Leaderboard
728x15

Cool Vacation To Jamaica images

Large Rectangle

Check out these vacation to jamaica images:


Lucea, Jamaica
vacation to jamaica
Image by michael feagans
After dropping off hitchhikers in Lucea they asked me to take their picture.


Jamaica - lifeguard buoy
vacation to jamaica
Image by churl
I love that the universal sign for lifeguard on duty is a buoy stuck in the sand. The lifeguard was in a lounge chair next to me. He was trying to stay out of my shot.

My review of the Secrets St James resort:

The room:
Upon arriving, it was clear to me that the St James had JUST been build. There were still several things that were not complete, and my room looked like it had just been built: some messy grout, some electrical problems, and a malfunctioning ceiling fan. Still, all the plumbing worked, the TV was good (and had free porn... that was a real shocker, no pun intended). So, ignoring the few rough edges, it was a great room. There was a bathtub with jets and a walk in marble shower stall. The mini bar was stocked with beverages, but no snacks.

The service:
The room was cleaned every day, and they did a great job. Although I locked everything in the safe, I di not have much fear for theft. They did not disturb my items, and left my cash alone when I accidentally left out a few hundred dollars. My only complaint was that so many people kept coming into my room! There was the lady who cleaned the room, another woman who brought in new towels and bedding, a guy who resupplied the mini bar, and someone who turned down the bed in the evening and left a flyer for the next day's activities. Eventually I got used to it, but it was really weird.

The front desk staff and hotel employees were friendly, very helpful, and keenly aware of creating a resort atmosphere. The barstaff and restaurant staff particularly were extremely pleasant and friendly. The coffee bar person was my best friend.

The food and drink:
It should be noted that all the dinner service restaurants were located in the Wild Orchid resort, which was somewhat inconvenient. If I had known, I probably would've stayed at the Wild Orchid instead. The walk wasn't too far though.

For dinner, I ate at their French restaurant (excellent), their Jamaican restaurant (alright, but not really Jamaican food. More like food made from Jamaican ingredients), the Italian restaurant (excellent). The many bars were well stocked with quality alcohol, and most of the bartenders were well versed in cocktails. The pool bars had many frozen drinks, etc. but pretty much the whole time, I was drinking scotch, Johnny Walker black, or Red Stripe. I did have a few martinis, which were decent. For breakfast, they had a buffet which had several omelet stations, and a full spread. The best part of the breakfast buffet was the plentiful tropical fruit juices including cantaloupe, pinapple, papaya, mango, orange, and something else I still can't figure out. Lunch was pretty dull though. The poolside restaurant was decent, but not anything special.

The coffee bar was my favorite part of the food services. They had full espresso service, alcoholic coffee beverages, and a big percolator of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. They also were fully stocked with desserts, many of which were the same as the restaurant desserts.

Littered around the resort were plates of chocolate chip cookies, which made for wonderful treats!

Room service was included and supposedly 24 hours. However, I never ordered anything. I was eager to get out of my room. But a fellow guest raved about the strip steak, and honestly, free strip steaks? How awesome is that!

The beach and pools:
The beach was gorgeous and waitstaff came by every 20 minutes or so. There were available watersports. The ocean was fantastic, but once you got 20 feet out, it was all rocks. That was unfortunate, but if you were willing to move around, there were areas with decent footing. The pools were clean and pretty. There weren't any special pool features like slides or anything, but honestly, that stuff is for kids.

Shops, amenities, etc.:
There was a decent cigar shop, a gift shop that had all the standard tourist items, a shop with snacks and toiletry items (why would you pay for food or toiletries, when it's all supplied?), but clearly, they were still building shops and stores. They had a clothing store too. The casino was not yet built (but was in a pretty small space) and the business center was still under construction.
There was wireless service, but it was pay, and required PayPal. I hate PayPal. I did get a few days of free wireless, due to some internet glitch, and the speed and number of hot spots was more than adequate, and went all the way to the beach.
I only did a shopping tour, and made no use of any of the other add-on tours. I'd been told Jamaica had a lot of social problems, and during my shopping trip, I saw a fair amount of drug sales, 'massage parlors', and typical tourist ripoff scams. It was sad, really, but not unexpected in tourist areas. I mean, Times Square in NYC is no different really.

Overall
Overall, despite the rough spots, I thought the resort was fantastic, and worth the price, but unlike Puerto Rico, I did not feel safe at all wandering out on my own. For one thing, the resort was a 10 minute drive from the heart of the city, and behind a locked gate, without a taxi stand (although they could call a cab for you without much trouble). I would do the resort again, but I don't think I'd go back to Jamaica anytime soon.


CIMG0106
vacation to jamaica
Image by jtcoleman
The girls play to pass time before boarding the plane to Jamaica.

Banner