Wow is all we have to say. We looked at hundreds of resorts across the world and wanted a tropical get away. After reading all of the reviews on the travel sites and browsing pictures, we found what appeared to be a good choice, Couples Swept Away. We couldn't have made a better decision!!! The pictures and reviews both on the Couples website and expedia.com don't do ANY justice to this place!
When people ask me to to describe CSA, the words that come to mind are "Tropical Oasis". The grounds are amazing, well kept, and lush. We will admit it took us 3 days to figure out where we were going, but it was almost like a little adventure.
The food was absolutely amazing. For an all inclusive resort, you wouldn't expect the quality of food or service, especially at the rate that we paid! We went for breakfast in bed each moring, a great way to start the day with Blue Mountain coffee. Lunch was typically Sea Grapes, which offered excellent light lunches on the beach. We tended to eat at the Palms for dinner, which was great and was followed up with live entertainment each night. We were more than satisfied with everything!
Our room, the Atrium Suite, was PERFECT. It gave us the "island" feel we were looking for and had lots of character. The a/c worked great with the shutters closed, we were quite surprised actually. Our only minor complaint (but wasn't the resorts fault) was a wood pecker that decided to choose our building to peck at...every morning at the crack of dawn. Gotta love nature!
The staff was awesome. They were all extremely accomodating and fun people. The tour on day one was very entertaining and we really learned a lot. The entertainment staff was very taleneted and spent the whole day at the resort making sure everyone was having a good time. We had a long chat with 2 of the security guards on the beach that last night we were there too, they were great people!
The included activities were a blast too. We spent a lot of time, of course, with the water sports. Paddle boats, Hobie cats, water skiing, knee boarding, laying on the rafts in the roped off area...we didn't run out of stuff to do! The service on the beach was awesome too! Just stick the flag in the sand and within minutes someone is there to get your drink order.
Our favorite activity was the Catamaran cruise. Rasta Ralph (is that right?) was hilarious. We spotted Dolpins that came right up to the Catamaran. Checking out Rick's Cafe was awesome from the water, two kids jumped off the cliff and swam all the way out to our Catamaran for tips. The cave swim was fun as well!
The only thing we did that wasn't worth our time was head into town for shopping. The shops weren't even owned by locals and all had the same junk. I'd much rather buy off the locals on the beach than from a tourist trap shopping center.
So all in all, our trip to CSA was perfect. We will be back again and plan to bring friends and family. The price was right, the people were extremely friendly and accomodating, and the food was great. Thank you everyone at CSA for making our honeymoon aweseome!
Congrats on your trip and wonderful experience. I'm anxiously waiting on my first trip, next May, with my wife-to-be. These reviews just keep me in a happy place.
Congratulations and I'm glad you had an awesome time in "Paradise", aka Couples Swept Away. We had the same experience with CSA as you did. Our first Couples experience was at CTI and we had a good time but our stay at CSA was a great time. I had to laugh when you said it took you three days to figure out where you were going on the grounds. A few days into our vacation and I had to walk my wife on the path along the roadway and show her a landmark where she needed to turn in to get to our building. She could only find it from the beach side up until then. We have reservations for Dec. 2011 with the same two couples we travelled with last time. We wanted to go back this December but can't, so the anticipation is killing us. But it's a good anticapation knowing how much fun we're going to have.
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