll around the resort, checked out the Internet café, the Internet was down but we found a great drink machine where we got awesome cappuccinos, mochas, lattes and espresso.

Made Thursday reservations for Patios with Tecita at the concierge’s desk, she was very nice and helpful.  Saw couples having dinner on the beach and got very excited about ours booked for Sat., the night of our vow renewal.  Also saw the wedding arch and gazebo.  Both were very pretty locations.

Walked on the beach!  Definitely in awe of the entire resort at this point.  Came back to room to find Gladys doing the nightly turndown, what a treat.  She folded back the bed covers, closed all the shutters and left daily thoughts cards.  She was very nice.  Tree frogs sang us to sleep, not a disturbance at all but actually quite calming. 

Overall AWESOME first day @ Couples Swept Away!

 

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