Wow, we just got back from our 20th anniversary at CSA, amazing. I'm just gathering my notes and photos together for a full review. Can't wait and we're already missing it.
More to come!!!!!!!
M & M
Printable View
Wow, we just got back from our 20th anniversary at CSA, amazing. I'm just gathering my notes and photos together for a full review. Can't wait and we're already missing it.
More to come!!!!!!!
M & M
Cant wait to hear it all!! Bring it on and glad you had a great time!!!!
Gald you had an AWESOME 20th and Congratulations!! Thats the reason we keep going back and it just keeps getting better soonecome DEC!
Damenc.
I just have to know.... are you the couple from Montreal? MaryLiz?? Just wondering. We too had an amazing 20th Anniversary! Better than I could even imagine!
Austin & Tracy Green (better known as Oklahoma or Johnny Cash) LOL
Can't wait to see your photos! :)
glad you had a great time!!!
How was the rain? Ive been noticing it has been raining there for weeks! Describe the rain? Sorry , it just has me kinda bummed
Our first trip to CSA was our 20th, too! Once you go, you know. We've never gone anywhere else for our vacation. The island and resort are beautiful, as are the people.
We're back for our 4th trip in 2 weeks for our 25th!
Don't sweat the rain. It lasts 10-15 minutes, and it's over. Then the sun comes out, and everything is fresh and new again. Truly, it won't matter. When it rains, that's your cue to head to your room and take a nap, or do something else. :) Or sit by one of the beach bars and wait out the Liquid Sunshine and meet someone new. Check out the activities--there may be a talent show or a weaving class going on.
It's all good.
Soon come!
AUSTIN... TRACY!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by amposports
Yes, this is Meng & Mary Liz, we're not from Montreal, that was the other couple we were hanging out with. You guys back home now? We had an awesome time and it was great meeting you guys. I wish we had more time, I'm so sad that I'm back to work now.. grrr... We're already thinking of booking for Mary Liz's 50th in 2013.
I hope the "Bob Marleys" will be lined up when we are there again. I have tons of photos and just going through them now, some with you guys in it! Was it sad to give up your "private" cabana on the beach? LOL That was hilarious. I miss CSA so much, been drinking Mojitos for the last few days. :)
M & M
We loved our room, we ended getting the Atrium from all the repeaters here, we requested at check in to have the atrium room furthest from the main road and on the second floor. They couldn't have giving us a better room, we actually had partial beach view from the huge porch. The nights were so quiet except for the tree frogs/birds at night but that is a soothing sound for us when sleeping.Quote:
Originally Posted by HYTOP
Sorry folks, I'm just going over our photos from the trip. I logged over 1400 photos including videos from our trip, thank god I decided to bring my SLR, it was well worth it. Unfortunately I got bombarded with work when I got back and still catching up. I should have the review and photos up by this weekend..... I hope. :)
Not sure if I want to include videos, I got some great videos of under water Catamaran shots and also from our snorkeling. I'll see how it goes.
Sorry folks, I got bombarded with work when we got back from CSA, but here it is, I will try to make it short and sweet but there is so much to say and so little space
I have included a link for the select photos for you to enjoy, hopefully you will get an idea of what a wonderful resort this is. Please be advised, there are about 200 photos out of 1400 I’ve picked out…
Enjoy the photos...Click here!
“The Resort” – After we landed, we checked in at the airport Couples lounge, enjoyed our free Red Stripe beer and shuttled to our resort. Checking in didn’t go so smoothly as our room was not ready but that was all well when we saw our room, it was awesome! We stayed at the Atrium suite and had a partial beach view and far away from the main road on the second floor as suggested by some of the repeaters here. Thank you, good advice. As you can see from the photos, this resort is just plain and simple beautiful, the garden with the palm trees, Koi ponds were breath taking. Our room was in the center of the resort so getting around was convenient. The beach was clean, well “groomed” and amazing. The staff was phenomenal, I don’t think we ever passed a staff member who didn’t greet us, the guess were also the same, everyone was very friendly. It was like we were in the Twilight Zone…
“The Beach” – Wow and double wow, we’re from Canada, we don’t see beaches like this often. This beach was huge, it’s like in the movies, have to slap myself once in a while to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Water was clear, cool, sand was white, need I say more. Just a word of caution, you WILL be approached by none resort people asking if you want to go on the paid excursions, ie. Jet Skiing, Para-Sailing etc. AND they will also try to sell you “Jamaican Smokes”, we all know what that is, just politely say no and they won’t harass you, you get pretty use to it after a couple of days and you will be approached pretty much every day by different people. We were told that smoking is “allowed” within the confines of our hotel room but NOT in public. If you are going to partake, please remember that there are a lot of people who paid good money to be there and don’t want their hotel rooms smelling like weed, also, if you ever get caught, do you really want to spend the remainder of your vacation in a Jamaican prison? Be courteous, respect your neighbours and the staff. We saw no issues when we were there, people who stayed there were very respectful.
“The Restaurants” – One of the highlights of our trip, we love to eat and we love food from different cultures, this was a real treat. A quick and brief “critique”…
Cabana Grill – open to wee hours of the night and right beside the pool bar, can’t beat that, limited menu but food was excellent. We always had a nice lunch or snack there accompanied by a Mojito then a quick cool off dip in the pool bar pool, lovely.
The Palms – this was our breakfast stop every morning, buffet breakfast with pretty much anything you can ask for, this is where I fell in love with their smoked marlin (yum). Theme dinners pretty much every night, and nightly entertainment head-quarters, we caught the steel drum show, incredible! If you get an opportunity, hit the Martini bar upstairs and have Onique whip you up one of his special Grey Goose Lychee martinis, you will not walk straight after a visit at the martini bar, guaranteed!
Patois Patio – didn’t really spent much time there, we only had breakfast there once. Food was good as expected, if you get a chance, order their smoked marlin eggs Benedict, OMG!
Feathers – reservation required, my wife was looking forward to this place after seeing their menu. Its casual formal, service was excellent, thank you Hunter, you were great! Portions are small like any fine dining establishment but the nice thing is, you can order as much as you want. We did 3 appetizers, entrée and dessert, we were stuffed and the passion fruit crème briolette was to die for.
Lemon Grass – reservation required, I’m a huge fan of spicy foods; this was the place for that. A nice menu with different curries and the spiciness to compliment the humid weather. I was born in Malaysia so this was my type of dining. Food was the best here IMO, but service could have been better, our waitress seemed preoccupied but after joking around with her a bit, she started getting better.
Sea Grape Café – this was my favourite, a little hut off the beach and they serve the best grilled fish tacos, I lost count of how many of those I had. Thank you Oshane for getting us the fresh coconuts, it was on my list considering I haven’t had a fresh off the tree coconut in about 35 years. The smoothies were the best.
“The Piano Bar” – I thought I mention this place because we spend much time there with our favourite bartenders Dwayne and Kareem who not only treated us like kings and queens but also got me hooked on the Bob Marley shots, if you’re at the resort, you must meet these guys, they pour the perfect 4 layer Bob Marley shooters, tell them Ming sent ya, the crazy asian guy Thanks again guys, I’m still looking for the ingredients for making those Bob Marleys at home.
“The Excursions” – 5 days is just not enough, we are already planning our next trip for my wife’s 50th birthday. We will be bringing our check list of things we didn’t get to do this. I wanted to do the beach sports but just couldn’t get to them, our schedule was insane. We basically went back to our suite to shower and sleep, there was no sit down and enjoy the view from our balcony time. Didn’t even make it to the SportsPlex. Brief description of our excursions…
Shopping Trip – Our first was to hit Time Square plaza to get the multitudes of souvenirs for our kids, friends and family. Time Square plaza was a quaint little shopping area, we only had an hour so that wasn’t enough time, a second trip later was required to finish off our shopping. After that, we headed into town in Negril, not much there other then a Burger King and a ScotiaBank, they had the market there but we didn’t have time and some of the locals there were kind of scary, word of caution, don’t stray off by yourself there and especially at night.
Glass Bottom Boat Tour – a must, enjoy the coral reefs, star fish etc and you get a tour of the beach front resorts as well, we saw Couples Negril, Sandals, Hedonism, Beaches resort, it was amazing. Sorry I forgot the names of our hosts but they were hilarious, they made the tour. Thanks guys!
Snorkelling – I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time, had my own snorkelling gear and under camera just for this trip. As expected, it was next to perfect. My wife was worried about breathing through a snorkel but once you’re down there looking at the coral reefs, fish etc. she didn’t even noticed she was snorkelling. Next time we go, I am going on the night snorkelling, I hear it’s really a different experience. Desmond was our host, Desmond was rocking to the loud music on the boat, and he was awesome!
Catamaran – if you have only one excursion to do, this is the one. It’s a 2.5 hr excursion which takes you on an amazing sail to the cave where they drop you off to explore in the mean time enjoying the slide off the boat. We sail back along close to land to see all the wicked resorts, hotels, homes and of course, the famous Rick’s Café where we saw the cliff jumpers, then a sunset route back to our resort, truly beautiful. This excursion we will definitely put on our list again for the next trip.
Some Final Notes…
This trip was our 20th anniversary and it was worth the 6 months wait. We absolutely had a great time and the staff and guests were nothing less then fantastic. They weren’t kidding when they said this was a hidden gem and I hope they will never stray away from this perfection and end up to be another commercialized Sandals or Beaches. I hope they will keep the price affordable for folks like us, if so, than Couples can count on us being repeaters. A few more days would have been perfect, you literally have to stay here for 2 weeks to enjoy all the amenities. In the 5 days that we were there, we’ve made friends, lived like kings and queens and fell in love again.
Once again, we would like to thank all the staff at Couples that made our vacation very special and memorable, sorry we couldn’t remember everyone’s names, we hope to see you all again real soon!
Dwayne/Kareem (Piano Bar), Miss Robinson (Reception), Tino (Resort Guide/Voice of the Future), Onique/Winston (Martini Bar), Clovis (Taxi, shopping), Radane (Palms server), Oshane/Quarrie (Sea Grapes), Hunter (Feathers server), Desmond (Snorkel host), Wayne (Guardsmen), Colins (Belhop), Orlando/Ruel (Pool Bar), Alison (Room Attendant)
Sincerely,
Ming & Mary Liz Chen
I didn't realize that was you damenc! We were the couple that were with Tracy and Austin when you kidded them about having the "timeshare." My husband is really tall and I'm hardly short. We were in the same building as you but on the ground floor. Tracy and Austin did you get the photos I emailed you?
Yes, I remembered, we've said hi a few times coming in and out of our suite, I still we had the best location for the Atrium suites. I hope we didn't make any noise, we were hardly in our rooms except to shower and sleep :) Wish we were back there.... First time to Jamaica for us and first time in an all-inclusive, prefer it much more then cruise.Quote:
Originally Posted by mb9fan
Ya Austin/Tracy, those guys were great, kept running into them in our trip. Next time, I'm gonna get first dibs at the cabana :)
I agree those were the best Atrium suites. We didn't hear anything except for the frogs and the crickets. :) It was our first time too at an AI and in Jamaica. I'll never cruise again and think I am forever spoiled for going to another AI.
Thanks for sharing your terrific pictures and thoughtful review. Think we enjoyed the same room on one of our many visits. Will you advertise the room number for all to see? Thanks.
We were in 2128 and Damenc was above us. It is building 27.
WOW.. Great pictures and great review! Thanks so mich for sharing! Congrats on your 20th! We are counting down... 87 days wil lbe are back home!
I cant agree with this more! We started out going for 7 nights, and it just wasnt enough. We then we to 10 nights for the next couple trips (including this years) but next year we are booked for 2 weeks. I really feel for those that leave after 5 days because I know that its not just hard to be able to completely relax in that amount of time but it's also hard to be able to get all the activities in.Quote:
A few more days would have been perfect, you literally have to stay here for 2 weeks to enjoy all the amenities.
Enjoyed your review...thanks for sharing.
We've stayed in 2128 several times. Beachfront view/location with an Atrium price. This is the best deal at CSA.
Plus you have Alison for a housekeeper. She's one of the best. Sunday is her day off, so she can go to church.
Yes, Alison was our housekeeper and she was awesome! We bought a bunch of trinkets with the Canadian flag on it for all the staff that made our stay memorable. I realize that they are not able to accept tips but someone on the forum had mentioned that the staff appreciates souvenirs from the guests, so we bought keychains, hats, wallets, stationary sets etc. and tagged them with the staff's name and a small thank you note.Quote:
Originally Posted by yazmon
Yup, we were directly upstairs in 2228. We will definitely request that room or building on our next visit. We were quite centralized and hidden enough away from the beach and the main road, it was really the perfect spot.Quote:
Originally Posted by mb9fan
I know, we are already looking at booking for 2013 for my wife's 50th birthday. We're thinking of coming in a group because 3 of our friends have the same birthday that year. Hope CSA will remain affordable :)Quote:
Originally Posted by yookster