Help me choose between CN and CSA

[christie76]

I'm planning my 10th anniversary trip next April. I have some other couples that are planning on going with us. We are all in our 30's. I can't decide between the two properties in Negril. Is there any major difference between them? It looks like the beach at CN is bigger, but CSA looks like the hotel itself is bigger. Is there more to do at CSA? We are mainly looking for good food and a nice beach. A nice swim up bar would also be nice. Thanks for any advice. I'm sure this has been asked a million times.

[randi&sherri]

been to both you cant go wrong either way you will enjoy them both....that being said we love CSA just got back in may and headed back in Dec. The beach at CSA is on seven mile beach CN your in the bay. The food is awesome at both places...both have swim up bars CSA etc...look at both of them and see which one calls you the most then book it and have a wonderful vacation

[Tommywommy]

Yes,this question has been asked many times and usually CN,Couples Negril,always comes out on top.
CN has the very best swimup bar and pool in Jamaica.
CN is located in Bloody Bay and it's always a tad calmer than CSA's beach.
CN has many more Seagrape and Palm trees and CN's beach has more depth.
Being at CN reminds me of being on a South Pacific island.
CN also has less vendors.

SO,CN again is #1 in Jamaica.

GO..RELAX..ENJOY CN.

Hugs

[PJ]

I posted a review with a few comparisons of our recent trip. Not sure if I know how to make it clicky or not, but here is the link:

http://couples.com/mb/showthread.php...SA-comparisons

[arewethereyet?]

I have found when we cannot decide to simply split the difference ;-) I am surprising my wife for our 15th anniversary by splitting CTI for 7 days and the"J" resort for 3 days.

CN and CSA are very close so a 10 minute taxi ride would do the trick. Then you will know for all future trips.....that is until you try to choose between CSS and CTI.....;-/

[JennyBenny]

I went to CN last july for my wedding with 5 other couples. I have not been to CSA, but what i remember learning is that at CN everything is centrally located, while CSA things are spread out much more. So its always super easy to find your friends, but if you want more privacy go with CSA cuz you'll be able to "hide" a little bit more. I did love CN, but would like to try out CSA next time aswell (I think i would like the longer beach better). I don't think you can go wrong either way....

[pharma girl]

Like everyone else always says - it depends on what you are looking for. If you want a pool scene then go to CN as the swim up bar is spectacular.

If you want a more spread out resort with great sports facilities, go to CSA.

Both beaches are great, CN tends to be a little quieter than CSA. you can walk further on the CSA beach than the CN beach but we still walked quite a distance on the CN beach, it's not small.

Good luck choosing!

[Rob_N_Dayna]

Yes this question has been asked almost more than any other question on the board, with maybe an exception of " How's the weather? " I can recall the first time we decided to try a Couples Resort. We had no idea about the message board when we were trying to decide so we made our decision solely on the pictures provided by the website, and descriptions or the rooms and property, and activities.

Before I go further into my explanation I need to get up on my soap box for just one minute. I am so tired of people on this message board that post about why this resort or that resort is better when normally that have only stayed at one of them and only did a day pass at another or have never seen the other property at all for that matter. The beautiful thing about these resorts is they are as unique as the people that visit them. Just because I love CSA or you love CN, that makes neither resort better than the other. It only makes it the best fit for us. If someone is asking for advise about choosing a resort we really should try to help them with facts that we know about the resorts and take into account the information they posted about themselves, after all we do not all like the same things. " The throwing each resort under the bus" because it is not our favorite resort is getting old...OK sorry had to get that off my chest.

My wife and I were in our early 30's when we were married at CSA a few years ago. We looked at all the resorts and really like the layout of CSA as opposed to the other resorts. CSS looked really nice but we wanted to be on the Negril side of the island. The property really give a feel of being in your own tropical paradise because the foliage between the buildings and the winding pathways let you feel like you were in a jungle. Again some people do not like a spread out resort because they complain about all the walking. We loved walking through the resort it seemed like every corner we made we discovered something new. The resort is bigger than the CN and more spread out. Their are 3 restaurants on one side The Palms, Lemon Grass, and Sea Grapes, and three on the other Feathers, Patois, and the Cabana Grill. We never had a bad meal at any of these places. We would eat the in -room early breakfast, consisting of juice, fresh fruit, and danishes. Then we would normally go to The Palms for breakfast, we loved the variety of their buffet. Dinner options were also wonderful. We would typically get ready for dinner and head to the Martini bar above the Palms for a pre-dinner cocktail until or reservation at Feathers or Lemongrass, or just talk with the bartenders until we were ready to walk over to Patois Patio, OH and to not get off subject but, yes we would make the long trek across the resort, being a little sarcastic there, it is maybe a 2 minute walk from one side of the resort to the other if you walk at a normal pace.

Both resorts have a great beach. CN's beach is deeper and they have a AN section off to one side of the property if this interest you. CSA's beach is longer and does not have a AN section. We were not interested in the AN section and really did not want to see anyone else AN either, we knew there was more a chance for that seeing that, CN's AN beach is blocked by hedges but the entrance along the beach and the water are open to everyone. It was just not our cup of tea but to each his own. The water at both resorts is normally always very calm, crystal clear, and warm. CSA does have a beach bar set up right on the beach in the middle of the property.Both resorts have a swim up bar. CN definitely has the bigger pool seating at the swim up bars is abut the same though and both also have access to the bar from outside the pool as well. CSA has 3 pools, one at Patois this is where the swim up bar is, one at the palms, and a lap pool at the fitness center across the street. CN's pool is right in the middle of the resort. If you go to the map and panoramic views of each resort it will help to see where everything is located.

There are tons of daily activities at both resorts, participation will really be based on who is at the resort at the time. There is beach volleyball at CSA watersports, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, the activities staff will always come of with some type of fun game, we loved it because we like to lounge on the beach, just not trying to lay there all day long, we liked playing beach volleyball with other couples and ususaly made good friends that way and would enjoy hanging out together throughout the week. We made friends with people from Italy last time we were there, had dinner and drinks with them at night, even still stay in contact today and are palnning a trip over there to see them one year.
We also used the fitness center every morning, we alway feel better when we start out our day with a nice easy work out, then head over for breakfast. The fitness facility at CSA is better than most at gyms around the house.
Those are some of the differences I can tell you about and things we have experienced.Really the best advise I can give you is to look at the layout of each resort and read up on the restaurants, room types, and from there you know what you like so that should help you make your decision. If you have any other questions I can try and answer them if I can. Sorry for being so long winded but sometimes it is hard to sum up a resort with just a few ridiculous phrases. All the resorts are #1 to the people that visit them and call them there home away from home.

[Blondie]

CN sits on Bloody Bay, which is about a mile and three quarters long while CSA sits on Long Bay which is about 5 miles long.

Both have great beaches although CSA's beach is not as deep and does not have as many palms and seagrapes as CN does. Both have a swim up bar, but I do beleive that CN's is reported to better.

We are big fans of CN, only 39 days until our 7th trip.

The truth is that this is an age old question and those of us who love CN will recommend it and the lovers of CSA will recommend that one.

As Pharma girl, said good luck choosing.

[Sun Kissed]

I have found when we cannot decide to simply split the difference ;-) I am surprising my wife for our 15th anniversary by splitting CTI for 7 days and the"J" resort for 3 days.

CN and CSA are very close so a 10 minute taxi ride would do the trick. Then you will know for all future trips.....that is until you try to choose between CSS and CTI.....;-/

Hi there...

My husband and I have split many of our stays also and have done a CN/CSA split and loved it! I see that you are doing the "J" resort. I am just wondering if this is a former "S" resort? We stayed at CTI this last April and did a split with a "J" resort and am wondering if it is the same one you are planning on visiting. If so, we might want to talk! Don't want to scare you or anything and everyone is different but it was NOTHING like Couples and we actually checked out early and finished the remainder of our stay at CSS. I am not a fussy traveller at all and have stayed at all four Couples resorts, but depending on what you are looking for it might not be the place for you. I feel terrible even mentioning this but based on our experiences I feel, from one Couples lover to another, to be honest with you. If you want to send me your e-mail address I will explain in more detail...

On a more positive note...what a lovely surprise for your wife! I can only imagine how excited she will be when she learns what you have up your sleeve!

Cheers,
K

[Coloradojuli]

I'll start out by saying that we have been to both resorts.

I think the beach pictures can be a bit deceiving. CSA's beach is long, but skinny. CN's beach is deep, but not quite as long as CSA's. We enjoy both beaches. Before we started going to the AN beach we enjoyed both CN's and CSA's beaches. I will say the first time we went to CN I didn't realize there was an AN beach. It is very easy to miss the beach and the naked people by staying on the right side of the beach closer to the sports shack. I can't say that we prefer one over the other, but walking Long Bay (CSA's beach) is very fun. Bloody Bay is also a nice walk just not quite as 'colorful' as the walk on Long Bay. (FYI ~ both resorts are on 7 Mile Beach. CSA is on the Long Bay portion and CN is on the Bloody Bay portion.)

Both resorts have very similar daytime activities. Beach/pool volleyball, games around the resort, SCUBA, snorkeling, catamaran cruise, etc. Both resorts also have nighttime activities. There is entertainment that starts around 9pm and finishes at 10:30pm and then the activities move to the piano/disco bars.

We found CSA to be a bit more lively than CN, but the week we were at CSA, there were a few wedding parties that were keeping things lively.

CN's swim up bar wins hands down to CSA's whose swim up bar was fashioned after CN's, but is much smaller. Both can get rather crowded in the afternoon.

When we put the two resorts up against each other, the main reason we choose CN is because of the AN beach. Both resorts are fabulous. You really can't go wrong in choosing either resort. Spend a little more time checking out the message board and pictures. Eventually one of the resorts will stand out to you and that will be the one to select.

[Soonerfans]

We didnt even know this message board existed when we booked our resort and actually I found CN first on a website so we booked that and then my fiance found CSA on this website and he feel in love with that one so I decided that maybe I should let him have it his way everyonce in a while.....just gotta do that everyonce in a while)ha
I have been very happy with our decision to go to CSA and get married there 12/12/12 and have never thought twice about wishing anywhere else but we did decide to go ahead and add on to our trip so now we are going to stay at CN for a week extending our trip and I'm thrilled that I get to see and stay at both resorts! Now just to wait another 530 days......goodness.........

[Bert]

CN is our home. We did the 1 day "trading places" to vist CSA...and took a taxi back to CN because we knew where we wanted to be. We then changed our 2012 reservations from CSA to CN. The gym facility at CSA is outstanding, but I find I can get a great workout at CN (I am a fanatic...fit 11 workouts into an 8 day stay including 4 CN>CSA>CN runs - yes, I'M NUTS!!!! ; ^ ).

We like the small feel of CN and prefer the beach.

That said, I am confident all 4 Couples resorts are outstanding...and it is because of the staff. Great job folks, keep it up.